Thanks for looking, I hope to see you on the other side!

Apart from the easy answer of ‘whatever is on the list your uni gave you’ there are a lot of things you might be wondering if you could live without. Should I take my guitar? What about these books? Maybe my old photo album? What about this top I really like? Should I take those over there, just in case?

This post is about letting go of what you don’t need to minimise the amount of junk and clutter in your new dorm room.

When you get to your new room, the only place where the space is truly yours within those four walls. Unless you’re very lucky, those four walls will unfortunately probably be a little bit too close together. Unlike at home, you can’t really chuck all of your possessions all over the corridor or flat without it getting in someone’s way, so now is your chance to get rid of everything you literally don’t need almost everyday or week.

Minimalism is about reducing the clutter in your life. It’s about just having exactly what you need, nothing more. When you get rid of things you don’t need, you’ll be left with:

• a lot of space – in your closet, under the bed, on your shelves, any where there used to be junk that you never used.
• a clear mind – your desk will be clear, leaving you with a clear and organised mind, which increases productivity. There aren’t a lot of really productive people with piles and piles of papers and knick-knacks all over their desks.
• only the things you love – you’ll only have the things you absolutely cannot get rid of, which means you probably use it or cherish it a lot.

Here are some great posts about minimalism:

Zen Habits – The Ultimate Guide To Conquering Your Clutter

Fabulously Broke – Just Get Rid of It

How to Declutter for University | 5 Steps

So, moving on to how this directly applies to us students. You may want to follow these steps close to the time you are about to move, or you can choose to implement them a little bit before to make actual moving day easier.

1. Identify an area you want to concentrate on first. Try to pick an easy place to start, such as your desk or shelf, before you move on to places like under your bed and wardrobe. Block out time to do this, give yourself a lot of leeway, decluttering can take some time but it’s worth it.

2.Grab a big box or bag and label it ‘Uni’. Grab another and label it ‘Keep’. And grab another and label it ‘Throw/Donate’. Pick up one item at a time and think carefully about which box to put it in. The ‘Uni’ box is all of the stuff you absolutely want to take with you to uni, such as an item of clothing, or your desk lamp. The ‘Keep’ box is stuff that you won’t take with you, but you want to keep, such as an old photo album. The third box, ‘Throw/Donate’ is for things you literally don’t want, need or to keep. This stuff can be old clothes, books, old gifts, papers etc. etc.

3. Ask yourself. Is this item something I use regularly? If it’s not something I use regularly, is it something I love? Am I saving this just in case? For more check out Simple Nest – 10 Questions To Help You Declutter.

4. Be honest. If you’ve ever tried lying to yourself, you might know that it never works. Answer the questions honestly, and then act upon them. Don’t decide that you shouldn’t keep it and then you do, really really try hard to follow through with your decision.

5. Just get rid of it. If you’re unsure it’s probably because you don’t want to get rid of it, even though you know you should. In this case, you can put the item in a box, label it for a date, such as six months in the future, and if you haven’t made a claim on the anything in it, chuck the whole box.

Another approach for the ‘not sure’ items is to consider that maybe you should just get rid of if. The best thing about moving to uni is that you get to leave a lot of unwanted baggage behind. So do it now, leave it behind, university is the beginning of a new life, don’t let old things weigh you down.

It’s onwards and upwards from here.

*Stay tuned for Part 2 of Moving from Home to Dorm – Arrival.

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5 Steps is a ‘kill ‘em quick’ format for busy students. Please help me improve each post with your comments and suggestions.

Your new room-mates will be some of the most important people in your life, you’ll spend a lot of time with them, here’s how to get started.

1. Bring muffins. They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I think it’s safe to say the same goes for girls too, so bring or bake food to bring on your first day. Everyone will be nervous but a good triple chocolate muffin or box of chocolates will be sure to calm the butterflies and act as a good icebreaker when you first meet. Maybe even bring some alcoholic drinks as well, everyone will be grateful. But, you must do this out of actual generosity, don’t bring elaborate gifts to try and ‘buy’ your new room-mates’ affection. If you genuinely want to make friends, they will sense your sincerity and see you as a giving person.

2. Be available. During your first week you might be busy with the introductory meetings of your various courses etc. But try to find time in the evening to hang out with your room-mates. You might be rather excited to relax in your very own room and to unpack and rearrange things, or you might want to make a phone call you your parents because you’re nervous, but there will be time for that later. The most important thing is to establish yourself in your dorm, get to know people, and let them get to know you, there is only one chance to make a good first impression, use it quickly and in your own terms, don’t coop yourself up and let them make judgements about you before you have the chance to meet properly.

3. Open your door. Once you’ve settled in a few days (and tidied up the initial stuff explosion of unpacking), keep the door to your room open whenever you’re in it. Even if somebody across the hall is being really noisy. Keeping your door open is a welcoming gesture, and it encourages people to drop in, or encourages you to get out. Of course, when it matters, close it to get some peace and quiet when you’re really busy, but the main point is that you want people to know you’re there to hang out, it’s a great way to do spontaneous things like ‘get a coffee’ or have a chat.

4. Do random acts of kindness. If you’ve been organised, you might have sorted out a rota for everyone to do certain things on particular days, such as washing the dishes, taking out the rubbish and hoovering or whatever. But, if you have some free time, and you can see that the designated room-mate is a little busy with work or something, perhaps consider doing it for them. You don’t need to do it all the time, but your room-mate is highly likely to appreciate it. Random acts of kindness are done out of exactly that – kindness, so you don’t need to have recognition for it if it wasn’t a big deal, you don’t need to flaunt it or count favours owed, they’re just a nice and subtle way of revealing your compassionate nature.

5. Partay. Organise something for everyone to do together. Don’t wait for ‘someone else’ to do it if you can tell that nothing is happening this weekend. Invite people over – classmates, friends of friends, old friends. Network everyone together, let everyone get to know each other, you don’t need to have separate categories of friends in your life if you don’t want to. Get some snacks and drinks, (and the dorm warden’s permission) and have a party. Remember to smile and relax, that person opposite you might be someone you’ll be stuck with for the next couple of brilliant years.

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5 Steps is a ‘kill ‘em quick’ format for busy students. Please help me improve each post with your comments and suggestions.

If there’s ever a time to start being organized, it’s probably when you are a student, especially a college or university student. For most people it’s their first time away from home, and all of the responsibility of organizing shifts from parents to you. Now, you have to manage your own budget, schedule time to do your own essays, and actually then actually do them. Nobody will tell you when and what to do, it’s all up to you. University and college is ultimately all about learning, not just about your chosen course but also about yourself – your own independent thoughts, views and opinions. Being a student isn’t the be all end all but it does greatly influence how you will live the rest of your life.

Scary. Looking around the interwebs, I found only a very small number of places to find good tips on how to live well as a student. Most of the juicy tips are in books you have to pay for, and we all know how we won’t be able to afford them! Here I shall post any good tips I do find, as well as some of my own.  Developing good skills now, such as time management and budgeting is the first step for a happy future during and after university.

I’m starting this new blog as a step by step guide on how to become a ‘better learner’ and I think that the first step to being a successful student lies in one word…simplicity.

I believe that developing a minimalist lifestyle, is the best way to handle the information overload that stresses so many students out. Many categories come under the umbrella of minimalism/simplicity, especially since it is an essential part of self development. For future posts I will cover what minimalism is, organization, productivity (GTD), time management and money, anything I can think of really that by improving on them I can better the quality of my life (see About).

I am by no means perfect, and this blog isn’t written out of (much) experience, but rather is a way for me to explore how I can improve myself in these crucial years of my life.

The format of this blog will be different than a lot of others because it will essentially be a work in progress, as I learn things from experience. I want to build a comprehensive lifehacking guide for students, so I will definitely want to take on comments and suggestions from you so that I can edit and improve each post until they get better and better.

This blog is a journey, I don’t know where it’s going, or indeed if there’s a destination, but the end isn’t the most important thing, the path is, so why don’t you join me in my adventure in becoming a better student?