School is underway again, and the busiest time of the year commences. If you don’t find effective ways to balance all your responsibilities, you will be overwhelmed quickly. No one needs the extra stress and potential adverse effects on health and well-being. You know you need to make time for everything, but that’s one thing you never seem to have enough of. How do you balance school and work responsibilities while still having the energy for an enjoyable life?
Check out these strategies. Choose the ones that work for you and find new stress relief and fulfillment levels every day.
Define What’s Most Important to You
This first step is necessary for every single person. Prioritize what you need and want to do in order of importance. You need to attend your classes and find time to study. You must also show up at work and do your best to earn your paycheck. Don’t negate the value of spending time with family and friends, too. List everything that adds up to a good life for you. This list probably goes to school > work > and personal life as a student. This is the first step toward finding balance.
After knowing what you need and want in your life, you can explore the strategies below to make it happen.
1. Choose an Organization Tool
Try out a few phone apps or calendar tools online and choose the one that fits your needs the most. Fill in your entire schedule and see where you have open spaces for studying or socializing. Using an organizational tool like this frees your mind to focus on learning or creative pursuits. The app takes care of your mental workload.
If you have to use more than one, such as if your college has a custom platform, sync them all together so you can check everything in the same place. Visual planning tools like calendars are ideal.
2. Consider a Non-Traditional Schedule
Some financial aid requires full-time schooling. Some jobs do not offer flexible hours. You may place great importance on a social meetup that only happens on Thursday at 8 p.m. Some things aren’t flexible, but some give you options you might not have thought of yet.
These options can help:
· Take more online classes with no set schedule. You can finish these at your own pace and still get essential credit toward your degree program.
· Do gig work or freelancing instead of having a traditional job. This makes work a matter of making a certain amount of money each week instead of filling in hours. Once you fulfill your budget needs, you focus on school and fun. Only choose this if you can self-manage effectively.
· Combine studying and socializing. Forget the bar scene and parties. Connect with great people while learning together. You can combine other important lifestyle things with socializing, too, such as exercising in a non-competitive sport.
3. Manage School Materials and Textbooks
Not every class requires a printed textbook—some rely entirely on digital materials or online platforms. But when you do need a physical book, you can save quite a bit by checking BookScouter. It lets you compare used book prices and textbook rental options across multiple online stores in one place, so you don’t have to browse each site separately.
Minimize clutter in your space by renting or selling back textbooks once you’re done with them. Remember that a messy environment can affect your focus and stress levels. Keeping both your space and your study materials organized helps you save time, money, and mental energy.
4. Budget Carefully to Optimize Work Schedules
Know exactly how much you need to earn to cover your school and living expenses and have a little left over for fun or savings. If you are a full-time college student, now is not the time to worry about building wealth. Your degree can help with that. Instead, use a budgeting app or a simple spreadsheet to understand your expenses and income at a glance. This can help you optimize work schedules or spend minimal time on a side hustle instead of letting it take over your life.
Look for small ways to earn extra money, but don’t let hustle culture overwhelm you. One easy option is to sell textbooks online using price comparison platforms once you no longer need them for class.
5. Make Time to Care for Yourself
If your whole life is nothing but work and school, you will burn out quickly and may even damage your health. Finding time for relaxation or fun as a working student is hard, but it’s necessary for balance. Self-care has three pillars: food, fitness, and fun/relaxation.
Is it easier and quicker to cook at home or should you choose your school’s meal plan? You can often save money with the dining hall option, which relieves even more stress and can open up more time away from work.
How can you get regular activity in your schedule? Walking to class or biking to your job can absolutely help, but you might want to incorporate some mental-healing yoga or a fun game with others, too. Taking care of your mental health is just as important as staying active—if you’re looking for more structured support, check out these online therapy platforms that make it easier to access help on your schedule.
6. Let Go of FOMO
The fear of missing out (FOMO) is a balance destroyer. It’s powerful for young adults in college because everything feels new and exciting. It might also be the first time you’re away from home and totally in control of your own life.
The simple truth is that you are going to miss out on a lot of things. There’s no way to attend every interesting class, go to every hot party, or hang out with all your friends whenever they do something social. Trying to do this will cause far too much stress and will negatively affect your grades and ability to stay employed.
Stick to your schedule. Weigh the value of every opportunity and see if it fits in with your main goals. When you have a good grasp of how to balance everything, you can work some flexibility into your life. The secret is to make sure your choices matter and don’t hurt anything else you’re trying to achieve.
