7 tips for balancing school, work, family... and everything else in your life

Its so true, there really isnt enough hours in the day :( but 'keeping my eye on the prize' does give me some motivation. I study full time law, thats 4 units per semester (8 units per year) and each has its own major assignments, daily forum discussion which are graded, suprise online tests and a hellova lot of reading.

i dont have kids, but i do do alot of the housework/laundry/cooking at home and inbetween that i try to find some time to relax, which i usually have plenty of when i give school only 40% of my concentration which is BAD...

I also plan to work soon, maybe 3-4 days per week. so it seems like i will have a million thgs to do soon and not enough time...

my plan...
1. Organise and make timetables
2.dedicate one hour in the morning n one hour at night to readings and homework
3. put everythg in its place so it doesnt get messy, thus eliminate some housework
4. Utilise weekends, by ironing for the week for both myself n my partner, laundry etc
etc etc

Organsining daily thgs to do lists is the most helpful in my opinion. and for those like me who are schooling, i suggest u find time/make time to complete thgs ahead of time, doing it closer to due dates just makes it so much more frustrating.

thanks for all these information..in fact i did filed fafsa aplication but my friends told me i have to b i california, sanf for a year at least to get all my tuition waived , because i just moved to cali not long ago, and i have to wait a year to get the benefits i need me any my two kids, its taugh and disapointing, but what i can do i dont have a choice i guess i have to wait till then , if u know thats not true plz let me know so i can go right away to apply for the benefits for my kids and put them to daycare so i can move on and go get a second job or whatever to survive.
again thanks for responding it is really good to see that others feel what u feel and not b alone in this unfair world and time. thanks

actually my situation is much worse than any of urs probably, im a single mom after my husband was deported back to his country and I'm stuck by myself with my two kids not knowing what to do to balance my life with all this responsibilities, its so hard than it seems i work as a waitress and don't make much money to live a better life i want to go back to school, but dont know how to do it with my complicated life. i'm very overwhelm please if u have any ideas what should do don't hesitate .

One day at a time, one week at a time, one sememster at a time - that is how we do it. Advice to others? Ask for help when you need it - by the way - if you ask a friend to read a paper you have written, and tell them you want to know what they think - you honor your friend by showing them you value their inteligents and oppinion. I am a full time grad student, I have a job, and an awesome daughter. She and my boyfriend are the biggest supporters and helpers anyone could ask for - I feel blessed!

How to I balance it all - working full time and going to grad school full time? Well, yesterday I broke down sobbing to my boyfriend! But what I find is REALLY helpful, to all your students out there, is to set aside specific hours in the day to do homework/readings, even if you don't have anything due the next day. When I was an undergrad I wouldn't start an assignment or a reading until it was due. I didn't necessarily wait until the night before, but, for instance, if I had to read a novel for discussion in class on Tuesday, I would start that novel on Friday or Saturday, ya know? Well, now I devote my entire lunch hour and an hour after work before class starts to reading/assignments, whether that assignment/reading is due right away or not. More often than not, because I have these scheduled 2 hours per day that I will use to read no matter what, I end up finishing my readings way earlier than they are due and end up getting very far ahead in the readings for the class. Then again, I don't have kids... so I imagine being a mother fills up those 2 free hours I have a day pretty quick. So to any mothers out there who also work full time and go to school full time... YOU ARE A ROCK STAR!!! I have no idea HOW you do it!!!!

Hmm... I'm not sure about having to live in California for a year or two before you get benefits... I do know that you can't apply for California resident tuition (which is cheaper than non-resident tuition) unless you've lived here for a full year, but that just means you'd have to pay a bit higher tuition; I don't think it should have anything to do with being eligible for benefits or not. In any case, you should really find an advisor (either from the school you want to go to, or from the Fasfa website which offers personal help as well) and ask him/her all these questions - never rely on information you hear from a friend (or the internet!) because many many people are misinformed or only know about things that apply to themselves - when everybody's situation is different.

^^ Salma - If you are a waitress and have a daughter, I can almost gaurantee you'll get 100% of your tuition waived, PLUS money for books. And many schools (I know mine does) have free childcare for students. Research schools and their childcare programs on the internet, and contact the schools your interested in to talk to an admissions coordinator who will give you more information!

And fill out a FAFSA online right away! (It's the application for financial aid. You don't need to be accepted into a school yet to apply ((you don't even have to have applied to a school yet)), and the time to apply is January - March which applies for the following school year, so if you have any intention of going to school in the next year, fill out your online FAFSA right away! It's free!) www.fafsa.ed.gov