THINGS TO BUY FIRST AFTER MOVING TO THE UK AS A STUDENT
I see you've finally taken the plunge of moving overseas and to that, I say congratulations and good luck to your future endeavors. It's a rather difficult path but one you'll get through nonetheless. I know because we have been there and we know it can seem daunting without your loved ones guiding you.
My husband and I are still in the journey of learning how to efficiently move forward in our journey but so far we have come to a point where we can help people in knowing what they should most definitely buy first thing after moving to the UK or any other country for that matter.
If you are a student who has moved to the UK recently then this will serve as a guide on how to save money while also not cutting corners living a good healthy life.
My husband is studying at Hertfordshire university and yes he is here on a student visa and no I'm not on a dependent visa which clears the main question that may arise in your mind as to why are we being frugal and not buying things left, right and center. Then the answer to that question is very simple we are in the middle of a pandemic and it is rather difficult to find a part-time because not everything is open yet and I am not allowed to work on a visitor visa.
With that being said let's begin, I have made a list of things in the same order we bought them:-
£
1. DUVET: For people who do not know us through our youtube channel, Kaustubh had to move to the UK without me and that means half of these items he bought alone, and the duvet is one of those things. He lived in Hatfield before I joined him and He moved around October which meant he had to buy a warm duvet the first thing!
Kaustubh got the double bed duvet from ASDA for £15 after his quarantine period but if you are supposed to quarantine for 14days then the best thing would be buying it online.
Here is a similar duvet that you can get
2. SCOOTER: Trust me you can do without this but hear me out it does make your life a little easier. But by all means, if walking is your thing and you do not mind walking for 20 mins to save that train/ bus money then do it because that's what we do but on days when you do want to get things done quicker than usual then scooter comes really handy. We got our manual scooter for £99 from skate hut.
but here is a similar scooter :
3. BRITA FILTER: Here's a product that you MUST get! I am not kidding when I say the water in the UK is hard and you will understand the difference soon enough after coming here.
Tap water is not the most hygienic thing you should put in your body for multiple reasons you can google and see for yourself. So getting a Brita water filter was the best decision we have taken. The Brita water filter costs us £15 and the cartilage or the filter has to be replaced whenever you have used it up. The filter is such that you can see when you should buy a new one and the replacement costs £6. You can either buy a pack of multiple cartilages at once or buy it whenever you run out of one.
4. WATER BOTTLES: let us assume that you did not manage to get all of your belonging from your home country to the new country then my dear this is one of those things you should get because the Brita filter you just bought will not serve a direct thing you can drink off of. I know some people to this will say that Rasika we have glasses and we can drink in it and to that I say, " you are a student who has better and more important tasks to complete than sitting and pouring water every time you feel thirsty." A 1-liter bottle or heck a 2-liter bottle will serve your purpose and you can get the cheapest one from any supermarket.
but here is the link to the same product
5. DUVET COVER: Remember the duvet that you just read about, well turns out we need a protective covering for that and Kaustubh decided to leave that purchase until I arrive in London. Nonetheless, we did get one from IKEA. The idea is to invest once and make it last for a considerable period of time given students do not have access to a lot of money because of their employment status. But buying essentials should be of topmost priority.
TIP: lookout for deals in supermarkets on such products and you might get it for a lot cheaper than you get it online or in IKEA.
here is the link to a similar product
6.PLATES, BOWLS, CUTLERY, POTS, AND PANS: If you are a student then chances are that you are going to end up living in a shared house, and that means you may or may not have common plates, bowls, utensils at your disposal which means that you will have to buy some for yourself. Now if you are anything like me ( I do not like sharing stuff like plates and cutlery, I hold them dearly because not everyone shares the same knowledge of cleaning utensils and plates as I do) then you do need to invest in a set which comprises of a plate, bowl, spoon, fork, knife. You can easily get these things for cheap from Poundland, Morrisons or any other supermarket. But if you do want to invest in a good product then you might want to hop on to IKEA's site or physical store ones more.
here is the link to similar products
7.DUSTBINS, DUST PAN, AND A BRUSH/ BROOM: Here's something no one tells you, the dustbins that you will be provided will never be enough for the trash you will produce in a week. Welcome to continuous loop from the hell of buying junk food we don't need to sustain a healthy life but we do it anyway and we accumulate a lot of trash in a span of a week and a trash can may or may not be provided in your room. So it is always a good idea to buy one for yourself that will stick with you for a long period of time and will help you keep your room/ dorm room clean. We bought ours from IKEA but you can buy them from Poundland for a pound.
Another shocker that should probably be a part of the list of culture shock instances you will witness. People in the western world call a brush a broom and I am not sure if they know that the broom Indians are used to is way bigger. but yeah that's that and you can choose to use the vacuum cleaner the landlord provide or get a real broom for yourself which also is not the same as the Indian broom.
here is the link to a similar product.
8. SHOPPING TROLLEY: Shopping trolley, Is that what it's called? listen to I'm not sure what it's called but I will attach a photo of it and you can thank me later when this thing makes your life easy. I know the pain of having to carry a weekly grocery on your backpack and how much you start despising the way back home with all that heavy load on your back. Kaustubh can vouch for this too. We bought this from a small store around the area we live in. Such stores are always around a market place but I am not sure I can define the store. We got this for £11 but you can get it for cheaper for sure.
here is the link to a similar product
9. UMBRELLA: This is specifically for People who are moving to the UK. The weather here is not very reliable. And carrying an umbrella will always come in handy. You can get one in Poundland for 1 pound.
here is the link to a similar product.
10. LAUNDRY BAG AND A TUB: Students are known to live messy life and their room reflects that messy life. A laundry bag/ basket will not only help your room's floor be clean and your dirty lot of clothes segregated but it will also give you the satisfaction of being clean. Clean surrounding truly has the power to affect your mood more than you think it does. Now you might wonder what the hell is a tub, well I don't know what is the correct word for it so I'm going to call it a tub, It's basically a storage box, if you may collect all your dirty plates, utensils. It's better to leave your kitchen counter clean after you than have a bunch of angry housemates. Getting a storage tub like so will not only help you from doing dishes at the end of the day when all you want to do is eat and sleep but it will also help you be in the good books of your housemates. That sounds like a sweet deal to me.
here is the link to a similar product
With this, I will end this blog. I really hope this helps you and if it does do leave a comment below and I would like to know if you bought any of these things. I may have forgotten a thing or do but I do remember anything to be added to the list I might write a new updated blog for those products.
Have a great time learning new things and finding your own path in this new world.
GOOD LUCK!
Also here is the link to the youtube channel I run with my Husband and we will be posting a video about "Everything we bought since we moved to the UK" so if you're interested in watching that and other videos we post then you can check that out to
https://www.youtube.com/c/TwoandaHalfMaharashtrians/videos
(DISCLAIMER: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS WHICH WILL TAKE YOU TO ONLINE RETAILERS THAT SELL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES. IF YOU CLICK ON ONE AND BUY SOMETHING, I MAY EARN A COMMISSION AT NO EXTRA COST TO YOU IN ANY WAY)
Useful list! 👏👍
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