22 Foxhole East

apple_muncher

That's really good news on the accommodation!

Were you not tempted to just keep running and leave DS3 behind...?

f0xh0les

Noooooo!  He would never come out with me again if I abandoned him by the roadside like an unwanted and unloved puppy!   The idea is that I will go out more often if I have some company - so one run with him, one without -oooh I missed you! come with me tomorrow - uh, okay? - then I go out on a few shorter runs with him, but longer ones when he is not with me.  So he is included, and excluded at the same time. Schroedinger's Running Companion.

I only asked two sales assistants to 'just kill me now' today - took 3 of the kidsout to town, fed them coffee and cake as a sweetener (£25 later), got one pair of the school shoes in the Mann of Deich (£22), did the school trainers in the Direct Sp0rts shop (£50), DS1 picked up a pair of shoes identical to the ones DS2 has and has never ever worn, not even once, so got him to put them back and we swapped them when we got home .  DS2 refused to come out with us.

The house needed to be quiet for DH's  conference presentation, which went down really well, surprisingly well, in fact incredibly well.  So he is a happy old chappie tonight.

It is all on the credit card, along with the mattresses from the end of the last month. So I will not be able to pay much of a mortgage o/p this month, but will be able to pay off the cc in full.  Can't pay a grand  off the mortgage balance every month, I suppose.  But at least I am on track for sub £80k  in December. 

greent

uni stuff - old teatowels - give DS1 your oldest (and buy yourself some new)/ get some super cheap in CS - they get really minging in shared accommodation. 2 bowls/ plates/ each thing of cutlery as a min - means he can either wash up less OR invite someone to eat at his   (DD's boyfriend literally had one bowl and plate, no oven trays etc) Tubs for leftovers for the fridge/ freezer (I gave mine takeaway tubs, that way I didn't care if they got lost or broken) I bought my 2 a heated airer each - worked out way cheaper than using the communal laundry tumble driers (plus most of their clothes can't be tumble dried) and meant their clothes actually got dry quick enough not to smell. A starting supply of a bottle of washing up liquid, cheap loo bleach and an all-purpose cleaner and a pack of loo rolls - and a very strong suggestion that they get their housemates to do a communal fund of 50p/ week each for these things (although not necessary for loo paper to be communal if he has an ensuite) A cheap toilet brush (50p/ 75p supermarket one) A mattress protector - DD's mattress in Halls had a plastic cover on, which was chilly. She then had a mattress protector on and then a thin duvet under a sheet (cold Halls!!)

VintageHistorian

Off the top of my head from my student days (2004 - 2008, where did the time go!?) there are a lot of communal "bits" from the kitchen that will frequently go missing for days on end because someone will get distracted, wander off to their room with something in their hand, put it down and forget about it, and only find it after having a tidy up.

I'd kit him out as if he's going to place that doesn't provide anything and try to reinforce with him the idea that he needs to keep as much of it in his room as possible, otherwise it will go missing.

Small things that were essential but you don't think of until you need them include; a tin opener (try to get one that also has a bottle opener on it), a colander, a small mixing bowl, spatula, wooden spoons, a fish slice, a good pair of kitchen scissors, and possibly small electric kitchen scales.

Basically anything you handle in the kitchen over the next few weeks, try to write it down and see how often it crops up. If it's more than once a week he should really get one to take with him.

Also any food and drink in the communal fridge and cupboards will get nicked, no matter how much you yell or even catch people stealing it! Most places won't let you have a mini fridge in your room (I had one after a weeks worth of food was stolen and had to hide it in my washing basket when there were room inspections) so get him stocked up with a good supply of tins (again, he has to keep them in his room) and dried goods.

greent

And check out the CS for anything you need - or facebook freebies/ cheap stuff - often see people here giving away a box of random mixed kitchen bits including things like a saucepan, a couple of mugs, a cheese grater and some mismatched crockery - perfect!

bizzie

Congratulations to your DSs.
I now only have one remaining within the education system so fully understand the "complexities" of CB & TC 
Unfortunately SFE has proved to be an even bigger adversary - I hope your experience will be better.
Was reminiscing with my DDs and they found a bucket and a small washing rack among the most useful items whilst at Uni.

Betharooni

From personal experience, a mattress protector is a must (or immediately wash existing protector) - my housemates didn’t change the mattress protector that came on their beds in halls and they all ended up with bedbug bites all over their backs. I brought my own mattress protector and was fine. As soon as they took the protector off the bed, they started healing up. Nasty!

Suffolksue

Delurking.Where do you get the 6k figure from Foxholes.curious as DGD is paying £142 /week in halls at Aston but for 45 weeks ( not sure why that long) she will get nearly the full maintenance loan as her father is low paid ,she thinks there will be about 1k left of that .I’m going to be subsiding her .
Fortunately my late ( recently) husband foresaw this so we have been putting money away for a long time ,but wondering if I’ve missed something ?

bizzie

The Student Maintenance Loan available if studying in London is almost £3000 greater than studying outside London. Amounts are less if staying at home

Suffolksue

Thanks Bizzie thought it might be something like that ,but didn’t realise it was that great .