The Student Essentials Guide (Catered)
Posted by David | Filed under University Life
Home > Student Index > The Student Essentials Guide (Catered)
If your moving into Self-Catered Halls, Catered Halls or a Student House/Flat then there are always essentials you should be taking with you. This guide should help you remember all those things which you may have forgotten to take. There are fewer essentials for catered halls as you will have food provided for you so sauce pans and cooking utensils are not so much a requirement. In this two part guide, I shall cover essentials firstly for catered accommodation then for self-catered and student houses in the second part.
Catered Accomodation Essentials
If your moving into catered accommodation in September remember to take all or most of the following items with you! Obviously don’t forget your student ID, wallet, debit card, cheque book, young persons railcard and driving licence/passport and any other registration documents or documents about reading lists or your course etc.
Bedding
- Duvet, with a spare duvet cover.
- Pillows, with a spare set of pillow cases.
- Mattress Blanket
- A thick bed cover for winter, or a hot water bottle, or an electric blanket (Or all three!)
Need More Student Bed Linen, Duvet and Tog Advice?
Desktop and Stationary
Checkout The Student Essentials Guide to Stationery at University as well for more detail on what stationery you need to take!
- Laptop or Computer
- Multi-socket (Very important if you have more than a couple things that will need plugging in!)
- Mobile phone and charger.
- Pads of A4 paper.
- Well equipped pencil case. (Ruler, Pencils, Scissors, Pencil Sharpener, Pen, Spare Ink, Calculator etc.)
- USB Stick
- Printer (if you print a lot it’s worth bringing your own, but it’s not a requirement.)
- Course textbooks (if you have already been told what to get)
- Alarm Clock (so you don’t miss your lectures)
- Watch (as above!)
- TV? (TV Licence if you decide to take one)
- Desk Lamp
- Hole Punch
- Stapler
- Paper Clips
- Folders or Ring Binders to place work in.
- Piggy Bank, or similar item to store your spare change in!
- A Door Stop, most Hall doors are fire doors, so if you want to appear friendly and have your door open you will probably need one! (About a £1 maximum in most hardware shops)
- Some “Over Door Hooks” these are hooks that don’t cause damage to the door either via nails or adhesive, if your hall door doesn’t come with any they will be useful for storing wet towels and coats.
Kitchen
- 2x sets of cutlery
- 2x plates
- 2x bowls
- 2x mugs
- A Sandwich maker or similar item if you enjoy that kind of thing.
- Bottle of washing up liquid.
- Cleaning cloth
- Corkscrew
- Bottle Opener
Wash Bag
- Shampoo
- Shower Gel
- Flannel
- 2x Towels
- Bar of Soap or Liquid Soap.
- Nail Clipper
- Hair Brush
- Razor (and spare blades unless you use disposables)
- Shaving Gel
- Aftershave
- Deodorant
- Hair Dryer
- Hair Straightener/Curler
- Other Girl Related Wash Bag Items…
First Aid Items
- Plasters
- Paracetamol
- Prescription Medication
- Condoms, other contraceptive methods.
- Painkillers, Hay Fever tablets etc.
- Throat Sweets.
- Lemsip
Clothing
The further north your university is the more warm clothing you should take!
- Loads of T-shirts
- Loads of hangers to hang everything on!
- A few pairs of jeans
- A non-jeans pair of trousers
- A ball outfit, suit or dinner jacket
- Loads of socks and underwear.
- Gloves
- Warm Jacket or Fleece
- Rain Coat
- Jumpers and or a Hoodie
- Dressing Gown
- A few pairs of pyjamas.
- Two or 3 pairs of shoes and trainers.
- Flip-Flops?
- Swimming Trunks
Other Optional Items and Misc
- Camera
- Battery Charger
- Washing Powder
- Air Freshener
- Fancy Dress accessories.
- Books, DVDs, MP3 players etc.
- Webcam for Skyping.
- Pins if you have a notice board in your room.
- Shaving mirror if you don’t have a mirror near your shaving sink.
- Some sink cleaning products.
- Alcohol!
- Umbrella
- Tissues
- Torch
- Ruck Sack
- Board Games
- A Pack of Cards
- Door Stop
Warning: If you are thinking of taking a mini-fridge beware, some university halls do not allow them, make sure you check this out before buying one!
Remember you are being cooked for so technically you don’t really need any cooking equipment like pans or pots! However it may well be worth taking a pot to cook pasta in just in case you miss dinner, get hungry or want to have lunch! some catered halls do not cook you lunch, or weekend food, make sure you know if your’s doesn’t before going! If it doesn’t then consider taking a small selection of the items in our Essentials Guide to Self Catered Halls.
Home > Student Index > The Student Essentials Guide (Catered)
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Tags: Student Essentials Guide, University Life, What to take to university
August 26th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
If anyone has any other suggestions do mention them here!
August 27th, 2008 at 11:02 am
[...] in The Student Essentials Guide (Catered) I listed all the essential items required for living out in catered accommodation. Today I shall [...]
August 27th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
what happens to all the stuff other students leave
August 27th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Hi Donna, I can’t vouch for every university, but I know at Sheffield they either sell it all off or chuck it out!
We were asked to remove everything posters, blue tac, stickers, etc and give everything a good clean – otherwise they take it out of your desposit to clean or remove stuff for you!
September 19th, 2008 at 1:07 am
Hi,
a GREAT insight into what I need to take with me, most university websites dont go into quite this much detail and they really should, i have one more thing that should be added for the sake of saving the pennies… a piggy bank! an old 2 litre bottle of whatever works perfect
Callum.
September 19th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Thanks Callum! Glad you are finding it useful! A piggy bank of sort is a great idea! When I was in Halls (2 years ago now) you could actually buy pints with the pennies you saved up, but that might depend on how kind your bar staff are!
I couple more things you might want to include are a Door Stop, and some Over Door Hooks. These days most of the Hall doors are fire doors so they won’t stay open on their own, and well if you don’t get given any hooks they are useful for towels and wet coats!
I’ll add your suggestion to the list!
December 9th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
[...] Many students are likely to need to buy some bed linen for their halls of residence or house. It can be quite confusing for some one doing it for the first time, so I have put together this guide to help you! For more student essentials why not check out our guide to everything you need to take with you to university! [...]