Managing living/accomodations costs in london uni?

I was wondering how most students would go about managing their expenses during their first year at university. I have two main issues: Accommodation and food.

First, are most students comfortable with sharing a kitchen, a shower or even toilets with other students? What happens when kitchens get messy and are filled with other students food? What if they get full and you have to resort to eating somewhere else? What happens if you don't get along with individual at university or find it difficult to socialize with certain individuals?

I personally would like to live alone, have my own kitchen, bathroom and living room because of these issues. I've checked the prices for flats in the area and they can be pretty expensive most ranging from £12,000-£15,000 in a 9-10 month period in London. Are there any disadvantages to living on your own during your first year in uni?

Finally, In terms of living costs eating out on a daily basis can be expensive for students and the cost of pre-prepared meals is high too. What can you resort to if you can't cook but want to reduce costs? I personally can't cook and would have to resort to eating out or buying pre-prepared meals, in addition to this I'm vegan and like eating organic so the costs would be even higher.

Thanks in advance for any response and I do appreciate any thoughts or advise anyone may have.

I was wondering how most students would go about managing their expenses during their first year at university. I have two main issues: Accommodation and food.

First, are most students comfortable with sharing a kitchen, a shower or even toilets with other students? What happens when kitchens get messy and are filled with other students food? What if they get full and you have to resort to eating somewhere else? What happens if you don't get along with individual at university or find it difficult to socialize with certain individuals? The majority of students in accommodations share kitchen and living spaces, though there tends to be a lot of en-suite accommodations going round so a fair amount have their own bathrooms. If it's messy you either live with it, ask them to clean it and hope they clean it or clean it yourself.

Some halls have cleaning rules and may fine students for leaving it a top, others don't. Some students are messy, but honestly the chances of you living in complete squalor if you share is low.

If you don't get a long with a certain individual you can either try to resolve it, ignore it or if worst comes to worst you can sometimes ask your accommodation to let you switch flats.

I personally would like to live alone, have my own kitchen, bathroom and living room because of these issues. I've checked the prices for flats in the area and they can be pretty expensive most ranging from £12,000-£15,000 in a 9-10 month period in London. Are there any disadvantages to living on your own during your first year in uni? That's up to you, and it's your money to waste if you can afford to. Disadvantages to living on your own (apart from obvious cost) can be isolation and loneliness, this can be overcome by being more proactive in your social life and putting more effort in. Though you will be making it harder for yourself to make friends and spend time with people.

Finally, In terms of living costs eating out on a daily basis can be expensive for students and the cost of pre-prepared meals is high too. What can you resort to if you can't cook but want to reduce costs? I personally can't cook and would have to resort to eating out or buying pre-prepared meals, in addition to this I'm vegan and like eating organic so the costs would be even higher.

Basically for this one you're just being lazy and awkward. The bit I bolded in red is complete nonsense, you don't have to resort to eating out and pre-prepared meals you're choosing to because you can't be bothered to cook (unless of course you have a disability that prevents you from cooking which you haven't mentioned).
Cooking is not difficult and it is cheap, and before you or anyone else starts it also doesn't have to be very time consuming. There are tonnes of very quick and healthy meals you can make such as stir fry which takes literally no skill. If you're telling me you simply cannot cook a stir fry I wonder how you managed to get into university.

Learn to cook or stop moaning about the cost of food because you certainly don't have my sympathy. Vegan diets can be slightly more expensive, but again if you're not lazy and actually bother cooking and shop around for better food prices it's not even close to expensive.

Thanks in advance for any response and I do appreciate any thoughts or advise anyone may have.

I was wondering how most students would go about managing their expenses during their first year at university. I have two main issues: Accommodation and food.

First, are most students comfortable with sharing a kitchen, a shower or even toilets with other students? What happens when kitchens get messy and are filled with other students food? What if they get full and you have to resort to eating somewhere else? What happens if you don't get along with individual at university or find it difficult to socialize with certain individuals?

I personally would like to live alone, have my own kitchen, bathroom and living room because of these issues. I've checked the prices for flats in the area and they can be pretty expensive most ranging from £12,000-£15,000 in a 9-10 month period in London. Are there any disadvantages to living on your own during your first year in uni?

Finally, In terms of living costs eating out on a daily basis can be expensive for students and the cost of pre-prepared meals is high too. What can you resort to if you can't cook but want to reduce costs? I personally can't cook and would have to resort to eating out or buying pre-prepared meals, in addition to this I'm vegan and like eating organic so the costs would be even higher.

Thanks in advance for any response and I do appreciate any thoughts or advise anyone may have.

For your first issue, if you are allocated a place on university accommodation then you just have to hope that you end up with sensible people! I lived with mostly sensible people (and one or two not-so-sensible ones) so it was fine for us to organise house cleans once in a while and try to keep things tidy.

If you end up with people that are just a complete mess, perhaps the threat of a fine from the person who comes in to check accommodation every so often may change them. Then again, it may not. If it really is too much, I'm sure that you could ask to move.

As for living on your own, it's your call. Living in halls can be a great experience or an absolutely terrible one depending on who else you live with. I for one have made the closest friends I have at uni whilst living with them whereas people on my course / anywhere else, I don't really speak to all that often unless I bump into them.

I couldn't cook at all before uni but I've learned how to make basic things like stir fry, tuna, pasta and sweetcorn, oven bake stuff etc. As you're a vegan it might be tougher, but I would suggest getting some practice at home before you go to uni, as you don't want to be eating out or buying prepaid stuff.

Answers in bold.

Thank you for the advice but the criticism of me not wanting to cook was a bit harsh. I'm sure that a lot of students wouldn't be used to cooking and some would have to eat out or pre-prepared food. Isn't there an affordable alternative to cooking?

I guess living in halls can be a bit risky, hopefully most people are sensible as you say. In terms of your other point about cooking, surely not every students is expected to learn to cook right? I've never really cooked anything ever, it's just not something I'm used to doing. Couldn't eating out or buying something pre-prepared be affordable?

Some places at my uni are part catered (you get £25ish on a card every week to spend at the eateries on campus and you pay it in your rent). They are probably good for, I don't know, a lunch or dinner but not both every day depending on what you buy. It's much cheaper to do everything yourself.

I'm not too familiar with how much pre prepared food is, but I'm sure that those 1 quid+ sandwiches that they sell in stores are more expensive than getting everything yourself and making it yourself.

And eating out can get quite expensive depending on where you go, or if it is cheap it might be unhealthy.

I'd never cooked anything for myself either until I got to uni, in hindsight maybe some practice before getting there would've been better but I get by. It's not that hard, though the idea of starting from scratch can be. It is tough as you are a vegan, but whatever your parents cook for you or whatever you get, maybe it's time to start making those things for yourself as practice?

The only cooking I could do is basically heat things up hence why I mention pre-prepared food. Basically, heating food in the oven or a microwave, would this be enough to save money? I really don't have much experience cooking and you can't expect most students to learn, plus if I was in a shared kitchen It may get messy and I could accidentally burn something. That is why I'm looking for a cheap reliable alternative, any ideas?

The only cooking I could do is basically heat things up hence why I mention pre-prepared food. Basically, heating food in the oven or a microwave, would this be enough to save money? I really don't have much experience cooking and you can't expect most students to learn, plus if I was in a shared kitchen It may get messy and I could accidentally burn something. That is why I'm looking for a cheap reliable alternative, any ideas?

There's plenty of time to learn between now and university.

People cooked in my shared accommodation all the time. Very rarely were things burnt, and if they were, they'd just have to clean up any mess left behind.

I don't know what to suggest as I don't know exactly what vegans can and can't eat. Again, just think about what your parents cook for you (if they do) and try to learn those things to start with.

Are you actually being serious? At least at this point admit you're just lazy. No you're going to be wasting more money than you have to and it is completely down to your lack of trying.

I haven't really had to cook anything most of my life, it's just weird being expected to cook from scratch in uni? Believe me I've tried cooking before and did not end up having any good experience at all. Isn't it a thing in uni to eat out with friends daily? Aren't people used to eating out regularly and getting pre-prepared meals? I'm sure I'm not in the minority.

I've heard of bulk buying, does this help reduce costs in uni? It would be difficult to bulk buy a lot of pre-prepared food since they don't last very long but it could be an effective way of saving money right?

I haven't really had to cook anything most of my life, it's just weird being expected to cook from scratch in uni? Believe me I've tried cooking before and did not end up having any good experience at all. Isn't it a thing in uni to eat out with friends daily? Aren't people used to eating out regularly and getting pre-prepared meals?I'm sure I'm not in the minority.