It’s that time of year when students all over the UK are heading off to start university. For many it will be the first time they have lived away from home and so as a few of us at The Little Pancake Company are in this position, we wanted to share some top tips from wise parents.

• Door Stops – Propping your door open with a door stop is a great way of being sociable when you want to and can help you feel a little less isolated when you move into new accommodation.
• Bottle of Wine or Cake (or pancake mix) – a great ice breaker and something to share with your new flatmates.
• Wheeled trolley or Sack Truck – perfect for getting your stuff from A to B when moving into your accommodation as sometimes it can be a bit of a walk from the car park.
• Rugs and Throws – take a rug or 2 to put on the floor of your room to make it more homely and cover the carpet. Easier to wash in case of spillages. Also good for covering sofas.
• Sliders or flip flops – great for wandering around inside and perfect if you have to use a shared shower.
• Medicine kit – a basic kit containing ibuprofen, paracetamol, cold remedies, plasters, antiseptic cream.
• Join clubs and societies – a great way to meet people.
• A student cook book – there are a number of great student cookbooks on the market or put together a file of your favourite easy one person recipes. It is important that they eat a balanced diet so it is essential to cook some fresh food rather than relying on takeaways.
• Freezer containers – if cooking just for yourself, making more and freezing left-overs can be a great source of healthy ready meals and cooking in bulk in more cost effective.
• A clothes airer – rather than hanging your washing over every item of furniture or draping it over radiators, a cloths airer is a great thing to have and will allow your washing to better and prevent it smelling.

Feel free to share your own top tips with us, we would love to hear them.