The Single Life.

[JakalMc]

I'm 17. Fresh out of high school. And next year I will (hopefully) be moving out from my small country home and into the city in order to attend a Visual Arts course at University.

As such, I'd like to get an idea of what it feels like to live alone (or at least, away from home)

What are the perks? The pitfalls? Is it true freedom?

So, to any bachelors (or bachelorettes) out there, give me your opinions and share with me your stories.

 

[Jamanticus]

Perks: complete control over everything you do- where you eat, when you go to sleep, etc.

Pitfalls: you have to do everything for yourself- laundry, food, waking up.

 

[Labyrinth]

I'll quote Devil's Panties.

Being an adult means getting up in the morning, doing your chores without being asked and icecream for dinner.

 

[theklng]

what jaman said; and additional expenses for rent, food, etc.

there's nothing more to it really.

 

[goin-mad]

not so bad as long as your not lazy. Also; if you have a roommate don't rely on him/her taking care of the place all by themselves, that's a perfect way to get them to murder you in your sleep.

My personal mantra, money is tight, beer is for the employed.

 

[Fox1789]

its a lot of responsibility.. and its kinda stressful if you dont keep up with cleaning and the bills

 

[Steve Dark]

Just a warning, your personal health will take a pretty massive hit the day you realise you can have Bacon WHENEVER YOU WANT.

 

[Rezfon]

Rent costs are the biggest pitfall. For me, the biggest pitfall is not being able to wake up, I once slept through a faulty burgler alarm that was situated 30cm from my open bedroom door...sucks to be me

 

[Molikroth]

Jakal - at least in my experience, it's excellent. I moved out last January, spent a while in a hostel and moved into a flat and have lived alone for eight months now.

Pros
Not having to answer to anyone when you want to do something.
Not having to delete your browsing history.
Not having to tidy up after others - or at all, should you prefer that.
Having whatever you want to eat when you want it.
Going to bed whenever you feel like it and getting up when you feel like it.
Being able to walk around naked.
Having control over who enters your home, and what goes on in it.
Cons
Being responsible for your own utility bills.
Constant letters and forms to fill in.
Depending on how you got your place, social workers inflicting themselves on you all the time.
Parents appearing unannounced in the middle of the day and turning on your monitor while you're still trying to wake up and they see your collection of gay porn. Or in a more general sense unannounced visitors. >.>

EDIT: It's a hell of a lot easier than it sounds. Utility bills aren't all that bad, and if you're worried about getting hit with large ones every quarter, arrange a pre-payment meter that works like a "pay as you go" cell phone arrangement with "top ups".

 

[ZantetsukenQ]

I loved every second of my independance as soon as I had moved from the family home to my university accomodation. I'm back at home now due to not having a job, so the realisation of how great is was is even more apparent.

You learn a lot about taking care of yourself and it allows you to see who you truely are. Or atleast i think so.

Perks: Doing whatever the fuck you want, whenever, with only yourself to blame for repercussions. Gives you a sense of your own being and responsibility.

Pitfalls: Sometimes you see the ugly side of people you move in with, something you may not have otherwise seen from casually hanging out etc. Stealing of food, or rather casual borrowing. Reliance upon people to be responsible and pay the bills on time, as not to fuck you over. Paying bills, and having to deal with huge electricity and gas prices (in the UK atleast).

My advice. Don't take the freedom for granted. Enjoy yourself. Be responsible.

I miss having my own place

 

[Cousin_IT]

Its alright. Gotta make sure bills are paid, n its good to find a cheap supermarket/store asap to get stuff from. Cherish living alone though, if you get a gf/bf & they move in you'll suddenly realise what uve lost

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

Jakal - at least in my experience, it's excellent.
Pros
Going to bed whenever you feel like it and getting up when you feel like it.
Being able to walk around naked.

Except the first is of course limited by your endurance and the amount of time a person can stay awake before becoming irrevokably insane and as for the second you've obviously never seen Alan Carr do stand up.

A friend told me that having your own place is great; you can walk around naked whenever you like *pause* you fucking can't! I live opposite a playground! They put me on a list!

To chuck a con in here I can say that depending on your personality it can get a bit lonely; even if your seeing people during the day (uni/college/work whatever) being alone waking up or in the evenings can be a little wierd after being around a family (invest in a radio or tv for background noise-preferably a radio due to lower electricity demands).

 

[gamebrain89]

I'm learning about alot of that stuff the hard way, and I'm not out of the house yet. Making sure you don't blow your car payment money on that new release, keeping your cell phone bill paid, and alot of other stuff. Happily, I haven't been late on a payment yet, and my phone keeps working so I assume thats going right. One thing you absolutely must have is a budget. Set aside everything you need, food, car or transportation expenses, rent, utilites, everything, then and only then, buy random crap. But I think I am fairly well prepared for living on my own. Though I did specifically become a net student to avoid living in the dorms at college. Brrrr. Some of those people are freaking nuts. Anyway, just use your commonsense and you will be fine. But everything they have said is true(lived basically on my own for a month a while ago).

 

[Molikroth]

Scorched - insanity rules. You ought to give it a try sometime.

As for the waking up alone thing - it's awesome. When I lived with my dad and sister, and later in the hostel, my sleeps were fitful, short and ended abruptly. Living alone I sleep peacefully and wake up far more naturally, feeling refreshed and not murderous.

 

[rossatdi]

Personally I love it!

I really have to be careful with my weight so being in complete control of what's in my fridge is excellent.

 

[Jaythulhu]

Just make sure ya vet any potential house/flatmates carefully. I failed to do so once and ended up with a heroin junkie pilfering my house bit by bit while i was at work.

 

[GloatingSwine]

I'll quote Devil's Panties.

Being an adult means getting up in the morning, doing your chores without being asked and icecream for dinner.

He's not going to be an adult, he's going to be a student. Being a student means getting up in the afternoon, waiting for chores to do themselves, and toasted cheese sandwiches for dinner.

 

[WeedWorm]

Wish i had my own place

My brother has his own place though, so i just go there and get stoned. Theres never anything to eat though, which is a bad combination when youve got weed.

 

[Sccye]

You can lose equilibrium pretty easy and it doesn't take much to end up in a really bad state. The amount of freedom you realise you have is pretty overwhelming at first; so don't be surprised if you have a few moments of complete inertia where you realise that you don't actually *have* to do anything. It's pretty liberating at first, but it's a very double edged sword.

Living on your own is pretty hard, but also really rewarding - it's whatever you make of it ultimately, because you're not answering to anyone except yourself in the long run. Uni isn't the pastoral social utopia people make it out to be (At least, it wasn't for me, but I'm at a really academically intense university which does really short terms. High pressure, so less time to be normal and just bum around. Despite which I still find time to procrastinate loads.) but it's still pretty amazing. There are definitely as many lows as there are highs though, so don't let it knock the wind out fo your sails if you have a few crap days here and there.

My general advice is stay healthy and active and try to keep on top of your work. Everything in balance will keep you sane, whereas if you degenerate into lethargy then you end up feeling pretty shit about yourself. Still, whatever happens, you'll find your own niche to fit into and find your own stride - all this advice is just a very loose idea of some things you *might* experience. Ultimately it's all your own and that's the end of it.

 

[TheColdHeart]

The first days/weeks are when you realise quite how much of a change living away is. But once you get into the routine its not that bad.

The biggest 'pitfall' is making sure you have enough to pay bills and rent whilst also having enough to buy food and go out and be social.

On the plus side, you are fairly free to live how you like.