Moving from the house you’ve grown up into a dorm room is a huge transition. But moving from living on-campus to off-campus is an even bigger transition and comes with way more responsibility. You have even more freedom in the dorms because you no longer have the supervision you had in the dorms. Here are some ways living off-campus is different from living on-campus.

1. You’re forced to be responsible.

You now have rent and bills to pay, and you have to be on time about it, or you get charged even more.

2. You have to clean more.

You may think you’re bathroom is fine, but it’s not. Clean it. Please. What would your mother think?

3. If you live with girls, there will be hair everywhere.

This is true in the dorms too, but if you’re living in an apartment or house, there are more places for the hair to be and it is EVERYWHERE. In your sponge in the kitchen, on every floor and table. Sorry, I know this is gross, but this is why we clean.

4. You have to learn how to share a living space.

You should be a pro at this coming from the dorms right? But that was a very little area, and now you have way more room to share and it can be tougher to figure out boundaries.

5. You start to feel like a “real” adult.

Like I said before, you’re now responsible for your bills and keeping up with housework and chores. It’s your place, your rules.

6. You’ll (most likely) have to start making your own food.

Every. Single. Meal. You could just order out for every meal, but that’ll catch up to you quickly, and eventually, you’ll run out of money. You’ll probably eat a lot of chicken and pasta, because they’re easy to make.

7. You become more conscious of things.

You start noticing how much hot water you use and how long you leave the lights on, and panic when you can’t remember if you locked your door or not.

8. Waste not, want not on a whole new level.

Making your own food also means buying your own food, which means you don’t want to waste any of it. It also leads to some interesting food combinations when you desperately need to buy groceries but haven’t done it.

9. You’re more conscious of money.

Now that you owe a certain amount of money at a certain date each month, you’re much more conscious of your money and you’re spending habits. You also realize just how much things like your favorite foods cost at the grocery store, and how often you can afford to eat out.

10. You learn about THAT neighbor.

Or maybe you are that neighbor, the super loud ones that constantly get in trouble for being too loud. Don’t be that neighbor.

Moving off-campus is a huge deal. You have more freedom than you ever have, so enjoy it!