#leo desk

[leo-desk]

BACK TO SCHOOL! Today(11 September 2017) I went back to school and these are the flatlays(more like attempts of flatlays) of my school supplies and my sister's(she's 11 and her's is the one in pastel pink). I just wanted to say that from now on I will only post on weekends(Friday night included) because it seems I'll be very busy. The grading system is a TOTALLY new one and we are all super confused. Have a nice day! Love<3

[leo-desk]

This are the last few pages of my art journal and I forgot to share them when I did actually finish them. Today(5 September 2017) I'm going to start a new journal(actually a half-used one but it wasn't used for art practice/learning). Have a nice day! Love <3

[leo-desk]

Tips on spending less money on school and its supplies

Don’t throw away used pens, markers or highlighters: if you are the kind of person who uses the same brand over and over again this will be very helpful since if you lose the cap of your marker, pen or whatnot, you can replace it by an old one. Same goes if say the pen itself cracks and you are left with an ink cartridge, you can use it as a refill for an older pen. And if you don’t throw away your old pens you can just go ahead and buy only refills for them, even if the brand doesn’t offer one. You can buy standard refills and cut them to the size of your pen, or if they are instead ink deposit ones, buy an ink bottle to refill them(I might do a post on the whole refilling thing later). You can even customize your old school supplies like putting a red refill on a normal black pen or gel pen ink in a ballpoint one or soaking old markers in the blue or black ink you use for your pens.

Don’t buy very low quality products: You understand why in the long run. Poor quality lasts less and can really be a pain. Instead opt for low price products that are a good imitation of the real thing by generic brands. I may not be of much help on this bc the availability of different brands in different country but an example of this is choosing the cheaper turkish 8B pencil against the 3 times pricier german one.

Don’t buy doubles: Don’t buy a pair of everything, most of the time you won’t need them. Plus you can buy spares as you go and you actually need them. Or if you want to be safe buy big packs of the basic products and split them with your sibling(the price too) or cousin or even parent because they too need pens and pencils. Also don’t get similar products. Don’t get a pack of colorful ballpoint pens and another one of gel pens. Don’t buy a hand-held sharpener and another one with a deposit. Instead choose the more suitable to your pencil case or other needs products.

DIY smartly: What I mean by this is that there are some DIYs out there which not only can cost up to 5 times the price of the manufactured product but you also have big chances of failing if they aren’t your thing. Instead take the time to calculate the total cost of the DIY and compare it to shop alternatives. Then see if you can afford to mess it up and then decide. Also if the cost of the DIY is cheap bc it requires just a little of x product remember that you will have to buy the whole product just for that one particular piece. A good DIY should also spend less of your time bc the most important thing is writing in itslef not the utensil you use for it.

Don’t throw away any blank pages on notebooks even if there are only two left: Instead tear them out and make flashcards or notepads out of them. As for hardbound journal pages which are very hard to tear well don’t. Use them for sketches, drawing ideas, essay planning, homework layout ideas etc.

Use coupons and buy in big stores: well we all know why coupons make stuff cheaper but why shall we but supplies in big stores? Well bc they generally have better sales and different 3 in 1 or whatever options. Even though nowadays online stores and small shops have the same offers. Another tip is to use a youtuber’s or studyblr’s discount code or for college students the student card also lifts some weight. Don’t buy all of your textbooks if it is allowed. You can find pdf copies of them online(sth you should do before the beginning of the new academic year) or lend them at libraries or borrow a friend’s and take a photo/photocopy of some particular pages like those with schemes or diagrams which you may also not be able to reproduce that well by hand and for the rest part take organized notes. You can also buy used ones or take your older siblings/ cousins/ maybe even neighbors if you are close to them. 

 Pick a theme: If you pick a certain color scheme or theme(for ex:figure skating) it is going to help you not to be tempted by the endless cute things the market has to offer which for example are sushi-themed. Pick a theme that’s broad and preferably somewhat popular and that you like so you can actually find all the things you need with what you want and be content with it. A good theme are galaxies/space in my opinion bc there are lots of supplies featuring it. But your theme may also be something like Japan, basketball, succulents, flowers or symbols filled stuff(like notebook with chinese symbol script on top or a fandom symbol). Another option are color schemes and they are probably the best in that you can be versatile as long as it is one of the three(more colors would sort of lose the notion of a them) colors you chose. The options are endless and personal and maybe you don’t like the rigidity of a theme in which case please don’t try to have one. The whole idea is meant to keep you in check with your finances but content with your choices.

 Use libraries all the time. While there is a plethora of wonderful free apps&websites to help you study, most excellent apps&websites offer only a lite version for free which is understandable. To make up for the gap that the crazy prices of extra exercise books, textbooks for self-study and some online methods have but for the sensible prices as well gain use your school’s and area’s library combined together. You don’t have to spend all that time there just lend the books and go study them where you wish. Most of the time you will find all that you need.

Borrow from your siblings or other close people all that stuff you know you will only need once. This is sort of truly personal but if you will only use sth once than try borrowing it and lend stuff to people yourself, too. One thing that I only use twice the whole year are those rulers which are like a half circle and measure angles, whose names in english I don’t know.

Digitalize all you can: Downloading a free digital planner is of course cheaper than buying an actual one and all the stickers you will need to decorate it, of course if you have the electronic device to do so. When I say all you can I mean trying to digitalize all the stuff that your own preferences allow you to. If it hurts your eyes reading digital notes than don’t make digital notes, your eyes are more important.

Hope this turns out useful

Looove<3