Class ends 10 minutes early, so I hop out of my desk and head for the door, crossing the room diagonally because it's quicker. Can I wait until the afternoon to write my paper? If I delegate part of the project, that's one less hour I need to work on it. If I get rid of that hour, maybe I could also go into work early and get out early and then I'd be done with my day and actually have time to eat dinner at a reasonable hour! Freeze-frame.
This is me on an average weekday. If this thought-process sounds familiar, you are not alone. Time is the currency of the college student. It's our unit of value. It's the way we barter and the way we budget.
Just this week I caught myself trying to economize minutes. I knew I only had 15 minutes until my meeting and I was near the library. Why not run in really quickly, send that e-mail that I was supposed to send a week ago, and why not call for dinner plans on the drive over? Every little minute counts. Shoot, every second, for that matter.
Looking for second-shavers in Baker University Center? I've been known to walk up the escalator, to check Blackboard in the computer lab instead going to the library ' or, even better, check it on those nifty computers sticking out of the walls. I'm confident I'm not alone in my tightwad tendencies. I know you've circled around to get into the closer parking meter, because, after all, it shaves a good 39 seconds off your walk to Morton Hall.
And thank God classes start at ten-after the hour. When I lived in Voigt Hall sophomore year, I had my morning routine nailed like an Olympic sport. I could leave my room, cross College Green and get a seat in Scripps 111 in the upside of seven minutes. That meant that on the hour, I had enough time to microwave a Campbell's Soup at Hand, which only takes one minute and 15 seconds (if I opt to let it cool for 30 seconds instead of the entire recommended minute).
We are spending time, buying it back, investing a weekend, and cutting things out of our days. Why all the financial talk for minutes and hours? When it comes to charity, Generation Y is more likely to donate hours of service over cash donations, according to The New York Times. I believe it. I see it in our small day-to-day idiosyncrasies as students.
I won't even go into the budget vs. worth strategy that it takes to map out my schedule at the beginning of the quarter. By week two, my planner looks like a game of Tetris.
Some call it micromanaging or strategic planning. I say, call it like it is. Time is money and I'm not ashamed to proclaim I'm a penny-pincher.
Leah Hitchens is a junior studying magazine journalism. Send her an e-mail at lh303105@ohiou.edu.
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Leah Hitchens
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