A wise soul once said, “Leave home with a big, bright dream. Nurture it into a bigger, brighter reality”. We often make many important, yet tough decisions in life. One such important decision is to be independent. Moving out of home, leaving our loved ones, our entire childhood and teenage years behind, to make our path towards adulthood, in order to pursue our dreams and prove ourselves in a world that is highly competitive.
Although the mere thought of living alone in a new city away from our friends and family might seem to be haunting at first, but, we must realize that there comes a time we all must step out of our comfort zone and build our own lives. Hence, in order to make live a little easier, here are some important tips for students who are moving out of home for the very first time.
1) Find an affordable place to live in: Whether you choose to live in a hostel, PG or a flat, you must understand that our living expenses consume a majority portion of our monthly budget, and in order to ease the financial burden on our parent’s shoulders, we must look for a space that is good enough to live in for a temporary period and also something that is possibly closer to your college or any nearby bus stop or train/metro station, so that you can commute easily. We must also note that we can’t expect our new living space to be as spacious and luxurious as our home.
2) Plan your monthly budget: Since students who are living away from home mostly rely on their parent’s money for their day-to-day expenses, having a fixed monthly budget shall help you better in planning and tracking your expenses. This will save you from wasting money on unimportant and unnecessary things and will also help you in saving for your future expenses, thus, teaching you financial discipline.
3. Establishing a good bond with your roommate: If there is someone whom we can refer to as our home away from home, then, it certainly would be our roommates with whom we not only live in the same space, but, also share our laughter and tears with. Hence, being friends with our roommates not only eases the feeling of homesickness within us, but it will also make us accustomed to being around people with different ideologies and ways of living.
4. Regularly speaking with friends and family: No matter wherever we live and howsoever busy we are with our own lives, we must always take a few minutes out from our busy schedule and speak to our family and friends over a call or a message and catch up with them and tell them about what is going on in your life and listen to them about how their day went by. By doing so, this would further deepen your relationship with your loved ones irrespective of the distance between you both.
5. Explore the city as a solo traveller or in a group: Our experiences are often the best teachers in life. Hence, students, must once in a while plan for some fun outings around the city, either on their own or with their friends as this not only makes one familiar with the city, but, it also gives you the confidence of travelling and living on your own and gives you many valuable and memorable experiences in life.
6. Learn some basic cooking: Cooking, is a basic life skill and not a gender-based skill (as society portrays it) and each and every one must familiarise themselves with the kitchen and learn how to cook some basic dishes that they grew up eating at their homes. It can be something as simple as an omelette or dal-rice etc.
7. Learn to manage your identity cards and documents: This is an extremely vital skill that students must familiarise themselves with, for the betterment of their future. Since, you will be away from home, you must start learning to keep all your official documents like your marksheets, certificates, passport, and bank documents etc at one place for future official purposes, so that you can avoid any possible mishaps that might happen.
8. Pack enough essentials like clothes, shoes and toiletries: In order to avoid spending money unnecessarily on buying new things as soon as you join college, having basic essentials like enough clothes, shoes and toiletries already in hand, shall save you both time and efforts in purchasing them on your own. By doing so, you can spend more time towards setting up your room and preparing yourself for college.
9. Save contacts of nearby hospitals and police departments: Saving contact numbers of the nearby hospitals and police stations is of utmost importance, in case of emergency situations like accidents, injuries and crimes, so that we can reach out to the concerned authorities well in time to prevent and or minimise the damage.
As time passes by, you will realise that leaving home was indeed a tough decision, but it will also turn out to be one of the best decisions of your life.
