Halls move-in day is organised chaos. Thousands of students, hundreds of cars, a handful of lifts and one weekend to get everyone in. It works, mostly, because universities plan it carefully and because the students who have a good day are the ones who arrive light. Here is how to be one of them.
What your university sends before the day
In the weeks before term, your accommodation team will email the details that shape the whole day: your timed arrival slot, where to collect keys, any parking permit or unloading instructions, and the inventory for your room. Read all of it, especially the inventory. Most halls rooms come with a bed, desk, chair and wardrobe, and most do not include bedding, a mattress protector or coat hangers. Shared kitchens usually list exactly what is provided, which tells you how much kitchen kit to bring, and the answer is usually far less than you think.
Timed arrival slots exist because halls simply cannot absorb everyone at once. Turning up outside your slot usually means queuing, so plan the journey backwards from the slot time and build in a margin for traffic, because everyone else on the road that morning is going to the same place.
Booking your delivery around your arrival slot
The mistake to avoid is having your belongings arrive before you do. With Kerbside, someone needs to be at the door to receive the delivery, so the bulk of your things should land after you hold your keys, not on arrival day itself.
If you are moving into London for university, we collect from your home postcode area on its weekly run day and deliver in London on a Wednesday. If you are leaving London for a university elsewhere in England or Wales, collection is on a Wednesday and delivery follows on your destination area's own weekly run day. Either way, the clean pattern is the same: travel light on move-in day, settle in, and take delivery of everything else on the first run day after you arrive.
Trolleys, lifts and the ground floor scrum
Most halls put out trolleys on move-in weekend, and there are never enough. If you can, bring a folding trolley or a stack of big reusable bags, which squash into a crowded lift far better than rigid boxes. Expect lift queues in any tall building and be ready to take the stairs with the lighter loads.
Label every box and bag with your surname and room number before you leave home. In a lobby full of near identical boxes, an unlabelled one is a lost one. Helpers usually have to move the car soon after unloading, so get everything into the lobby first, then shuttle it upstairs in relays.
The bag you carry yourself
Whatever else happens, carry one bag that gets you through the first 24 hours:
- ID, accommodation contract and key collection instructions
- Phone, laptop and chargers
- Any medication
- A change of clothes
- Bedding for night one: sheet, duvet cover, pillowcase
- Towel and toiletries
- A mug, a water bottle and some snacks
If this bag arrives and nothing else does, you are still fine until the rest catches up midweek.
What to unpack first
Make the bed first. You will not feel like doing it at midnight, and a made bed turns a bare room into your room faster than anything else. Toiletries to the bathroom next, then stop. Unpack one box, prop yourself in the doorway, and go and meet the people in your kitchen. Unpacking everything on night one is procrastination with cardboard, and the first evening matters more than tidy shelves.
Take your kitchen box to the shared kitchen only after you have seen it. Cupboard space is always tighter than expected. Flatten your empty boxes and keep two or three flat under the bed; you will want them again in December.
What to leave at home
Almost every halls licence agreement bans candles and anything with a naked flame. Many also ban kettles, toasters and heaters in bedrooms, because fire safety rules are strict in buildings where hundreds of people sleep; the shared kitchen has a kettle. Check your licence before packing, not after.
Beyond the banned list, think hard before bringing a printer (the library has plenty), a full dinner service (one of everything is enough) or furniture of any kind, since the room is already furnished. Every halls corridor in the country has a story about the armchair that went straight back home.
If plans change late
Students who come through clearing, or who get reallocated to a different building, often only learn their final address days before term. The weekly run model helps here: tell us the correct delivery address as soon as you have it, and because London deliveries run every Wednesday and every served postcode area has its own weekly day, the next opportunity is days away rather than weeks. Travel with the essentials bag, let the rest catch up with you, and spend move-in day meeting people instead of guarding a mountain of boxes.