Son/daughter going to uni in September 2012. What do we need to buy?

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  • wendall
    wendall Posts: 288 Forumite
    poet123 wrote: »
    He probably did, but I think you meant Freshers flu, very apt though:rotfl:

    I did indeed mean freshers flu, but it may have been a mixture of threshers and freshers as i think he drank more alcohol in the first month than ever before. :)
    Jan lunch to work days 0/20
  • spadoosh wrote: »
    I never got any money off my parents whilst at uni,

    I never got any help of my parents either. Now they are old and frankly I couldn't be bothered to lift a finger to help them - what goes around comes around my friend!
  • great thread this has taken me back to when i started and my very middle class mother gave me a habitat dinner set for my first year. there's not much of it left 10 yrs on! Definitely get a clothes airer or if no space the smaller racks that hang off radiators. A good stain remover (in case he doesn't know the salt trick for alcohol spillages), I use the Vanish power foam (at £4ish would be the sort of thing in a mum not a students price range) Febreze (in case others stink room/communal bathrooms out, or if he cant be bothered to go to launderette). Stationery I got in bulk from Poundland, they do paper pads and a4/3 files which are perfectly good and he'll need loads, uni stationers are overpriced. Book tokens for textbooks, I am sure medical textbooks don't come cheap and he might need latest editions instead of going second hand. A storage box/washbag if bathrooms are shared as well as a modest towelling dressing gown for trips along the corridor from the shower! Coat hangers? I'm off down memory lane now...sorry for all the words hth x
  • jamespir
    jamespir Posts: 21,456 Forumite
    for the lad condoms and beer for the girl lambrini and the morning after pill

    or is that for Butlins i always get the two mixed up
    Replies to posts are always welcome, If I have made a mistake in the post, I am human, tell me nicely and it will be corrected. If your reply cannot be nice, has an underlying issue, or you believe that you are God, please post in another forum. Thank you
  • teachergirl
    teachergirl Posts: 767
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    Thank you for all the useful suggestions on here. Like some other parents have said I know my sons loan will not cover even the basics. Coupled with the fact that his tuition fees of £9000 a year for at least 6 years are beyond our level of help so anything else we can help with I am glad to do. (however the issue of whether or not to help is not what this thread is supposed to be discussing.)
    A**a'S are selling their cold medicines with a bit of a roll back. Checked the use by dates and they have at least four years to run so I have started on my "first aid " kit. They also had a bit of a roll back on bath mats and as i am hoping he will have an ensuite room I bought him one of those as well, in a nice shade of dark blue...also useful as it will not show too much dirt!:D
    Doing this reminds me of what I do for the childrens christmas stockings...buying things in the sale for much later....got my daughter a couple of pairs of thermal socks for her stocking...half price in the same place.:money:
    Enough money to live on so retired early...planning to see where life takes me:D
  • bouncydog1
    bouncydog1 Posts: 2,696
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    Love this thread - when we bought all the stuff for DD we had a lot of negative "she won't use that" comments from those who knew better! However the fact that she has such a comfortable room with lots of off the wall stuff, like a sewing kit and a floor rug and a very comfy bed to sit on, means that she has lots of friends who all want to spend time with her!

    Also bought a dinner set for 4 in the next sale for £10 and when a plate or what ever gets broken she just takes a replacement back with her. Same with glasses etc. She has enought stuff left to move into her house in 2nd year!
  • Callie22
    Callie22 Posts: 3,444
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    I would invest in a mattress protector - glad I had one with me as some of the matressess in student halls could be a little 'colourful' ... I'd also recommend the fleece blankets from Ikea, they're really cheap, handy to wrap yourself up in and dry really quickly when they're washed. Definitely take some kind of clothes horse, in my halls the dryers weren't working more than they were so it came in really useful.

    Also I wouldn't worry about having 'too much' stuff (within limits, of course!). I graduated a few years ago and a lot of the more practical stuff I bought or created is still with me - I still have my first aid box (with newer contents of course) and sewing box, and a fair bit of my kitchen stuff.
  • Hi,

    As a recent graduate I thought I may be able to help you out here :)

    I would buy cheap pots and pans (as a few have already suggested :) ) as they gut ruined pretty easily and in my halls I had the guys I lived with stealing them as they didn't bother to buy any! I then put my initials on the handles in nail varnish so I could easily identify them.

    Also, consider underbed storage as some uni halls are really small and your son will be glad of the extra space for study books etc.!

    Hope this helps!

    Charly :j
  • setmefree2
    setmefree2 Posts: 9,072
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    Is a small safe worth having for valuables - cameras, I pods, etc? You can pick them up quite cheap these days.
  • bouncydog1
    bouncydog1 Posts: 2,696
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    setmefree2 wrote: »
    Is a small safe worth having for valuables - cameras, I pods, etc? You can pick them up quite cheap these days.

    Good suggestion, but you would be giving potential thieves a bonus by keeping all the valuables in one place. Unless the safe can be bolted to the wall/floor (and in Uni you're not allowed to deface the property) then thieves could just pick it up and walk off with it!

    It might also mean that students were less careful about ensuring their room was always locked when they left it - which would invalidate a theft insurance claim.
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