How much did you spent kitting your DCs out for Uni?

[MintyCedric]

I mean the essentials...and any little extras to make halls a bit cosier for them?

DD won't be going until 2023, all going well but I'm a single parent and currently full time carer for my mum so want to start shuffling a bit away each month ASAP. Unfortunately can't rely on her dad for any meaningful contribution 🙄.

Fortunately she should get full loan and a part-time job she loves who have already said they'd be happy to keep her on remotely, but would like to set her up so she has as few outgoings as possible for the first term at least.

NB you might need to break it to your dd now that fairy lights are banned in some uni halls!

I do need to double check that actually. Most of the uni students I know were allowed LED/battery operated ones at least. DD is a bit gutted she won't be allowed her much loved pumpkin spice scented candles.

@ClerkMaxwell thanks for the vote of confidence . Tbh I know I'm likely go way overboard left to my own devices hence planning ahead.

There's probably loads of stuff on my list DD won't want, but she'll probably want to spend more on some items than I would. She's already got a board on Pinterest !

I added a mattress topper to the list this morning. I splashed out on really nice beds when we moved into our own place and she loves hers so I imagine uni beds will come as a bit of a shock!

I often used stuff already here or relatives gave me stuff they had as it tends to get pinched or ruined. So towels I would replace them and give dc the older ones

We did buy a kettle for dd

@LiterallyKnowsBest
Your reference to the Conran shop reminded me of my DS2 describing his friends flat saying it looked like the Conran shop in September and a crack den by December.

At lot to be said for the cheap approach even if you can afford more.

Nowhere near the amounts mentioned so far, if you are talking about kitchen stuff and stuff for their rooms.
Mine all took things from home for a lot of the stuff - towels, sheets, duvet covers etc. and also kitchen stuff. Then, as others have suggested, picking bits up in charity shops.

Huge numbers of parents over buy, massively.

However you will need money for the deposit on the room, and (you don't have to but) many parents set them up with all the groceries that you wouldn't normally buy weekly - from a jar of coffee to a bottle of ketchup, from washing up liquid to some spices.

Dd is off to uni next year and I bought her a hair dryer for Christmas as she uses mine now and has long hair. Will also get her a microwave for her room ar some point, other than that don't think she will need a lot

I’m pretty sure they aren’t allowed microwaves in their rooms, but there will be one in the kitchen.

@Whattochoosenow

I’m pretty sure they aren’t allowed microwaves in their rooms, but there will be one in the kitchen.

I think every hall is different. Dds in catered halls but she’s allowed her own microwave and toaster.

Our son went in Sept.

I reckon we spent no more than £300. Stuck to cheap places like dunelm and ikea.

He needed a MacBook, but he bought that himself with earnings from his summer job.

Go slowly. Charity shops, tkmaxx and unused items from home.
Tefal induction, separate handles. Joseph Joseph. Space saving but not at full price. For kitchen.

We went via charity shops and family donations my cousin still had stuff from her wedding years prior that she hadn't used and sent those down her mom sent down tea towels grandad sorted towels etc but we had a large family who just raided there homes I bought a new double duvet and covers (beds are odd sizes in some places so FLAT sheets are a must as fitted don't always fit) that was it

This is mind blowing. Mine got a cheap duvet, our oldest towels and linens and old bits of crockery. Oh, and a cheap throw and bath mat!

Believe me, after it's all been abused or there's been an outbreak of bed bugs and/or carpet beetle, you will not want any of it back.

I went to uni for the first time a few years ago (at 18) and my parents didn’t buy anything for me. My mum did buy some food shopping for me and take me for lunch when we arrived though, which was nice. I worked through the summer and chose my own stuff in Ikea (I also had full loans). I think I spent around £150 on kitchen stuff, new duvet and covers, and a few bits to make the room cozy. That might cost more now as it seems everything is more expensive lately.

I think it’s really nice that you want to help your dc, although I don’t think you need to gather lots of stuff. Concentrate on the basics. It’s hassle having too much stuff when you go to uni as you tend to move around a lot. A nice throw, some fairly lights and candles (maybe a poster to put on the wall?) will help make her new room feel more homely.

@MintyCedric just a heads up-most Halls don't allow fairy lights any more as a fire hazard.
So tick that off the list!!

Another one saying around £300. Took the laptop that was an 18th birthday pressie. Took a set of bedding from home. Kitchen stuff, towels duvet and pillows a mix of IKEA and Dunelm mostly. From chatting with friends and colleagues lots of unis seem to be moving to induction hobs. There were suitable pans very reasonably priced in Dunelm. Good knives were hard to find (supply chain issues this summer) for my keen cook but were eventually bought online from procook.

"DD has a halls job (2nd year) and some of the parents in her block paid the John Lewis interior design service to kit out their 1st year DDs rooms!!"

Now that's something given it is temporary student digs!

You have time OP...

What I did in circumstamces similar to yours:

Aldi middle aisle was my friend in the preceding 2 years. An extra £5 on my weekly shop when there were relevant special buys:

Cutlery, Tin opener, Plates, Chooping Boards, Dishtowel, Wooden Spoon, Duvet, Pillow, etc.... all collated leisurely over time as funds allowed

Moving in to London Uni accommodation was stress free, just had to update the Tech before moving in.

ds is getting a mattress topper for Christmas. It is amazing how practical he has become. He asked for an over the door coat hanger for his birthday

when he moves out into his own place next year and has to cook, I'll probably buy him a starter box of spices etc.

I couldn't really add it up, but I started putting bits in with my weekly shop - Towel one week, sheet the next week, can opener the next etc. I bought lots of essentials from primark and tesco, so nothing cost me a fortune. They don't need a full dinner set - there isn't much space usually so mine went with a dinner plate/pasta bowl/couple of mugs, set of cutlery, a frying pan and two saucepans of different sizes.

My mum has just gone into a nursing home so her well loved kitchen stuff and some of her towels will be the basis of ds's university kit.

I'd simply put the word out among friends and family that you're looking for university kit, and have a rough list of what you need. A lot of people are trying to get rid of decent quality stuff. Then just fill any gaps as you go. Keep an eye on Facebook Marketplace.

Dunelm and TK Maxx for bedding. Dds room had horrible oppressive navy curtains so we bought lighter coloured ones which made the room look much bigger. Kitchen stuff was mainly spares from home and charity shop.

Very little! I mostly gave them old bedding, old towels, old kettles/toasters/lamps etc - stuff which I had pensioned off or somehow acquired over the course of the years, and had kept in the loft in case they came in handy one day - and guess what? They did.

I bought Tesco Value cleaning things, loo brush etc, so again it wasn't a fortune.

Charity shops all the way for crockery, glasses and cutlery etc - I did buy a new non stick pan & frying pan, knife and plastic chopping board for DD but everything else she sourced secondhand for herself over a matter of a few weeks trawlling charity shops. In a shared kitchen it's much better not to have nice new things that you feel precious about other people using, loosing or breaking - because they will!
Then some new bedding, or the stuff off their bed at home if you can't afford it and a towel or two from the airing cupboard. You don't need to spend hardly anything to be honest.
Don't buy a kettle or toaster because the chances are someone else will have brought one, or if not everyone in the flat can club together and buy one when they arrive. The last thing they need is eight kettles and eight toasters cluttering the surfaces!
Her new lap top was our biggest expense by a country mile!

@PermanentTemporary

My mum has just gone into a nursing home so her well loved kitchen stuff and some of her towels will be the basis of ds's university kit.

I'd simply put the word out among friends and family that you're looking for university kit, and have a rough list of what you need. A lot of people are trying to get rid of decent quality stuff. Then just fill any gaps as you go. Keep an eye on Facebook Marketplace.

that reminds me, most of my first kitchen stuff came from my Granny's house

Nothing. The college provided what was needed, with anything extra coming from the student grant. DC lives a long way from the university and travelled there by train, so couldn't have carried a lot.

Stock up on cheap basic clothes as mentioned above - knickers, socks, vests and t shirts (vests as layers for warmth)
Dressing gown for the midnight fire alarm pranks
Basic cookery stuff - plates / mugs / little Pyrex jug that can go in the microwave for beans / soups. Check out charity shops as everyone will turn up with ikea basic stuff and it gets lost!
Tea towels
Couple of cosy things for her room - a little throw / fairy lights / a couple of extra pillows to make bed feel a bit more of a sofa
Depending on the Campus set up a half decent rain coat / umbrella/ backpack
Wash basket / wash bag she can carry stuff to the laundry room
Slippers / flip flops if shared showers

We spend very little. In part because DD decided late to take a gap year and we forgot so had booked a holiday when she was supposed to start University. But also because I am a landlord so a constant supply of "tenant booty" of things left behind by outgoing tenants. (Once a digeridoo, but more usefully a printer still in its box left by tenants from overseas.)

Really important:

1. A laptop. You probably wont need a printer.
2. A mattress topper. Uni accommodation mattresses are shit. But this can be ordered on Amazon after you arrive.

Add to this perhaps a clothes dryer, though everyone else will have one and you can borrow and a door stop, but again this can be bought from Wilko later.

DD went with two suitcases, one with a duvet, with her childhood duvet cover, in wrapping her laptop. The other with clothes.

Kitchen storage space in halls is very limited, and things get "borrowed"/stolen. (One of her second year flatmates was really not well off with a disabled dad and a part time cleaner mum, who was really upset about how many of her DDs things had been stolen.) You are better off with charity shop crockery as everyone has white things. (British Heart Foundation for electricals.) Ditto saucepans, towels etc. DD got our old ones. We got new. Then storage containers for batch cooks etc.

We went down a week after DD started and really she just needed cupboard staples.

If your DC is going to a town with a Wilko or Lidl, no need to fret. Everything can be bought later. The less there is the less that needs to be transported.

DDs laptop was essentially free as she has a SEN assessment. Honestly, I don't think we spent anything more.

She rented a very cheap, pretty slummy flat in her second year, and I bought her a rug, to cover ancient, beer-swilled carpet, and blackout curtains from Ikea. The previous tenants had left loads of cooking stuff. She still has the rug, curtains and the mattress topper from her first year. Even this year where her flat was unfurnished, her sofa, dining table and bedframe come from British Heart Foundation. And will go back there at the end of the year.