Are you a single millennial who’s craving independence and more personal space? Perhaps you’re seriously considering leaving the nest to live on your own. If you’ve always had a domestic helper or your own parents to look after your well-being at home, keep you fed and wash your clothes, you’ll have to give all that up when you move out.
Living on your own means you’ll have to do your own chores and learn how to fend for yourself. Here are the top 8 adulting lessons you’ll need to master when you move out and rent your own place.
1. Planning your own meals
Once you live on your own, you’ll need to plan your own meals. No longer will home-cooked food appear on your dinner table. So, you’ll either have to takeaway, order a home delivery or learn to cook your own simple meals. This is the time to brush up on your cooking skills. Thankfully, you have plenty of resources – there are many YouTube videos teaching how to cook even the most basic of meals.
2. Stocking up on your own groceries and household supplies
When you live with your parents, the fridge is always stocked, there are plenty of snacks at home and you won’t have to worry about running out of toilet paper! Moving out on your own means you’ll have to make your own trip to the supermarket to stock up on groceries and other household supplies. So have a weekly shopping list ready. If you want to save time, you can always order online.
3. Making your own bed
Making your own bed and changing the bedsheets weekly or fortnightly are DIY chores which are your responsibility when living on your own. But if you rent a room in a co-living space, one aspect is covered – the housekeeper who comes in weekly will change the bedsheets for you!
4. Cleaning up in the kitchen
Those of you who are used to domestic helpers at home probably hardly ever enter the kitchen to do the washing and cleaning up. But when you cook your own meals, you’ll have to wash your own dishes, utensils, pots and pans, as well as clean up the kitchen. You’ll also have to throw the trash daily as well. Think about it this way: doing all these chores will prepare you for setting up your own marital home in the future.
5. Washing and ironing your own clothes
We all enjoy the luxury of opening the cupboard and finding neatly-pressed clothes to wear. After you move out, you’ll be in charge of washing your own clothes! You can’t afford to skip laundry day, otherwise the dirty clothes will pile up and you may find you won’t have fresh clothes to wear for work or for social outings. If you’ve relied on your domestic helper to iron your clothes, you’ll have to learn to do it yourself as well. In particular, it can be a little tricky ironing men’s shirts and pants … but hey, practice makes perfect.
6. Waking up on your own
We won’t be surprised if those of you who live with your parents still rely on them to wake you up for work or even to send you to the MRT station. When you’re living on your own, you have no one to rely on but yourself. So make the effort to hop out of bed when the alarm rings, instead of pressing the snooze button and waiting for someone else to wake you up.
7. Keeping your room neat and tidy
After a long day’s work, you’ll want to come home to your own personal sanctuary that’s neat and clean and where you can unwind and relax. Being a slob just won’t cut it and a messy room is a sight for sore eyes. If you live in a co-living unit, you can enjoy weekly housekeeping services, but for the rest of the 6 days of the week you’ll still need to make an effort to keep things neat and tidy in your room.
8. Budgeting
Renting a place means you’ll have to be a bit more financially savvy. As rental would probably take up the bulk of your monthly expenses, you’ll need to learn how to budget your salary properly. You’ll have to be more discerning on your spending decisions so work out what portion of salary should go to necessities and how much you wish to save. Ready to try living on your own? Explore co-living spaces now.
