Tips from a college student

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#1. Febreeze

#2. Duct tape

#3. Thumbtacks (put stuff on walls)

#4. Screw driver

#5. Extra car key

#6. Extra contact lenses

#7. Disposable forks and plates

#8. Medicine (ibuprofen, benadryl, neosporin, cold medicine)

#9. Rolls of quarters

#10 Surge protector

Have you ever signed up for a class and ended up with a terrible professor? I know I have. That was before I discovered ratemyprofessors.com. One of my friends told me about it, and I have used it diligently since then.

What this site does is let students rate professors online in different categories, and also give a brief description of their experience with the professor. I have found this extremely useful when signing up for classes, because I cross-reference every professor before I sign up for their class. It's great because you know what you're getting into when you sign up for a particular class.

Since I have been using this site, I have not gotten a bad professor. Different people have different preferences for classes, which is why I like to use this site instead of just asking friends. You can see a greater variety of opinions on the professors by using this site, and after reading several you have a general idea of how the professor is. Personally, I don't mind writing essays, but I don't like long ones. I try to avoid any professor that consistently gives longer that 6 page essays. I know that this won't happen once I get further into my major, but for now thats one of my goals in signing up for classes.

Also, if you use the site remember to post your opinion of your professors at the end of the semester to help out other people later. I try to always rate my professors, but sometimes I forget.

Have you ever run a spy ware detector on your computer? I hope you have, because I can guarantee you that it is full of spy ware. I have discovered that most spy ware/viruses/trojans/whatever else bad gets on computers gets there through internet explorer. I have started instead using Mozilla Firefox, which is an alternative to Internet Explorer. When using this program, I get about 10% of the junk on my computer that I was getting before.

I also like the layout of Firefox better than Internet Explorer. I find it difficult to use Internet Explorer, and confusing to change settings. Firefox has had many features for a while that IE is just incorporating into their newest release, IE7. My favorite is tabbed browsing, where instead of opening a new window from a link you just open a new tab. This is now becoming a common feature in all browsers, but Firefox has had it for awhile.

Another feature that I like is the bookmarks toolbar. I have my favorite bookmarks to the right of my menu (file, edit, view, etc), so I can easily access them without having to open up the favorites folder and navigate to them. I have my favorite RSS feeds in the bookmarks toolbar too, so I can view them with one click while I am on any webpage.
I encourage you to download Firefox, as it is in my opinion the best browser available right now.

I've been reading a lot on different blogs about whether or not it is a good idea to ditch your land line phone and just use a cell phone. I don't have a land line personally, I just use my cell phone. I move around too much to use a land line. I would have to change my number wayyyy too often, but with my cell I always have it with me, so my friends can reach me no matter where I am on the same number, whether at home or work or vacation or wherever. Another reason I don't have use for a land line is I'm not at home very much during the day. It would only be useful for an answering machine but my cell has an answering machine in voice mail, so that eliminates that too.

To me a land line just isn't practical. Its a waste of money every month when my cell has free nights and weekends, and I'm at work or in class during the day so I don't talk very much. And I text way more than I talk, so I don't really need a whole lot of money. If you're worried about the battery wearing out, get a decent phone, and when you think the battery is getting old buy a new battery. That's a lot cheaper than a new phone.

I charge my phone about once every 3 nights, and it's over a year old and still works fine. The battery seems to last forever. One secret to keeping your battery healthy is to not charge it with it on. I never charge mine with it on, never have and never will. My friends and I have experimented with this, and have discovered that it makes a big difference in the life of the battery. Charging the phone with it on is one of the fastest ways to kill a battery.

When you sign up for a cell phone, just make sure you read the fine print and know what you're getting. Make sure you get enough minutes and texts, because they will stack up the fees if you're not careful. Do you still have a land line? If so, you may want to consider ditching it to save a little money every month.

Do you feel like you‘re not efficient with your time, or that you waste a lot of time every day. I know I do. So I have started searching for ways to be more efficient and get more done every day.

#1. Pre-plan your day.

-When you get up in the morning, think about everything you want to accomplish that day and write it down. Then make a schedule of what you have to do that day and work in everything you want to accomplish so that you have almost your entire day planned out. By sticking to a schedule, you won’t waste time by trying to think what you need to do and by doing stuff that doesn’t need done.

#2. Schedule in time for yourself during the day.

-Take a break from your work, do something you enjoy for a few minutes. Read a book, take a walk, call your mom, meditate, do something besides work.

#3. Reward yourself.

-If you have something big to do like an essay for a class or a project at work, don’t try to tackle it all at one time. Plan out different steps that you can do to work towards finishing the project, like making an outline for an essay, research, etc. Then start early on these, and reward yourself after each step by taking some time for yourself. By doing this you won’t get stressed trying to do it all at once, and you’ll finish it without being under pressure.

#4. Recap your day.

-At the end of the day, think back over your day and what you can improve upon for the next day. Write down mistakes you made, such as checking your email 500 times, and write it down and what you will do to correct it. Review this in the morning when you make your plan for the day. By doing this, you will be constantly developing into a more efficient person.

#5. Eliminate time-wasters.

-Figure out what you do that wastes time every day. For me, it’s checking my email too often and reading message boards. Once you figure out what you do to waste time, fix it. Instead of checking email every few minutes, schedule times into your day to check it. I recommend replying to all the email 2 or 3 times per day, and if you are worried about not replying soon enough, make an auto-response for your email that says something like, “I check my email at 4:30. If there is something that needs dealt with before then, please call ….”. By doing this the person sending the email knows when to expect a response, and you don’t have to waste time checking your email non stop. If you waste time doing other things like reading message boards, use reading message boards as one of your rewards. When you complete a task, reward yourself by reading the message board. Or during your break do it. But don’t constantly be reading them, because they can be very time consuming. Whatever you waste time on, fix it, and you will be more efficient with your time.

#1. Get rid of your cable/satellite.

-Instead of wasting a ton of money every month this, just buy seasons of the shows you watch when they come out on DVD. If you watch a lot of movies, get a Netflix subscription or blockbuster. This will save you a lot of money in the long run

#2. Get a small car that cost under $8,000 and gets good gas mileage.

-Calculate how much you spend in gas every year. I don’t drive very much, and I spend about $1400 every year on gas. Getting a smaller car can reduce this cost, and you can also make money if you sell your expensive SUV or whatever you have.

#3. Get a gas rewards card.

-I recommend either the Discover Open Road card or the BP gas card. If you only buy BP gas, get that card, but if you buy different types then get the Discover card. You can save several hundred dollars a year by getting the rewards from these cards.

#4. Buy everything either used or generic.

-Almost everything you buy can be bought on eBay. Most of the time you can save a ton of money on there. For food and other household items, buy the generic brands. It’s the same product, but you get more for your money.

#5. Pay off your credit cards.

-Almost everyone has credit card debt these days, but most people don’t realize that the card companies are sucking money out of their wallets through interest. Credit cards are not a bad thing if you pay them off every month when you get your statement. If you can’t do this, don’t get a credit card.

#6. Don’t drink or smoke or dip or chew or anything else addicting.

-This includes coffee, alcohol, soft drinks, any tobacco products, or anything else you may be addicted to. Drink only water. Its healthier and cheaper. Don’t drink bottled water, drink tap water. If it taste bad get a filter, it’s still cheaper. You can save a ton of money by doing this.

#7. Make your house more energy efficient.

-Do you have high electric bills? If you do a search online, you can find many things to make your home more energy efficient, from power saving lights to solar panels. Think of this as an investment that will add up in the long run.

#8. Stop eating fast food, and eat out for cheap.

-fast food is terrible for you, and its cost adds up quick. Instead of dropping $7 on a fast food meal every day at work, pack a sandwich or something healthy. Try to eat fruit also. When you go to restaurants, eat cheap and healthy stuff like salad and water.

Also check out How to have fun while living frugally.