Getting ready to send them off!

[Maggiethecat]

Have been doing lists of things to be done before Dd goes off but must admit there's a bit of burying head in sand going on.

What are you doing to help prepare Dc/yourself ahead of the move (practical/logistics or indeed emotional preparation )

I have been buying bits for dd for a few months now. She won’t be doing much cooking so I haven’t bothered with saucepans or frying pan, she’s waiting to see if she can take a air fryer, she has dyspraxia so cooking is tricky for her.

Dd is totally chilled about it all whilst I’m running around like a headless chicken and questioning her about what needs to be done. Her laziness is starting to annoy me and I’m tempted not to help her anymore, she’s spent all day gaming whilst I’ve been writing lists. She’s not attempted to look for work for the holidays to help with the costs.

luckily uni is only a hours drive away, hopefully we can fit everything in our small car. At the moment I think I’m the only parent looking forward to dropping their dc off 🤣.

@Sadik thats fab that she can choose when to move in - ds was given a moving in date with his accommodation offer.

Well it's also quite possible that she just hasn't told me yet! She's back home shortly for a bit of time off before starting, so hopefully more will become clear then :)

@KittyMcKitty

Update - didn’t realise that you can only book a JL collection about a week in advance and I don’t want to leave it so late.

Think we’ll get stuff here and then send it on with MyBaggage which seems reasonably priced and gets good reviews.

Hopefully things will arrive in good time!

@Lovemusic33 - I’m doing the headless chicken dance too.

Dd’s response today was ‘chill, I’ve got 4 weeks’

Grrrrr!!

We haven’t bought anything yet, DS didn’t want to do anything before results day and then he or I have been working ever since. Will get some lists sorted and hopefully starts shopping by the end of the week.
We did apply for the student bank account last night and change his student finance as he ended up going through clearing after not wanting his insurance choice.

I’ve seen his uni do kitchen, bathroom and bedding packs which would be a great space saver for the car but I’d worry that with the kitchen stuff loads of them will then have the same? Is that a big issue?

Those whose younger DC are planning room swaps, I think @Twawmyarse and@Maggiethecat ? My younger DS is in a box room so I think it will be quite difficult to try and swap them over as DS1 would still have so much stuff here that wouldn’t all fit in the box room and we don’t have other storage space. Do you have similar situations?

Also discovered unikitout company (not sure if unis get supplies from them) which would probably make things easier but imagine that they would have to label the life out of communal area stuff.

www.unikitout.com

@Fiddlersgreen - yep, Dd2 has box room but she's not concerned about any logistics - think she's just marching all her stuff in on top of her sisters!! 😂

I will try to keep out of that.

Yep, just read that they work with 280 unis, so expect that the online packs would be the same.

Hello. 👋🏻 to @Fiddlersgreen. DD2 is off this year and like @Fiddlersgreen the process wasn’t as straightforward as needed clearing. This is my second time around as DD1 just graduated. So much going on here as DD1 has started a job and is moving to London in September and DD2 off to university. Emotionally I’m up and down. DD1 more confident and ready to move out and I’m happy as she’s house sharing with some uni mates who also have jobs but it’s still a big step. DD2 is more of a worry as less outgoing and with things not going to plan with grades, it’s set her confidence back a bit.
Re rooms, when DD1 left for uni DD2 moved into her big room and left the box. This was ok with DD1 but now she’s home and her job is hybrid so working from home 2/3 days pw it’s a struggle at times.
I haven’t bought anything yet but I’m more chilled about that this time as she’ll only be an hr or so away as opposed to DD1 who was 4!!!

Dd3 (youngest of 4, so have done this a few times!) went off to uni last autumn, far away, hated it (apart from the actual academic work) and came home in January. Reapplied and is going very nearby this time, although is still moving into halls. So she has already got all the bits and bobs, and we’re all slightly trying to bury our heads in the sand about her going as she’s very nervous about it. We do need to look at DSA, and probably do need to just check through everything to make sure she has what she thinks she has!

@atiaofthejulii sorry to hear that your DD went through that. It’s a worry in the back of everyone’s mind I think. I have two friends whose DC came home by Christmas. One went into work and is doing really well in a job she loves and the other took a gap year then went to the local uni and lives at home and is also thriving. Good luck to your DD.

Question re bank accounts- ds was just planning on converting his existing bank account into a student one but reading on mn people are opening new ones - ds is with Lloyds who offer the same overdraft facilities as many so other then a welcome gift what would be the reason to open new?

@KittyMcKitty im not sure if they would get the incentives if it’s not new business but worth a try. DD1 was already with Nationwide but took out HSBC student ac for £100 cash and free overdraft. We used that one purely for loan and bills etc and she used her existing ac for her personal spends. It worked well to keep it all separate.

Do they need a student bank account? DD would prefer to avoid an overdraft if she can but we both know the temptation to go overdrawn will be too much if it’s available.

@KittyMcKitty - Dd converted her RBS account to student account and got the £80 cash and Tastecard offered.

@EddieHowesBlackandWhiteArmy no they don’t need one but a free £100 or railcard is not to be sniffed at! DD1 didn’t use overdraft until the last term of the 3rd year.

I’ve seen his uni do kitchen, bathroom and bedding packs which would be a great space saver for the car

Only on this one journey, unless they have a second year contract which starts before the first ends and so stuff can be transferred on several trips if necessary, or they are intending to put things in storage at that end. Otherwise, all the university-bought stuff has got to be transported somehow.

When DD moved out of her second year house and was going abroad for third year, we ended up doing two trips...

At the moment, we have all her things in several locations in the house, plus DS2's - he had to move out at the end of June and his second year contract hasn't started yet - and, I keep remembering every time I ponder what those things are I keep tripping over in the spare room, at least two boxes of stuff that DS1 appears to have forgotten to move on with at some point. I may have to put his old bed up on 'bed blocks' to increase the underbed storage capacity.

This appears to be quite a good round up of student accounts https://www.savethestudent.org/money/student-banking/student-bank-accounts.html

It's all rather real here now as DS is off to Reading on Wednesday and then we should be moving house. I've been fanatical about being prepared, despite protests that "I've got ages yet"

Bank account is done, just waiting for confirmation of the overdraft amount

Rail card done

Accommodation applied for, just waiting to hear the outcome (though all are significantly cheaper than his first choice uni, every cloud and all that!)

IKEA run done

Student finance updated, though it does say it can take six weeks to be reassessed. His is only a uni swap so hopefully will be quicker than that.

Snap @Champagneforeveryone We have ticked those jobs off now. There’s another thread for results day and a few on there have just or are just about to move house. Must be overwhelming with all of this too! My DD1 graduated in June, moved home, got a job in London and is moving there next month, DD2 having to go change uni as missed her firm and dismissed her insurance and we all go on holiday on Monday so I thought WE were busy !

🤞🏻 Good luck.

Hi @Benjispruce4 ! 👋

@MarchingFrogs thats a good point about it only saving space for the original drop off but I think it will still work for us as both DH and I want to drop off but when he needs to clear his room to come for summer I’m sure just one of us can go so we’d have more space in the car then. Hoping DS doesn’t accumulate too much extra stuff by then as well!

@Champagneforeveryone DS had to change the uni on his student finance too and it was done within a couple of days. We haven’t received a new letter but went into the online account and it was all updated and we could print a copy of all the details

Thanks fiddlers I suspected that everyone who didn't get their first choice wouldn't be waiting for six weeks for finance to be agreed!

benji I'm completely over it by now and am resigned that it's all good things, just ridiculously close together. I'm less thrilled that work will not accommodate a day off / AL / TOIL etc for DS's moving in day, and have simply advised that I "try to swap a shift" if I need to. Apparently as he's 18 he's not a dependent and we will just have to stick it up 🧐

I keep trying to get DD to start sorting her shit out and work out what we still need to buy and what she is taking from home. However she’s off to Creamfields on Thursday (more worried about that than the week in Zante!) and then her birthday the following weekend which apparently necessitates a full weekend of celebration that she can’t possibly take time out of to sort said shit out. Don’t even get me started on her sorting out the necessary paperwork to transfer her employment.

I'm surprised about people buying stuff already. DS won't know his flat allocation until about 8 September. That's about when they will get a list of suggested stuff to bring, not included in the flat. I imagine the flatmates will get in touch to talk about if anyone is bringing a toaster (better 1 or 2 than 8 or 9). So we can't confidently buy anything before about 9 September, anyway.

We don’t have the room allocation yet either but certain things we know he will need that we don’t have spare at home for him to take.
Towels, crockery, cutlery, pans, trays, airer, laundry basket, a lamp.
we will have to wait to find out what size bedding and whether he has an en-suite or not but I figure with toilet rolls, cleaning products etc then if they all bring them then it just means it lasts longer until they did to purchase again.
also I think some people do already have their room allocations?