Moving to university can be an exciting experience for many and getting to decorate a brand new room is always super fun! However sometimes we can get a little too excited, the next thing you know you’ve bought the whole of Ikea, The Range and B&M to fit into your little room, cluttering your accommodation with things you may not ever even use – so to save you from the same experience, here is my take on things I regret bringing to uni…
White plates & cutlery instead of coloured
My first mistake was buying basic white plates and regular silver cutlery – obviously bringing all this stuff to uni is vital, however when you are sharing a kitchen in first year, which most first year students do end up doing, I can guarantee that your plain white plates and silver cutlery are just going to get mixed up with everyone else’s plates and kitchenware because it all looks the same and it’s too hard to identify what is actually yours. Therefore, I really recommend buying plates and cutlery that is a specific colour, (pink, blue, whatever you may choose) as it means you’ll always be able to tell what is yours and what is not, and also refrains people from stealing a plate or two from your cupboard!
So many different pairs of shoes and bags
Trust me on this, you do not need to bring every single pair of shoes and handbags you own to university with you, it’s only going to take up way too much space in your wardrobe and I promise you that there is absolutely no way you’ll end up actually wearing them all. To save some space, I recommend choosing 2 or 3 of your favourites / basics that will go with most of your clothes so you have something that goes with everything whilst also saving a bunch of space in your room!
Revision notes from Sixth Form / College
When I first came to university, I packed all of my A-level Media Studies revision notes to take with me since the degree I chose was based on the media subject, thinking that they would come in handy when studying. However, I now honestly believe that there is no need to bring these to university with you. University and College are different – when you start your degree you are going to be learning completely new stuff which might not even relate at all to your previous studies, and if I ever wanted to understand anything more, best believe I was looking it up on Google, not looking through my cluttered stash of Sixth Form revision! So please take my advice and don’t bring these with you.
Stationary & notebooks
This definitely varies based on what degree you decide to take. However, personally, I decided to take a very practical, hands-on degree so almost all of my university projects are practical rather than essay based. Because of this I use my laptop for the majority of my university work rather than pen and paper, so all the stationary I brought to make cute notes was never really put to use. Therefore, I really recommend looking into the modules of your course first to see if your degree is more project based or essay based, as if you are taking a very tactical, hands-on course, you will most likely not need to do a big stationary shop!
Hoover
9 times out of 10, most university accommodations will already provide hoovers at reception which you can use at any time, so unless you’d like to own your own hoover, there isn’t much need to bring one! Personally, I really regretted bringing my own as it was quite hard to store in my room, it just ended up cluttering the corner and certainly didn’t fit in with my bedroom aesthetic. I recommend contacting your accommodation to ask what they already provide before you move in, to ensure that you don’t overpack and bring anything the accommodation already has.
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