Four weeks. And it’s nearly over. Wow.

I have to say this has been an amazing experience. Like I said at the start, I’ve never been a huge coffee drinker. A cup of tea suffices if I have an 8am class; I’m not one of those people who needs coffee to literally function. Nevertheless, it’s not been easy.

This week hasn’t been too bad, at least compared to the previous weeks. No jet lag, no trips round London, no horribly early starts. There have been a few moments when I almost caved. My homework assignments seem to have appeared from nowhere meaning that only two weeks in I’m already stuck in the library. There were a couple of moments where I walked past the coffee shop and thought “should I…?” but forced myself to walk past. I have gazed enviously at the hands clenched around paper cups in my early morning classes, I have wistfully imagined the extra surge of life a coffee would give me in such classes. But I was strong. And now it’s over.

I have learned a lot from this experience. I was thinking back today and I think over the course of the month I have only drank two or three energy drinks. I tend to turn to them a lot in moments of weakness as the sugar-free ones are calorie free and I like my coffee milky (read: fatty). However, even when faced with the prospect of one a few times, I have chosen to just carry on. This challenge has taught me the importance of an early night, especially when I have an early start. I was sick for a few days last week and I was overwhelmed by an urge for coffee. I chose sleep instead, which I’m sure was a much better cure.

Another important aspect is the calories I’ve saved. I’ve been dieting since New Year and it’s easy to forgot how even those 100-calorie skinny lattes build up. I definitely think giving up coffee has helped me with my weight loss goals.

Finally, the money aspect. I think I have visited the coffee shop twice in the two weeks I’ve been back. They don’t have the kind of tea I like and I’m rarely in the mood for hot chocolate. It was all-too-easy to grab a coffee in a morning and not think about three dollars here or there. I haven’t been keeping track but I’m sure I’ve saved at least $10 a week not drinking coffee. Not a lot, sure, but it’s $10 more for me!!

I have definitely learned from this challenge that I can cope without coffee. That I can power through the day with my own natural energy without having to resort to a jolt of caffeine. Like I said, it hasn’t been easy, but it’s definitely encouraged me to walk past the coffee shop without succumbing to the lovely smell. I definitely encountered many obstacles this month with long days of traveling, early flights and jet lag, but I’ve done it. I probably won’t give up coffee forever because I do enjoy it, but I will be cutting down how frequently I drink it (from several times a week to maybe just once or twice). I would definitely encourage everyone to give this a try, even for a week. You’ll be surprised how much natural energy you have lurking inside.

[Check out the other One Month Challenges we've taken on. And if you've got a challenge you want to tackle (and be held accountable for), email us and we could feature you next month. Come on - it's good for you!]

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month

Okay, this month was going to be hard no matter what. A month without coffee? Find me a hundred college students who would voluntarily do that. Hell, find me one. But add to that the fact that a) it's January, notoriously the hardest, coldest and most depressing month of the year and b) the fact that I'm an international student who not only tried to pack in as much as she could while she was home but also has to deal with jet-lag and a full day of traveling.

Put it this way: contrary to what I expected to happen as this month progressed, this week has been the hardest yet.

My flight was at 9am Saturday morning. I had to be at the airport at 6am and we decided that 4am would be the most appropriate time to get up. Great, I thought, I'll hit the hay about 8pm so I get a solid 8 hours before my flight. As with most plans for an early night, this did not happen.

At 7pm my Dad suggested an episode of Dexter. Now I'm new to the Dexter thing; after a semester in America I realized I was clearly missing out on something so we borrowed the first two seasons while I was home. Fine, a couple of episodes will be great. Unfortunately, we only had 3 episodes left, so after two I knew I had to know what happened next. One more episode? Hey, why not, it's not like I can't have a gallon of coffee to wake me up in the morning. I fell into bed around 10pm.

4am starts are fun. The whole morning was a kind of blur. Oh well, I thought, I'll sleep on the flight.
Not an option. My flight involved 8 hours of Mr and Mrs Get-A-Room and barely any sleep (okay, to be fair I love watching movies on flights and I have a fear of sleeping through my meal...). I landed in New York confused and still on English time as I turned my clock back through hours I'd already lived through.

I finally landed back home in Duluth at 9.30pm Minnesota time, which was 3.30am English time. I'd been awake for almost a full day. And while most people can deal without sleep I become a psycho, grouchy, emotional wreck. I warned my boyfriend that I would either bite his head off or cry on him when he picked me up from the airport.

I had my second wind around 11 and finally fell asleep around 12. Only for my body to decide, much to the frustration of my boyfriend, to wake me up at 6am. Thanks, jet-lag, you're a doll. After a few hours of being awake I suddenly felt like death. My body was begging “coffeecoffeecoffee,” my brain said no. I struggled through the day before falling asleep at 9pm.

This week has been a constant blur of jet lag and 8am classes. After unlimited sleeping while I was home I am suddenly back on a diet of early mornings and forcing myself to look as though I'm concentrating through classes where it's still dark outside. Add to that the fact that I'm sick and the week has become almost unbearable.

For real, I slept for 14 hours yesterday and I'm still craving caffeine.

However, the end is in sight, and being sick is an excuse for excessive sleeping. Being unable to drink coffee is forcing me to rest and sleep much more, which my body must be thankful for. I'm getting used to being tired and as my jeans get a little looser each week, I'm thankful for choosing tea over calorie-filled lattes.

Let's hope I come out of next weekend enlightened and full of natural energy.

[Check out the other One Month Challenges we've taken on. And if you've got a challenge you want to tackle (and be held accountable for), email us and we could feature you next month. Come on - it's good for you!]

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good cup of tea. I’m a British girl, tea is my fuel. But “going for a cup of tea” doesn’t have quite the same ring as “going for a coffee,” something I found far too much this past weekend.

To celebrate my final weekend at home before heading back to the States, my family and I planned a weekend in London. I thought Big Ben, The Globe, Buckingham Palace! Fab. I did not anticipate the sheer number of times my dad would utter the words “shall we stop for a coffee?” before stumbling and saying “um, sorry, tea, Charlotte.”

See in London, you can’t move more than 5 feet before meeting a Costa Coffeee, or a Starbucks or a Pret a Manger (I should know, I introduced a “count the Starbucks game”); it’s coffee paradise. Mix that in with early starts and late nights – I was desperate for a bucket cup of java.

It started on the first day. Up early for packing and getting ready, I anticipated the hot drinks trolley on the train with excitement and was quickly greeted with my first cup of tea of the weekend. Fine, it’s great, I love tea. But despite its apparent caffeinated properties, I’ve been drinking the stuff since I was a child (seriously, I used to drink it in a beaker with a straw), any sensitivity to the caffeine in tea was eradicated in my childhood. I settled for a train nap and woke up more tired, groggy as hell and with dry contact lenses.

Not the feeling or look I was going for.

Next was the first obligatory coffee stop, and with it the obligatory cup of tea. Hours upon hours of walking and little sleep was making me zombie-like. I downed a Red Bull on the second day but didn’t feel much more alive. I was craving a milky latte or a sickly sweet caramel concoction. Going to a coffee shop was now something that came with an extra shot of dread. The menu became akin to a dieter in McDonalds; filled with delicious loveliness that I couldn’t have.

But I powered through. I drank my tea and I got on with it. I even came home with the second Red Bull I had bought still unopened. Score!!

My next challenge was a cold rainy day when I had made the mistake of wearing high shoes. I dragged my heels, quite literally, to the nearest coffee shop, where I stared in a daze at the caffeinated delights. I contemplated yet another cup of tea, before deciding I was sick of paying for a cup of hot water and a teabag.
I am currently car-less so I called a cab to pick me up outside Costa. “Just had a coffee have you?” the taxi driver greeted me, before nearly crashing with shock at my revelation that I have given up coffee.

“Why?!” he asked me.
God knows, I wondered, fighting to keep my eyes open.

But I’m half way there. And besides the headaches (which I am pretending are not related to the lack of coffee), I think I’m doing OK. Plus, I am on my post-New Year’s diet and have already lost five pounds, thanks in part to swapping my 100 calorie skinny lattes for 28 calorie tea. Something I need to remind myself of as I’m salivating like a Pavlovian dog every time I see a green straw…

Now I’d better go, the kettle is on – it’s time for my second cup of tea of the day.

[Check out the other One Month Challenges we've taken on. And if you've got a challenge you want to tackle (and be held accountable for), email us and we could feature you next month. Come on - it's good for you!]

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month

Like I said before, I was feeling cocky about this challenge. I stocked up on energy drinks and planned to get at least 8 hours sleep a night. I’ll be fine, I thought. It’s only a month.

But obviously, what was the first day of my challenge? You’ve got it, New Year’s Day. I didn’t exactly have a riot of a New Year’s; in fact, I kinda hate it. I went to my auntie’s 50th Birthday party with my parents and banked on a reasonably early night. However, there was a mix up getting our lift home and we ended up waiting almost two hours for a taxi. Two am rolled by and I found myself half-asleep on a chair. I got home around 2:30 and then ended up staying up until three. Why, well I had someone to speak to.

See, I’m a British girl studying abroad in America home for Christmas, and I’m seeing a boy back in the States. Here in the UK we’re 6 hours ahead, so 3am is a perfect time to speak to him. I always intend to turn off my phone and go to sleep, but once the conversation starts, it’s hard to stop. And sometimes when I wake up in the night I can’t resist seeing if he’s online, which he usually is. Three am turns into four…

And I’m a morning person. So is my family. Activity starts in our house around 8am, even in the holidays, which usually leaves me reaching for the coffee. Something which I can no longer have. No matter how good it smells when I walk into the kitchen. And trust me, it smells GOOD.

Another issue is how easily the phrase “let’s go for coffee” slips from my mouth. It’s non-committal; no bottomless money and time dedicated to a long lunch, nor an indifferent “let’s hang out.” It’s just right for a college budget; low on time and low on cash. Of course, there are other things I can drink; tea, hot chocolate, juice, but it’s just not the same.

Tuesday was a perfect example. I went out with my home friends in Manchester whilst also making plans to see one of my uni friends in Birmingham, an hour and a half train journey away. I didn’t drink a lot but we still rolled in around 3, and I hit the hay at 3:30am, with my alarm set for 9.30am. I awoke to my phone’s annoying bleeping and silently cursed my still-sleeping friends. I pulled myself out of bed and tried to make myself look presentable through bleary eyes. I am the kind of person who needs a good eight or nine hours of sleep to function. Six just doesn’t cut it.

Cold and tired, I waited for the bus, and arrived at the station to the sweet smell of Starbucks. Some like Costa, some like Nero, some like Caribou, but I like Starbucks. I stared longing at the glaring green sign, tiredness seeping through my body. Dragging myself onto the train I tried to sleep. I squeezed my eyes shut as the coffee cart came through the aisle and willed myself to nap.

I arrived just in time for lunch and after a tentative “do you mind?” I watched my friend with her strong americano. She purposely chose not to get a latte (my drink of choice), which I appreciated. But if there had ever been a day when a girl needed coffee, Tuesday was it.

So for now I plan on getting as many early nights as possible and sleeping as much as I can. I’m trying not to send late-night messages to my boy and really trying not to think about the flight back to the States, which will almost definitely come with a huge dose of jet lag. Which I will have to deal with caffeine free.

Anybody got a Red Bull?

[Check out the other One Month Challenges we've taken on. And if you've got a challenge you want to tackle (and be held accountable for), email us and we could feature you next month. Come on - it's good for you!]

When I first decided to do this challenge back at the start of November, I was cocky. I’m not a big coffee drinker anyway so I figured it wouldn’t be too hard. And it’s only a month, right?

But then came finals.
And then came jet-lag.

And with all that (and everything else in my life) came coffee.

And then I started to panic. How was I going to get through a whole month without a skinny latte? [Sweating.]

But I made this coffee-free bed so I guess it’s time to lie in it. For the next 31 days, I’m gonna live my life sans coffee. Note: I’m not going CAFFEINE free – oh the horror! – just bean free. And though that might seem like a cop out, I’m beginning to think that it’s anything but.

I am definitely a social coffee drinker. I mean, who can say no to “let’s grab a coffee”? And unfortunately, the coffee shop at my university doesn’t do tea (as a British girl this is my caffeinated drink of choice) so it usually ends up being a coffee. And I love waking up to the Starbucks smell of my coffee-addicted housemate every morning. And that little jolt of energy I get with my mid-day, between-classes-coffee run. Or the Sunday morning, I’m-so-hungover-I-could-die, pot of coffee that I chug as my friends and I share the horror stories from the night before.

Plus I’ve not had my red cup yet this year.

I admit, that going without coffee won’t be as hard for me as I imagine it would be for a lot of college students. But it is not going to be easy. So here’s hoping I don’t sleep my way through January and come out on the other side with a few extra bucks in my pocket.

Wish me luck, and down a few lattes for me on this brutal New Year’s day. I’m getting tired just thinking about what this month is going to bring (read: a whole lot of 5 Hour Energy).

[Check out the other One Month Challenges we've taken on. And if you've got a challenge you want to tackle (and be held accountable for), email us and we could feature you next month. Come on - it's good for you!]

"I will take the stairs" is more realistic than "I will workout 6 days a week."

With every new year comes a handful of far-fetched resolutions and often unrealistic goals we set for ourselves. We vow to be better in the new year: to be thinner, study more, drink less, exercise more, etc, etc. And then we throw them all away during our post-NYE hangover the next morning. What? It’s hard to eat healthy when the only thing that will make you feel better is a stack of chocolate chip pancakes and 5 strips of bacon.

If you’re tired of setting resolutions that never pan out, maybe it’s time to make a new resolution: to make more realistic resolutions.

Now, I’m not saying you should change your resolution from “I want to get better grades” to “I will sleep with my professor to get better grades,” just because it may seem easier. What I am saying is there are simple ways to improve your life without grand resolutions that you know you’ll never keep. Life is in the details and sometimes the smallest changes can have the biggest impact.

If you wanna see some real changes in 2010, start small.

Change Your Routine:
We are creatures of habit; it’s in our DNA. Although having a structured schedule is a great way to establish a healthy lifestyle, it also can lead to a mundane life. And one where everything remains the same. Try a new exercise (hula hooping is all the rage right now). Swap your lattes for a simple coffee (which will cut out some serious calories). Take the stairs to your dorm room instead of the elevator. Find a new study space. Just do something that will give your brain and body some new stimulation. The change will be small, but the results will be noticeable.

Declutter:
Clean your room or desk space. College dorms are small enough without all that extra junk lying around. Throw out all those red cups, donate any old and unwanted clothes to Goodwill, and reorganize your room. Studies show that our mental state often reflects our living space, so if you declutter your room you’ll feel less stressed and chaotic and more relaxed and rejuvenated for the new year.

Be LESS Available:
That’s right, I said it. Put the Blackberry away, Tweet less, Facebook less, and leave Gmail alone for 5 seconds. Focus on the people you’re with when you’re actually with them, instead of taking calls and texting all the time. Not only will your friends appreciate your attention, but your relationships will get a whole lot stronger.

Wake Up 30 Minutes Earlier:
Most people have no real time for themselves between getting ready in the morning, eating breakfast, and rushing off to class. Try waking up a half hour early and relax a little: read the newspaper, have a cup of coffee, watch Saved By the Bell reruns (everyone could use a little more Zack Morris in their lives), and start your day off slower than you usually do. If you start the morning off without a rush, you’ll feel happier and less stressed during the long work/school day. Less stress = more productivity.

See? It’s that easy!

What are your New Years Resolutions? Do you make any small changes that have BIG results?

This holiday season, I urge you to make a resolution that you will actually keep, and that is to take better care of your environment.  Not just because it’s a good thing to do, but also because it’s a gosh darn easy resolution to stick to.  Having a greener existence is all about baby steps, which translates into easy success without all of the leg work.  Here are some of my favorite tips to get you going to a greener and happier you!

Potential Resolution #1:  “I will get all of my books from the library.”
First of all, this is probably something most of us do on a regular basis anyways.  Second of all, it saves you money and storage space.  Buying books not only wastes a lot of paper and binding materials, but it also takes a lot more energy to package and transport.  If you absolutely need to have a certain book at hand, such as a textbook for a class, see if any of your friends are in the class and ask them to go halfsies on the book.  You’ll save money on those ridiculously expensive textbooks and you always have the option of checking it out at the library if you get in a bind.

Potential Resolution #2: “I’m no longer going to put up with junk mail.”
Now you really don’t have an excuse not to pick this one up, considering that nobody actually enjoys getting junk mail.  The first step is to go paperless with as much as you can – bills, bank statements, etc.  Then check out Precycle.  For a minimal fee, Precycle will stop most of your junk mail and send you a reusable shopping bag with 2 CFL light bulbs.  It’s pretty much the same thing as adopting “getting cool free stuff” as your NY Resolution.

Potential Resolution #3: “I’m going to put a water bottle in my toilet’s water tank.”
Ummmm….WTF?
I promise there is sound evidence behind this one.  According to The Daily Green, filling up a water bottle with water and a little sand and placing it in the water tank will make your toilet use less water when flushing.  How, you ask?  By displacing the water in the tank so that it can’t fill up all the way and thus, uses less water per flush.  Some other great ways to reduce your water bill include turning off the tap when you’re brushing your teeth, timing your showers so that they don’t exceed 10 minutes, and keeping a cold pitcher of water in the fridge so you don’t have to keep the faucet running to get to the right temp. And how easy are all of those!?

Potential Resolution #4: “I’m going to save on gas.”
And guess what?  It doesn’t even include driving less!  Just driving the speed limit, especially on the freeway, can increase the efficiency of your car and save on gas.  Also, if you have the choice, take the route that has the least stop and go.  For example, opt for the freeway over going through town, unless there is tons of traffic on the freeway.  Also, try to plan your errands out in advance so you can avoid the rush hour and get all of them done in one fell swoop.  Lastly, keep your car in tip top shape and it will use less energy.  Pay special attention to your tires – flat tires are less efficient and cause your car to use more gas to go the same distance.

So which one will it be?  Let me know what you resolve to do this New Year’s and how you’re gonna stick to it!

She’s so serious that she has actually made her own website to get her name out there.

Before you throw things at your screen and start talkin’trash about what a crazy bia Neenah is, take a moment. This isn’t much worse than what many of us do in relationships. Ok, maybe the website thing is, but still; there is a wide spectrum of ridiculous deadlines we put on ourselves to find a relationship. Here is just a smidgen of some of the…interesting…declarations that I’ve heard thus far…

I haveee to get married by the time I’m 23 – I have a friend who strictly believes that she has to get married at the age of 22. Her mom and her grandmother got married at the age of 22, which obviously means that she has to get married at 22 too, right? Did I mention that she first told me this when we were in 7^th grade? Unfortunately, this sort of hasty deadline can lead to nothing less than a complete disaster. What if you happen to be dating a 53 year old garbage man when you’re 22? Okay, that’s pretty unlikely but you get the point – wait for the one that you actually want, not just the one that’s around at the right time.

I’m not getting married until my looks fade…at the age of 65 – No lie, I used to tell people this allll the time. (Super embarrassing, I know). For most of my adult-ish life, I have been the blissful single girl. I did not want a relationship and honestly, I wasn’t really expecting to find one for a while. Uhhh until I did. Seriously, this ish creeps up on you faster than a pimple on prom night. And when it does, no matter how hard you try, there will be no way you will be able to pass it up.

I don’t want to be tied down until I’ve settled down – Now this one seems a tad more rational than my “looks fade” guideline. You are an ambitious, college-educated woman that has a lot of goals. And let’s face it, often a man doesn’t really fit into that equation. Whether you want to travel the world or establish your own law firm, you need the freedom to be able to obtain your goals. Like I said, however, you can’t easily ignore an opportunity when it comes flying at your face. So which one should you choose? Both, duhhhh. If you find “the one” and he doesn’t support and encourage your goals, then he really isn’t “the one,” is he?

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that you can’t put a deadline on anything. Sure you can take your love life into your own hands like Neenah by putting yourself out there, but you really can’t do much more than that. And I’m not sure any man will find that sort of desperation attractive.

Just live your life, go for everything you want, and when you least expect it, you’ll run into a relationship like a brick wall. In a good way, of course.

Do you or your friends have embarrassingly peculiar deadlines?

However, there are several things I should consider pledging as the ball drops. Whether you’re stuck on your own resolution, or just need a fresh start with the new year, the following are some resolutions that many of us should consider.

1. I will go to the gym regularly.

When 2008 struck, I was on a regular gym regime, and resolved to keep at it and lose ten more pounds. I did. Then summer hit, and I found that poolside cocktails and outdoor keg parties were taking their toll on my thighs. The fact that this semester has been excruciating contributes to my lack of gym time, and isn’t helping my quest to tone up. Losing weight and getting in shape is one of the most common New Years resolutions, but it’s also one of the hardest to keep. Still, if you have taken to wearing sweats to class every day because you can’t zip up the skinny jeans you bought in August, you may want to give the gym a go next year.

2. I will quit drunk dialing/drunk texting/ drunk Facebooking.

Waking up in the morning and being surprised by your call log is not a good thing. And being drunk on Facebook means that you can send messages, write inappropriate things on peoples’ walls, create ridiculous drunken status messages, and now even drunk FB-Chat someone. Yikes! If you have consistently getting texts on Sunday mornings from random people saying, “WTF?” you may want to leave the phone at home and turn off your computer before you go to the bar.

3. I will do my homework in advance.

Most college students deserve a minor (or a double major) in procrastination. We blow off our assignments until the last minute, then freak out, plow through a paper, and turn it in while it’s still warm from the printer. The problems with this practice are that A) stressing ourselves out is unhealthy; B) we often let the window of remaining time shrink with each assignment, until we are trying to pound through six chapters of Philosophy on the walk to a midterm; C) procrastination doesn’t leave room for revision; and D) when we leave things until the last minute, a printer problem can be detrimental. Trying to put school assignments before bar nights is a good way to make the grade this spring.

4. I will not let my boss light shots of Sambuca on fire in my mouth at the bar.

What? Is that just me?

5. I will wash my sheets more than once a month.

If you’re in a dorm with bunkbeds or lofted beds, changing your sheets is a pain in the ass. Besides, between balancing a class schedule, an active social life, and a part-time job, who has time to take off the pillowcases and lug your comforter to the laundry room? Hey, if you knew what lurks between dirty sheets, you will make time.

6. I will only choose one “main course” at the dining hall.

Not piling chicken parm pizza, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes on your plate can take a lot more will-power than you’d think, especially after five back-to-back classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays (gotta love block scheduling and four-day-weekends). Still… just because the dining hall is free, doesn’t mean you need to load up every day.

7. I will remain composed when my basketball team plays our rivals, even when the other team is up two points with fifteen seconds to go in the game and the ref isn’t calling any of their fouls.

Perhaps if you are making this resolution, you will also want to promise yourself not to get into altercations with a fan after the game. I’m from UConn, and there were many heated moments at Syracuse games that stain my past. I still get tingles of rage when someone mentions the name “Gerry McNamara.” But hey, I’m working on it.

8. I will only have sex sober in 2009.

That’s a good one if you’ve been letting Captain Morgan influence your libido lately. The guy at the bar putting all of your drinks on his tab might not be too happy about it, but this one will save you from the walk of shame when March comes in like a lion.

9. I won’t swear and say I hate my school the next time I can’t get the required courses for my major, or I fail a class because my TA doesn’t speak English, or financial aid decides to rape me in the arse.

Because, come on. Even though every semester, something is bound to come up to “ruin your life” for the time being, at the end of the day, when you’re with your bestests at happy hour, reminiscing about “the time when….” you know that you really love your school. Otherwise, you would have transferred months ago.

10. I will be a moral, upstanding citizen.

Yeah, if anyone can give me some tips on that one, I’d really appreciate it. Although I did give some beggars on the New York subway a few quarters the other day, so maybe there’s hope after all.

If you can travel…

Hey, if you’ve got the funds, lucky you. Hit up another country and see how they do New Years. You don’t regret it. If you’re still underage, Canadian cities can be quite the hotspot (take it from someone who spent her last <21 New Years in Montreal, after a 10-hour road strip). If you’re loaded despite being in college during the recession, head on over to Europe. Hate the cold? Sing Auld Lang Syne in Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic.

Okay, those are nice ideas in a fantasy world… but let’s move onto options for those of us who can’t cough up the money for airfare.

If you want to travel but can’t afford it…

Throw a Chinese New Year’s party. Okay, so technically the CNY kicks off February 1, but who cares? Cater your party with Egg Rolls and Fortune Cookies (way cheaper than many food options), decorate with paper dragons, and serve Sake till the last Geisha’s standing.

Create Your Own Times Square. NYC is pretty much insane on New Year’s anyway. Hang a disco ball from the ceiling and buy skyscraper cut-outs for the walls. Have everyone dress up (because in college, the land of hoodies and sweatshirts, you can never have too many fancy-dress parties), and broadcast the Manhattan festivities on your TV in the background. It’ll be warmer than Times Square, and you probably won’t have any bums hitting you up for spare change on the way home.

Throw a Hotel Party…in the Next Town Over. Grab a room at the Best Western or the HoJo, and pretend you’re at the Ritz Carlton. Nobody will have to drive, you won’t have to clean up, and maybe you can work it so you share a queen bed with your crush.

If you really don’t care about traveling, and just want to have a good time:

Throw a “My Tie” party. If you can make a large quantity of Mai Tais in a punch bowl, more power to you. But encourage everyone to dress business-casual, and when the men arrive, have them remove their ties and throw them in a basket. The ladies then choose a tie, and the man who belongs to that piece of neckwear is her date for the night. Takes the pressure off of finding a kiss at Midnight.

New Year’s Resolutions parties can also be fun, because we all have them, and none of us stick to them. Wear a necklace made of empty Marlboro boxes if you plan to quit smoking, or wear some hot spandex if you vow to go to the gym more regularly. Things can get pretty effing creative here. Not into costumes? Have everyone throw their resolution into a hat, and try to guess who is giving up what this year.

Have a Blind Date. They say the way you ring in the new year is a prediction of how the next 365 days will unfold. Plan a girl’s night and go Speed Dating as a group, or see if any bachelors have posted on CrazyBlindDate.com. The key is to get your friends involved, so that at the very least, you can have a laugh. New Year’s Eve is all about letting loose isn’t it?

If you really don’t care about getting smashed…

Check out your city’s First Night. There’s bound to be fireworks, free live music, and tons of street vendors. Many cities across the US host First Night celebrations, and they are quite lucrative.

Host a Best-Of 2008 Movie Marathon. Curl up with some take-out and a stash of DVDs – just be sure to press pause for the Ball Drop at midnight!

Make Some Money. I’ve had my share of insane NYE celebrations. So last year, I opted to wait tables, since every weekend for me is as crazy as the novice’s New Year. The tips were good, and I was still out by midnight. And I made up for missing the big party by having several “No Reason” celebrations. Scour Craigslist and you’ll see tons of opportunities to work at private parties on the 31st. You never know what kind of adventure will actually unravel.