What are the essentials that freshers need to take to uni halls

[josben]

I’ve seen a few articles advising year 1 students what to take when starting uni and the list of items is vast !

What are the real essentials to take when staring uni ,,,? TIA

We are waiting until the accommodation has been allocated and will then make a list based on what is provided and what not.

Is it catered or self-catered halls?

Both will need the following list below (self-catered will need additional kitchen stuff - although if your DC has been in contact with hall-mates already, they could organise between them what is needed here to minimise duplication)

Bedding and linen - ideally 2 sets
Clothes drying rack
1 or 2 extension cords
washing powder and fabric conditioner
Clothes hangers
All of their personal items obvs (clothes, coats, smart clothes, towels, toiletries etc)
Stationary - notepads, pens, pencils, laptop
Some snack foods to keep in their room
Things to make the room more homely - cushions, posters, photos, blankets etc.
Basic first aid kit - plasters, paracetamol etc.
Clothes basket/bag - a bag might be better for space and carrying to laundry
Books/kindle/tablet
toilet rolls - should be provided, but always good to have a secret stash!
Multi-purpose surface cleaner

Adding on from @CupcakesK

Tin foil,
Bin bags,
A bin for his room,
Tin opener,
Heated blanket,
Dressing gown (gets bloody cold 2nd/3rd year and halls aren’t much better).
Lamp for his desk,
Washing basket.

A lot of people (especially freshers) wait to do a large food shop near campus. For four straight days the local superstores are out of duvets/tin foil/cheese/kitchen roll etc. The local Asda looks like how the rest of the country had their shelves this March.

Toilet rolls won't be included if they have an en suite, don't know about shared bathrooms.
All mine have taken fans - halls are usually boiling hot in our experience & the white noise helps if they are noisy places.

Check the size of the bed before buying new bedding - some halls are single beds and others (often Unite run halls) have 3/4 beds.

As above,

• kettle for room (check)
• hot water bottle
• something to put on walls
• nice duvet set makes all the difference to the room
• photos from home
• games (uno was a hit for me at the time but I was known as getting everyone together for it)
• cake to leave in the shared kitchen on the first day with a note from room number x (another friend maker lol)
• definitely antibacterial spray, bleach, rubber gloves
• tissues and all the toiletries
• decent shoes for walking to lectures
• a good laptop bag or backpack

Even if it’s a single bed you can take your own duvet and pillow I always had a double and just folded the existing stuff in a bag on top of wardrobe, not precious but it was nicer

I actually took own pan, baking tray and cheese grater. Saved any arguments and kept them in my room!

Condoms.

Extension lead!!!

Always keep cupboard food in your room if you can and take it on plate Or bowl to prepare in the kitchen. Some people come in drunk and just take your food if it’s in the kitchen ( from experience!)

Lighter weight bedding and towels - they take up less room / weight in the (often rather pricey) washing machine / drier load. Primark do decent towels which dry quickly and some of their duvet sets are quite nice. DD had a small double bed in her (yes, Unite Students) flat last year; she'd already identified a duvet set she liked in Wilko, so we got that as soon as her accommodation was confirmed, plus a Catherine Lansfield set in similar colours from a local outlet shop - for 'regular' sized fitted sheets, that brand are good quality too and also available on Amazon. Although for some reason, one of ours at home turned out to be better than the colour catcher sheet I'd added to the wash in 'catching' the loose dye from another item, so we now have one sheet a rather ethereal light lettuce green.

A door stop. It's years since I was at uni but nearly everyone in my halls had one and it was a good way to meet people

From the sheer number of them I saw being carted back across campus from last minute runs to Wilkos last term - the clothes airer is the number 1 item everyone seems to forget. For about a fortnight solid I was dodging people carrying one back from the city centre wherever I moved around campus.

Extra plugs and charging cables for gadgets. You can pick them up cheap and they WILL save your life because you WILL lose your original ones.

Here's the famous MN list

A screwdriver and a set of spanners both dd had them and have reported they have been useful

A rug. The carpets tend to be horrible and a nice rug makes the room feel a lot nicer.

My room was constantly freezing so I had a small heater.

A mattress topper (though tbh I bought a new foam mattress because the one provided was dreadful! Uni were fine with it, I asked first and got permission and they took the old one away. Iirc it was £60 from amazon and much more comfortable!)

Cups/mugs

Loo rolls weren't provided in my accommodation. I bought a big bag and kept them in my room.

Under bed storage boxes are good for bulky stuff like winter coats when they're not in use.

A dressing gown/robe. Depending on the accommodation, the bathroom will probably be in demand at peak times and it's nicer to have a robe rather than dash through halls/a shared flat in a towel.

Key things people forget are a clothes airer (tumble dryers are expensive), hangers, washing basket/bag, basic cooking equipment (ideally all in one plastic tub so can be kept locked in your room, things walk otherwise), toilet rolls, cleaner & bleach if you have an en suite. Duvet and pillows, check the size of the bed, sometimes they are small doubles.

Double check wether you're allowed clothes airers in rooms. Dd wasn't allowed one due to potential damp issues.

Definitely buy a washing basket to trail to the launderette with.
A decent bath at if you're in an en-suite.
Bedside lamp.
Washing tablets/powder.
Change for the launderettes.
Dd had her own pans, baking tray etc, all cutlery, crockery and kept them in her room.
Glasses to drink alcohol out of, one type for all types of alcohol.
Big fleecy throw to wrap around them when they're socialising with room mates at 3am.

DD recommends those mesh bags for keeping things like socks / knickers / trainers with their friends during the laundry process. Apparently in her block, a pair off thongs dropped on the way out of the laundry ended up being kicked around for weeks, as their owner was presumably too embarrassed to claim them...

Currently waiting for DD to get out of the bath, then we are off shopping for a nice throw as a present for one of her friends about to start at UEA.

Re kitchen-y stuff, if your DC likes using spices (or just rock salt / pepper for that matter) and you have a branch of the Danish company Flying Tiger nearby, their herbs / spices and spice mixes come in handy sturdy resealable packets. Their chocolate milk is pretty good, too.
(FT being sort of a cross between a much cheaper Papaerchase and a very small, meatball-free IKEA, for those not so blest).

I sent DS1 away with multivitamins.

Probably even more vital now!

Not quite to take but check for insurance we had ours as an add on for our household policy.
Also mattress topper was useful beds are not usually of the highest quality made sleeping a lot more comfortable.

Some halls won't allow clothes airers - damp and mould issues. And some rooms are too small to accommodate them. I brought DD's airer home unused. Although she was lucky that her laundry costs were OK. They now have a washing machine, tumble dryer and clothes line in their year 2 house.

Scuttles off to google Flying Tiger.