Jess, Your Campus Officer, shares her five top tips for students living in student accommodation!
Paying your rent
This sound very straight forward but as a student who lived in accommodation for my first two years I struggled with budgeting. I found that as soon as my Student Finance came in it was best for me to pay my rent then - yes, I was paying early but my landlord accepted this and at least the biggest amount of money was done, and I didn't have to worry then until the next finance payment.
Food shops
If you don’t drive and have to walk to get to your food shop, get yourself a bag on wheels, you won’t look silly, people won’t look at you. This saves your arms massively, especially if you buy in bulk.
Share bread and milk
If you are the type of person that doesn’t use a lot of bread or milk, ask your flat mates to share, this is something me and my flat mates did last year we ended up taking turns buy these items and just shared it, this meant we weren't wasting money due to sell by dates and not being able to have time to eat it all.
Communication about food allergies
This is very important if you have any allergies, you must tell your flat mates! And then you can all come up with compromises for everyone to be happy.
Walk together to Uni
You may be in different classes to your flat mates and not end up seeing them at all of campus. But if your classes are in the same blocks walk together, this way it’s safety in numbers and you have someone to talk to on the way this can connect you together and help you bond.