My Favourite Back-To-School Supplies
It’s that time of year again— back-to-school season! Although I graduated last year and am no longer a student, I wanted to pass on my “student wisdom” by sharing some of my favourite back-to-school supplies in five categories: writing utensils, notebooks, backpacks, electronics, and planners. At the end of the day, you definitely DON’T need all these things to succeed at school...this is just a list of some fun supplies to check out if you’re wanting to make some new additions to your backpack this school year! Adding news pens or starting a fresh notebook at the beginning of the school year was probably my favourite part about heading back to class, so let’s have some fun and talk school supplies!
Writing Utensils
Pens
Whether you write physical notes in a notebook or take more of a digital note-taking approach, a good pen is necessary! One of my favourite basic-writing pens is *Muji’s gel ink pen in 0.38 and *0.5. They come in basic black, navy, red, and other fun colours!
For fancier writing, a fine liner pen is great! I love both *Micron and *PITT Artist pen sets because they’re both really pigmented and give you lots of sizing options. For a budget-friendly option, I really like *Papermate’s Flair Felt Tips and *Sharpie’s.
Highlighters
For a step-up in the highlighting department, I highly recommend *Zebra’s Mildliner markers— they’re dual-ended with one end for highlighting and the other end for any basic marker needs (I love using it to underline or create boxes around headers). *Stabilo’s Boss highlighters are also really great! They’re a bit chunkier than Mildliner and they’re not dual-ended, but they come in beautiful pastel colours!
Pro-tip: check your local stationery store to see if you can buy Mildliners and/or Stabilo highlighters individually so you only have to get the colours you want!
Pencil Case
If you’re on the go, a pencil case comes in handy for keeping your supplies together. I won’t say I’ve come across THE pencil case in my 23 years of life, but *Muji has this hard carrying case that’s great for bringing a handful of pens/pencils with you!
Notebooks
If you’re taking physical notes in university, you’re going to go through your fair share of notebooks! Honestly, I used the classic *Hilroy lined notebooks for years— they’re pretty inexpensive and get the job done!
For a slightly elevated note-taking experience, *Clairefontaine notebooks have incredible paper quality! I used their grid paper notebooks for years and was obsessed with how smooth the paper was.
Sticky notes and flags
Sticky notes/flags are perfect for adding additional notes to readings and keeping track of chapters and key concepts! Anyone who has watched my channel for a while knows I’m mildly obsessed with these *white sticky notes from Post-it (I love the white colour because it means I can use whichever colour pen/highlighter/marker I desire— I know, I’m a stationery weirdo).
The classic *Post-it flags are fantastic too! *I love these ones from Avery for dividing big sections of notes/text!
Backpack
While in university, I LOVED using *Mat and Nat backpacks! They’re stylish, able to hold my laptop and any notebooks/supplies I needed for class, and durable (even in fluctuating Canadian weather). Bonus: Mat and Nat is a Canadian company made with vegan leather and linings made with recycled water bottles.
This *Getaway backpack from Swiss Gear is also a huge fav for me— probably my favourite backpack ever! It’s more geared for travellers because it can open up like a suitcase and it has a designated spot for clothing, but I’ve used it for non-travel needs too. The laptop pouch is at the back of the backpack (so it doesn’t take up any room in the main section of the bag), and there are tons of compartments for storage!
Emergency Pouch
If you’re on campus or studying outside of your home, I find an emergency pouch really comes in handy! I usually take a large pencil case (*like this one I had in my final year of university) and fill it with things like Advil for headaches, stain remover, tissues, hair ties, tampons/pads, etc. This pouch got used a lot in university— both by myself and my classmates/friends! Can you tell I’m the mom in my friend group? Haha!
Tech Organizer
This tech organizer from *Native Union (click here for the link) is a must for anyone travelling around with cords, chargers, hard drives, etc.! The pouch is padded so all your gear stays protected on the go, and it has tons of pockets/compartments to keep wires from tangling up. I’m someone who gets really excited about pouches for organization, and this is one is a standout!
Electronics
Laptop
I think one of the best investments you can make as a student is getting a reliable laptop— these days, there are great options in a variety of price ranges. I used a few laptops throughout my time at university. The one I used the most was my *Macbook Pro because I edit my YouTube videos on Final Cut Pro, but I also loved using my *Lenovo Flex laptop because it was able to transition into “tablet mode.”
iPad
In my final year of university, I started using my *iPad Pro with an *Apple Pencil to go completely digital with my note-taking, and LOVED it! If you have basic computing needs, an iPad would probably be able to take the place of a laptop. The Apple Pencil, combined with apps like Goodnotes and Procreate, made the iPad a dream to use when it came to digital handwriting— I talk all about my favourite iPad apps in the video below!
Headphones
Music was one of my favourite ways to get in the study zone during university (I have a whole Spoitfy playlist filled with instrumentals that help me stay focused during major work sessions). If you plan to work in a coffee shop or at home where family members are making noise, headphones are a great way to tune the world out! For long periods of time, I find over-ear headphones more comfortable, but any headphone will do!
Planner
Whether you create your own planner “bullet journal style” (learn more about how to start one of your own, HERE), or more of a digital planner kind of person, a planning tool is necessary as a student to keep track of due dates, assignments, tests, group meetings, classes, etc. I used a combination of my bullet journal and google calendar while in school; my calendar was synched with my phone so I would always be reminded of classes/meetings with a notification!
When using a planner, a strategy that worked really well for me was time-blocking. I would (obviously) block out any lectures I had each week, but I’d also block out a designated time to work on each class’s homework/readings. Doing this eased my stress about the large university workload because I knew there was a time in my schedule to get it done, and it made me more open to spending time on non-school related activities. It’s easy to get wrapped up in school life, so spending time on other fun things like hanging out with friends or editing a video made my time at school so much more enjoyable!
There you have it, my ultimate favourite back-to-school supplies! As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, a pen and notebook are really the only two things you need to succeed as a student, but there are definitely additions that can help enhance your experience so hopefully this post covered all the things you may be curious about! Let me know your favourite school supply in the comments below! If you want to see last year’s “back to school haul” click here to hear me discuss some of the products I mentioned in today’s post! Until next time, Xo. — C.
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