Undergraduate list 2023

it's time

I have broadcast this list every year and in each iteration there are new and interesting things, so while this post might be very familiar, it’s worth giving it a quick scan for new additions. A bit like the safety instructions on a plane.

As always, this isn’t a list of actual essentials, (pants, bedsheets) but a list of really useful, quirky possibly not-thought-of things, gathered not just by me, but by readers over the years. Links are to Amazon for ease of illustration, if you object to their general business practices, feel free to buy elsewhere.

Big plastic glasses

Honestly the best things I brought to university with me. Actual glass would have smashed when I tried to wash it up in the hall communal bathroom basins (retch) and I almost always had a bad hangover and had to drink Ribena and Berrocca on rotation.

Massive hideous laundry bags

If you have any experience of boarding school you will already be evangelical about these otherwise monstrous items. These particular ones are 25cm x 60cm which is a good manageable size for clothes and other clutter. You don’t want them to be too big because they will be too heavy when full and then handles will rip off. When not in use, these can be folded down and stored away in a tiny space and also be used for doing, like, actual laundry. Maybe.

A lap tray

If I had been at university when laptops were widespread I would have done most of my work in bed, on one of these, and might have done a bit better and thus been a bit happier. With a laptop and WiFi, my degree would have been several thousands times more straightforward. Perhaps I could have found an online forum that would explain what in the name of hell I was supposed to say about, well, any of it. At the very least I could have used an essay mill to scrape me a 2:1. Although, having a 2:2 is quite funny. Well, it is now.

A clock

I’m told that University students need a time device separate from their phone that is battery-operated; this looks pleasingly practical, non-ticking and inexpensive. It’s the sort of item that just doesn’t die or ever get lost, that you will still have when you are 50. I am also the enthusiastic owner of a Casio wristwatch in a jaunty yellow, I absolutely love it and it means that I no longer have to cart my phone with me everywhere so that I can “check the time”. My phone use has plummeted.

Coffee maker

For the young coffee addict in your life: proper coffee without needing a cafetière. We have TWO of these Aeropresses for the older coffee addict in my life.

Quick-dry towels

Microfibre towels pack down to nothing and do the job well. For long hair, quick-dry hair turbans are terrific - I use one whenever I wash my hair and I’m not even a student (unless you count studying the bottom of a wine glass). If you have a particular dorkster as a kid, you can have a joke as you hand it over about Ford Prefect and the importance of always having a towel. 

Toastbags

A delicious cheese and ham toastie in even the mankiest of communal toasters.

Power bank

I was a big fan of those power-bank extra battery thingies until I had a succession of them break on me. They’re not cheap and I dislike intensely throwing anything away but particularly electronics. My most recent one, this one, was recommended by a friend and has been very good so far.

Stikins 

Because one boom box/set of AirPods/set of pool slides looks very much like another, these sheets of indelible little stickers are very handy. I am slightly ashamed to say that I have managed to bring up two children who are famous in all the institutions they attend for leaving all their stuff lying about - so nothing leaves our house without a sticker on it so that it can be returned to the right classroom. I’m assuming this is bad parenting on my part - but maybe all children are like that. 

No space? No problem

I have recently come across a company recently called My Baggage, which will ship your bags anywhere at reasonable rates, meaning a lighter car-load, or that you can accompany your child on the train, or for any other many reasons why you might not want to drive a jam-packed vehicle to Durham.

Door wedge

For wedging your dorm room door open to facilitate socialising. 

Boom box

I have had other brands of portable bluetooth speakers in my time and the bluetooth always stops working after a while – but I had my UE boom for 5 years. It worked perfectly right up until it was stolen out of my car’s glovebox - shortly before the car itself was stolen. Welcome to Kentish Town! This one I have linked to is their newest model and is waterproof so your Fresher can listen to Today in the shower at 7am. Ha ha, only joking, they will have it confiscated in the first week for playing The Final Countdown at top volume every 3am for a week. Again, this one I have linked to is black but if you can find one in a bright colour, do, otherwise it is very lose-able.

Over-radiator towel rack

Just a general life essential for everyone. I’ve got one in my kitchen right now. This one looks like a clever and snazzy design. Your child may not do any laundry but at the very least they might wash their pants from time to time - with this they dry overnight. My friend Clarissa Ward who is chief international correspondent for CNN, and is always diving into ditches to evade bombs in e.g. Ukraine or Syria, takes with her into the field only two pairs of pants. One on, one being washed in a sink/drying. University is a war zone of sorts. 

… while I’m on the subject: Febreeze

Frankly, we all wash our clothes too much. Underwear, sure, but everything else if not actively stained, doesn’t need much washing. Hang up the item, spritz with this bad boy and leave to air. If it’s good enough for Stella McCartney…

Scissors

Who doesn’t need scissors? I have 4 pairs in my kitchen alone.

Tupperware

For making healthful and economic packed lunches to eat in breaks during 8-hour library study sessions. No, they will of course survive on Huel and use these boxes to keep drugs in. My top tip from chef friends is DO NOT get nesting boxes – get three or four of these exactly the same size, then when ultimately one of the lids gets lost you will have replacements. Top tip! Put a Stikins on the base and the lid so there is no doubt about whose drugs they are.

Headphones

I love my AirPods, they are really brilliant, but even I - very controlling and uptight - have had some heart stopping moments when I thought I might have lost one. If your kid is really organised and on it, consider blessing them with a pair of these. If it can’t keep track of its house keys, get them a giant pair of over-head cans instead. What with an up-tick in Zoom lectures, they will need some.

Pool slides

Because communal dorm bathrooms are the most rank, shudder-some places in the world. If Adidas made HazMat suits I would recommend one of those. If for some reason your Gen Z wunderbabe doesn’t already have a pair of pool slides, they need some.

Plug extender with USB ports 

Because electricity is everything.

Tray or chopping mat 

So that petite Zuleika can put her lunch or dinner essentials down on a reliably clean surface without having to clean an entire disgusting student kitchen. Simple trays are also, I am told, very useful. 

Hot water bottle

Superfluous and faintly comical until you need one. And then you really need one. There will be one evening when your child will be cold, sad and homesick and while you can’t be there, this hottie bottie can. 

String lights

To cheer up even the most depressing box room. I remember I brought a set with me to university and people used to walk into my room and go, “Wow, your room is nice” and I was like… seriously people… it’s just the fairy lights. I recommend these.

Care packs

I am thoroughly addicted to Instagram Reel ASMR videos featuring women with manicures putting things into bags and re-stocking their larders and fridges. (If you know, you know.) I came across one video of a dainty hand packing a toiletry bag with strips of ibuprofen, hair ties, stamps, gum, Tampax, Berocca, hand cream, Amazon gift cards, Carmex and so forth, which seemed like a lovely idea but quite likely, perhaps, to be tossed into the recesses of a bag and forgotten about? I suppose it depends on the child.

And now! For back to school…

My theory is that one of your children always gets nits and the other one always gets thread worms. This is adjacent to my sister’s theory that your family will be constantly ill from September to Christmas or from New Year to Spring. Anyway, someone told me (possibly in the comments a few years ago) that you can dose your child preventatively with Ovex in the first week of school and that will stop it from getting thread worms. Similarly, if you’ve got a nit-magnet, keep this on your hall table and spritz over the head in the morning so that the wee beasties choose someone else’s head to dine on.

I solved the new-shoes problem by ordering three pairs of similar black shoes for Sam in his size from John Lewis, trying them on here and sending back the two pairs that didn’t work/fit. For the last few years we have gone into the store and the queue is always bananas and they never have anything in his size.

Last year, I cleared out two shelves in the living room and designated them my children’s “cubby holes”. In here goes absolutely anything I find about the place that belongs to them while I’m tidying up. By the end of last academic year they were even occasionally going to their cubby holes first to look for things before accusing me of stealing the item/throwing it away/randomly hiding it. My husband is no help in these situations, crying “Oh your mother throws away anything, anything! I have to tie my half-drunk coffee to my hand!” etc. Bastard.

What else is good? Now is your chance to full-on brag about your best hacks, products or any other general WIN AT LIFE moments of organisation and superiority. Go for it!! Hell, we all need the inspo. Please use the handy box below.