Tips for Halls

Moving into Halls?

Most first year student move into halls if they are living a decent way from home. Halls is a great way to get settled into university life and make friends, but It can be scary, ive got a whole other post written about my first year of uni (I’ll be posting it in segments because it’s bare long) but it was one of the best parts of my university first year.

So, I got thinking this time last year I was looking for inspiration on Pinterest/YouTube for how to style my university rooms and sadly for us born in the uk they do things a little differently there. So below I have compiled a checklist of things I would suggest to picking up before you go.

If you’re anything like me you’re thinking “how do I make my room cute and comfy” for me it was way more style over anything else, but I was at a disadvantage as I didn’t actually go to an open day and therefor I had no idea what the rooms looked like and what they contained, before I moved in all the information I had was my block and room number, the fact that my bed was a double and that I had an ensuite, so if you’re in the same boat as me don’t worry you can work this out.

My Uni Provided Us With:

Kitchen

·         Appliances (Kettle, Microwave, Toaster)

·         White Goods

              Bathroom

·         Toilet

·         Sink

·         Shower (with sliding door)

·         1 Roll of toilet paper

·         Toilet brush

·         Bin

              Bedroom

·         Bed

·         Desk

·         Shelves

·         Desk chair

·         Bin

·         Mirror

·         Blinds

·         Wardrobe

·         2/3 Storage boxes

·         Draws

·         Pin board

·         Radiator

·         Mattress Protector

That is just a list of what my university provided, and it may be different for others.

So, I mainly just needed to buy decretive and personal items such as bedding, saucepans and pictures so below is what I suggest taking with you (some things are just what I took and are therefore not essential to everyone)                 

Obviously, you don’t have to take all these things these are just some of things I took with me. The list also leaves off things like clothing, Charging leads and plugs.

I also should add that I found a cutlery organiser helpful!!

Tips for university shopping

1.       Don’t feel pressured to buy the best stuff, you’re a student and cheap stuff is better in case you somehow ruin it

2.       Take whatever you feel you need to take

3.       Check the Halls guidelines before you move in, some don’t allow candles etc

4.       Things might get broken or stolen (rare but potentially could happen)

5.       Shop around – Lots of stores will want you to buy an expensive ‘bundle’ but you can do it yourself probably for a bit cheaper.

6.       Buy more than one bedding set. It’s nice to have a change and it also means you don’t have to constantly wash your one lot of bedding

7.       Pictures will help with the homesickness – I took a mixture of pictures of/with friends and landscape pictures of the area I live in.

8.       Don’t take too much – I took 4 suitcases of clothes when I first moved in, I hardly wore some of the things.

9.       Your room will be small don’t take too many things if they’re just going to take up floor space.

10.   If you can find them coordinate with your new flatmates, no need for you all to bring things you can share (iron/ironing board etc)

I hope you find this list helpful and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to comment below and I will be happy to help 😊.

Have a good day now

Beth