8 Amazon Must Haves For University Students
It’s without question that when you move to university you would forget to buy or pack at least one thing, or you will need to buy things you never thought you would need, which is why it’s lucky that Amazon Prime for students is super affordable, and have next day delivery on so many items. With that in mind, here are 8 items from Amazon that university students often forget to pack or buy that I think are super helpful for living the student life:
1) A Weighted Blanket
I know what you’re thinking, these can be quite pricey which can put a big dent in a student budget, but I have found an affordable yet effective weighted blanket, I actually have two of these- one at my parent’s place and one at my university house, and I’m not quite sure how I got through my first year without one!
Maybe not an essential in the sense of it’s not a necessity to survive, however, my sleep has massively improved since having a weighted blanket. As a university student, timetables can be full-on, as well as having a part-time job which many students do, so a good night’s sleep is vital to effectively manage a full-on few years at university, and weighted blankets can really help with that.
An article by Penn Medicine describes how and why weighted blankets work:
“When you’re stressed, your heart beats too quickly. When this happens, lowering your heart rate can lead to overall feelings of calmness. Pressure calms you by activating your parasympathetic nervous system, which lowers your heart rate when you’re stressed. A lower heart rate leads to the overall feeling of calmness that the blanket provides.
A weighted blanket uses “pressure therapy” — using a calm-inducing amount of pressure on your entire body, similar to the feeling of being hugged, swaddled, stroked, or held. The right size and weight of a weighted blanket depend on the person’s needs.”
Find an affordable weighted blanket, with multiple colours, sizes and weights here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brentfords-Weighted-Teenagers-Insomnia-Double-Blush/dp/B084XVJH6L/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3BK8SRWJMXUT7&keywords=weighted%2Bblanket&qid=1638373314&sprefix=weighted%2B%2Caps%2C194&sr=8-5&th=1
2) An Ice Tray
Maybe you’re a fan of an iced coffee in the morning, or when you’re having pre-drinks you forgot to refrigerate your lemonade so need some ice to cool the drink, but having ice on hand is more useful than you might think…
This might sound super minor, but big bags of ice take up a lot of room in a freezer and, as a university student, storage space comes in very short supply. As well as the money you would save on an ice tray compared to buying a bag of ice, having a reusable ice tray is a much more practical solution.
Moreover, this silicone ice tray is exceptionally handy to use, because the cubes are easier to pop out of their mould and straight into your glass:
3) Fairy Lights
Adding some lights into your room will make your student hall feel much more homely if that’s where you are living at the moment. You’ll only be living there for a year and there are lots of restrictions about modifications to the room (in your second/third-year house too as they are rental properties), but fairy lights are easy to put up and give the room a much cosier feel.
Plus, in the event of a power cut, which does tend to happen in halls, you’ll be able to have some light in your room, so you do not have to sit in the dark which can be super miserable!
When I was living in my halls of residence last year, I had a big pinboard on my room, and I hung lights from there which had photos attached to them. I used push pins to hold them in place, and it made no end of difference to the overall feeling of the room, putting them on in the evening whilst I watched a film or read a book really helped to make that flat feel like home.
Therefore, when I moved into my second-year house where I am now, I knew I liked having lights in my room, so I have three sets of fairy lights now in different areas of my room, and it really helped to make my room feel less bare and more like a place I want to spend time in, not try to get away from.
I personally love having a set of lights that you can hang photos from, like this one:
Adding a personal touch to my room with reminders from home and of new memories I made at university really helped me to feel settled. It felt less like I was hundreds of miles away from my home life, and it filled the bare walls so nicely, but not in a way that felt tacky or chaotic, or like I was filling the space simply for the sake of it.
4) Command Strips/Hooks
It’s all well and good having fairy lights, but how would you hang them up without damaging the walls of your rented room and risk losing that all-important deposit?
Command Hooks will be your lifesaver in this situation, and are only £4.19 for 20 hooks, they’re small and subtle, you can barely see them. They are easy to apply and remove and do not cause any damage to the walls, they’re a university students’ best friends!
Similarly, if you are wanting to hang prints on your wall, posters, photos and all such like as that, Command Strips by the same brand are another great alternative to blu-tack, which can damage the walls.
5) Corkboard/Whiteboard
If you move out of your halls of residence and are missing that pinboard vibe you had going in your first year, why not buy your own? I bought a corkboard/whiteboard combo and it is a great addition to my bedroom this year.
This product comes with some push pins and a string for hanging it up on the wall. I placed a Command Hook on my wall and hung the board from that; it sits neatly just above my desk and I love having something on that wall.
The corkboard side of the board contains some photos of family and friends, some affirmations for me and a couple of motivational quotes that do help when I am trying to write my assignments or do my lesson plans. The whiteboard, however, is the home of my to-do list and is a great way for me to see my day in front of me, so I have very clear expectations for myself of what I need to do before I go to bed.
This little board has found its home in my room, it’s practical, it’s affordable and it looks great in a bedroom.
To buy yours check out this link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005M8GLQM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1
6) Communal Whiteboard
Similarly, if you find yourself in a situation like mine, in a house share with friends, having a whiteboard somewhere in the house is more helpful than you might think.
For us, we have a whole array of things on our whiteboard such as:
· Reminders of things to do
· IOU’s
· Cleaning Rota
Having a whiteboard with reminders and notes helps us to keep track of what needs doing, who needs to do what, and holds people accountable to do the things they need to do. We keep ours in the kitchen, so we see it all the time, everyday something will either be added or taken off that board, it’s a way of managing things that work for us as a group.
We originally bought the whiteboard as a bit of a joke to run a mini-competition on in our first month of living together, but after a while, it became into something that now we use on a daily basis. If you struggle to manage and divide chores between your housemates then keeping a whiteboard in your living room or kitchen could be the answer that you need.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000G3JV7O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
7) Sweet Freedom Syrups
Flavoured coffee is a hit at the moment, but it can be expensive to head to a coffee shop every day on your way to campus. Making your coffee at home is a much more affordable alternative.
With that in mind, Sweet Freedom sells a variety of different flavoured syrups to make your coffee just the way you like it. They have 14 different flavoured syrups in their range, they are vegan friendly and all-natural- there really is something for everyone; not to mention the affordability of the product, at £3.50 a bottle, the price of one coffee in a coffee shop.
This product is one of my favourites on this list, I have saved so much money from using these in the morning as opposed to buying a coffee before my seminar.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/SweetFreedom/page/1EF5EAFF-47F8-4C15-8B21-AF202C7792F7?ref_=ast_bln
8) Mug Warmer
Sticking with the coffee theme, we’ve all learnt to work remotely for the last eighteen months, and for my degree, a large portion is still taught online, and my job is also a remote job, so I spend large periods of time sitting at my desk. There have been so many times whereby I’ve made myself a coffee (using those syrups!), gone upstairs to do a lecture and completely forgotten about the coffee and remembering only when it had got cold. This is why I now have a mug warmer on my desk, it keeps the coffee at a warm but still drinkable temperature, and it doesn’t get cold.
It’s definitely a “want” product rather than a necessity, but it does help when I am sitting at my desk for a long period of time and don’t want to go and reheat my drink when I’m in a meeting or in the middle of a lecture.
This product definitely helps on those days of long calls from your room, sometimes I spend three hours at a time in meetings and often just forget to drink my drink because I get distracted or am taking notes, so this mug warmer keeping it warm means I can still enjoy it even if I do forget to drink it, it is a useful little tool to have. Find it here: