Work-life balance is one of those dreamy things that we all aspire to have, like a constantly full bank account and everything on our wish lists at the same time. We can sometimes see them as two things that can't be at one together. But, unlike your bank balance and a house full of things with the tags still on, you can achieve work-life balance! Here are a few tips that might be helpful if you're struggling with balancing studies, having a social life and keeping everything else in order!

1. Prioritise

If you're trying to juggle assignments, seeing family and friends, social occasions, part-time work, your side hustle AND trying to keep your flat tidy it's all going to get a bit much if you look at it as one big hurdle. The best thing to do is to step back from your gigantic to-do list and prioritise things. If your assignment is due tomorrow, this should take priority over drinks if it's not finished. But, if you're offered an extra shift at work and your uni work isn't due for a week, you can probably afford to take it and grab some extra cash!

Narrow down your to-do lists into easily digestible chunks instead of one huge scary notepad of nightmares. Make a "must do today" list and then a larger "tasks" list that you can dip into if you do finish all your necessaries. Then, don't forget to make your "must do today" list manageable. If it has "tidy house" and "do essay" on, this is going to feel overwhelming and pretty unreachable. If you have "hoover the living room" or "clean the bathroom" along with "do research and come up with sub-headings" for your essay, this is going to be much more attainable. You'll probably finish these tasks and feel like you can easily tackle the next lot of jobs instead of staring up at a mountain of jobs.

2. Organise your stuff

If everything is a mess then it's going to make having the perfect work-life balance really difficult. If you can easily find the items that you need to complete your tasks at hand then you're going to save time and do things much more productively. Spending half an hour trying to find a notepad or the document that's hidden deep in your Google Drive isn't the best way to spend your time, especially if you're time poor.

3. Organise your time

If you make sure that you book time in with your friends, family and loved ones and work these arrangements into your week then it's less daunting when a social opportunity arrives. You won't stress that you're too busy to pop out for that coffee because you'll (hopefully) have already planned this into your time!

4. BONUS TIP! - Enjoy your self

Every now and again you just have to take a step back and wonder whether what you're stressing about being too busy to do, actually matters. If you do the washing up and tidy round tomorrow morning, will it hurt? Probably not - so head out and grab that drink with your friend that you've not seen for months or run yourself that bath and watch re-runs of Real Housewives of Cheshire (just me that's a fan?). Remember to put things into focus sometimes and relax. Sometimes we can be too busy actually being stressed that we think we're busy but really, if we weren't stressing, we wouldn't be so busy!