Nija's Thoughts

             No matter what your life situation is getting your first apartment or home can be stressful. It’s sometimes hard to remember all the things you need to pack or buy. I have compiled a list and organized the items by room. While this list is extensive it doesn’t have everything you could possibly need and it may have a bunch of stuff you don't but hopefully this puts you off to a good start.  An added practical perk to this list is that... you can print it our on some cardstock (or regular paper, it just won't be as durable), cut it by room and as you pack and check off items and using tape you can use them to label your bins, totes, or boxes. This was you know exactly what's in them and anyone helping you move knows exactly where they go.  Some things to consider for you personally are... There are some appliances that might be provided in your apart or house so I have marked those with an asterisk (*). If they aren't provided there are someti

I'm going to take a break from my college series to talk about holiday work gift exchanges. If you work in education as I now do you will most likely have the opportunity to participate in a "Secret Santa" game. Other professional settings may have that or something similar. Some do a "White Elephant" or "Dirty Santa". Some general rules of thumb are... Keep your setting in mind working in a school for example, while we're all adults we can't exchange alcohol or adult gifts  Keep your potential recipient in mind This gift might not go to your friend that you work with but possibly anyone you work with that may not have the same since of humor or enjoy the same things as you Stick to the price cap You may be tempted to go over but there's a cap for a reason. Other people may not be able to afford to get fancy gifts so not only will people frown upon it because now there gifts don't compare and you look like a jerk, but you

       I wasn't a huge social butterfly in college. My roommate and I pretty well stuck together. We had movie nights and scraped together enough change to buy a pizza. We did have a friend that was more into the party scene and in turn that took us to a few. From those experiences comes these words of wisdom. Have a plan before you go out. If there is going to be alcohol and there most likely will be decide who all is going to drink and who is going to stay the sober "mom friend" (if you don't trust your friends enough, be the mom friend). Their job is to keep the intoxicated friends safe and from doing anything they will regret. Decide who is going to be DD (designated driver), which can be but is not necessarily the mom friend, or how else you're getting there and back. Have an idea of how long you want to stay. Have meeting places and times if you are going to separate. Don't assume that you'll figure it out later while you're out and about. Kno

      Wow... it has been a while. Well since I was last here I have finished college and received my degree. It was not easy but some of it is as hard as you make it. There are definitely tips to get through it. You hear it all the time but like most things in life you don't believe them until you go through it and learn the hard way. Such things like... Stay organized (whatever that means for you...just make sure that it actually works) In lieu of the 1 big binder with dividers for each class that holds everything I would advise separate, smaller binders or folders and notebooks for each course or even binders by day (ex. mon./wed. binder & tues./thurs. binder). No matter how great your memory is keep some sort of a planner. As soon as I got the course schedule I would write out all of my deadlines so I could just look in one place and see everything. Of course they are subject to change but at least that gives an idea. If you're a tech person put it in your phone.

I went to community college for 2 yrs on a scholarship before going away to a state university. In moving in I didn't know quite what to expect or what to bring so here I'm going to talk about that and things to think about before making decisions from my own experience.There will be different instalments to this as there are different things I would like to talk about in no specific order. I'm rooming with my friend (we have our own "best friends" but we are really good friends (like 2nd best if you want a title)) which works out because our schedules are different so we don't see each other 24/7. We have good communication skills with each other, we try to be respectfully open and honest. We also have similar morals and values which is important as you are in fact living with this person but we're not clones of each other either. Our personalities are different so we do clash on some things but so far that hasn't been often because we let things go

Once Accepted into college/ university or trade school there will be a flood of paperwork coming at you. A lot of it will probably be online while other stuff will come in the mail. Do not let it overwhelm you, just stay organized and take things as they come. I suggest a binder with dividers or an expandable wallet, letter (these are water proof and already have gaussets for separation). You can get them at staples or wal mart. Keep records of everything just in case! When you submit something print out the summary pages and the proof of submission pages, you can never be too prepared in college. Print off contracts and invoices from payments. Once I started school I even put school reciepts (like book purchases, returns) in the college binder so if there was any discrepencies I had prove. File all of this stuff. You can organize it however you want. I did it by finances (financial aid, bills, reciepts), housing (contracts, requests, assignments), and academics (book lists, schedules,