A study space. Somewhere to sleep. A dining room. A place to party. A dank hollow where worn clothes, empty beer cans and pizza boxes go to die. Your accommodation while at university is a lot more than just a place to rest your head. No matter what course you’re on, how active your social life, or how often you run out of cash and ‘make alternative arrangements’ (go back to your parents house because you’ve no heating or food), you are going to spend a lot of time here. So how can you get the best of it? TheMet Online has come up with the definitive list of things to make your time, be it in halls or shared house, all that more bearable.

Stuff For Your Room!

Wall decorations

Posters, post cards, wall art, old bags, flags, and interesting memorabilia. Basically anything you can adhear to your wall with blue tack to break up the monotony of ‘Student-house cream’ paint.

Money box

Nothing fancy, just a place to dump small change. Be sure to drop a couple of quid in there every now and then though when you’re feeling flush, these will come in handy when you run out of change for bus fair. try and save dipping in too much though, come the end of the year, you might be surprised just how much is in there.

Ipod dock

Be it getting ready for a big night out, getting a bit of work done, tidying up, or fighting off the loneliness of being away from home, you need music; and unless you want to blast it from your phone like a chav on a bus, pretend you still live in 2002 with a CD player, or use a olde-fashioned record player because ‘good sound quality is too main stream’, you’re going to need an ipod dock. You can pick these up now for literally a couple of pounds, but if you want something you can throw a party with, I’d suggest something a little bigger.

Mini-fridge

The ultimate student-hermit luxury. You never, ever need venture from your room with one of these. Well, apart from university. And shopping. And maybe the bathroom. Ok, let me start over; save yourself a 30 second walk to the communal fridge, and the disappointment of realising someone has eaten your yoghurt, by installing your very own smaller fridge in your room.

Some Food Hidden Away

I’m not talking about a fully stocked store, ready for a forthcoming apocalypse, just a couple of packs of noodles, some crisps, maybe a couple of tins – especially if your housemates are prone to forgetting when there food ended, and yours started.

A Stash of Booze

You’ve had a long day in lectures, as well as the rest of your colleagues; all of a sudden, you’re going on a last minute night out. Save valuable time in not having to go to the shop, keep a small haul of pre-drinks somewhere about your room.

Money

You know how it is; rent, bills, food shopping, nights out, a sale at urban outfitters, essential costs soon mount up, and student loans deplete quickly. Put aside just enough cash for a weeks shop or a train fair home somewhere safe in your room, and don’t touch it unless absolutely necessary.

Photos of home

…or of you family, mates, dog, pub – whatever will stop you missing home.

Noise cancelling headphones

Noisy neighbours/housemates/environment? Save screaming them into submission and silence, and just pop in a decent set of headphones, and listen to some calming music, an audio book, or your recorded lectures.

Clock

Time flies when you’re… working tirelessly on a Marxist critique of New Labours policies. Well, it doesn’t, but you’ll still need a clock. Maybe kill two birds with one stone, and just use your alarm clock for this. If not, get something decorative.

A Loud Alarm

Dragging yourself out of bed for thosenine o’clocklectures is all the easier when being screamed awake by an irritatingly loud alarm clock. You’re less inclined to snooze your alarm if the noise is so irritating, you can’t stand to hear it again.

Lamp

There is only so much time you can spend in the bare, orangey-warm glow of an energy saving light bulb. Get yourself a lamp shade to take the harshness off, or better still, a small lamp. Work away into the small hours of the morning with some atmosphere. Pick something retro up from one of the charity shops or boutiquesLeedshas, you don’t need to break the bank.

Fabreeze

Because it’s easier than cleaning.

Medication

Just the basics, something for headaches, stomach aches, hang-overs and colds.

Multivitamins

An essential supply for any student accommodation. Help fend off Freshers flu, coughs and colds, perhaps even scurvy. A couple before and after a night out will help keep your immune system up.

Dictionary

You can only depend on autocorrect for so long.

Toiletries bag

Put all your bathroom stuff together in a bag that you can take too and from a shared bathroom. This means you can be sure no one else is using your body wash/expensive shampoo/toothpaste.

Warm sheets

Your housemate will like you more if you don’t cost them the earth in bills, so save your heating until your fridge starts to seem redundant, and wrap up at home.

An Efficient Heater

If everyone is in the living room, why put your central heating on, save some money on bills and just use a small electric one instead.

Throw

This follows the same logic as ‘Warm Sheets’ but looks nice.

Hot Water Bottle

For the same price as it costs to boil the kettle, you can have warmth all night.

A Plant that you can’t neglect

Aside from you, the mould, and that strange scratching sound you can’t quite put your finger on, does your room not feel a little lonely? If so, buy yourself a chlorophyll(ed) companion. Water it, love it, preen it, tell it about your other human housemates that drink all the milk, and how you prefer it to them. Don’t get something that will die if you forget about it for a month or two though. You’ll just feel bad when it does. Cactuses are good for neglect. I mean busy lifestyles.

Books

Text books. You’re at university for a degree. Well, at least that’s what you tell yourself as you head out the night before an exam (don’t lie to yourself, we’ve all done it). Some days you need time off though, so get something interesting; a novel, a how too, a book of photography, anything you like, they’re your books… these will come in handy when you exhaust iPlayer, and decide that 5 times is too many times to watch the same episode of QI.

Dehumidifier boxes

Room’s aroma musty, and it’s not your washing bag? Bedding feel cold and moist? Inexplicable exclusion zone around you in lectures, later to be pinned down to the strange smell coming from your clothes? Mould creeping up the walls, like vengeful movie villain, the Blob? You too have had the displeasure of living in a damp house, or even worse, damp basement of a nice house. You can pick these boxes up online for a couple of pounds.

Bin

While a desk of scribbled on papers and hastily annotated hand outs may be easy to pass off as a ‘working environment’; its harder to explain away the mouldy, half eaten bag of monster munch, mountain of crushed energy drink cans, and 3-week-old banana skin. Just, for everyone’s sake, get a bin, and remember to empty it.

Bean Bag

University means lots of reading. Lots of reading means lots of sitting down. Want to risk long stints on the dodgy looking, dog-eared office chair you have been provided with? Thought not. Two words: bean bag.

Clothes Dryer

Something that folds away so you can have it in your bedroom; you don’t want clean clothes in the front room in case of parties or foody smells.

Washing bag

An old coffee or post sack looks just quirky enough to be cool, but not look out of place in a dilapidated, disorderly bedroom.

With all of this, and perhaps a little more, you should have a smooth, organised, and very comfortable student life. Anything I’ve missed? Leave a comment and let everyone know…