Preparing for Uni in 2015

[circular]

Carrying on from yr13 thread, here thought we could share our ideas for Uni preparation.

All welcome, not just those in above thread. Would especially appreciate contributions from those who have 'been there'

Topics that spring to mind, and a few recent threads on them are :

What to take What to take , What NOT to take, Shared accommodation

Clearing out rooms

How much to contribute What does it cost, How much needed weekly, How much are you subbing

Budgeting, cooking, and other life skills to learn Easy recipes for teens

Leaving friends, family, boy/girlfriends behind

Us coping without them - noted series of 'Empty Nest' threads.

Hope all the links correct!

There's not really one right way of doing it is there?

Here, it's my daughter's 18th birthday. One milestone after another...

I guess we have to fit in with our DC Marianne. As long as we're supportive, that's the most important thing, imo.

Hope your DD is having a lovely day!

Happy Birthday to your DD Marianne

Someone said naming towels?
The only things DD was planning to name were less distinctive kitchen items that she cared about losing. And possibly an initial with permanent marker on food packets / storage boxes in fridge.

Dd's towels have her first name embroidered on them, they're not named I guess she can name things as they seem to need it when she gets there.

The towels I took to university were the ones which were slightly ripped which my mother could spare... so no one was going to be pinching those ones. 30 years on we still have a few in use today.

Not getting the obsession with ikea at all! I'd never get ds to go there and am planning on letting him choose 2 or 3 mugs/glasses/bowls/plates plus cutlery and a pan from our kitchen and then, if necessary I will replace them. Same with bedding and towels. We're forking out enough on accommodation and I know it won't make any difference to him whether he has brand new towels or old ones!

We are going to buy him a printer though. Ds likes a late afternoon/early evening nap and works into the small hours if required. If he wants to print something off at 2am to read through it or hand in at 9am I'd like him to be able to.

Hi Marianne, I hope your dd had a lovely birthday, your post really made me think .

Dd has lined up 4 interviews all in one day for weekend jobs in her university town. Quite impressed. She is going on the train this week to have them.

*Savagebeauty" Well done to your DD for getting 4 interviews and all in a single day. What sort of jobs?

Your DD is very organised Savagebeauty, I'm impressed!

Daughter's birthday was good thanks. Family lunch. Stepdaughter plus boyfriend in attendance. Friends round later for fizzy stuff then on into town. I am told that somebody threw up over her socks in a nightclub. But this was in the small hours, so technically after the actual birthday had finished.

I am told that somebody threw up over her socks in a nightclub. But this was in the small hours, so technically after the actual birthday had finished.

Independent coffee shops and restaurants

What you putting in it Mumslife?

Have had a busy August so put off IKEA trip until yesterday. Bank holiday - not a good plan. But we battled through and got nearly everything on our jointly compiled list. DD is taking bedding from home so just bought one new set of linen. Towels also from home and a few kitchen bits. Still managed to spend £200. I find it hard to buy cheap cookware.

We have decided DD should see how she gets on without a printer; we'll buy one later if it's needed.

savagebeauty, am hugely impressed by your daughter's go-getting attitude. I'll be amazed if my DD manages to get a job.

Still only one flatmate located on Facebook, which seems odd as the flats are for 8-10 people.

Moving in day is Sat 19th September. circular, our plan is pretty much like yours: unload, leave DD to unpack, then come back later for a possible shopping trip. Hope we will be able to move her in early in the day.

DD asked if we were planning to stay overnight, and I said no, which was clearly the correct answer.

Informed my daughter that I'd taken my bike into the shop to have a problem with gears fixed. This was so we could do mother-daughter bonding by going on bike rides before she goes off to university.

(She's not ridden her bike for years. We live in an un-bike friendly city, with relatively good public transport. Anyway she needs to get more confident on a bike again)

Daughter: Good. (then, having thought for a moment) Other mothers take their daughters shopping to Ikea as a way of bonding...
Self: Yes but you haven't got the list from university saying what you need yet. Have you?
Daughter: (conceding point with reluctance) True...

I am being threatened with Ikea and Primark but my force field is holding up.

However I have kitchen utensil fatigue syndrome.

I am not doing IKEA ... ds is a pain to shop with at the best of times and he has zilch interest in what his room looks like so we've done it all online with me saying 'how about this ds?', him giving a cursory glance at the screen and muttering 'fine'

But I am ending up doing 2 Exeter trips in the space of a week as he's arranged his support services appointment for the week before he starts - I suspect it's actually a good idea as otherwise he'd have to remember yet another appointment in the middle of Freshers' week, along with all the academic and halls induction stuff and all the drinking, which he doesn't actually get on with that well

Got everything today... Matalan, Tiger and Tesco.
Just need to get some food supplies and we are done
Ex h is funding all her uni expenses and allowances so that's a big relief. She has become a bit of a whiz at frugal shopping.

DS has been away inter-railing and gets home on Friday with 9 days to go until he is due in Exeter. He has been happy to let me get some stuff, like bedding but there is still stuff to get. My thinking is, whatever is missing he can go and buy. We haven't sent him to the back of beyond, there are shops. He will manage.

Poor DS has just properly taken on board the fact he will be swopping a kingsize bed for a single . He is 6'2" and his feet dangle over the end of our single spare bed at home. He hates sleeping in it whenever I kick him out he kindly gives up his room for visiting couples.

Took Ds food shopping for the 2nd week running, armed with his £25 food budget. He is becoming increasingly gloomy at how expensive little 'treats' are and how much they eat up his budget!

He cooked a batch of Bolognese sauce last week made with basic range frozen mince instead of the naice lean organic stuff made from from happy moo-cows which his veggie mum normally buys. He wasn't impressed with the results, even though I told him to brown the meat first and pour off all the excess fat. He reckoned the texture was 'all mushy'. I kindly explained this would be the ground up eyeballs, hooves and scrapings from the slaughterhouse floor etc etc. We then had a conversation about what goes into cheap breaded chicken fillets ('re-shaped chicken meat' barf barf ) in which beaks and claws were mentioned.

He is now wrestling with Ethics v. Greed. My hopes that he might be tempted to convert to vegetarianism were dashed by DH however, who took DS out for his first take-away kebab tonight - 'just so he knows what he'll be throwing back up during Fresher's Week to expect from a core staple Student Food-Group' . DS appeared to be in Gastro Heaven as he wiped the Special Extra-Hot Spicy Sauce off his chin .

Mine's just going to live off SuperNoodles I think, even though I've been teaching him a few recipes.

i suspect likewise, Horsemad!

Toast was our student staple. With tinned tomatoes. But I shared with girls, and we were all pseudo-anorexic in our (non) eating habits back then. We used to 'bulk out' our mince our once-weekly meat fix) with BRAN FFS! - this was in the early 80s when High Fibre diets were all the rage. Hardly surprising i gave up meat completely at 21!