Luckily, I haven't graduated college yet. But with my 4th year creeping ever closer, I'm starting to worry a bit more than I did before about how exactly I'll function as an independent person in the real world after I'm done with college. After three years at UVA, it's hard to remember a time when I wasn't there every day during the school year. Obviously I've learned a lot in my time in college, but like anyone with their last year of undergrad approaching, I'm starting to think as much about what life skills I'll need to learn outside the classroom as what remaining education I'll have in the classroom.
1. Paying your taxes (without your parents' help)
Taxes are one of those things that everybody, any age, hates doing, but for younger adults who are less experienced with it, doing taxes might seem just about as intimidating as climbing a mountain. Luckily, in this day and age, I'm sure there are YouTube videos and the like out there to break down the confusing tax forms that will roll in after your first year working full-time, and I plan to use them.
2. Shopping for actual furniture and home furnishings
I confess that in college, I've gotten most of the furniture for my house/apartments every year from family or on the "Free and For Sale" Facebook page. Unfortunately, couches don't actually cost $30 in the real world. That's why it's good to know how to research these bigger purchases thoroughly before you walk into a store and start napping on the couches without actually deciding which one you want.
3. Sending handwritten thank-you cards when needed
Even in the world of texting and emails, nothing can replace a handwritten thank you note after a job interview or a heartfelt gift from a relative. I confess that writing thank you notes always seems like an extremely arduous task, but once you get started it's really not so bad, and it'll endear you to whoever the thank you note is for. Plus, everyone likes receiving friendly mail.
4. Meal prepping for the entire week
I've had a meal plan every year I've been in college, so I've never really had to deal with extensive weekly meal prep. However, adult life does not come with a meal plan. Once I start working and inevitably won't feel like cooking every single night, I'm going to try to make it a priority to spend time on the weekends planning out what I want to eat for the week. Making big batches of things like pasta, fried rice, chili, etc. on the weekends will hopefully make my future weeknights more relaxed, even if I end up eating the same thing four nights in a row.
5. Creating a personal budget for the year
I tried doing this a couple of years ago for my second year in college, but since I'm not earning a yearly salary at the moment, it didn't really mean much. Still, it's good practice to start setting smaller budgets for things and sticking to it, in order to become more disciplined with your money. This may make the idea of budgeting your adult life much less intimidating, and it'll make you happy to realize that with your more careful everyday spending, you can actually afford bigger purchases like concert or show tickets.
6. Figuring out how to get somewhere without Google Maps
I got the idea for this tip here, which coincidentally has several of the same life skills that I thought of for my article. I'll be the first to admit that I don't have a good sense of direction and rely heavily on Google maps to help me navigate unfamiliar places. However, it seems like the mark of an adult to be able to get yourself somewhere independently, without your phone's help. It is true that good old-fashioned maps, and your brain, will never run out of batteries.
7. Shopping for clothes with a bit more purpose
What do I mean by this? Well, I feel like whenever I shop for clothes, it's usually for "what do I want in my closet today." But as you get older and having "work clothes" becomes more important, I feel like it's time to start thinking more about what clothes you'll want in your closet for years to come when you shop. Clothes also become more expensive as you age out of younger stores, which means that each purchase you make has a little more weight to it.
8. Negotiating your salary when you get a job offer
This is a skill that I had never really thought about until we did negotiation exercises in one of my classes. What I've learned is that even when you're first starting a job, it's okay to strategically negotiate for what you think you deserve. That way, you don't come across as over-eager or a pushover, and you'll be more confident when it comes time to negotiate in weightier situations later in your career.
9. Reading books whenever you're on public transportation
Generally, I find it difficult to read in cars or buses, but since I'm commuting about an hour every day on the train this summer, I've really enjoyed using that time to read for fun as much as possible. This may not be as practical a life skill as, say, doing your taxes, but as an adult in the real world you'll probably have even less time to read for fun than you did in college, so you'll get more out of your time on public transport if you can squeeze in a few pages of a book here and there.
10. Changing a tire
Though thankfully (knock on wood) I've never been directly in this situation, I was once with my friend when she got a flat tire. Thank god we were in a parking lot and some friendly people helped her fix it because I was absolutely no help. To quote John Mulaney, "Nothing that I know can help you with your car, ever." This is one of those skills I feel that you can only really learn by watching someone else do it at the moment, though I'm not sure how much I retained from watching those other people change my friend's tire. One of these days I'll actually learn about cars and prove helpful in a roadside rescue situation, but for now, I'll continue avoiding a parallel park unless it's absolutely, 100% necessary.
After reading through this list, I fully realize that some of these situations might not come up until after you graduate college. You probably won't be paying actual taxes or shopping for "grown-up" furniture until after you graduate college. But, if I've learned anything since graduating high school, it's that college is one giant trial run for the real world, where you officially learn how much you don't know in the world. By trying to improve on a few of the things on this list, you'll go into post-grad life a little more confident and a little less apprehensive about starting your journey towards true independence.
