! important ! remember that summer is meant to be a break from the stress of school, so don’t overwork yourself. these are some suggestions of small tasks to do each day when you have nothing else major to do.

if you miss a day, keep going! you don’t have to finish this in 30 consecutive days. if you are uncomfortable with a task, don’t do it. this is meant to guide you to keep on track in the summer, not force you to do busy work.

i. write all upcoming events on a calendar. ii. choose an organization system. iii. make a habit tracker. iv. write 3 goals for the school year. v. clear your email inbox. vi. clear your askbox. vii. clean your phone of photos and apps. viii. clean your computer of files. ix. clean your study space. x. clean your backpack. xi. clean your pencil case. xii. clean your closet, or wherever you shove all your junk xiii. establish a morning routine xiv. establish an after school routine xv. you’re halfway done! take a day for self care and find out what helps you the most. xvi. find or make a study soundtrack. xvii. if you haven’t already, make a studyblr! if you have one, redo it. xviii. try meditation. xix. find healthy recipes. xx. find a fitness method that works for you and establish a fitness routine. xxi. find a note taking method that works for you. xxii. find resources for the subjects you’re taking next year. xxiii. change your wallpapers to motivational ones. xxiv. make a motivation wall. xxv. go to the library or a book store. xxvi. organize your bookshelf. xxvii. write a bucket list. xxviii. write a mission statement for your life. xxix. find out what kind of person you are. xxx. make a rewards list, then choose one to reward yourself with because you’ve finished the challenge! good job!

under the cut are post challenges with 2 options for each day and a printable version of the 30 day list and the 30 day blog challenge. 

Keep reading

REBLOG THIS FOR SOMETHING CUTE IN YOUR INBOX

guides to life

Why is eurovision SO BASIC this year? Where is glitter? Where are gays? Where are totally ridiculous dresses? WHERE?

america is watching this year so we’re trying to look as normal as possible

COLLEGE APPLICATION TIMELINE (SENIOR YEAR) - part 1

So as a survivor of the American college application process, I was requested by a couple people like @breakfast-n-books to do a masterpost on any tips I had for applying to college. So here’s my organized student’s guide on how to apply for college. 

DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert and everything I’ve written here is from my own experience so it may not apply to you if you aren’t planning on applying to a lot of traditional universities through Common App like I did. Also, a lot of the process is also changing like they’re introducing a new version of Common App called the Coalition, so I’m not sure how much of this will still be viable but let’s just get into it. 

Helpful vocab: 

A P R I L / M A Y 

J U N E / J U L Y 

A U G U S T 

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 // CLICK HERE FOR PART 3

White people get so angry when they’re presented with the truth.

That moment when a single scene in a Bollywood film educates you about the reality of American politics.

does anyone know the name of this film?

{ 030416 49/100 DAYS OF PRODUCTIVITY } 201 days to O Levels

I don’t really like Qualitative Analysis, the equations are vague and there’s a lot of memory work… I’ll find a way to spruce the notes up, it’s really dull.

230416 ◦ Forgot to post this! Last week in my bullet journal- a great week of rest and a quick vacation （＾ν＾）

The 'No Excuses' Study System to Get That A

I  School Days 

1. Show up to class a little early. It’ll give you time to set up, read over some old notes, put your water bottle/thermos on your desk, fill out your planner if you couldn’t in the previous period(s), check your planner to see if you have something on that day etc.

2. Sit in the front or second row. I’m serious, you will definitely benefit. Write detailed class notes. Pick whatever system works for you. I usually write my titles in red pen, notes in black pen, underline points that are repeated/emphasised, highlight keywords at home

3. If you have time at school, do as much homework as you can. If you know you have commitments that day, please for the love of your education do your homework at lunch. I know you might feel awkward, but your friends will understand. 

4. When you get home, first list down all the homework received that day on a q card (cross off as you go). Then write the same tasks in your bullet journal, but as a daily spread. Use stayfocusd or self control for mac + leave phone in a different room. FINISH ALL OF YOUR HOMEWORK. If for some reason you couldn’t complete a homework task, write it on a sticky note and place it on your wall. After homework is done, write your revision notes (flashcard the info as well). Place the notes in your accordion folder/binder. If you have some loose sheets at any point, place them in a ‘To Be Filed’ box. Sort that out when you’re packing your bag for the next day.

5. Go through the flashcards made that day and the flashcards made on the previous days.  List out all assignments/assessments on another q card with their due dates. This will come in handy later.

6. Pack your bag the night before. Remember your accordion folder + make sure your ‘To Be Filed’ box is empty. Put water bottle in the fridge and make meals for the next day.

7. The next day, wake up early, complete any unfinished homework, go through flashcards again, read through revision notes, make lunch for the day, put laptop in bag, put food + water in bag, exercise (esp if you have commitments after school), shower, change, blah blah blah. Only do this if your schedule is packed, and in my case, this is a must.

II  Weekends

1. On Friday nights, first off, do homework. You will thank yourself for it. Whip out that list of assessments/assignments and allocate half days to knock off at least two of these little assholes. Work ahead, you will feel much better.

2. Do your readings. For English, knock off some wider reading novels, for HSIE, knock off some textbook unit readings (two units ahead), for science, knock off some more textbook readings. Write summaries of each page. Type these summaries. Print these summaries. Place in accordion folder/binder. Flashcard the info. Spend like half a day doing this lmao.

3. Spend 1-2 hours going through the flashcards you made that week for each subject. This counts as studying my friend. 

III Weekends When You Actually Have Assessments 

1. Due to your working ahead, homework completion and readings, you shouldn’t be panicking too much. Get those revision notes and slot in the textbook readings notes. Highlight, annotate, read aloud, go through flashcards and get someone to test you on the content. Make sure you know all terms, formulae, key concepts, vocabulary etc etc

2. As for assignments, again due to your working ahead just print them out and heavily edit those little asshats. Then type the edits into the doc. Repeat this process four times. Then get someone to read it. Make sure all your assignments are on your USB + email them to yourself because you never fucking know tbh. 

3. You’ll probs have to sacrifice your reading time but that’s chill because the teacher/prof will probably be focusing on prepping you for the actual assessment + you gotta do what you gotta do.

SUMMARY

Seriously, just do your homework the day you receive it, write revision notes, do your readings, write notes on those readings, make flashcards, knock out assignments as soon as you know they actually exist, read every wider reading novel (analyse these novels), read your required readings (analyse this too), go over flashcards every morning/afternoon, make use of spare time in class, do homework at lunch if needed, stick to your schedule, buy coffee/hot chocolate in the mornings and put it in a thermos, keep a necessities pouch in your bag, keep your P.E shoes in your locker, use a planner, track your spending, wash your hair, brush your hair, go to commitments, attend school events, attend events you’re invited to, go shopping, watch movies, be kind to yourself, take bubble baths, light candles, listen to music, SLEEP, get that A and most importantly be proud of yourself. 

Succulent Guide

Congratulations on becoming a proud plant parent! Welcome to to the wonderful world of succulents and cacti, here is a small guide of how to take care of your succulents properly and tips on how to maintain a healthy, happy plant based on personal experience. (・ω・)ノ

🌵🌵🌵🌵

General Knowledge

Firstly, here is some general knowledge on succulents that will (believe it or not) help you greatly when it comes to taking care of your plant.

That’s basically all the general information you need to know that will help your plant grow.

🌵🌵🌵🌵

Watering your plant:

Although most people believe that succulents thrive on neglect, they really don’t, and need almost as much maintenance as a regular house plant.

MY RULE OF THUMB: When the leave look thin, water the plant.

This rule of thumb is a bit of a last resort. If your plant’s leaves are withered or thin, it needs a lot of water.

Regularly, I water my 2" succulents with about 2 tablespoons of water A WEEK.

In winter, succulents and Cacti go through a dormant phase and don’t need to be watered as often, but I found this information as not useful because when I went as little as 1.5 weeks without watering some of my plants in the winter, they’d start to wither.

Remember, succulent leaves should remain fleshy! And watering them often is the key to doing this.

If you happen to forget to water your succulents for up to three weeks and even beyond, do not worry. At that point, the plant will ration it’s water until you water it.

If you happen to do this, do not immediately think that you have to drown your plant in water to make up the weeks you missed. For a 2" succulent, 2 tablespoons or less is the key. These types of plants can only take so much water at one time.

🌵🌵🌵🌵

Soil/Potting:

Repotting Cacti and Succulents is a lot of fun, especially when you get decorative pots or creative with potting ideas.

Some people like to use teacups, and other people use plain old terra-cotta pots.

Whatever the case may be, succulents and cacti like drainage.

So your teacup doesn’t have a drainage hole? No problem.

It is ideal to pot your plant in something that has drainage holes, but if it doesn’t, adding rocks to the bottom of whatever it is you’re using will help greatly.

I have small, 2" white square ceramic pots for my babies, which have a singular, small drainage hole in the bottom. Because I wanted more drainage, I used a few rocks on the bottom, and filled the rest of the pot with succulent and cacti potting mix.

It’s also healthy to keep some of the soil from the original pot to mix in with the potting mix.

When repotting my cactus plant, I preferred using thick rubber gloves to repot rather than gardening gloves because I didn’t want the thin spines to prick me.

🌵🌵🌵🌵

Sunlight/Heat:

I normally keep my succulents on the windowsill over my kitchen sink because it gets the most light in the house while being indirect.

This is the key to good sunlight: light, but indirect. So if you have a windowsill where the sun crosses over it throughout the day, that is the ideal place for your succulent. In winter, keep your succulents inside! And on the sill of a west facing window is ideal because the light is not too harsh in the afternoon.

TIP: make sure to rotate the pot so the plant grows straight.

If you do not have much sun, although I have not tried this, I know some people grow their plants under special lamps which work just as fine.

As far as heat goes, heat was not much of a problem for my plants except for my one pesky Echeveria nodulosa ‘Painted Beauty’ which I had named Rory.

Rory was not a fan of being near an open window, and since I had gotten my succulents in January, it was cold outside. A few rare days of warmth would occur in February which called for an open window, and any time he was near it, he would wilt.

And although Rory is due for what looks like propagation, he is my smallest plant to this day and I don’t want to go onto that step for him yet.

🌵🌵🌵🌵

Propagation

When I noticed my plants reaching for sunlight, they’d bend towards the window and grow very tall and their leaves would space out. Soon, the bottom leaves would die and need to be plucked off and I’d be left with a long stem, a few spaces but still alive leaves, and a small rosette on the top.

This means it’s time for propagation. When I first read on how to stop my plants from getting so leggy, results appeared calling it “decapitation” where you would cut of the head of the plant and leave a stump.

This sounded very scary to me and I waited until a month before I tried to look for answers again and found propagation as the solution.

There are basically three parts of propagation.

The first step to propagation is to remove the bottom leaves from the plant completely from the stem by gently twisting them off. (Even if they are alive)

Place the leaves on a wet paper towel on a pan after they have calloused over and dried out (takes about 2-3 days). You may notice the the root of the leaf may already be growing roots, and if it has not, it will eventually. From each leaf you will grow a new baby rosette and have a forest of succulents! The babies make great gifts. (Note that not every leaf will be successful in growing a baby). This process takes about 3-4 weeks.

For the left over plant, you now have a super long stem with a rosette at the top. Cut the rosette leaving some stem on it and submerge the stem in water after letting it callous and dry out (takes about 5 days) For mine, I submerged the rosette in a medicine cup filled with 2 tablespoons of water. Soon, roots will appear so you can repot the rosette. This takes 2-3 weeks.

Then, cut the rest of the stem the is in the original pot down to a stub. After the stub callouses over, it will start to regenerate new babies around it. This takes about 3 weeks.

When it comes to propagation, it takes time and patience.

🌵🌵🌵🌵

Here is where I was going to put any tips I had for growing plants but I kind of mentioned them throughout my spiel. In that case, here is where I will reiterate my most important tips:

- Water your plants once a week or when the leaves look less fleshy. - 2 tablespoons of water a week for 2" plants (some species may need more or less) - For repotting cactus plants with spines, it’s ideal to use rubber gloves instead of gardening gloves - Rotate the plant so it grows straight!

Those are my best tips. There really aren’t any tips on propagation since its a hit or miss kind of ordeal.

Feel free to ask questions! uwu

etudestial’s following spree

Hello everyone!! This is super informal, but i’m following less than 100 blogs atm and I wanna find some more studyblrs to follow!! ^^ 

So please reblog this, and i’ll check out your blog  ヾ(°´ ˘ `° )ﾉ Mutuals, if you could also boost this for me, i’d really appreciate it! 

(p.s. i have a thing for pretty themes so if i like your theme i’ll probs follow you)

my parents aren’t teaching me life lessons.

#i need some adults to TEACH ME SHIT ABOUT LIFE

I’m an adult.

Some shit about life, from a bonafide adult:

Do not buy generic brand spaghetti sauce either.

Always check the type of light bulb that goes in lamps. A 60w is not interchangeable with a 40w.

Dollar store batteries work just as well as store brand.

~~Medications~~

Over the counter medications (stuff you can buy right off the shelf no prescription needed) have a name brand and a generic name. ALWAYS buy generic if it’s available it is literally the same thing and way cheaper usually.

Some names to remember when you’re looking for meds!

Acetaminophen = Tylenol

Used to treat pain and reduce fever. Do not take with Ibuprofen.

Ibuprofen = Advil, Midol, Motrin

Used for pain and fever, is an anti-inflammtory. Is good for period cramps because it is an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug).

Naproxen = Aleve, Naprosyn

Treats fever, pain, arthritis pain, gout, period cramps, tendinitis, headache, backache, and toothache. Is also an NSAID.

Acetaminophen + Asprin + Caffeine = Excedrin

Usually marketed as “Migraine Relief” as a generic.

Asprin = Bayer

Use for pain, fever, arthritis, and inflammation. Makes you bleed easily so should not be used for periods. Might reduce risk of heart attacks.\

Triple Antibiotic Ointment = Neosporin

Used on cuts, sores, and scrapes to reduce risk of infection and promote healing.

Also a general mutli-vitamin isn’t a bad idea and if you don’t get a lot of fruits or milk/sunshine in your diet you might want to get vitamins C and D specifically for daily use.

if you do accidentally lapse and put dawn in your dishwasher, run it empty and put hair conditioner where the detergent goes. that’ll clean it out (tip given to me by dorm custodian when roommate did the thing).

if you live off ramen, add stuff to it! add veggies you like, don’t use the whole flavor packet to cut down on sodium and msg or don’t use it at all and add your own spices.

if you’re making something with potatoes in it (beans, stew) potatoes are done when you can easily stab a fork through them.

you can microwave a hotdog as long as you put it in a microwave safe container of water. microwaves work by making water molecules vibrate. also, when reheating rice leftovers, add a small amount of water, like maybe a spoonfull, so it doesn’t get hard and crunchy.

the rice cooking advice above is for long grain rice. if you’re making short or medium grain rice, a 1:1 ratio (one cup water for one cup rice) is better, so the rice doesn’t come out too mushy.

buy a few cans of chicken. wholesale club stores like sam’s, costco, or bj’s tend to carry multipacks for a good price. they’re incredibly useful for when you forget to defrost meat.

buy meat on sale and put it in the freezer. buy vegetables on sale, and put them in the freezer. frozen veggies are often as flavorful and good as fresh ones, keep longer, and often come in microwaveable bags or with microwave directions.

soak ink stains in milk to help get them out or at least lighten them.

soak blood stains in water as soon as possible, with a bit of detergent or stain remover. scrub at them. use cold water, heat binds proteins to fabric. tbh, there’s no real need to change the washer from cold-cold setting unless the thing you’re washing says to wash in warm water.

acetone, found in most nail polish removers, dissolves super glue.

YOU’RE ALL DOING GOD’S WORK BLESS YOU

Takes pictures, have prints made and put them in photo albums. Be IN the pictures, have someone take pictures of you and your friends. Get over not looking perfect in thw picture. Someday that friend might be gone and those pictures might be all you’ll have, you will want to be in them. I made that mistake with my best friend, i always felt weird asking for a picture together… he died of cancer January of 2014 and now i have no pictures of us together. Its my only regret in life.

This is really helpful, thank you all!

I’m the newest of new adults but I’m gonna throw these little tips in there. IF YOU HAVE AN OLD CAR: 

-coolant or water if your car overheats (coolant is preferable cause it won’t hurt the engine in the long run but hey i know money is tight) 

-flashlight in case you break down at night and need to check under the hood and your phone is dead

-SPARE TIRE. 

-jumper cables.you will at some point leave your lights on. you just will. 

AAA or any other road side service is never a bad investment i swear. (try to mooch it off your parents as long as you can though) 

Know how to change a tire. You’re going to need to do it at some point in time and you can’t always rely on someone else to do it for you.

Don’t be afraid to go to your local food bank. They are there for a reason.

Don’t be ashamed to ask for help period. Life is hard, everyone needs help occasionally.

You can put a LOWER wattage bulb in a lamp that says it’s for a higher one, but don’t put a HIGHER wattage bulb in. Also, watts refer to the amount of electricity used. LUMENS refers to the amount of light put out, and can vary quite a bit between brands, even though the wattage is the same. Look for the one with the highest lumens unless you actually want a slightly dimmer bulb in a certain location. Those dollar store batteries? Fine if they’re alkaline. “Heavy-duty” batteries, however, won’t last nearly as long. You can microwave a hot dog and bun simply by wrapping them in a toweling for a minute, less if you don’t want them scalding hot.

Reblogging to save lives.

Two adulting (kitchen-related) tips from me!

1. Buy a roll of parchment paper from the cooking shit aisle. A big roll will last you for-fucking-ever. Pretty much any time you’re using a baking pan you can line it with that stuff and save yourself A: food sticking to the pan and B: it’s a quick rinse and it’s clean.

2. Bread can get fucking expensive, so make your own. A bigass bag of flour and a bag of active dry yeast (store it in the friiiiidge!!!) works out a FUCK of a lot cheaper than buying bread at the store, and you can do so much more with it. Bread, pizza, rolls, cinnibuns, homemade pizza pockets. It seems intimidating but it’s stupid easy.

Seriously. It’s stupid simple to make, and most of the “3 hours” to make it is sitting around surfing the internet or doing whatever the fuck you want while the dough rises. If you have an afternoon free once a week to sit and play video games or surf the net, you have the time to make your own bread on the cheap. Here’s my simple-as-fuck recipe:

Boom. You have bread dough. Here are some baking times and uses for ya:

You can add whatever you want to the dough for some variety, just if it’s dried spices remember you really only need 1-ish tablespoons. I personally like making bread with about 1 tablespoon of dill in the dough. Roll it out flat, sprinkle it with cheddar, roll it into a log, squeeze the ends shut, and bake it like a regular loaf of bread. Cheesy dill bread OMNOMNOM.

*ahem* That got a bit long. But yeah. Bread’s expensive, yo. Save your wallet.

(Also it’s ridiculous amounts of therapeutic to bake, for me anyway)

Being able to bake your own bread is pretty awesome, if you got the time for it. 

Reblogging in case of independence

Tips on how to feel better and look better by @contourkits (via clahrify)

Note-Taking

Class Notes

After Class

Rewritten Notes

Well, that’s all from me. I hope that this information could be of some use to every single one of you. Don’t hesitate to ask me questions if you’re confused about note-taking or any other problems you might have :)