As we enter into another semester, many students will be moving into their first house or apartment. You’re excited for an abundance of freedom. It’s your first time away from parents and RA’s. There is no one around to give you a curfew, take away the stray animals you bring in, or tell you when to clean up. You’re a big kid now and you have big dreams for what it will be like. Well, here are some things you should know before moving in to bring you down a little.
How on earth you’re going to pay for it.
Student loans, rich grandparents, selling your organs… whatever it takes, you have to have a game plan. Make sure you keep up with when you're paying each month and how many months you will be paying. Start looking for someone to take over your summer rent if you won't be there, cause that's a lot of cash you don’t want to shell out if you're not staying there.
What you’re paying for.
If your rent is on the cheaper side, you’re probably looking at a lot more than you think. This means your water, electricity, and internet are separate fees you will have to pay. If it’s on the higher side, bad news is you’re paying a huge chunk of change all at once. Good news is you don’t have to worry about water bills and setting up your internet and cable.
Your apartment won’t look like Pottery Barn.
It’s a process. You cannot buy everything at once unless you’re just loaded. For most of us in college that’s not the case. So cozy up to Pinterest and acclimate yourself with crafting tools because DIY is your new best friend.
You’re going back to chore charts.
If you’re living alone, you will now find out what it’s like to be a parent. You will be cooking, cleaning, and keeping up with maintenance. If you have roommates, be prepared to argue over who took out the trash last, whose turn it is to do the dishes, and who's cooking dinner tomorrow night. Someone has to do the grocery shopping and clean the shared living spaces and you no longer have a mom there to do it.
Goodwill hunting is a good thing.
No, not the movie, the activity. Anything you could possibly need, I'm sure goodwill has it. Maybe you shattered a few dishes throughout the moving process or figured out you need a blender for Thursday night. Swing by the nearest goodwill and you can get six blenders for $10.
It’s going to be rough…
There will be times you want to kill your neighbors for playing music until 6 a.m. Times your roommate’s dog pees on your carpet or wakes you up in the middle of the night. You will forget your keys and get locked out. Paying rent will give you grey hairs. You’ll get tired of buying your own toilet paper and having to take out your own trash. Cooking every night will be a struggle and balancing school in with all of that will be tough. But this is the start of your new life as an adult. You only get to do all this once, so enjoy it.
