You’ve probably dreamt of the day you pack up your stuff and leave your parents home for the first time, and like any new challenge in life, it could be fairly daunting.
All of a sudden you’re going to be faced with a lot more responsibility than you may have had before; no longer will food miraculously make its self and appear on the dining table ready to eat, bills won’t just automatically pay themselves and your clothes aren’t going to wash themselves.
It’s a good idea to be prepared, but knowing where to start is another matter.
Location
Most importantly you need to make sure to find the right place for you, whether it is a house share in a busy city or a flat on the seafront. As well as the location though, you will also need to make sure that you will be able to pay your rent, so having a job lined up (if you haven’t already got one) is essential.
Cooking skills
It’s time to hone those cooking skills or in fact learn them if not already familiar with home cooking. Yes you could just eat takeaway and make ready meals, but this is neither good for you nor your wallet.
Make a plan for your bills
With the rent, water, gas, electric, council tax and any other bills you may have coming in for things like TV and internet packages, it can feel like there’s always a bill to pay and you’ll start noticing that your monthly wage is disappearing quicker than you expected. Preparing yourself and knowing what to expect will make this a bit easier and arranging an automatic direct debit for your bills to come out of your account close to the start of the month so you know what you’re left with is all yours will help you manage your finances better.
Budget
Budgeting is imperative if you don’t want to be running back to your parents because you’ve run out of money and can’t afford to keep yourself fed. Invest in a dairy or whiteboard for yourself so you can write down and see how much money you need to live each month/week.
Practice
You know the saying ‘practice makes perfect’, so why not have a trial run at taking control of the running of your family home for a few months before hand. This is a great opportunity to learn some essential life skills such as how to use the washing machine or dishwasher.
Have a sort out
As you get all of your things together for the move, you might be startled by the amount of stuff you actually have and it’s more than likely that your new abode won’t offer as much storage space as your existing one.
Of course you’re not just going throw away all of these things that mean something to you, but what can you do with them? Well you can utilise a self storage facility for this task, keeping your belongings safe and secure until you need to retrieve them.
It may seem intimidating but you can’t stay in your parent’s house you whole life, and the independence you will gain should be all the incentive that you need.