Student Halls: The Essentials

Preparation is key

• Are you going to be sharing a bathroom with your flatmates? Remember to leave it how you found it and don’t take too long in the shower. Got your own bathroom? Lucky you!
• Bringing a games console? don’t forget that extra remote. It’ll give you and your flatmates time to get to know each other.
• TV? Check if you’ll need a TV license, chances are you will.
• Does everyone have their own Netflix account? temporarily deactivate them whilst you’re at uni, set up a joint one and save yourselves some money.
• Noisy neighbours? get some heavy duty earplugs, try asking them to keep the noise down, or simply adopt the ‘If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em’ approach. It is uni after all.
• Don’t bring your food shopping with you from home, it’s much easier to do that when you get to halls. A supermarket with all the essentials won’t be far away.

Kitchen/ Communal Area

• He who moves in first gets dibs on cupboard and fridge space
• If you leave it there, someone will take it.
• Utensils will be used by all. Even those who don’t live there.
• Ordering a pizza? Ask if anyone wants anything!
• Make sure you spend time with your flatmates and get to know them, you could be friends for life!

As well as the obvious essentials, here’s a short list of things that could be overlooked.

I’d recommend…

Slippers

I’m not suggesting huge fluffy troll feet, nor am i suggesting a fetching beige house shoe. just something to put on your feet when wandering around the flat. More than likely you’ll end up having someone in the flat who doesn’t care too much about cleaning up after themselves. I learnt this one the hard way and stood barefoot in cooked, soggy and might I add, cold, vegetables. I know what you’re thinking… It could have been much worse, but it definitely didn’t feel great. It was kinda gross actually.

Mattress Protector/Topper

Mattresses at uni are definitely not what you’re used to at home. In my case I think the floor would have been comfier. I got on amazon and searched for the deepest mattress topper i could find. It’s extra thick and full of feathers. Only set me back £35 too. I definitely can’t imagine how i’d have got through if i didn’t have one. Absolute bliss.

Cutlery

This is something I didn’t think i’d need a lot of. I bought a really cheap 16 piece set for £2.50 in Tesco and after a couple of months I only had teaspoons and a couple of knives left. I’m onto my second set (keeping this one under wraps) . Occasionally a piece from the first set appears in the most unexpected place. I found a fork and spoon under the sofa a couple of weeks ago, and I know I didn’t put them there.

Laundry

I’m lucky enough to be in halls that have washing facilities in each flat, but i’ve still got a lot of use out of my laundry bin. If you’re in halls which have a communal area for washing etc then i’d definitely recommend buying a laundry bag/ bin for your clothes. It makes it much easier when you need to wash something and saves you losing socks on the way to the machines. A lot of places sell them, IKEA, Argos or even Next.

Hangers

You might remember that awesome outfit but did you remember the hangers? You won’t have a lot of drawer space so make sure you bring hangers too!

Make sure you get involved in freshers activities with people on the same course as you and have a bunch of fun with your new flatmates AND your new friends. Go out and socialise or stay in and watch a movie. Just make sure you have fun!