Third post is now up on Janet Carr's blog!

I can't believe how quickly the weeks are going and that I will soon be at the end of this project! For those of you interested you can see my third post for the project here and if you have missed any of my posts or want to look at any of the other projects then you can find them in this handy index that Janet has made to organise all of her projects!

The Latest Addition to my Filofax Family

For those of you who have seen my Instagram will know that I finally caved and ordered the Green Original I mentioned that I wanted in this post! I didn't end up getting it engraved as I found it for a much cheaper price on Amazon and I had a £10 gift card for there from completing surveys so I managed to get this beauty delivered for a mere £34.98! I wonder if I sent it to Filofax at some point in the future I could get it engraved, or perhaps a local leather shop could do the same for me? Has anybody ever done this?

Well here it is, my original still in its 'box', I must admit I do miss the old Filofax boxes and whilst I admit that you can see what is in the Filofax in store without damaging it, I can't help but feel that this looks a little cheap when you've spent so much on the organiser in the first place.

I am currently still in the process of 'moving in' to the organiser as I am going to use my original as my handbag organiser instead of the Pocket Chameleon I had been using as I found there isn't enough space for me to write what I want to on the pages and so the process is taking a little longer than usual as I have to physically copy things out but so far I am really happy with the progress and I will do a more detailed blog post in the near future (perhaps accompanied by a video!) I haven't found the closing to be too restrictive yet which is a relief as I had heard several people mention this fault with the Original but he (I've decided its definitely a he!) is far from full yet so it will be interesting to see if I can fit everything that I want to in there. 

Right now I am going to go and carry on playing with my new organiser (much to my housemates amusement I am sure!) so I shall leave it at that, thank you for reading! :)

Money Monday #5 - Using Cashback Websites

Cashback websites have steadily been growing in popularity and over the summer I decided that I would give them a go. Initially I was a bit dubious, I mean come on, can you really get money for shopping?! And it turns out that you can indeed! Now I'm not claiming that you will make enough money to pack up your studies/ retire but if you are already planning on purchasing something then it is worth checking out the cashback sites before you do.

I travel home from my university about every other weekend in order to visit my lovely boyfriend and see my dogs and family! I'm lucky that I'm only about an hour away on the train so it really isn't very taxing for me to travel back and whats more I can get cashback on my train tickets! 

So if you have never tried using cashback websites before then here are the links to my two favourites:

1) Top Cashback
http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/Member1012761470831

2) Quidco

http://www.quidco.com/user/3512432/1692175/

Now I am not going to lie to you dear reader, I do get a reward if you sign up using my link but the beautiful people at Quidco have allowed me to split this reward with you so if you sign up using my link then you will automatically receive £1.25 in cashback.... yes it really is that easy to get cashback on things!

What are your favourite tips for squeezing the most out of every penny you spend? 

Fresher Friday #6- Finding a Hobby

Firstly appologies for not posting a Fresher Friday post last week, I sadly woke up Thursday morning to find my beloved hamster maddie had died! So that kind of threw me off track a bit!
I've now adopted a new hamster from the adoption section of pets at home called Jess (from New Girl) and she is incredibly timid and shy so I think it may be a while before I have any cute pictures to show you as she runs and hides whenever I open her cage at present! I'm hoping that with a lot of patience (and some good old fashioned bribery) I can gradually win her trust!

The past week I have been getting rather stressed and overwhelmed by University! It appears second year is a LOT harder than first year which was something that I wasn't really prepared for! I got to the point of crying at 1am (yes I was that girl) and contemplating dropping out (not that I really had a better alternative) but after a visit from my lovely boyfriend and consequently coming home for a long weekend (don't worry I have no lectures) I am starting to feel a lot better about the situation but I have come to the conclusion that I need to find a new hobby (especially now bake off has finished!) as I found that I was spending most of my time either in lectures or sat at my desk working (or procrastinating from doing that work) which frankly is not very helpful!

So over the next few weeks I am going to attempt some new hobbies because I don't really think that I can class Candy Crush as a hobby! and I shall aim to share my progress with you on how I am getting on. I have an exam on Monday so it may have to wait until after then but in the meantime I am going to try and draw up a list of some things I would like to try and so dear reader, if you have any suggestions as to what I should do, please comment down below or send me an email at theuniversityffproject @ gmail.com (without the spaces!)

I am now on Instagram!

Instagram has long been my source of inspiration for many things and so I decided it was about time I made my own account! I love the way that instagram allows you into the daily life of the user that you follow and I know that people only show their polished and perfected images with the world but sometimes it is nice to see and over the last few days I have been enjoying sharing the polished snippets of my life and it is nice to look back on and see that my life isn't really quite as boring as I think sometimes (unless you find Filofax, Coffee and my pets boring that is)

So here is the link to my instagram:
http://instagram.com/theuniversityproject

Come and follow me if you fancy! :)

Post Number 2 for The University Project (Janet Carr's Blog)

Those of you who have been with the blog since the start will know that my initial inspiration for starting this blog was the fact that I was chosen to take part in the wonderful Janet Carr's Filofax Project to show how I use my Filofax to organise my time at University.

For those of you interested you can read my second post for the blog here

Money Monday #4- What I'm saving up for

Before I came to University I had a part time job and very little to actually spend my money on and so when I saw something that I fancied, I was often able to buy it. Alas, the Student Loan does not allow for such things and so now if I decide I'd quite like something (even a piece of cake in a cafe!) I have to decide (honestly!) if I really can afford it.

Currently I am lusting after this little beauty:

The google nexus tablet, but with a price tag of almost £200, if not more, depending what model I opt for, there is no way I can just go out and buy this on a whim! Instead I am trying to save up some of my student loan by omitting a few luxuries from my budget such as magazines and that piece of cake in the cafe and I am hoping that the combination of that and having a part time job over Christmas holidays will allow me to purchase this gem in the new year- I am thinking end of exams treat? 

What are you currently lusting after? Will you save up for it or are you the kind of person who purchases thing on a whim? 

My week #4

This week I was suffering from planner fail in my bigger A5 planner and so I switched to my pocket chameleon in order to simplify my planning. 

How do you combat planner fail? Did you have a nice week? :) 

Fresher Friday #5- Procrastination

If you are anything like me then by this stage into university you will have undoubetdly done some procrastination! Even if I am not doing work that has a strict deadline and I am just writing up some notes I find that my attention is easily diverted by a funny post or video on Facebook.

Today my house mate's mum sent her this video and I have watched it far too many times and so I thought that I would share it with all of you so you can share in the enjoyment and have a nice form of procrastination too!

http://jezebel.com/holy-fuck-polar-bears-are-magnificent-beasts-1443701957

That's all for now! Catch you soon :)

Money Monday #3- What can you buy with £20

One of the things that I quickly got an appreciation for at University was the value of money, and this is not to say that I was some spoilt rich kid beforehand, but there was very little that I had to actually budget for other than luxuries such as holidays!

So after trawling the internet for a few hours (I wasn't procrastinating honest!) here are 5 things that will set you back £20.

1. A date to the cinema

Unless you are savvy enough to go to the cinema on an Orange Wednesday then chances are by the time you have purchased two tickets, paid for transport and splurged on a packet of sweets, your total will be at least £20!

2. A new pair of shoes!

Well what girl doesn't like to treat herself to a new pair of shoes from time to time!

3.  A second hand textbook

Depending upon the original RRP of a textbook then you can often pick up most on secondhand sites or your university noticeboard for around £20

4. A night out

I am lucky in the sense that I am not a big drinker and so I usually only have to pay for entry, a few drinks and then walk home and so a night out for me only costs around £20. Top tip, leave your bank card at home!

5.  A train ticket home

As I am under a 2 hour train journey from home, a train ticket costs me £18.95 return with a railcard and so when that homesickness kicks in, I am not too far away and I don't have to break the bank to get there either!

My Week #3

This week I have been suffering from something that is known as planner fail amongst the Filofax community. The problem has arisen from me starting the second year of my course and having a massive amount of work to do, that to be honest I was not expecting and so I was caught somewhat off guard! I am hoping to dedicate some time this week to sorting out my pages and coming up with a much more permanent solution to the giant Bic post it note that I am currently using.

How has everyones week been?

Fresher Friday #3 Freshers Fair

Photo from Bangor University Facebook page.

Last week was Freshers week at my university which saw the onset of Freshers fair and I now have enough free pens and pencils to last me for a while!

Last year I signed up to a myriad of societies at Freshers Fair but only actually went to one on a regular basis. Therefore this year my goal was to find just one new society to join and so I fought my way through the hundreds of stands in order to find the one that caught my attention the most. 

The society that I picked was the Bangor Bird Group and I went to the first meeting last night and I was both surprised and pleased to find that this was not a group unique to the university students but there were also a large number of members of the public. This means that I will get the opportunity to speak to some real life experts and as I am studying for a Zoology degree and hope to go into the conservation field later this kind of experience will be invaluable for me!

What societies have you joined? And how many meetings have you actually gone to yet? :)

Filofax should have an app!

This on the surface seems like a strange thing to say due to the fact that there often seems to be a divide between those that use paper based planning systems such as the Filofax and those that use the iPhone or other similar devices in order to keep track of their appointments and so forth.

I sit somewhere in the middle as I frequently use both my iPhone and Filofax for planning as sometimes I'm struck by a sudden great idea for a birthday present or remember something I need to be doing.

The other day I was winding down in bed and realised that I was low on to-do pages for my Filofax and so pulled out my iPhone to order some more rather than turn on my laptop simply to order some inserts.

Now don't get me wrong, I do love the new website design Filofax have recently released yet I found the mobile site was very small and cumbersome to use and so, like I do when this happens for other websites, I looked in the AppStore to see if I could get the Filofax app. I was however surprised to find that such an App did not exist. I am unsure whether Filofax have ever considered creating an app before but have been cautious for fear of offending those who are so strongly dedicated to paper planning but I personally feel that this would go someway to bridging the gap between the two types of planning and perhaps attract a wider audience for the Filofax.

Initially I was just wanting an app that was the equivalent of their website but then my imagination took hold and I began to think of other features this app could include and so below are some of my more sensible ideas (it was rather late when I did this so not all of my ideas made the cut, sadly!)

1. Things to add to my Filofax
2. Frequently ordered inserts
3. A reminder function (to check your Filofax to jog your memory of an important appointment for example)

These were the top three ideas that I came up with but I am curious as to what you all think about the concept of a Filofax app?

I will be sending a link of this blog post to the good people at Filofax, so who knows, they might even take some of our suggestions on board!

Paperchase Haul

Before I came back to university I made sure to visit the Paperchase near my hometown as sadly I do not  have one where I go to University and the delivery makes small purchases pretty pointless as you end up paying more in delivery charges. 

Recently I have been trying to use more washi tape in my Filofax in order to make it look more appealing and so I was thrilled to find this cute set of 4 tapes in Paperchase for £3.50 (AND I get Student Discount!)- the girl at the checkout said that Paperchase were introducing more sets in their ranges coming out in the next few weeks, I will definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for those! 

I also got these numbered stickers as I am hoping to make my own to do lists for my A5 Filofax and so I thought that these stickers would be perfect for that purpose! I haven't quite decided whether I am going to use a colour coding system or not yet- so stay tuned for that!

What is your favourite Paperchase item?