Monday, 25 August 2014

♥ How To: Pack The Essentials


By now I would hope that any of you off to university in September have a strong idea of what it is that you’ll be taking with you. It’s stressful to say the least. It can leave you panic stricken and worried. Having just moved back to Falmouth for the start of my second year, my packing skills have been refreshed – so I gathered it’s the perfect time to guide you along your own packing!
You’ll need loads of different sort of stuff from kitchenware to toiletries and depending on where you’ve opted to live it will be different. Details of everything included in Halls of Residence will be available online via the institutions website or they will have emailed you certain details about what is included. A lot of the time (or from my experience in halls) you’ll have televisions, a small social area, vacuum cleaners and furniture like a desk all included. You probably won’t be provided with bedding, though.
For the Kitchen:
·         A few pots and pans
   1 x frying pan
   1 x little saucepan
  1 x big saucepan
   2 x baking trays
·         Tea towels/oven gloves
·         Glasses and plates and bowls
·         Kitchen utensils and cutlery – tin openers, potato mashers, whisks, spatulas, tongs!
·         Kitchen cleaner – to keep the oven clean.
·         Sponges and washing up liquid. You’ll get through loads of sponges as they can turn pretty disgusting pretty quickly when five to seven or even eight people are all using them. Make sure you’re not the only one buying these things though!

For the bedroom:
·         Duvet and pillows
·         Duvet covers – at least two so you can wash them without being left without sheets
·         Lamp – we were provided with really good lighting so you might not know until you arrive.
·         Decorations – you’re likely to have a notice board and a lot of my friends put bunting up, or fairy lights and loads of photo’s of people from home up so it felt homely and like it was actually your space!
·         Storage. You’ll probably be on top of this. Under bed boxes are excellent to stash non-perishable food away. Things like tins and chocolate and crisps!

For the toilet:
·         Bleach
·         Toilet roll
·         Toilet cleaner
·         Toiletries like shampoo and shower gel.  Hand soap.

There are bound to be some things you won’t think of and will pick up along the way, and it can be hard to figure out what you’ll actually need when you’re so used to not having to think about it – mum takes care of everything at home so you don’t have to, right?!
Always try to get plates and pans that you can distinguish. Ikea do nice patterned kitchenware which will stand out and hopefully no one else will have the same – this will help you determine whether anyone is using your stuff and not cleaning up afterwards. Pots and pans are the same. If you don’t buy ones that are easy to tell apart, be equipped with a colourful Sharpie so you can mark up what is yours – then if anyone uses it and doesn’t clean afterwards you can give them an earful! I know you might not want to do this as to not create tension, but in my first year we ended up only having one boy in our flat and he would use our stuff and not wash up or he just wouldn’t wash up his own stuff. It got to January and we came back and he’d left his washing up for the entire Christmas break. It ended up being outside his bedroom door until around March and only after Easter he decided to chuck it away. Hopefully you won't have to deal with such a reluctant house mate and it should all be smooth sailing! 

If you have anything to add to this list or and queries, be sure to comment!

Em x




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