Stress-free Series: Admin, Admin & Lots of Other Admin

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About the author: My name is Sophie Layton, and I’m an MA International Public & Political Communication and BSc Biology graduate from the University of Sheffield. I am currently the Managing Editor of WILD Magazine, Editor of Ed Fringe Review, and Newsletter Editor for the Essex International Jamboree, as well as a former Arts & Theatre Editor of Forge Press. I am also the Digital Media Officer for the Student Publication Association. I am a keen thespian with the Sheffield University Theatre Company, with interests in culture, LGBTQ+ issues and political science.

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This post is part of our Stress-free Series, designed to tackle those student pain points so you can start to remove everyday chaos. Whether you’re up to your eyeballs in life admin or struggling to get back on budget, we’ve got you covered.

Life admin waits for no one, and keeping on top of it can be a taller order than you imagine! Here are our tips for getting ahead of the game and ensuring that the job gets done.

Being a student can be a tough ride. Deadlines, exams, lecture preparation, assignment research, electives, extracurricular activities and job applications can very quickly fill up your day and leave you with mere minutes to spare for socialising and resting.

Whilst this affects each of us differently, it can often mean that a lot of the general, ’life admin’ can be pushed to the side and forgotten, until you have hundreds of emails, you’re double- or triple-booked, and you don’t have anywhere to live next year! But fear not! Here’s our tips for keeping on top of the everyday admin that comes with being a student, and our strategies for getting ahead of the game!

Life admin top tips

A plan of plans

Being a student is often defined by your schedule; how many times, when making plans with your friends, has someone uttered “I’ve got a lecture then, so I can do…” or “My seminar finishes at…”?

Assuming you’re already working off a schedule, why not use this for other things you have going on? Set yourself up a Google Calendar or other schedule, and put as much as you can on it, from university sessions to extracurricular societies. By keeping this updated, not only do you ensure you’re not double-booking yourself, but you may also find more free time to do other things you keep putting off!

Save time on payments and purchases

One of the most essential parts of your university experience is your household, but this brings its own set of administrative tasks, from sorting your bills, group purchases and planning for next year! Luckily, UniHomes is a great way to reclaim some of this lost time! With all-inclusive bill packages and property listings available year-round, you can reclaim a huge chunk of your time by sorting all of your housing needs in one simple, convenient place.

For dealing with other group purchases, consider setting up a system or arrangement when you move in, either using an app or a quid pro quo arrangement, to help keep costs down and avoid over-purchasing!

New house, new you, lots to do

In the excitement of moving house, either to a new part of the city or to university for the first time, lots of admin tasks can get forgotten in the boxes and bags. One of the most common, and most frustrating, is when your letters, packages, and parcels are delivered - but to your old address!

One of the best ways to avoid this is to go through all of your saved passwords and change your address over all in one go - every site that has your address saved will be password-protected, so this system helps to make sure you don’t miss one, and your items turn up safe and sound where you expected!

Chancellor of the ex-check-er

Money plays a key role in the student experience, and budgeting is a core skill for both enjoying your social life at university and for your entire adult life. Keeping on top of your finances can be quite a difficult challenge, and if not given attention, can lead to difficulties down the track.

Be sure to devise a system to track your weekly/monthly/annual incomings and outgoings, put some away for savings in your student bank account, and use this to work out what your ‘spending money’ is, to avoid dipping into the red! Check this regularly and don’t be afraid to adjust the numbers if circumstances change.

Prep those meals

Having no hot meal to come back to after a long day of lectures can feel uninspiring, especially if you can’t be bothered putting on that chef’s hat! You’ll likely throw the towel in and blow your budget on a takeaway - or worse, find a Pot Noodle at the back of the cupboard.

Before you get to this point, why not block out some time when you’re free on a Sunday and prep for the week ahead? If you can nail your weekday meals in advance, you can tuck into some home-cooked food every single night - without the effort of cooking once you get home from uni. Just get yourself some good Tupperware.

Ditch the loading limbo

There’s nothing worse than finally finding the motivation to tackle life admin, only to have your tech stop you from getting anywhere. Whether it’s a total crash or just a sluggish crawl, the loading limbo is enough to put anyone off admin for life - and I wouldn’t blame you for closing your laptop right there and then.

Getting your laptop and chargers in order can help you to: complete your online banking, update your address, register to vote, and everything else - more efficiently. Many students also consider setting up contents insurance to protect their belongings too (so have a look into it!).

Don’t forget…

Despite your best intentions, lots of admin tasks, especially once you’ve moved house, can be forgotten, and lead to minor inconveniences or huge problems further down the line. So whilst your mind’s on admin tasks, get out your to-do list and remember to:

• Register to vote (you need to do this again when you move!)

• Register with a GP and dental practice

• Let your family know what your new address is

• And check when your bin collections are!

Little and often

No matter what strategy (or strategies!) you adopt for dealing with life admin, keeping on top of it is the easiest way to help manage it and ensure you don’t fall behind. Try to carve out 10 or 15 minutes each day to go through your emails, clear your messages and handle some of those 1-2 minute tasks that don’t fit anywhere else in your schedule.

It can also help to assign certain tasks to certain days each week, such as always going to the shops on a Monday, doing the washing at the weekend, or phoning home after a specific lecture to keep the homesickness at bay. Keeping on top of admin should be a regular sprint, not a once-in-a-blue-moon marathon!

Admin is never going to be the most exciting task, yet it is an essential one to help make your student experience as enjoyable as possible and to keep the wheels turning, no matter the challenges. Follow our tips to keep on top of the never-ending challenge, and you’ll ensure that everything is ready behind-the-scenes to keep you ready and raring to go!

Sort next year’s bills!

Once you’re on top of the little things in uni life, you can turn your attention to locking in next year’s bills. Luckily, UniHomes makes it easy for you with all-inclusive student utility packages, featuring uncapped energy and superfast broadband, that can be added to any student home.

If you’re still looking for a property, you’ll find these bills already bundled into UniHomes’ listed properties, so you can move in without the stress. Go all in with one monthly package and tick one more chore off your to-do list today.

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Our UniHomes Content Ambassadors are current students across the UK who share tips about student life in their city to help you make the most of your time at uni. If you're interested in writing for our programme, click here for more details.

The views and opinions expressed in these blogs are those of the UniHomes Content Ambassadors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of UniHomes. UniHomes accepts no liability for the content of these Student Blogs.