What’s on your uni shopping list?

[SkygardenTower]

Now results day has gone and most know where they are going I thought I would be nice to have a planning thread on what to take to university.

Argos do a basic starter set which looks good value. Starter kitchen set

Then IKEA for some bakewear, duvet and pillows and duvet sets.

I was joking about giving her the old towels but will probably give her some new ones.

Vacuum storage bags to make transport easier. Vacuum bags

Then a rice cooker (we have one at home so I know she will use it a lot and you can cook a lot more than just rice). Mini rice cooker

What is on your list?

Uni rooms are generally boring and a bit sad looking when you move in and a duvet is like the biggest thing you can put in it to bring some life in.
At uni I have a light rust coloured one it makes the room look warm and homely
My housemate has a darker green duvet and it looks good and cosy, wheras our other housemate has white and light grey and her room looks like a hospital, and a bit 2018/9

You wash all your bedding at once anyway so the colours are not going to run onto anything.

Place marking. Ikea trip planned next week. I am liking the idea of a multi-purpose rice cooker, or potentially an air fryer. Dd has a studio with a kitchenette 2 ring hob, fridge and sink and there's a fair amount of kitchen storage/space. I wondering about something for hanging towels on.

I've just had a sort-through of some boxes in the loft and we have accumulated a fair amount of stuff already (older siblings, partial sets which have since been replaced with new).

We already have:
Pans with induction base (one has a lid with holes in the side for draining pasta)
Small baking tray which will fit in the combi convection oven in his kitchen
Colourful crockery
Cutlery with coloured handles
Pint glasses, shot glasses
Microwavable containers (Systema)
Nesting click & seal boxes
Mugs
Teatowels
Chopping board, sharp knife
IKEA bags for moving day and laundry
Over-door hooks
Mattress topper
Multiway extension cable (although the photos of the rooms show plenty of sockets)
Folding clothes airer: if these are forbidden then he can hide it under the bed for room inspections. The (Circuit) laundry will have dryers but he needs somewhere to put laundry that's not fully dry as well as damp swimming kit / towels.

He is also taking:
Reversible fleece blanket from his bed (gift last Christmas)
Card games
Clothes for the themed events in the first week
A 'first aid' kit with paracetamol, plasters etc.

We need to buy:
Utensils, tin opener, cheese grater
Dishmatic brush
Bedding and towels (his have holes in them)
Folding crates (ours broke)

I've just remembered another useful one - a pop up laundry bin with handles for carrying laundry to the laundrette. Ours already had the Brabantia ones that convert into a bag at home anyway. Any cheap laundry bin with handles will do.

www.amazon.co.uk/Brabantia-Laundry-Bag-Pepper-Black/dp/B07JGZPCTQ/ref=asc_df_B07JGZPCTQ/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=308998300513&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11679988859371859629&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045903&hvtargid=pla-557404927881&th=1

Absolutely nothing.

DS3 proudly announced that all his clothes fit into an IKEA storage cube! I keep suggesting things but he's very minimalist.

He also says 'I'll buy what I need when I'm there' and 'They do have shops outside London you know'.

Fair enough - job done!

Any UCL people heard about housing yet? We haven't so I am afraid to plan the room. DS def wants a rice cooker as he eats a lot of rice.

My packing tip for clothes is to leave them on their hangers, use a big elastic band to secure the hangers together at the top, fold the whole bundle in half and slide it into one of those jumbo storage bags (or put a bin liner over it).
When they get there, they can reverse the process and hang the clothes straight into the wardrobe.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but a tool kit. V useful for all sorts of things and good way to meet people as you become v popular when they know you have a screwdriver/hammer/pliers.

Brought her first items today - 6 plates from a charity shop for £3.

I'm not buying much new. No new duvet or towels or cutlery etc. We have odd bits at home so ds can take all that. Personally I think having familiar smells and textures will help rather than having all brand new.

Everyone will have ikea stuff as there's one in the city.

Ds room has a very specific order for NO RICE COOKERS. Check the agreement . Ds isn't allowed a lot of electrical equipment or extension leads.

Interesting how they are all different. Rice cookers are allowed, but need to be presented to be PAT tested and brought in the UK so use the correct voltage.

The what to bring guide specifically said to bring an extension bar.

35 years ago an extension bar was the first thing I bought. Desk socket was high on the wall.

Is she sharing a kitchen with others? Will she have her own room? Best things my parents bought me was a full grocery shop. I would say the fewer pots and pans the better as they all generally get used and not washed up! Don’t get everything as sharing others bits and bobs is part of the fun! Tin foil, and food wraps (I had beeswax ones which were great and reusable). A plug that works as a portable charger is the best, mine was from Amazon and has lasted years. Don’t overload the kitchen with stuff if they are sharing, there’s not much storage and it leads to a lot of arguments!!

Suggest thin duvets as halls are usually very hot. Mattress topper usually essential. Kitchen knives.

Mine bring it home to do themselves in our machine at home every month or so. They come back to visit friends, us, the dog etc and do it then. It is not just the cost, it's the hassle too.

Fair point @BeyondMyWits

For me it was a 4 hour train plus 1 hour car trip to get home, but only 20 minute walk to the launderette. But I don't remember going home during term anyway. And I certainly couldn't have fitted half of the items on this thread in my rucksack, but I lived in halls of residence and didn't need duvets, sheets etc as they were provided so only had to buy a saucepan and a couple of plates. I guess things have changed as the kitchens must be bigger to accommodate all the stuff

We did not buy much for our DC. They got bedding, towels etc out of the airing cupboard. Went in the garage and helped themselves to old mugs, plates and pans that we had boxed up when we bought new ones. We had double of lots of things such as tin openers, peelers. They took stuff from their room, such extension plugs, packs of Uno, pretend plants etc.

We have always tried to use what we already have, rather than buying new. Their new cities have shops and there is Amazon to buy things they needed.

We bought a tub of 'Celebrations' to share and I made some chocolate brownies. We packed lots of stuff in tuppawears as we had so many.

We never went anywhere near Ikea or Dunelm. Their Grandma bought them both new duvet sets as an 'off to uni' gift.

@chesirecat99 I was just about to post re laundry.
I was thinking a laundry bag would be good. A big Santa sack canvas job. So it can be both hung up and carried?

That's great Cranmer but doesn't work so well when their bedding needs to be a different size from home, and if like us you tend to use things until they break instead of buying new and then storing perfectly good stuff in the garage. We use all of our kitchen kit, so if he wants a peeler and a tin opener we're going to have to <gasp> go to a shop like IKEA or Dunelm.

A couple of things, electrical items for kitchens are sometimes banned in halls of residence so definitely check before they take toastie makers. The exception to this rule is usually a rice cooker due to the international students.

Ds didn't lose anything, nor did anything come back ruined from laundry etc. One of the best things Ds has is a pan with a draining lid, excellent for cooking and then draining pasta.

He had 2 lockable cupboards in the kitchen, one for equipment/plates/pans etc and one for food which was the wall cabinet. You need the deep base cabinets for the frying pan. He had 1 shelf in the 50cm wide fridge and one freezer drawer. He fortunately had under bed storage in his room for a 3kg bag of pasta that he decanted into a smaller kitchen tub.

As for involved with buying stuff, yes we were and not because Ds is not independent but because it was a nice shopping trip and as a lockdown kid no driving lessons available at that time he needed driving to the shops. We were the same as singing bed at home is a single, bed at uni a 3/4 so we bought a double duvet but a 3/4 sheet. We don't have spare towels or spare bedding or old plates so had to go and get new stuff for Ds.

DD has bought some bedding and toiletries. Taking some old crockery/cutlery and a couple of pans. Everything else will wait until she gets there; there is a Wilko about 10 minutes walk away from her accommodation and she moves in a few days before "Welcome Week" starts and is planning on going shopping with new friends then (she's in touch with other course-mates living near to her). She doesn't want to get storage stuff until she has seen the room.

She has made contact with a housemate and they will split getting some more kitchen kit between them. No point in multiple kettles etc!

Might be a bit trickier if you're on a remote campus I imagine!

Usually now they are on a chat with their fellow future housemates.
Sort out some of the kitchen stuff before going!

The kitchens/space will be very limited. Don't end up with 4 kettles

Yes like a previous poster most of our crockery is Denby and was wedding presents which we use daily we don’t have heaps of storage space to store stuff in the garage.

So had to frequent Dunelm etc.

Check what they have in halls before you buy as bedroom bin, desk light, chair etc is provided.

I have never bought my DC anything specifically for university - they have taken old bedding, towels etc, and I seem to have spare kitchen items kicking around so they have variously taken those.

The things they have found genuinely useful are:

Wine glasses
Shot glasses
An ice bucket
Espresso machine for the one who drinks too much coffee (I had a spare)
A couple of pans
A cheese grater
A couple of screwdrivers
A couple of plates/bowls
A sieve for draining pasta
Black tie
White tie
Decent evening dress to suit all formal occasions (so not a 'stand-out' fancy one - just plain black)
Smart change (including 'proper' school-type shoes)
Mugs
Cards Against Humanity

We had all of these items at home. I think it's nice to take old stuff from home as it has a 'homey' feel to it (not because I'm a cheapskate). It's also easier for them to identify plates etc if they're taking familiar ones.

I've been surprised by how little goes missing (compared to school), but one DC did manage to lose a plug-in hob (this is not a necessary item, btw).