20/20 – Day 9: 20 hints for living with others

There’s no such thing as a perfect housemate.  I certainly wasn’t perfect.  Neither were the wonderful people I lived with.

But we listened. And we worked together. And we didn’t shy away from talking about problems. Much. 🙂

While yesterday’s post was aimed at finding accommodation, today’s post is about how to have a relatively stress-free time once you’re living in it.

Staying in private accommodation is a different experience to that of living on campus.  While some issues remain the same, it’s a whole new world.  Whoever you’re moving in with, be they best of friends or practically strangers, it’s best to be prepared.  Welcome to Day 9 of 20/20.

  1. Set meetings. The frequency and formality is up to you, but make sure you all get together on occasion and talk about any issues regarding the rental.
  2. Don’t be picky. Everyone’s different. They can’t all be perfect in your eyes. If it’s not a big deal and it’s not bothering you, let it go.
  3. Try to share items so you don’t all have to buy the same stuff. This works especially well with more expensive and less frequently used kitchen items.
  4. Respect the house rules. You don’t want to hear your housemates music at two in the morning. They don’t want to hear your music at that time of night either.  If you need to go as far as writing down some house rules, have a meeting and write them down. Hopefully it won’t come to that.
  5. Getting up earliest or coming back latest, remember to be quiet!
  6. Understand boundaries.  Your housemates probably won’t expect you going in to their room either, unless you’re invited.  Even if you have an open door policy that extends to when you’re out, others won’t.
  7. Tidy up after yourself.
  8. Communal cleaning should be done as a group, or on a rota.  Agree to one and stick to it.
  9. Each housemate take separate responsibility for a utility bill (electricity, gas, water, phone).  You all get practice, you all get a bit of work to do. Fair and reasonable.  Unless one person specifically wants to do the work (as happened in my 2nd year).
  10. Pay up on time whenever a bill comes in.
  11. Respect differences. No matter how similar you and your housemates are, there will be differences.  There’s nothing wrong with that.
  12. Don’t hog resources.  Be fair when you use the bathroom, the oven, the house phone, the living areas, and so on.  People may not speak up when you spend 2 hours on the same thing that takes them 20 minutes, but that doesn’t mean you should carry on regardless.
  13. Don’t allow guests to outstay the welcome of your housemates. Let’s say your partner visits. One or two nights is usually fine, although it’s still best to ask or have a prior agreement regarding guests.  If you know the stay will be longer, make sure everyone is happy with the situation.  When guests stay longer than expected, don’t ignore it, let everyone in the house know and explain why.  Remember, guests use resources too, so they’re costing the house money.
  14. Only hold parties and large social gatherings as a whole house. If it’s specific only to you, make sure you have explicit agreement from housemates that it’s okay.  Make sure boundaries are set and safeguards are in place.
  15. Don’t turn the heating up or down loads without coming to an agreement first. This is one that often gets overlooked. But if you’re always freezing while the rest of the house feels warm, they’re not going to appreciate the extra heat (or the extra cost)!
  16. Set up an area for messages, information, and so on. Just a fridge door will do.  Find space to get key information together that everyone can quickly check.
  17. Keep a list for phone calls made.  Mobile phones take away the urgency for a student house to have a phone.  Even if you have a phone because of broadband, there may be little use for the phone.  No matter how little the phone is used, keep a book by the phone and note down all calls that are made.  That way, when the bill comes through, you’ll know who needs to pay for each call.
  18. Speak up.  Don’t suffer in silence.  Unless you explain what difficulties you’re having, people may not realise.  However, instead of moaning, discuss the situation sensibly.
  19. Discuss the need for a TV Licence. Some students can’t be bothered to watch TV.  Others watch it whenever they’re in, no matter what they’re doing.  Not everyone wants to pay for a licence, because TV isn’t going to be a part of their student life.  If they don’t contribute, don’t complain if they suddenly watch the odd show. Life’s too short.  On the other hand, if they veg out every day in front of the box…
  20. Prepare to compromise. You can’t have everything your own way.

Title image: original by tiffa130 (cc)  /  Bottom image: original by San Sharma (cc)

20/20 – Day 8: 20 tips for finding accommodation

If only you could live on campus every year of your degree!

Choosing a place to live can be tough.  It’s bad enough working out who you’re going to live with, let alone where and under what circumstances.

When it comes to viewing properties and working out what’s suitable for you, here are some considerations that you shouldn’t leave home without…

  1. How close is it to campus? You’re doing yourself no favours if you’re miles away with no method of getting to uni.
  2. Is the area full of other students, or would you be on your own? Choose carefully. Quiet life or communal feel?  Some areas are full of houses let to students and you have to decide whether or not that’s your thing.
  3. Are you near amenities? Local shops, right by town, close to local facilities?  What do you need to live close to?
  4. Check your area. Use tools like UpMyStreet to study the neighbourhood if you really care about the surroundings you’re about to move to.
  5. Can you get a good broadband connection? Crucial for some people.
  6. Would you prefer to stay on campus? Can uni provide you with accommodation? Some universities do have places for students to stay on campus.  Find out what’s available to you as soon as possible.
  7. Senior Student schemes help you stay on campus and save money in the process.  Another way to avoid private accommodation is to check if your uni has a scheme for Senior Students or Student Ambassadors that live on campus working to support students in their Fresher year. You would be in a responsible role, however, so don’t use it solely as a way to live on campus for another year.
  8. Find a place through uni. Your accommodation office and Students’ Union should have lots of advice to offer.  They should also have an updated list of recommended accommodation specifically for students. Before you start looking for a place independently, see what your uni can do to point you in the right direction.
  9. Get agreements checked out before signing.  Solicitors often provide services through Student Union services, so check for that.  Don’t sign on the dotted line without making sure you’re not signing your life away.
  10. How many people do you want to live with? This makes a difference on the number of properties available.  Three or four people looking together will have a greater selection of possibilities than a group of seven or eight.  If necessary, try forming two smaller groups and live close together.  While not perfect, it may be the only option.
  11. How much living area is provided? If the property has been designed to fit as many paying students as possible, there may be no communal living space other than a kitchen. And we all know how small they can be. If you’re hoping to get people over and spend time with others, can you find room for entertaining, coming together, and so on?
  12. Check the little things. Some considerations are forgotten about. Look for plug sockets, phone/broadband sockets, size of the fridge/freezer, etc. These issues don’t seem important, but they’ll be a big deal if they’re lacking in one way or another.
  13. Safety first! Check all locks, make sure windows are secure, and be aware of anything that doesn’t look safe inside and outside the property.  You want to make sure you’re going to be relatively safe and you want to make sure your belongings aren’t going to disappear too easily.
  14. Don’t be too picky.  Remember, you do need to be comfortable, safe, and suited to the place you’re renting.  But it’s not like you’re buying it.  Anyway, you only need stay there for a year.  Factor in several months spent back at home too and little niggles like the colour of the bathroom suite are suddenly not as important as you first thought.
  15. If unsure, speak to your accommodation office and/or Student Union. This goes for any queries. Before committing to anything, make sure you know what the deal is.
  16. Don’t look at properties outside your price range.  It’s not worth wasting time finding the ‘perfect’ place and worrying about money issues later. Stick to your own limits.
  17. Consider your housemates carefully.  There are no hard and fast rules.  Some people say it’s great to live with your closest mates from the first year.  Others say it’s asking for trouble.  Same situation for living with people on your course.  Same again for living with the same people you lived with on campus.  There are arguments for and against any arrangement.  So I say simply this: Think carefully before you rush in to any living arrangement with others.  Try to get it working.  You may not succeed, but the harder you try, the more likely you’ll get a positive outcome.
  18. Check transport links.  You need to be mobile, so don’t get stuck in the middle of nowhere.  How far to the nearest train station?  Where are the bus stops?  Where do the buses go to?
  19. Minimalist or clutter-bug? If you like a house, but the rooms are tiny and you’ve got loads of stuff to pack in your room, you’ve got two choices: Option one, chuck out some of the clutter.  Option two, ignore that house and keep looking.  Up to you.
  20. Stick with full time students when sharing, or risk paying Council Tax.  If you find yourself in a situation where at least one of you renting is a part-time student, the house is eligible for Council Tax.  But if you’re all full-time students, you’re free from paying Council Tax…which is nice.

Title image: original by tiffa130 (cc)  /  Bottom images: *saxon* & mescon (cc)

20/20 – Day 7: 20 ways to get the word count right

Word counts. Ah, yes. We’ve all been through it before.  You either get stuck after writing about 800 words of a 1,500 word essay, or you fly past the required number of words in the hope that triple the length is acceptable.

Below are 20 ways to help you achieve the word count you need.  Ten for when you’re struggling to write, ten for when you’ve rocketed past the limit.

When you can’t find the words

  1. Write the way you feel. Make it scholarly later. In other words, ignore your internal editor!
  2. Read more. There is always more to add and other avenues to explore.  Further reading should help uncover new areas that you haven’t discussed yet.
  3. Return to your notes. Has something been covered that could be included as part of your argument?  Did your tutor provide any broad topic areas that are relevant to your writing?
  4. Ignore the essay so far. Just list all the points/opinions/arguments you want to make. Anything currently missing from the essay can now be written up.
  5. Step away from the essay. Leave it for a while and return when your mind’s fresh.  Sometimes it’s the only way to wake your mind back up.
  6. Think prodding, not padding! Just adding text for the sake of making up numbers is pointless and it won’t get you any extra marks.  Question everything you read. Does a text agree with your argument? If so, how has the author moved the topic on?  If not, can you criticise that argument in order to back up yours?
  7. Ignore the word count. It starts you off with the wrong mindset altogether.  If you consider the number of words before you’ve written anything, you will automatically stop writing at points in fear that you’re writing too much.  In fact, you need to write more.  So return to any writing that you’ve already done and try expanding on what you’ve got without it turning to padding.
  8. Ask your tutor how the essay is shaping up.  Discuss what you can examine next, where to explore, and so on.
  9. Return to the question. What else could it mean or imply?  Rarely is an undergraduate essay a simple question with an unambiguous answer.
  10. Stop restricting yourself. If you do all the above and still can’t get near to the right number of words, you’re somehow blocking yourself.  Remember that there’s no right or wrong answer.  Critical engagement is so much more than that. If it’s proving that difficult to engage, look to staging a completely different argument.  Maybe you’re trying to give an opinion that isn’t really your opinion.

When you’re over the limit

  1. Cut, cut, cut!
  2. List points in order of importance. Cut the rest to brief points and references.
  3. Check for repetition.
  4. Check verbosity. Are you unnecessarily labouring a point? Be brutal.
  5. Consider depth. Have you given more detail than is expected of you?
  6. If a particular discussion or argument uses many more words than your other set pieces, cut from here.
  7. Take a reality check. “There’s no way I can cut this without cutting something crucial. I need to include everything.”  Seriously, you don’t.  Count yourself lucky that you’ve got the ideas. If it’s still tough, talk it through with your tutor. They will almost certainly suggest areas to chop.
  8. Don’t retell a story or explain from scratch. Introduce the point briefly and reference.
  9. Don’t panic if you’re slightly over.  0-5% is no big deal. 5-10% is worth being vigilant over.  Anything above 10% needs serious reduction.
  10. If you’re going to write so much, why not make it your dissertation subject? 😉
Title image: original by tiffa130 (cc)

20/20 – Day 6: 20 excuses to move

Not everyone plays sport. Not everyone gets up from where they’re sat every hour to stretch.  Not everyone thinks to move around as much as they probably should.

Today’s 20/20 post contains simple excuses to get up and move. Because we all need to be active sometimes.

  1. When you make a phone call. Don’t just sit there, walk as you talk.
  2. Make a cup of tea or coffee. While waiting for the kettle to boil, walk around the room. If the room’s big enough, of course!
  3. Walk to town. Some walking wellbeing before the retail therapy.
  4. Jog to campus. Not suitable if you’re laden with books.
  5. Change position as you change task. Even if you’re due to continue working in the same place, give each task a physical break point as well as a mental one.  Not only does it get you out of your seat, it also separates the tasks you’re working on.
  6. Move when you lack inspiration. You don’t need to go very far.  Just move away from the space you were occupying.  Think of it as a reset button.  You may not need a total reboot, but you’d like to return to your default settings again.
  7. Get physical when you are tired. Jump up and down, spin around in circles, do something to wake yourself up again.
  8. When you need the toilet. Fair enough, you’ll move whether you like it or not.  But don’t wait, just use the excuse to get active. If you’re on campus, don’t automatically use the nearest convenience.  Walk to one further away.  Every step helps.
  9. Post a letter. There’s bound to be a postbox near to you. A quick walk to the postbox is a great excuse to move. Don’t wait until you’re going past it anyway.
  10. Get off bus one stop early. Walk the rest of your journey. I wouldn’t advise getting off one stop late.  I did that once and found that the next stop was 15 miles away!
  11. Use stairs, not the lift. For many of us, the automatic choice between taking the stairs and catching a lift is the lift option.  Each time you make tracks toward the lift, look for the stairs. If you want a challenge, try to beat the lift.  I expect you could most of the time.
  12. Cook from scratch. You won’t go far with a microwave meal. There aren’t many steps to the front door to collect that pizza you’ve just ordered.  By making your own food, you have to get active in the kitchen.  Okay, it’s not aerobics, but the movement will still do you good.
  13. Schedule it. What more excuse do you need? Once you schedule an activity it’s only a lack of willpower that can get in the way. I say ‘only’…
  14. When you’re thinking. Time spent exercising your mind can be time spent exercising your legs.  Every time you’re engaged in lengthy thought, get walking.
  15. Get up and dance! Music doesn’t have to be listened to in a sitting position.  Stand up, move about, you could even dance.  Although perhaps not in public.
  16. Move your phone away from you. Your phone is like another limb.  But it doesn’t need to live in your pocket all the time.  Put the phone on the other side of your room while you work on other things.  You’ll then get up and move every time you receive a message.  It could get annoying, but surely that’s more reason to ignore the phone or switch it off, rather than stick it back in your pocket again!
  17. Shower instead of bath. Easier on the environment, easier for you to get moving.
  18. Tidy!
  19. Set an alarm.  Every 20 or 30 minutes, set an alarm so you can walk around the room a couple times.  A simple alternative to scheduling the exercise.
  20. Stand/fidget as you work.  Sedentary work may not require much movement, but who said you had to sit down and stay perfectly still?  Get your fidget on!

Title image: original by tiffa130 (cc)  /  Bottom image: NeoGaboX (cc)