Leaving home

Folio

My friends daughter will hopefully be off to university later this year so her mum has decided to make her a folder full of advice on ....EVERYTHING:cool: !! Her first step has been to ask me what to put in it. I thought I saw a thread in a similar vein earlier this week but try as I might I can't find it.

Any ideas from you clever, resourceful ladies (and gentlemen) on here on topics to include and how to lay it all out would be warmly appreciated.

Thanks

Cookie_monster_7

What a lovely idea...

Well money saving tips of course , a good student cookbook, info on cleaning a house and laundry, health info....telephone numbers of GP, NHS 24 etc, leaflets on sexual health maybe? It would be good to include a load of stamps, pens and blank cards to keep at the back of her folder so she can write a quick note home to her mum when she is sitting in a boring lecture thinking of home. Uni's have great resources for students to speak to counsellors if they are feeling stressed, finance officers if their spending is getting out of hand etc but they are usually quite underused services so it might help if your friend checks out the uni website or phones student services and gets a lot of this info sent out and includes that.

Going away to uni can be so daunting and a lot of young students get carried away with the social life part, of course enjoying their new found freedom is so important and fun but then so many of them get behind in their coursework and start feeling depressed, homesick, anxious etc. So if it is possible for your friend to impart that having a routine where her daughter gets up early and uses that time to get ready, clean up the flat, do some laundry etc before she heads off to lectures (and try not to skip any) and to study between classes then she'll have her evenings free to have fun....but has any student ever learned that lesson just by being told?...I doubt it :rolleyes:

HTH

CleoTheCat_2

One of the best tips I was given many years ago when I went to university was to take a kettle, a couple of mugs and some tea and coffee with me on day 1. It's amazing how a cup of coffee can break the ice and make you new friends!

hope this helps,
CtC.

geordie_joe

Folio wrote: »

I thought I saw a thread in a similar vein earlier this week but try as I might I can't find it.

Have you seen this thread.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1217095

EssexHebridean

Someone else mentioned that giving advice on laundry symbols was a good idea. I would also suggest some quick easy and most importantly CHEAP recipes, Oven temperatures conversions (Gas Mark x > deg C > deg F), a note of what "Use by" "Best Before" etc actually mean, that sort of thing.

Reverbe

I'd add stain removal for a lot of common stains to that.

luckys_mum

A quick lesson on budgeting before she goes would be useful. Surprising how many young people havent got a clue about money management skills. And tell her to ignore all offers of Credit Card Companies offering her free gifts. Freshers week is full of temptations in more ways than one.

voiceofreason

It might be worth putting in a couple of packets of paracetamol, and maybe some AlkaSeltzers too

katholicos

Fabulous idea. I'll have to remember this for when it is my daughters time to go off to uni!