Quick Tips: Fitness When There's No Time

If you're anything like me (and I think a lot of people are) then there are always excuses not to exercise - 'I can't afford the gear', 'I don't have time', 'I don't know how', 'I can't be bothered'. And honestly, those are all excuses I have used in the past. However, I truly believe that where there's a will there's a way, so over the last year or so I have been coming up with little ways of improving my fitness on a day-to-day basis. Now, these are things that you don't need expensive equipment, or clothing for, things you don't always need an hour to complete, because I know from personal experience that they are complete exercise turn-offs. Instead they are fairly uncomplicated activities which can easily be incorporated into your daily routine.

1. Stretch, or do yoga poses when you watch tv.

This has honestly been one of the most advantageous things I have started to do. When you watch tv, generally you're just sitting on the sofa stuffing your face with chips. How about challenging yourself for one week, or one month, and seeing if every time (or most times) you sit down to watch tv, you hop onto the floor and practice your stretching or yoga poses while you watch.

2. Every time you walk past a certain place in your house, do a certain fitness activity.

This is another good trick because it doesn't have to feel like you are doing 'actual' exercise. For example: 'Every time I go into the kitchen I will do 10 star jumps', or 'Every time I walk past the tv I will do 10 wall push ups'.

3. Walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator.

This one is easy! And if you happen to work on the 34th floor of a building, and can't manage 34 flights of stairs (who could?!), then just walk up one, or two, or five. Challenge yourself to walk one extra flight a day.

4. Create a '10 Minute Fitness Program' for yourself.

If you have this written down somewhere easily accessible (eg. the wall above your desk, on the fridge), then you will be more likely to follow through with it. If you are unsure what kind of activities to squeeze into 10 minutes, then have a snoop around on google for some good ideas.

5. Get up and walk!

If you are a student, or if you have a desk job, you will find that you spend the majority of your day sitting down. To rectify this, make sure you get up every hour and go for a little walk (obviously not in the middle of a meeting, class, or lecture), but just whenever you've been sitting at your desk for a while. This will help get the blood pumping, and will also help with your concentration, so you can better focus on the task at hand.

So there you have it folks. My quick tips for exercising when there's no time, or when you're just plain lazy like me. I hope you find this useful, and drop me a line if you have any other techniques you use which you'd like to share.

Quick Tips: Eating Healthy on a Budget

As a university student, I find that eating healthy can be hard, especially when there is often little time in the mornings or evenings to prepare lunch and snacks. Today I will share with you some of the things I have learnt over the last year when it comes to eating healthy on a budget.

Tip 1: Bring your lunch from home.
Whilst this takes some time out of your morning, or the night before, it is worth it to be able to pick and choose what you fancy eating. This means that you aren't always searching for a cheap cafe to eat lunch at, and it saves time as well. Just grabbing some leftovers out of the fridge can make for a delicious lunchtime meal. It also helps to save money in the long term.

Tip 2: Get to know the cafes on and around campus.
If you simply just don't have time to prepare your own lunch, or if there isn't ever much healthy food in the house, you can suss out which ones have the best / healthiest food, and which ones don't cost too much. This tip has the bonus of being able to meet new people in the cafes if you are up for that sort of thing, and sometimes it can just be nice to get off campus and go out with a friend to celebrate getting a good grade in that awful group assignment.

Tip 3: Fruit and Veggies
When in season, fruits can be the same price as, or even cheaper than a packet of crackers or biscuits. And they are better for you. If you do start to eat fruit instead of other sweets, generally after a while your tastebuds begin to find chocolate and cakes too sugary and sweet. So this is a good way to wean yourself off the biscuits if you feel as though you eat too many.

Tip 4: Drink tap water, and bring a water bottle with you everywhere.
Tap water is A LOT cheaper than buying a bottle of water or soft drink for a few dollars. It's better for the environment too, to be reusing your bottles, instead of buying a new one everyday.

Tip 5: Eat breakfast before you leave for class/work in the morning.
Even just a piece of toast or fruit will help you to feel not as hungry during the day, so you will be less likely to buy food. Breakfast is great to eat because it helps set you up for the day and gives you energy to get moving and not skip that 8.30am lecture.

Tip 6: If you are cooking all your own meals then come up with a monthly menu, or a weekly one.
This means that you can plan ahead, and won't be as likely to go out to get takeaways on an impulse. You can get planners similar to the one above from Kikki K.

Today I am off to Red Hill market with my mum, sister, and her exchange student, and hopefully the car won't end up being as full as it was last time (the whole boot was stuffed to overflowing!). If you're going to be down there, come find me and say hi!

Oh, and Ps. Thought I would give a new font a bit of a whirl! How are you liking it?

Quick Tips: Motivating Yourself to Study

Ever feel like your studies are dragging you down into a bottomless pit of homework that you aren't motivated to get out of? Don't worry, you are not alone. Everyone feels like this at some point in their lives, and since the school year is beginning to start up and the university semester will be starting soon (well, here in Australia anyway), I thought it might be beneficial for my readers who are studying to know how they can motivate themselves to study and try their hardest at whatever it is they are doing.

Tip 1. Make sure you are doing something you enjoy, or something that you know will help get you where you want to go. I know this can be hard if you are still at school and don't get much say in which classes you take, but at least choose your electives based on what you love.

Tip 2. Use cute stationery. Maybe it's just me, but I find that cool pens, diaries, and even websites, help me get in the mood to do some work.

Tip 3. Look through study blogs. Tumblr has plenty of them. Have a look here.

Tip 4. Set yourself rewards. For example: 'If I do this reading I can watch that episode', 'If I write 500 words of my essay I can have a piece of cake'.

Tip 5. Figure out your learning style and cater your study techniques towards that. Not everybody can sit at their desk and concentrate for 45 minutes, not everybody can easily understand things without listening to someone talk about them. Emma Blackery made a really useful video on study techniques, which I would definitely recommend you go check out.


Motivation can be hard to find, but once you have it, don't let it go. It isn't always easy to feel inspired about your studies, you can feel stuck studying the basics when all you want to do is the in-depth stuff, but the more you care about your work, the more motivated you will become.

I hope you are all finding this series a useful one, whether or not you connect with all of the posts. If you have any ideas for more topics for this series let me know in the comments!

DIY (sort of): Bullet Journal

Recently I have been hearing a lot about these things called 'bullet journals', where you write down a daily to-do list, and, honestly, I was not convinced it was something that would work for me. It seemed like such an annoying thing to set up, and I just couldn't see how it would be helpful. However I decided to look into them more since they seem to be so popular at the moment and thought I might as well try it out. I mean, the worst that could happen is I lose some time creating it, right?

And oh boy was I wrong! Since creating my bullet journal I have been using it every day, and it is really helping to keep me organised.

Below, I am going to talk you through my bullet journal to show you how it works and what I've done with it.

The main premise surrounding the bullet journal is that it is a collection for everything - a diary, to-do list, paper for those random things you need to write down, things you want to remember, sketching, shopping lists, etc.

Originally, you are supposed to draw up a monthly calendar in your bullet journal, however, I got this super cute diary from Kikki.k back in December, which there was no way in hell I wanted to give up usage of. So, I left that section out of my bullet journal.

For the bullet journal itself I'm using a basic notebook which has some tabs down the side. I would have used a nicer, notebook, but I didn't know if this system would work for me, and didn't want to use only two pages of an expensive journal.

I did consider categorising things through the tab system, but decided against it because it would end up far more complicated than it needs to be, and I would probably just end up ignoring the book altogether.

The front pages are for your contact details and the index. You number the pages as you go through the bullet journal and add everything to your index list as you go. I left a couple extra blank pages for my index after this because I thought I would fill it up pretty quickly.

Below are my first entries in my bullet journal. At the top of each page for each new month write which month and year it is. Then below, you simply begin your daily lists.

Just underneath this paragraph is a close-up photo of my key system, in case you need ideas, or want to know what the symbols I've used mean. (And yes, the 'E' symbol in the above photo has now been replaced with the '?')

Anything that I would normally have written on a random scrap of paper or on my phone I now write in my bullet journal.

For instance, the other day I was listing different revision techniques based on types of learner. Ordinarily I would have written this on some random piece of paper, which I probably would have lost the next day, but having it in my bullet journal means that it is easily accessible for me.

In the back of the notebook I stuck in a fold out paper of my key system. It's a bit hard to read because of the side tabs, but it still works okay for me.

The bullet journal is a pretty simple system to use and, so far, it seems to be working well for me. I would encourage you all to try it out yourself, even if it ends up not working, or not motivating you. I was dubious at first, but now I am really glad I gave it a go.

Wow, this post was much longer than I had intended it to be - so kudos if you read the whole thing! You can find more information on bullet journals here.

Quick Tips: Choosing What to Wear

Sometimes, there just isn't time the night before to decide what you are going to wear the next day. I have problems choosing what to wear to university all the time, so I thought I would share with you some things that help me.

Tip 1: Look at the weather forecast.

Tip 2: Take a photo whenever you wear a new outfit. Keep them altogether in a folder on your computer or phone and that way you can easily see outfit ideas, as well as when you wore an outfit last.

Tip 3: Use Polyvore. This is somewhat an alternative to tip 2. On polyvore you can create outfits and organise them into categories, as well as view outfits other people have created.

Tip 4: Organise your wardrobe by function, and by colour. This makes it ten times easier to find the kind of clothes you want to wear.

Tip 5: Have a quick go-to outfit for each weather condition. ie. One for rain, one for hot days, one for average days, one for freezing cold days, etc.

Feeling Burnt-out

When we stress a lot, and focus all of our attention and energy into being active in our lives (whether this be through studying, working, doing art, or spending time with others) it is easy to get burnt-out. It happens to everyone at some point, and I believe that it is just a part of life that we will all go through.

If you're not too sure what I'm talking about, being burnt-out is when you still want to do things, you still want to achieve those good grades, you still want to write the next chapter of that book, but you just can't summon the motivation or energy to do so. It becomes this big struggle between what you want and what you can (be bothered) doing.

The best thing to do when this occurs is to take some time out for yourself. And when I say 'time out', I don't mean one afternoon, or going over to a friend's house, I mean take a whole week off (or at least a weekend).

Here are some of the things I do on my days off when I feel overwhelmed:

• Having bubble baths
• Going shopping or out to lunch/coffee with friends
• Making my favourite foods
• Catching up on all those tv shows
• Unplug from the social world - not checking emails, facebook, etc. as often as I usually would
• Reading my favourite books
• Sleeping in, not setting an alarm
• Going for walks in the parks that surround my house
• Not setting a huge agenda, doing what I feel like doing

Even if you end up falling behind on your workload or homework, it will be worth it in the end, because after your mini break you will feel more refreshed, and you'll be able to get things done a lot easier and more efficiently.

I thought this would be an important topic to talk about today because, as well as feeling burnt-out myself, this is a stressful time of year for many people - there is holiday homework to be done, work deadlines to meet, christmas parties to plan, etc. So I would encourage all of you who are feeling overwhelmed by life right now, to plan to take a week, or a few days, off from whatever it is that's causing you to feel that way.

May you all be feeling de-stressed and calmer soon xx

Quick Tips: Saving Money at Christmas

Buying presents for every single person you know plus getting food for any parties you attend at christmas time can really add up. As a student, I try to be conscientious about how much money I am spending on things, especially at this time of year, since christmas is such a big thing in my family.So here are some ideas for some cheap but good presents to give to someone, and also just general ways to spend money at christmas.

1. Budgeting
This point is probably the most important point. Make a budget and stick to it.

2.Team up with someone to buy a joint present for a mutual friend/family member

Doing this means splitting the cost of a present in half (or even more, depending on how many people you team up with)! I have done this on more than one occasion and it's such a good way to save a bit of money, even if you don't do it for everyone you know.

3. Hand make a gift or card.

Often handmade gifts and cards are the ones that are treasured the most. Personally, I love receiving a present that someone has made especially for me. The internet is littered with ideas if you are struggling to come up with any.
A couple of years ago my younger sister made me a denim bag covered in badges of things I liked out of a pair of jeans. This was such a great gift to get - she put so much work into it and it looks fantastic (I still use it now).

4. Have a potluck dinner
A potluck dinner is when you and your friends arrange to have a christmas dinner together and each bring a plate of food, and also agree not to bring gifts for each other. This is a good way to go if you are looking to save money because it means you aren't spending copious amounts of time or money on catering, preparing a large meal, and buying presents.

5. Make cookies in a jar.

I hadn't really heard about this until a few days ago, but I thought that it was such a neat idea, and if done right it can look so pretty! Here is a link to Connections We Share's chocolate chip cookie recipe. And don't limit yourself to just make cookies ones - this kind of thing can be done with brownies too (you might need a massive jar for a cake, so unless you have one, I would recommend keeping clear of that!). These are great to give to friends or family who love home baked goods, but either can't cook to save their life, or just don't have the time.

So there you go. Stephanie's top 5 tips to save money during the holiday season. Hopefully these will be useful for you and you can utilise them this year.

Quick Tips: Stressed Out?

I am the type of person who gets stressed out a lot - over big and little things. The feeling of stress is never good as it can lead to procrastination, mental & physical health problems, and suffering relationships. I think everyone gets their fair share of stress over their lifetime, but it always seems to come unaware, even if you think you are prepared for it. Today I have decided to share with you some quick tips for when you feel stressed or under a lot of pressure.

Tip 1: Time out

Calling it 'time out' may feel somewhat childish, but it is a useful tip for cooling down, no matter your age. I know first hand how hard it can be to cut yourself some slack, however in my opinion it is vital in keeping your head above the water.
Time outs can involve anything that gets you away from your work or study. For example:

• Getting some exercise - not the most enjoyable activity for everyone, but well worth it afterwards.
• Making time to spend with family or friends - plan a weekly breakfast or lunch with someone. This way there is always something for you to look forward to.
• Relaxation techniques - or meditation, mindfulness, etc. Whatever you call it, it's a useful technique to master and practice even when you aren't feeling stressed.

There are plenty of other things you can do to take a time out, so make a list of them all and pull it out when you need some.

Tip 2: Manage & plan your time effectively

Don't take this pointer to mean 'plan your entire week out, down to the last second', because that would probably just induce more stress (however, in saying that, if you find it useful, then by all means feel free to!). All it means is that you should have a wall planner where you can write down due dates, exam times, etc. This makes it easy to see how much time you have left to do something, and you can easily figure out when it is a good time to start that assignment, or make notes to study for that exam.

Tip 3: Get enough sleep

   

This tip may seem mundane and obvious, but that doesn't make it any less important.

Tip 4: Talk to people

   
Your friends are your friends for a reason. Everyone feels stressed from time to time, so chances are whoever you talk to about it will have at least some idea of what you are going through. Talking to someone will help get the weight off your shoulders, and may even cheer you up in the process!

That's it from me for today, I hope you find these tips useful. If there's anything you'd like me to cover on 'Monthly Quick Tips' don't hesitate to drop me a note!

Quick Tips: How to be Productive

Lately, I have had a lot of assignments due in and a lot of studying to do. If you're like me, and have daily battles with procrastination, then do not fear! There are plenty of little (and big) ways you can make a difference in your life when it comes to studying, doing assignments, or any work-related task. I thought I would share a few ideas with you today as it is coming up to exam time, and studying is important if you want to do well.

Tip 1: Habit RPG

Make an account on Habit RPG. Seriously. This site has just about saved my life. It works by treating your life and work tasks like a game. When you start up you have an avatar which you have to keep up the health of by completing daily tasks, things on your to do list, and habits you want to create or break.

As well as maintaining your health, you earn coins for completing the things mentioned above. You make yourself rewards and set an amount for them to cost (eg. piece of cake = 10 coins), then you can 'buy' yourself that reward once you have earned it. With coins you can also buy costumes for your avatar.

You are also able to create 'parties', so you and your friends can motivate each other, and track each others progress.

All in all, this site is wonderful and has helped me so much this year.

Tip 2: Music

Screenshot of the mac computer version, but it is also
available for android and iphone users.

Recently, I downloaded an app called 'Relax Melodies'. The title is fairly self explanatory, but you create and save music mixes from the sounds given (eg. birds, river, ocean, flute, wind, etc.). I find this app extremely helpful when studying and when I can't get to sleep. I have created a few of my own mixes, and saved some provided, named by what I use them for.

This app is also useful (in my own personal experience) as it helps calm down those who experience sensory overloads for whatever reason. Also - the free version is actually good and doesn't impose strict limitations on what you can do with it.

Tip 3: Stop when stressed

Okay, so this isn't as much a typical tip to help with productiveness, but I believe it is one of the most important things I have learnt. When you are struggling to write that essay, or when you feel like crying and quitting school because of your workload - you need a time out. I know sometimes this can be really hard, especially when there is a big assignment due in the next day, but in the long term, it is better for your health and work quality. In my experience attempting to do work when I'm stressed only leads to bad work which I then end up re-doing or re-writing. Whenever I take a break from my work, I can come back feeling refreshed and ready to work.

So that's it! 3 quick tips to help you be productive. I hope it was useful for you, and I might do an 'Activities for Study Breaks' post a little later on. Happy studying everyone!

Ps. 'Quick Tips' is going to be a new section of my blog that I will post under maybe once a month or so. I'll share with you tips on all sorts of things - stress, study, health, etc. So, keep an eye out for the next topic! And if you have any topic ideas, feel free to contact me to let me know :)