Christmas Student Survival Guide.

Ah it's that time of year again, the time of over-drinking and overeating with your favorite people. And the time for fun, right? Well as a university student living in London on a budget, this time of year for me is deadlines, over-drinking, over-eating, more deadlines and feeling obliged to buy my friends and family presents but not having the funds to do so. So I have decided to try and put together a little Survival guide for students and also for anyone doing Christmas on a budget this year.

Deadlines

This is a difficult one to overcome, while I want to give you a quick way to do this the only thing you can really do is get your assignments done, although this is easier said than done, lord knows I'm a master procrastinator. When I absolutely need to get work done, I make sure to do it in an environment with the least amount of distraction as possible - so home is completely out of the question. When my last essay was due in I left it all to the last minute but my apartment was immaculate, my hair was curled every day and I had re-watched Friends - all 10 seasons. So here are my favorite places to study;

1) The Library - most universities will have a library free for you to use, if they don't you can still use most public libraries for free and, being in London there really isn't a shortage of these. As well as being a great work environment they have a number of resources you can use for your work, books being the obvious one but they usually have computers you can use and copies of articles with anything from Vogue to the The Times, which can give you more interesting/varied resources for your essays. The library on my university campus also has vending machines which is 100% needed for proper studying.

2) Cafes - another pretty great studying place are cafe's, again there are a number of these in London, my favorite one to work in is Le Pain De Coitidean because it's not too far for me to travel and they make great coffee - another studying necessity. I don't know what it is about cafe's that are a great environment for me to actually get work done, maybe its the perfect amount of background noise or the steady supply of coffee or even just the fact that I feel like the star of a teen movie where they finally get their shit together and study for the big test, complete with the messy bun look, colored highlighters and baggy jumper look....Just me?

Shopping

Now onto the fun topic - Shopping! This is the thing that gives me the most stress this time of year. Like I said I am turning 20 soon (yikes) and I feel obliged to buy my friends and family extravagant gifts but I don't have the funds to do so as I am a poor student. Here are some ideas of what you can do to save money but still get something nice and meaningful for your family and friends.

1) Secret Santa! - If you have a big family like I do (seriously I have 20+ cousins!) or a big group of friends this can be a really good way of saving money, if you don't know what Secret Santa is, basically a group of people write their name on a piece of paper fold these up and put it in a hat and then take it in turns to draw out a name - this is who you will buy a present for. You can work out a budget as a group so everyone gets a fair amount but this has saved me so much money this year, rather than having to buy a present for everyone you only have to buy for one person.

2) TK MAXX - possibly my favorite store. They sell a wide variety of brands at a discounted price because they are left over from last season. It can be hit and miss because you don't ever know for sure what they are selling so you need to go in with general ideas rather than a specific thing. I bought lots of presents this year from TK maxx, for under 10 pounds each and they were originally worth at least 4x that amount, so I know I’m giving a good quality gift but at a lower price. 

3) Boots Giftsets - these are a god send! You can get beauty gift sets from big brands (Jack Wills, Joules, Ted Baker, Super dry etc) for Both men and women for under 10 pounds. This year I’ve bought a joules moisturiser set and a sanctuary spa body butter set for £8 and £8.50 respectively.

4) cards - you can pick up packs of beautiful handmade cards for under £5 in most grocery stores at this time of year and they tend to be cheaper there than in stationary shops. I personally think a Christmas card with a personalised message inside is actually a really lovely gift, pair this with some chocolate and you’ve got yourself a great gift. 


It is important to remember that Christmas isn’t all about presents it’s about spending time with your loved ones, and if you are a student living away from home I’m sure your family will appreciate the gift of you being there with them much more than anything you can buy with money. 

Phew! That was a long blog well done if you actually got to the end! Leave me a comment with any gift hacks you like to do and I hope everyone has a merry Christmas! 

Liv xx