Now that you’ve had a few days to think about them, hopefully you’ve decided which resolutions are really important to you.  This is a list of free websites that will hopefully make your resolutions easier – and none of them involve costly gym memberships, 12 hours studying a day or giving up your social life. Please note: there are no diet sites on here, since everybody is different, and combining exercise with healthier choices is a safer approach than any crash diet.

Resolution: Make more of an effort in day-to-day appearance
The helping hand: College fashion
How it helps: If your goal is to wear less sweats/more exciting clothes/try out new trends, this will be a huge help.  This site is packed with outfit ideas, taking inspiration from movies to music.  There’s also a section, “What do I wear there?”, which is designed to help you choose weather/event friendly outfits.

Resolution:Spend less time on facebook/twitter etc and more on work
The helping hand: RescueTime
How it helps:This add-on basically tracks your computer usage (and even asks you about your time away from the screen) to tell you how productive you are with your time.  You can set goals such as “I will spend less than x hours per day on very distracting sites (e.g. facebook)” or “I will spend more than x hours per day on very productive work”.  You can also change which category websites come into, so that your university emails don’t count as distracting.  Don’t feel you need to buy one of the plans, I have the free version and it does everything I want it to!

Resolution: Saving money
The helping hand: MoneySavingExpert
How it helps:I’m sure most of you have heard of this site before, but it really is useful. It has everything from vouchers to comparisons of the best bank account for you.  It also has a downloadable budget planner, which may need some tweaking a little for the student lifestyle, but which will tell you if you’re heading (further) into your overdraft, or towards a nice pile of savings.

 Resolution: Making time for romance/showing your partner how much you appreciate them
The helping hand: LovingYou
How it helps: This site has ideas for date nights both out and at home, LDR romance, gift ideas, romantic recipes, seduction tips and even a romance calendar, with little ideas tailored to the season.  January’s isn’t yet up, but looking at December’s (the little link at the very top of the page) will give you a clue as to the thought that goes into this site.

Resolution: Getting fit
The helping hand: CardioTrainer or any similar app
How it helps:CardioTrainer is a free app I found on my phone (I have an android, but there’ll be something similar available on all smart phones).  It tracks my route when I’m walking, running or cycling and tells me how many calories I’ve burnt.  I can also put in exercise such as boxing, swimming, yoga etc.  If you choose to pledge a resolution you can bet money which goes to a charity of your choice if you don’t stick to it (or you can bet $0).

Resolution: Learn to cook/Rely on take out less
The helping hand: The BBC
How it helps: The BBC has over 13000 recipes, catering to a number of different dietary preferences including vegan, healthy, dairy free, nut free and vegetarian.  I’m sure, with this many recipes, anyone can find something to their liking and ability!

Resolution: Getting organized
The helping hand: Google Calendar/student planner/your phone’s calendar
How it helps: A calendar or planner is the best investment you can make to be more organized.  Whether it’s on your phone, a wall planer or an academic diary, planning out your time can help you see where you have free time to take advantage of, and which activities are the biggest drain on your time.

Resolution: Being more tidy
The helping hand: RealSimple
How it helps: Aimed predominantly at parents, this site has a whole section devoted to cleaning and organising, with ways of using things lying around the house to organise things more.  For example, I love the idea of pinning all your earrings through a ribbon to keep pairs together.

Resolution:  Be more creative
The helping hands: FictionPress, FanFiction, DeviantArt
How it helps:If you’ve got plots, characters or poetry coming out of your ears fictionpress is the site for you – it accepts original work, published online for others to comment on.  If you’re a writer but have an obsession with worlds/characters someone has already created, fanfiction works the same way as fictionpress but you write using characters and settings already established; everything from Harry Potter to Gossip Girl to Inception.  If you’re a more artistic type, DeviantArt is a community site where you can upload sketches, photographs and digital art for review.

Resolution: Create your bucket list
The helping hand: Summary list
How it helps: Everybody has a list of goals they’d like to achieve in their lifetime, which is where the bucket list comes in.  There’s a selection of sites listed here which help you to create your own bucket list online, each slightly different.  Some have preset lists, others let you create one from scratch.  Check out the link above to choose which one is best for you.

What Do You Think?

What resolutions did you make this year? Have you got any hints and tips for sticking to them? Let us know!

4 Comments

  1. avatar Rebecca Lutz says:

    Thanks for sharing! Many blessings to you in the New Year!

  2. avatar Sari says:

    This absolutely brilliant. THANK YOU!

  3. avatar Rin says:

    Great post! These resolutions are very universal and the websites you posted are great!

  4. avatar Charlotte says:

    wow, what a fantastic post!!
    I’m using My Fitness Pal for my weight-loss goals which is a great weight loss tracking app :]]

    Charlotte

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