Is there a list?

lellie

anfieldred wrote:

Although i bad mouth halls, i stayed in one of the better halls in Liverpool and still found things to be substandard.

The halls in liverpool are the worst I've ever seen. I went to the open day with my little sister and was genuinely shocked. They were a total rip off too. WAY WAY more expensive than manchester and they were awful.

Also:

A lot of halls DON'T provide kettles and toasters. We didn't have them provided in Manchester. Thankfully I took my own toaster and someone else took a kettle.

I was in a flat with foreign students though and they didn't bring anything with them. So they kept stealing my stuff. That I didn't like one bit.

kittiwoz

lellie wrote:

A lot of halls DON'T provide kettles and toasters. We didn't have them provided in Manchester.

Really? Which halls were you in? OP? The kitchen/commom rooms in Wright Rob were brill.

Anyway. Find out if you need any of that sort of electrical stuff. Some halls provide nothing. In ours we had oven, hobs, microwave, toaster, kettle, ironingboard and iron provided. The first year I was there they provided crockery, cutlery pans and even bedlinen and laundered it once a week. It varies loads between halls so it's no good trying to guess.

Maybe go and find her nearest supermarket and do a shop with her once you get there. Then she knows where the supermarket is and you can ease her into thinking about what she needs to buy because she is going to have to do it herself the rest of the year. Things she actualy will need immediately are drinks making stuff such as tea or coffee, milk, sugar maybe instant hot chocolate. This is because after moving everything in you will need a cup of tea and also because she can then offer her new flatmates a cuppa which is a good ice-breaker. Biscuits are also useful for this reason.

Take a couple of cheap plates, bowls, mugs, cutlery etc. They are likely to get broken or lost so no point getting good stuff. Other people will borrow stuff but she can borrow stuff from other people. If she has problems with people not washing it up after then she will just have to speak to them about it. It is good to have more than one of everything in case of guests but if you have more than one guest you can borrow off your flatmates. I had half of a dinner set and my brother got the other half a couple of years later. Cheap kitchen stuff for cooking, wooden spoons, pans, colander etc. A lot of it will get wrecked or lost. A couple of decent knifes are essential because if these are provided they'll be dull as a spoon. Important: Remember the can opener.

It is useful to have a door plate with your name on because it makes it easier for your flatmates to remember it. A door stop is also extremely useful because it makes it easier for people to come and talk to you and a lot of the doors have self-closers.

It is nigh on impossible to stop people taking your food but hopefully your daughter will have nice flatmates and can rely on trust. I think it is best to have an agreement that it is OK to take a slosh of milk or a couple of slices of bread if you have run out provided you don't mind people doing the same and you do all buy your own rather than relying on being able to use other people's. Being anally retentive about it is only going to get everyone's backs up and create an atmosphere of distrust unconducive to happy communal living. Living in halls can be great fun. There's so much opportunity to meet people and you can easily nip back and forth between each other's rooms and flats.

lellie

kittiwoz wrote:

Really? Which halls were you in? OP? The kitchen/commom rooms in Wright Rob were brill.

I was in whitworth park, my boyfriend was in canterbury court - neither had kettles or toasters.

We had a cooker that didn't work properly and a microwave, fridge and big chest freezer (which was great - loads of room!) and some cupboards.. that was it.

CrispyUK

I did have a huge list of stuff that I found online this time last year of things to take to uni, will try and dig it out again.

Just make sure you've got the basic essentials and perhaps leave a bit of money / giftcards for any bits and bobs you forget, then they can be bought down there.

As said before, assume everyone you live with will be fine and friendly. We all go on great in halls and agreed in the first few days that we didn't mind others borrowing our stuff as long as it was used sensibly and washed up afterwards, same with things like milk as well - made living there nice and very handy if you woke up with no milk for your cereals as you didn't feel guilty about using someone elses.

Careful about going too cheap with kitchen stuff - I was warned off the Asda Smartprice baking trays by a random lady in store who told me not to get those as the coating comes off, I also didn't want the Smartprice pans either (the black ones) so Dad made me pay for the £20 set but I'm glad I did. My pans are still in great condition whereas everyone elses had the non-stick coatings coming off after a few weeks and rusty pans.

Corkscrew/bottle opener is an important one to take, along with a tin opener and I was also quite popular being the only one with a pizza cutter - easier than trying to use a knife or scissors.

Also bought a draining rack for £3.99 from Argos in the first week, made washing up easier as you didn't have to worry about things slipping everywhere and breaking your flatmates stuff.

lellie

CrispyUK wrote:

Careful about going too cheap with kitchen stuff - I was warned off the Asda Smartprice baking trays by a random lady in store who told me not to get those as the coating comes off, I also didn't want the Smartprice pans either (the black ones) so Dad made me pay for the £20 set but I'm glad I did. My pans are still in great condition whereas everyone elses had the non-stick coatings coming off after a few weeks and rusty pans.

Very true - I had a smartprice tray - it only cost about 50p but it wasn't very good - mine lasted better than my flatmates one as I cleaned it properly after use but hers was sooooooooooo rusty after a few weeks.

I had very good quality pans though - got a tefal set from the Co Op - they were reduced from £50 down to £17 and an absolute bargain - they're all still in perfect condition and will last me years - They had a full guarantee on them anyway.

A pizza cutter is a great idea - tin opener too.. it amazed me that i was the only one in the flat that had taken one.