When you’re living at home, you basically have all you could want at your fingertips. You don’t think twice about turning the TV on and grabbing a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia out of your freezer. You’ve got it all. It’s not until some of those things are gone that you begin to realize how much you took them for granted.

Here are six things I learned to appreciate after being away from the “luxuries” of home.

1. Free laundry.

I knew going into college that doing laundry was going to cost money, but I really hated the thought that I had to spend money on such a necessity. You need your clothes to be clean. Before, I never had to worry about setting $10 aside for laundry. I had to cut down on my iced coffee intake and put that money aside to fill a laundry card.

2. Home-cooked meals.

The first few weeks of school, I was stoked to be eating pizza and burritos for every meal, but then I slowly started to hate it. All I wanted was my mom’s spaghetti and garlic bread. The best thing that happened to me was my mom sending me back to school with my favorite meals frozen to re-heat them when I needed my mama’s cookin’.

3. Cable TV.

OK, I definitely took this precious gem for granted while I was at home. I was bummed when I couldn’t turn on this week’s episode of "Survivor" or "New Girl." I learned quickly, though, that having a family Netflix account was perfect for TV binging.

4. High school AP classes.

I know it sounds weird, and I never thought I would admit to this, but looking back, the AP classes I took really prepared me for college. I had a ridiculous amount of work to do when I took those classes, but I realized that the endless hours I spent reading and outlining totally paid off. I was really prepared for all the work I was faced with when I took my first college courses. Then I had so much work in college that I actually began to miss my AP classes (Who said that? Was that me?).

5. My car.

When you have a car you can go anywhere you want: the beach, to meet up with friends, get some coffee, you name it. I had some serious withdrawals when I went to school without my car. I felt totally trapped. Coming home, I missed my car so much, I was more than happy to run whatever errands my mom needed.

6. Family.

There’s no easy way to say it -- there is nothing I took for granted more than my family. I didn’t realize the impact they had on my daily life until they weren’t there any more. I missed the jam sessions my sister and I had and the mornings where my brother and I would spend hours building with Legos. There were no more late night coffee runs with my mom or sushi dates with my dad. All of that was gone, and it affected me more than I thought. I called my mom all the time and treasured the days when they came to visit me.

All this to say: make sure that as you prepare yourself to move away from home, you appreciate all the little things in life -- the ability to do laundry for free, the movie marathons, and even the countless hours of homework.