Check what the room comes with before buying anything. Most shared houses are let furnished — bed, wardrobe, desk, and a kitchen with the basics already in it. Ask the landlord or current tenants for a photo of the kitchen cupboard contents; it saves buying a fourth colander.
The first-night box
Packed separately, carried by hand, not buried in the van:
- Bedding — duvet, pillow, two sets of sheets
- Towel
- Phone charger and a multi-plug extension
- Toilet roll, hand soap, toothbrush
- Kettle, a mug, a spoon
- Any medication, and a basic first aid kit
- Torch — you will not know where the fuse box is yet
First week
| Item | Rough cost |
|---|---|
| Bedding set and spare sheets | £40–£70 |
| Towels | £20 |
| Plate, bowl, mug, glass, cutlery | £25 |
| Pan, frying pan, chopping board, knife | £35 |
| Cleaning basics and bin bags | £20 |
| Laundry detergent, drying rack | £25 |
| Desk lamp | £15 |
| Total | £180–£210 |
Can wait a month
- A proper desk chair — worth spending on eventually if you study at home, but not in week one
- A rug, plants, anything decorative
- Storage boxes, once you know what you actually need to store
- A slow cooker or air fryer — genuinely useful for batch cooking, but see how you cook first
- A bike, once you know the commute
What people buy and never use
- Full dinner sets for six, when you eat alone at a desk
- A printer — everywhere you need to print has one
- Specialist kitchen gadgets, all of them
- A television, when nobody under thirty watches one and it triggers a licence fee
- Matching furniture for a room you will leave in a year
Local selling apps and community groups are full of furniture from people who have just moved out, often free if you can collect it. Desks, chairs, drying racks and lamps are worth getting this way. Buy mattresses and bedding new.
Where people shop
One thing worth spending money on
If you are doing any of your degree from your room — and most apprenticeships involve some remote study — a decent chair and a second monitor make more difference to how those evenings go than anything else on this page. They are also the two things most likely to still be with you in five years.