Living alone can be amazing. You have your own space, you can watch what you want, cook what you want and generally just do what you want. But living alone can also have it downsides. So here are the 9 things you don’t learn until you live on your own.
Your apartment/house won’t look like the ones in the fancy home magazines
Well not unless you’ve won the lottery. Moving into your first place on your own normally means furnishing it with as many odd bits of furniture as you can afford, or get your hands on. But give it a few years, and then it may start to look like something from the home section Elle Decoration.
Living is expensive
Paying your bills, rent/mortgage, buying food it all adds up. And when you live on your own you have to pay for it all. But the upside is that you normally become quite good at making your money stretch a little further.
You’re responsible for EVERYTHING
And when you live on your own, you’re the one responsible for replacing/fixing/buying what you need. Whether that be a new boiler, dishwasher, bed. It’s tough and sometimes you don’t always have the cash available. When this happens, you don’t have many options but to ask your parents for help (again) or look at getting a short-term loan from Vivus. Which is actually a better option as they can be cheaper than your overdraft.
You’ll flip from being a clean freak and a slob
Some weekends you won’t get dressed, go food shopping or leave the sofa unless you need to open the door for the next take away. And some weekends you’ll spend the entire weekend cleaning until your place looks like a show home. It’s called living a balanced lifestyle.
Super fast internet and Sky TV is a luxury
Living at home definitely has it’s perks. The main ones being super fast internet and Sky TV which you don’t have to pay for. But when you’re living on your own, you soon realise these are now luxuries.
Post is boring
Post used to be able letters, cards and sometimes money from relatives. Now, letters are bills, bills and more bills.
Your basically an adult now
And that’s pretty scary, but also pretty fun and exciting.
What else didn’t you learn before living on your own?
I can so relate to this. I lived on my own in London for 5 years. Yep it has it’s ups and downs, but I was always fastidious about keeping a tidy house, to the point of obsession! No longer, fortunately. Tx
Hahaha what a great post! Its all so true and definitley a big life lesson, the most important I feel! I left home at 16, I didn’t have much choice so I had to become independant quite quickly. Its strange to me that a lot of people now only do this a lot later on in life (well than I did).
The first time I lived alone was abroad, thankfully, they made the system simple even for foreigner. The struggle was more on how to save on electricity/water-bill, but overall, I really love having my own space 🙂
I love this article: when I was little I always used to imagine what it was like to be an adult… now that I’m an adult, I’m always dreaming of my childhood!
Oh my, yes! I couldn’t wait to get out on my own! At first, it was liberating…. it wasn’t that I didn’t get along with my parents, but I just needed to be on my own! Like you mentioned, my apartments never looked like those stylish magazine apartments…. such a let down that it actually costs money to make it look like that! But, eventually, you will make it to the point where you can buy the decor that you love to make your place your own. And don’t sweat those slob days….. they come and go….. Life’s too short to sweat that stuff….. Great Post!