What you do (and don’t) need to take to university

A few (ahem) years ago, in those two months between laying my hands on my A-level results and leaving home, mum tried to quash her ‘my first child is fleeing the nest’ blues with sporadic purchases of random tat. Bless her. Very very sweet intentions, but she really went overboard. I mean really overboard. Not only is arriving at university with a hat stand, several bathroom cabinets and a catering set for twenty a logistical nightmare (so, so many stairs at my halls and the car park was a veritable hike from the building) I wound up with about one square foot of free floor space in my cupboard of a room.

Freshers and parents please listen carefully. Before you merrily shell out on clutter, take a glance at this list of what you will (and won’t) need at university.

N.B. Incidentally I am leaving off the completely obvious items- toothbrushes and so on- because frankly if you didn’t know you needed to bring a toothbrush with you to university then I’m not convinced you really deserve to be there in the first place.

Bathroom

- 2x bath towels

- Smaller towel

- Bath mat (if your room is en suite. Your halls will almost certainly not provide one. If they do, it will almost certainly be mouldy).

- As much as I won’t go into other personal preening products, make sure you bring dry shampoo with you. Trust me on this.

Don’t bring loads of towels. If you’ve really made the big time, you’ll have two hooks on the back of your door. Back in the day, I had to deal with one. Lack of hooks= towels invariably on floor. Don’t bring loads of towels, they’ll just get in the way.

Room

- Bed sheets (x2)

- Duvet (some halls provide them, some don’t. Check on your hall’s website for more details).

- Pillows

- Mattress topper (it’s practically a given that your bed will be hard as nails. Try and soften the blow as much as possible).

- Sleeping bag

- Small, light-weight (plastic) drawer tower (often as ugly as sin but cheap and incredibly useful)

- White tack (the non-marking, halls regulation friendly alternative to blue tack)

- Opaque laundry bag (I can’t emphasise the opaqueness enough. You’ll end up carrying this bag from your bedroom to the laundry room, so unless you want to parade your dirty laundry to the rest of your halls, steer clear of the see-through alternatives)

- Drying rack

Don’t buy throws. At the very least wait until you’ve lived in your room for a while.  My university arsenal included several throws which I adorned over any bed/chair within a five mile radius. Actually I wish I’d lived in my room for more than thirty seconds before concluding that I would have been very happy without them.

I’d also recommend that you don’t stock up on posters or wall planners just yet. Your student union will almost certainly host a poster sale during freshers’ week where you’ll be able to get your hands on heavily discounted decorative items.

Gadgetry

Again if you don’t know you need to bring your laptop cables or your phone charger, I feel like you might be beyond my help. Aside from the obvious electrical items, these are particularly useful:

- Extension leads including a surge protected extension lead (to make sure your laptop doesn’t get fried)

- Drop Box subscription (a cheaper alternative to the external hard drive)

- USB stick (keep an eye out at your freshers’ fair for the freebie USB sticks too)

Don’t: bring a TV. Unless you really, really can’t stand the company of other people. Not only will you have to shell out on a TV license, your halls may have a TV room, which is much more sociable. Otherwise you can always resort to on-demand TV services on your computer.

You might not need a printer. Many universities have pretty good (and cheap) printing facilities for your essays, which will save you from parting with a small fortune on ink cartridges. Irons and ironing boards might not be necessary either. Check on your hall’s website to see whether they have ironing facilities on site.

Kitchen

- Small saucepan

- Large saucepan

- Tin opener

- Bottle opener (ideally a key ring one. Look out for the free bottle openers at your freshers’ fair).

- Wooden spoon

- Chopping board

- Kitchen scissors

- Chopping knives

- Microwave-proof plate, bowls (x3)

- Cutlery set (for 4 people- stuff will go missing)

- Teaspoons (big thanks to Balancing the Fs for reminding me about this. I’d recommend LOADS of teaspoons because each and every university seems to house a great teaspoon abyss, which merrily sucks teaspoons into oblivion).

- Mugs

- Glasses (pint glasses, wine glasses- I’d recommend going plastic here)

- Plastic tubs

- Tin foil

- Tea towel

Don’t go crazy on the saucepan/dish front. Remember that all of your flatmates will rock up with a whole pile of kitchen utensils as well, and everyone ends up sharing after a few days. Your halls may also provide kettles and toasters, so don’t double up on these unnecessarily either. George Foreman grills are amazing at university, but you can definitely get away without them.

Even if you are going to a fully-catered hall, bring some food along with you. I’d recommend stocking up on staple food ingredients (pasta, bread, cereals) as well as useful spices and oils at the start of the term.

Stationery

- Lever arch folders (and hole reinforcers or plastic wallets, if you’re so inclined)

- A4 ring bound lined paper (for lectures)

- Pens and highlighters

- Stapler

- Sellotape

- Scissors

- Treasury tags

- Envelopes

- Drawing pins

- Calculator (make sure it meets with your university’s exam regulations)

Don’t go completely nuts on the stationery stock-up. University shops often sell stationery items at heavily discounted prices, so it might be an idea to hold off until you’re on campus.

The dull stuff

- File box to store all of your documents

- Exam certificates

- Letter of acceptance from the university and UCAS

- CV and references

- Student finance information

- Passport

- Passport photos (for your student cards)

- Driving license

- National Insurance Number

- NHS Medical Card and vaccination history

- Cheque book (because somehow they’ve not died out yet)

- Bank or building society details

Don’t fork out on a student contents insurance policy until you know whether or not it is already covered in your hall fees. To avoid shelling out unnecessarily, have a look at your hall’s website to find out exactly what’s included in your accommodation fees.

Miscellaneous

- Bicycle puncture repair kit (if you choose to cycle)

- First aid kit (you will get freshers’ flu, so you might as well brace yourself now).

- Pack of cards

- Door wedge

- Duct tape (you will always, always have need for duct tape at university)

- Fancy dress box (I cannot stress this enough)

- Crate of beer (like it or not, this is the best way to make friends with your flat mates. I brought a box of brownies, which were less of a rip-roaring success).

Phew. Any other university staples that I’ve missed off the list? Or is there anything here you think you could do without? Share away in the comments!

{Photo: Andy Melton}