As a student studying at university, the value of having a good, affordable supply of stationary cannot be understated. Even if you do most of your work electronically via your phone or laptop, technology can fail us more often than you might think – this is why the old-fashioned tools of pen and paper are still so essential. In this article I’m going to go into the most essential stationary you need as a student, how you can maximise your usage of it, where you can get the most affordable stationary in Lincoln, as well as inform you on how the University can support you if you’re having trouble getting what you need.
Essential Student Stationary
Here follows of a list of the items which, in my opinion, are the most essential pieces of stationary a student can have in their study-ready arsenal!
Notebooks – When a Word Doc or PDF isn’t an option, notebooks are what you need! They come in all shapes and sizes, and are in fact far less bulky to carry around compared to a laptop!
Pens – Again, if your tech fails and you can’t type, pens are what you need. I find that when taking notes in class, pen and paper can be a much quicker method – especially if you’ve got a two-hour session with nowhere to charge your laptop, or no way to fix it if it dies mid-seminar. Also, unless you’re very clumsy with a cup of coffee, handwritten notes tend not to delete themselves or get corrupted!
Post-it notes – These, whether in the classic yellow square form or in the form of little tabs, can be invaluable when it comes to one of the biggest parts of studying – annotations. If you have a library book and you can’t fold the pages or make notes, then post-its help you mark the important points in the text for you to come back to later. Also, if you own the book and don’t fancy writing in its pages, post-its are incredibly useful – it also means you can transfer the notes out of the book into your filing system, without having to waste time re-writing everything!
A Stapler – For me, one of my worst nightmares is the thought of me walking down the street, dropping my notes, and them going flying everywhere like a scene in a movie. Stapling stops this from happening, whilst allowing you to create sections of handwritten notes that you can better organise for yourself, in combination with the two following objects in the list!
Plastic Wallets – Once you’ve got your notes in sections, you want to be able to store them in a way that will keep them safe and free from damage – this is where plastic wallets come in incredibly handy! They keep things neat, contribute to your organisation, and even if you spill a coffee your notes will be protected!
Binders – The final object on this list is the final stage of organising handwritten notes to the max – binders are designed to accommodate any kind of plastic wallet, or indeed hole-punched pages, and give you a perfect storage medium for your notes that you can go ahead and store on a bookshelf – this saves you have to keep things stored in your uni bag or on your desk where it would take up space.
These, in my view, are the most useful things we can have as students – however if there’s anything not on this list that’s helped you in your studies, feel free to let out know via our socials at @uolstudentlife.
Maximising Your Stationary Use
With any stationary that you have, you want to maximise its usage as much as possible, so you’re not wasting the money you’ve spent on it – here are some tips on how to maximise the use of all the stationary I mentioned in the above list!
Notepads – Though this may sound obvious, try and make sure that you use every line of every page in your notebooks – this also includes using the insides of the front and back covers for making notes, so you can be sure you use every inch of space you have!
Pens – Try to go through your pens one at a time, rather than going back and forth between different ones. Every time you open a pen, the ink is exposed to the air and it starts to dry out. Using different pens simultaneously means that they will all be drying out at once, and the likelihood is they will all die on you sooner rather than later. However, using one pen at a time will avoid this problem, and be far more ergonomic in the long run.
Post-it Notes – With post-its, given that often only a strip of the back of it is sticky, try and use both sides of post-its when you’re making notes on them – again, using as much space as you can is only ever a good thing!
A Stapler – When stapling, and making sure that you don’t waste staples, taking your time is key. It’s happened to me many a time when I’ve tried to staple something too quickly, or too many pages at once, and I’ve ended up wasting staples by accidentally breaking them. You can make sure this doesn’t happen by a) taking your time when you staple, and b) taking care how many pages you’re putting together!
Plastic Wallets – In my experience, you can easily fill plastic wallets with more than one sheet of paper, sometimes 6-7 pieces will fit snugly without splitting the seams of the plastic! So do that as much as you can when it comes to storing your handwritten work!
Binders – Similarly, always try and fill a binder with as many plastic wallets/sheets of paper as you can fit, if it doesn’t close all the way it doesn’t matter, as long as your making use of it as much as you can!
Where To Get Your Stationary
Now you know what you need and how best to use it, I’m going to let you know of the most economical places in Lincoln to get your stationary!
University Fayres/Events – In my experience, whenever there are daytime events or fayres run on campus at the university with stalls and such-like, there is always an opportunity to collect freebies – one of the most common freebies nearly always ends up being pens or other kind of stationary, so if you hear of a fayre or event going on then you should definitely go along and take advantage of that!
Supermarkets – The following supermarkets/shops, in my experience, have a good and/affordable selection of stationary for students!
Morrisons – Tritton Road, Lincoln, LN6 7QL.
Home Bargains – Tritton Road, Tritton Retail Park, Lincoln, LN6 7AN.
Aldi – 260-266 Wragby Road, Lincoln, LN2 4PX.
Waterstones – 297A High Street, Lincoln, LN2 1AF.
How The Uni Can Support You
If you’re really having difficulty obtaining enough stationary for your studies due to financial constraints, you can always reach out to Student Wellbeing. If you’re having problems related to finance, they will be more than happy to point you in the right direction for getting advice on financial management, and where you can obtain financial assistance through Student Support.
I hope this article has shown you how you can satisfy your stationary needs in useful, and affordable ways that work for you! Happy Studying!
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