I will be moving into my halls of residence at the end of September and I've already made multiple trips to Ikea for the essentials. The 'big blue box' is absolutely brilliant for cheap bed linen, pillows, duvets and desk essentials.

All of the linen has funky and modern designs and there are some real bargains to be found! I picked up a single duvet and 2 pillowcases for £3 (I think it was Bladvass for anyone who's interested) with the double option with 4 pillowcases being £4. The quality wasn't as good as the more expensive sets, and having bought a set before I knew that the cotton was a bit itchy to start with. Once it's been wash a couple of times it's much better and you'd never be able to tell the difference. I also picked up a duvet for £15 (for a single) and a plain fitted sheet for £1.99!!

The home and office organisation is definitely the best section and some real bargains can also be found in there. A set of cardboard magazine boxes and larger boxes for A4 paper can be purchased for less than £5 and these come flatpacked as well. Desk lamps can be bought for £2, although you must be wary - not all of them come with included bulbs, but these can be bought for around £2 also.

I found that the kitchen utsensils and crockery were also very good value for money and you can buy cheap plates, glasses (shot glasses) individually, rather than having to buy an entire set. The quality of the glassware really is exceptional as we used them before and many of the glasses are suitable for hot and cold drinks and are pretty resilient.

All in all, Ikea really is the perfect one stop shop for all things university! You really go in there and buy an entire room's worth in one go and it won't cost the earth. They also do more expensive items, such as the kitchens which always look very sleek and nicely designed. They must have pretty amazing kitchens in Sweden from what I've seen!

AND you can also grab some meatballs halfway through your shopping trip. What could be better?!