Must-Dos Before the New College Semester

August is here folks! That means that in just a few short weeks, students everywhere will be waving their summers goodbye as they go back to college. Today I am sharing ways that you can feel more prepared going into your new semester. I have found that if I complete some of these things before the new semester, I feel a lot more relaxed and ready.

• Spend time with friends and family. If you allow yourself to pause for a moment and reflect, you will enjoy the time with them so much more. I suggest turning off your phone, pushing college out of your mind for a minute (and this is coming from a college blogger HAHA) and enjoying these moments with them.
• Visit your favorite food places at home. There are certain restaurants from home that I miss SO MUCH when I am not there. I always try to visit a few before returning to school to get my fix!
  

  One of my favorite food places in Salt Lake City, “Three Cups”.

• Make goals for yourself! I love writing out my goals for the semester before the new school year begins. Check out my free, goal setting printable in this post here.
• Pack and start early. If you start packing for school a few weeks before you have to leave, you won’t be panicking the days leading up to when you move to school (I speak from experience).
• Create your budget. If you are new to budgeting, check out this really helpful post from Sara Laughed. Her guide helped me create my first budget and helped me save a lot of money.
• Get into good sleep habits. Have you been staying up until 2AM all summer and now have to start waking up for your 8AM class? Make the transition easier by slowly going to bed earlier and waking up earlier for a few weeks before classes start.

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• Start textbook shopping! If you already know which classes you are taking, buy your textbooks during the summer. This also gives you a lot of time to find the best deals. TIP: Buying books from your school’s bookstore can often be a lot more expensive than online shopping on sites like Amazon’s textbook section . Do research and see where you can find a good price.
• Prepare your planner (and if you don’t have a planner…get one!). I am loving this post from Lola at Macarons in the Morning which walks you through how to make the most of your agenda/planner.

My current fave planner. It was only $7.99 at Target (Day Designer and Blue Sky)!

• Brush up on topics. Taking a math class but haven’t seen calculus in two years? It might be helpful to run through some of your old textbooks or watch a few videos on the topic to make sure that you are ready to go on day one of class.
• Organize your computer and make folders for all of your classes on your desktop. If you need help organizing your desktop, this post will help!
• Read a book for fun! A few of my summer favorites include “The One & Only”  by Emily Giffin and “Looking for Alaska” by John Greene.

• Make plane/driving arrangements to ensure that you arrive on time for move-in day! Living at home or off-campus? Make sure you have your driving route planned out!
• Transfer your prescriptions to a local pharmacy. Don’t wait until the last minute.
• Communicate with your roommate (if you have one). Make sure you talk about what each of you are going to bring so you don’t end up with two fridges or too many rugs.
• Pay your tuition. Ahh, the worst part about college but make sure you don’t forget to pay the bill especially if there are late fees.

What are you most looking forward to with the new semester?