As a college student, I often look for different ways to save money and make college life easier. In the coming weeks, I hope to provide you with simple “life hacks” that will get you through college on any budget.

Have you ever noticed that your apartment, house or living space smells like your grandmother’s attic? Here is a simple and cost-effective way to have your room smelling like a fresh spring day.

Take a dryer sheet and secure it to the outer vents of your fan or air conditioner and turn on the unit.

In about five minutes, the air blowing on the dryer sheet will have your room smelling fresh and clean. I have used this technique and it works like a charm.

Now that your room smells nice and clean from the dryer sheet, you may want to sleep the day away, but there is a way to make sure you don’t sleep through your alarm. All you need is your cell phone and a glass big enough for your phone to fit in.

Set the alarm on your phone to the desired time and turn the volume up to as high as possible.  Then, place your phone inside the glass.

When the alarm goes off, the glass will amplify the sound and, hopefully, wake you up so you aren’t late for that big exam. This also worked for me, but try it for yourself and see how effective a louder alarm is.

Hopefully these two “life hacks” will lift some of the stress of college life. Stay tuned for more interesting and inexpensive hacks.