So it’s around that time where finals are quickly approaching, everyone is freaking out about their long-term papers– that they have yet to start, all along with trying to juggle holiday preparation as well. Yes, if you ask me that is A LOT to deal with especially with such a tight schedule given that we’re college students and all.

Whether you’re into the whole holiday spirit or not, these are a few tips i think will be helpful to make the most of your last days before you head back home for winter break.

1. Clean/Decorate Your Room

With such busy schedules, we can easily forget to tidy up our space. I strongly encourage you to take just an hour out of your week to dedicate it to do a somewhat deep cleaning of your room. Wash your sheets, clean your floors, and go through spoiled foods in your refrigerator.

I’m honestly a clean freak and I absolutely hate when i let myself go and just leave random crap out which gets piled on for days. I’m not sure about other people, but tidying up definitely de-stresses me a bit and gets my mind off of school.

I’m not really the type to go out of my way to decorate my room for every holiday but i will put up a few decorations here and there for christmas. And when i say a few things i literally mean a FEW things. I’ll just put a little mini christmas tree and maybe a few lights but that’s all.

2. Secret Santa

Since we’re all college students, we’re definitely not all out here balling and can just drop hundreds of dollars on gifts for each and every one of our friends. My friends and I decided that the easiest and most economic thing to do for christmas is Secret Santa. This way you’re only spending money on just one person and no one can get offended if you accidentally forget to get them a gift.

My friends and I use this app called ‘My Secret Santa’ which randomly draws the names of everyone in the secret santa and emails everyone who they have to get a gift for (so no one knows!!). I highly recommend using this app because i truly think it’s a life saver. And also make sure you guys set a budget! We usually do $30-$40, but again that’s totally open to you and your best buds to discuss.

3. Be prepared for endless questions from your fam 

Face it, if you dorm or live off campus you’ve been away from home for quite some time. That being said, when you get home and meet up with all of your family members, they will bombard you with hundreds of questions.

Some of the questions I constantly find myself answering are: What’s your major? What year are you again? Any internships yet? Any boyfriends?!

These questions can easily annoy the crap out of anyone but just remember they’re just trying to catch up with you since you’ve been away for a while. They’re not trying to get under your skin but instead just trying to make small talk and again like I said just catch up with your life. So just put on a smile and answer these questions, while remembering that you’re back home for the holidays and will shortly be heading back to school.

Hopefully this list of tips was short and helpful enough. Good-luck preparing yourself for the holidays!!