I LOVE STATIONERY!
One of my favourite times was stationery shopping for the new academic year, it was so refreshing to get a clean pencil case, new notebooks and a mountain load of pens! So when I got to university and the student loans welcomed themselves into my bank account, I could not wait to go off and buy my stationery essentials.
Now that my university days are over and I do not have a reason to go out and buy ridiculous amounts of stationery, I thought that I would give all you lovely lot who are starting university or even college/school a little advise on what I found were the best and basic essentials for starting the academic year!
NOTEBOOKS
Notebooks are one of the most important things you will need for university! (Using your arm as a notebook is not the way to go). You will easily fill in a whole notebook with the amount of lecture notes you will be taking! During my time at university, I tested out a variety of notebooks. One term I decided to get the multi-pack of notebooks allowing me to have one for each university module, I then decided to get a subject notebook so that I only had to carry one notebook with me but it still had the sections in it to break my modules down. I found these both very handy and would recommend both of them. I have a huge obsession with notebooks to the point where I have brought them for the sake of it and never used them, especially ones with pretty covers. In my final year of university I decided to write positive affirmations at the top of every page in my notebook (which took hours...) so when I found this notebook I had to purchase it straight away!
Every 2 pages in this notebook has a positive quote from a famous or memorable person, For me I found this really motivating especially when your in a 'can't be bothered' mood. I got this notebook from Homesense which is one place that I go straight away when I need a new notebook (not that I need any more!). It is definitely one of my favourite items in my stationery haul!
PENS
It is so easy to go out and buy so many different types of pens, I admit that I needed every type of pen going to make my notes all neat and pretty. There's the normal ball point for the standard writing, the coloured fine liners for underlining and the occasional colourful headings, gel pens just because you can get those glitter ones or scented ones, highlighters for highlighting...the list goes on! But the two I recommend for your basic essentials are your ball points and your highlighter. I find that ball points are one of the best because they don't do that horrible smudging thing that some pens do, you can also get them in a variety of different colours which means that your notebook can still be pretty and colourful. Highlighters. At university you have to read things...A LOT OF THINGS! This is where the highlighter comes in, it will either become your best friend...or your enemy...it depends. Highlighting is a lot easier than writing out the quotes and important information you find in these readings. So get a couple of highlighters on your essentials check-list. I purchased my ball points from Tesco, they came in a 3-pack which is handy because when one runs out I have another spare. My highlighter is from WHSmith, they had normal plain ones but I liked the funky pattern on it...
PENCIL CASE
Those lovely little pens you just purchased need a lovely little home! I recommend getting a pencil case because you will honestly lose half of your stationery if you don't...I promise that!. I chose to get this little tube style one because I do not want the majority of the weight in my bag to be from my pens! Even though it is only small, it is still spacious enough to fit in quite a few pens. I got this pencil case from WHSmith and it was a total bargain! I loved the little 'happy days!' text on it making it cute but simple!
DIARY/PLANNER
When your in school you get handed a planner to write in all your homework and other than that I thought it was pretty pointless. As soon as I started university, this became my bible! It will help you become so much more organised and up to date with what you need to do or where you need to be. Now a days, places sell academic diaries especially for people starting university/college/school which start from half way through the year, so you don't have to buy one that starts in January and have to wait until July or August to use it! Not only are diaries really helpful but planners are too and this is what I have chose to purchase this time.
Planners are slightly different to diaries, they are still marked out by the day but they are not dated. I prefer planners because of this, I like to put in my own dates and even put in times if I need to. This planner is from Paper Chase and I fell in love with the design straight away, I mean...who doesn't love unicorns and the colour pink!! It is set out on two pages, on one side it has the sections Monday to Sunday where you can pop in the times of where you need to be or what you need to do. The other side is a blank grid page (like in your old maths exercise book), this allows you to add notes or even create your own sections for things you want to add. I honestly recommend any planner or diary as part of your essentials because it will really help organise your life!
STICKY NOTES
I didn't start using these until my third year of university and I wish I had started using these sooner. The little sticky notes came in handy when I was borrowing library books. Unlike those printed off readings you could highlight, library books had to stay in an excellent condition. When I found a piece of important information or a really good quote I could use for my essay, I would pop in a little sticky note poking out of the top of the book to show which page I had found it on which made it really easy to find that piece of information again. The big sticky notes would end up all over my house with To Do's on or even little things I needed to remember which was really handy. Those line's that I was learning for my theatre for young audience module would end up stuck on my bathroom mirror so I could look at it whilst brushing my teeth. I got this little sticky note pad from WHSmith and thought it was pretty awesome how it had the little stickys and big stickys all together.
FOLDER
Last but not least...a folder. You will need a home for all those hand outs, readings and the paperwork you receive in your lectures, seminars or lessons. Get yourself a good old folder! You don't want to go back to your desk to see a pile of paper sitting there just because you didn't get yourself a folder. These papers may also contain that one bit of information you could use in your essay to get that amazing grade you want! For myself, getting a folder was a massive help to keep everything together especially because I did a drama degree where I had loads of scripts to keep and loads of readings to do! Also, when all your papers are in one place you will not have to spend half your morning looking for that piece of paper you need to take to class today, you can just take your whole folder and make sure its all safe! It makes everything tidy and is easy to store anywhere whether its on your desk or in your bookshelf. You can also get yourself some dividers to go inside which separates your papers into sections or modules like in your notebook! I got this folder from Paper Chase and it obviously had to be patterned and pretty. It is also a perfect size to take anywhere with me whether I am carrying it or it is sitting in my bag!
So these are the essentials I recommend when starting university or even college and school. There are a lot more things out there that you could possibly buy depending on your course but these are what helped me out and I hope that this gives you an idea on what to buy for when you start your degree or course.
Stay smart guys!!
