not up to buying stabilo or staedtler? restricted access to resources? this post might help!
credit to studyception and ray over at fistudy for helping out with this post, because figuring out brands, stores, and prices in america is easier when you have a friend in america to talk to.
** note: i’m an upper class teenager, and i’m not an authority on what is/isn’t cheap. i also haven’t tried all of the things on here.
walmart has cheap five-star notebooks that are $1-2
at target 1-subject 5-star notebooks are $1.97, 3-subject is $3.87, 5-subject $5/6
also, five-star folders there are ~$2
do not use moleskines, especially if you can’t find them cheap, and i can’t say moleskines are often cheap. they are not worth their price.
a spiral or composition notebook works fine – compositions have sturdier spines, but spirals’ pages are easier to turn or tear out if they’re not perforated, so keep that in mind.
mead composition notebooks at target are $0.50
papermate flair pens can be found at costco, among other places. they’re $12 for a pack of 14 and are quite pretty. also, they’re better quality than stabilo — more ink, bleeds less.
dollar tree. you won’t find anything fancy there, but you don’t need fancy. use dollar tree.
don’t worry about brand names as long as it’s quality. yes, muji is expensive.
don’t buy those sets of 20 colored pens. if you’re into color coding, you need, what, 4-7 colors? three different shades of red isn’t necessary.
or if you don’t want a bunch of colors at all, go with blue and black and maybe a highlighter.
if looking for basic pens with black ink, do not bother with anything fancy just get one of those packs of 10 gel pens that are for like $2 or something (they better have these in the usa)
paperback books are cheaper. just make sure to treat them well.
free sat/ap prep materials here
english class: for finding novels (need that book for english?), tuebl has free epubs, you just need to know how to search it (there’s no viruses, though!). if you can’t read epubs because of the format, then download the epub and convert it to pdf (or another format). if you need a hard copy, book depository can be cheap but isn’t free.
if you need a laptop or tablet cheap, like <$100 cheap, pls try reading this post!!
for color coding, walmart and staples sell sets of four colored pens for $2-3 each
like the kipling 100 case? this is similar and $9 to kipling’s $40
if you have a job or too many activities and get home late, squeeze in studying when you can – breaks between classes, at lunch, whatever you’ve got. if you’ve got a free period, use it. a’s before baes.
also, sometimes overworking yourself is your only option, especially if you’re short on time. do your best to prevent it — remember to eat something, don’t procrastinate, don’t get distracted.
want to use the pomodoro technique for studying, but you don’t have a computer or phone? use any clock you have and mark down the times on a piece of paper
if you want to minimize the amount of supplies: pens. highlighters. paper + cheap notebooks. i don’t recommend much else
to be a studyblr, you do not need a pretty workspace (or even have one, use the floor, dinner table, couch, whatever), but if you want one, here’s some cheaper ways of keeping your workspace looking nice!
don’t clutter — put your paper in stacks, and if you have drawers/cabinets, use them
but if you don’t have too many papers put them in folders or binders
if you have boxes small enough to do so but large enough to hold your clutter, put the extra papers + stuff you don’t need often but may need later in the boxes and shove them under the desk.
containers help, esp. for pens, but they cost money. try using cups — the tiny, flimsy disposable ones will tip over for sure, but you can put smaller things like tape or erasers in there. bigger, more stable ones for pens.
want decorations? try making paper flowers [x x x x x] or glitter jars [x x x x x]. put up drawings if you’ve got the space.
buy washi tape if you can use up money on something pointlessly pretty, michael’s has so many varieties, and they’re $1-2 each. target also has some with thicker rolls, but it’s more expensive + less variety. costco has some as well! i’m recommending it for decorating. as far as its function as tape, you can use it as a label, but don’t try to actually hold anything together with it.
don’t like the look of those pen containers? add a strip of washi tape around the brim. put it on boring notebook covers. loop it through some paper clips and use that as bookmarks. you can try this [x] for inspiration, but it’s buzzfeed and i don’t recommend you try to washi tape your car or use it as wallpaper. some other suggestions: [x x x x x x]
(hint: yes, we use filters. photo editing is a thing.)
highlight your notes omg if you want to spend hours rewriting them to look pretty, that’s awesome, but highlighters will work
sometimes it’s easier to do things online than wasting paper or notebooks on it! means less stuff to carry around with you, too.
however, not everyone owns a macbook (or even has their own computer), so i tried to post sites that can be accessed across all computers and aren’t mac-only.
here, some websites — wolframalpha and mathway, and you can google some math things!
sparknotes will probably save you at some point
check your writing for things like cliches, passive voice, adverbs, etc, or just for grammar with:
prowritingaid editminion hemingwayapp autocrit spellcheckplus
search engines: ipl, orion’s arm (for science), ecoasia (save trees!), library of congress (about the usa), sweet search
also, if you don’t want to buy a planner/sticky notes/whatever that involves to-do lists, try todoist - available on the web, ios, android, chrome, firefox, windows, and os x / or wunderlist - available on windows, mac, android, iphone, ipad, windows phone, chromebook. i’m fond of both!
create citations with bibme or easybib
need somewhere quiet to study and don’t have much of a workspace? find uncrowded places in your area with avoidhumans
microsoft word costs so much money. use libre office. it’s free and basically the same thing. or try openoffice.
if you need to use public computers (there are probably some at your library or something): get a gmail account and use google chrome. when you’re using it, log into the account. bookmark all the things you need. as long as you log into that account when you get on a computer, those bookmarks will be with you, as well as your browser data/settings.
speaking of syncing across computers, evernote is cool for notetaking & google drive is your friend
if you don’t have much money and you’re getting your first apartment
sat help [because expensive prep books/classes, ew]
find cheaper or free textbooks/classics online [2] / but maybe read this post first [warning, all bold]
“i’m so poor because i buy too many books”
100 recipes for the starving student / similar: [x x x]
feel free to add onto this post x
discoholicmusic
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
andulkaphoto
