{"id":4339,"date":"2022-08-23T16:03:54","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T15:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-students\/?p=4339"},"modified":"2022-08-23T16:03:54","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T15:03:54","slug":"what-not-to-bring-to-uni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-students\/2022\/08\/23\/what-not-to-bring-to-uni\/","title":{"rendered":"What NOT to Bring to Uni"},"content":{"rendered":"

Post written by Georgia Harris<\/strong><\/p>\n

Results Day has been and gone, and many prospective first-year students now face the famous \u2018big shop\u2019 to stores like IKEA, essential for preparing to live away from home. Hopefully I can save you a bit of space in your car (and money!) by sharing with you the items commonly bought for university that I don\u2019t consider particularly vital for first-year survival.<\/p>\n

Excess Kitchen Gear<\/u><\/p>\n

Be honest with yourself: are you really<\/em> going to hand-grate cheese? Or peel vegetables? Will you actually bake for your flatmates all the time? If you\u2019re certain that you will, fab! But if not, maybe leave the whisk, wooden spoons and 6-pack of saucepans at home.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that you\u2019ll be sharing a kitchen with quite a few other people (probably at least 5, depending on the size of your flat\/halls), which means you\u2019ll probably only have a cupboard or two to yourself for both your cooking equipment and your food. I have one frying pan, one saucepan and one baking tray at uni, and I find that that\u2019s enough to make all my meals \u2013 if you need anymore (e.g., if you\u2019re cooking for other people), you can always borrow from your flatmates (but make sure to ask first and clean items after you\u2019ve used them!).<\/p>\n

For other kitchen bits, I\u2019ve found that 2 is the magic number: I have 2 of each piece of cutlery (2 forks, knives, tablespoons, and teaspoons) and 2 of different pieces of crockery (2 small bowls, big bowls, small plates, big plates, daytime glasses, wine glasses and mugs) and they\u2019ve been plenty. It means you have enough to cook for another person, but it\u2019s not too much to wash up. This also applies to tea towels \u2013 I have one downstairs and one in my room, so I always have a clean one spare.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good idea to buy distinctive cutlery so it\u2019s easier to keep track of which are yours, but otherwise you can mark the handles with nail polish: I painted mine bright pink and put my room number in purple over the pink, so it would really stand out (you can see them in the picture below).<\/p>\n

Finally, your kitchen will almost definitely include kitchenware like a toaster, microwave and kettle, so don\u2019t waste your money on those! If you get there and something\u2019s missing, the cost can be split between all housemates.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Things You Won\u2019t Wear<\/u><\/p>\n

It\u2019s so tempting to bring your whole wardrobe to uni (\u2018just in case\u2019), but try and fight the urge. Only bring things you think you\u2019ll realistically wear; you probably won\u2019t have loads of storage space, so you don\u2019t want the space you do have to be taken up unnecessarily (especially as you\u2019ll probably buy clothes over the year that you\u2019ll wear more often). I can fit all my clothes into 2 IKEA bags, and I\u2019ve found that to be more than enough.<\/p>\n

For instance, don\u2019t bring summer clothes when you move in in September, because you won\u2019t wear clothes for warm weather until about Easter \u2013 you can swap out your wardrobe during the Easter break by taking your winter clothes home and bringing summer clothes back. However, I would recommend bringing one or two outfits that you can use as fancy dress or a Halloween costume!<\/p>\n

Excess Stationery<\/u><\/p>\n

As a stationery lover, this is difficult for me too. However, if you think you\u2019ll be doing most of your work online, like making lecture notes on a laptop or tablet, you can save money by not splurging on loads of fancy stationery. For example, I bought loads of ball push pins, only to come to uni and find I didn\u2019t have a pin board!<\/p>\n

It’s definitely a good idea to bring pens, a highlighter and a couple of notepads with you regardless, for quick notes in seminars or in case your laptop runs out of charge in the middle of a lecture. Make sure you go to the fairs during Welcome Week, as many stalls will give you free stationery!<\/p>\n

Course Books<\/u><\/p>\n

The University of Manchester\u2019s library service is brilliant: I haven\u2019t had to buy a single book for my course because every book I\u2019ve needed has been available online as an eBook. Therefore, it\u2019s worth checking the library catalogue<\/a> for your required reading materials before splurging on expensive textbooks.<\/p>\n

Toilet Roll (Shared Bathroom)<\/u><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re in accommodation which has shared bathroom facilities your bathroom will be cleaned by university cleaners and toilet roll will be provided, so you don\u2019t need that 24-pack!<\/p>\n

Candles and Other Prohibited Items<\/u><\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth checking the terms and conditions of your accommodation agreement before you buy something that isn\u2019t allowed in your room \u2013 for example, you won\u2019t be allowed any cooking or electrical kitchen equipment, heating devices, or anything that can be considered a fire hazard, like candles and incense. If in doubt, email accommodation@manchester.ac.uk<\/a> to double check.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Post written by Georgia Harris Results Day has been and gone, and many prospective first-year students now face the famous \u2018big shop\u2019 to stores like IKEA, essential for preparing to live away from home. Hopefully I can save you a bit of space in your car (and money!) by sharing with you the items commonly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5673,"featured_media":4341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[21,20,23,19],"class_list":["post-4339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-blogs","tag-accommodation","tag-advice","tag-new-students","tag-welcome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5673"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4339"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4344,"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4339\/revisions\/4344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}