Moving out for the first time, it’s a very daunting task. You can no longer just walk downstairs to ask your parents for help and you now have to cook and clean for yourself. Along with this you have to make sure your bills are being paid on time so you don’t lose your power or anything else.
Hello, my name is Lillie, I’m from Pennsylvania and I just moved out of my parents house for the first time.
During the 2021 Spring semester, my roommate and I had to decide if we were going to room on campus for this year or get an apartment. This was a very long and hard decision to make because both options had their pros and cons.
Living in the dorms would possibly give us a “normal” college experience, but this would have communal showers, loud neighbors, dining hall food and one small room for the two of us to share.
Living in an apartment would give us more freedom such as cooking our own food, having our own rooms, decorating how we wanted and no more communal bathrooms.
But we wondered if we would miss out on “normal” college activities that would be going on around campus. Ultimately we decided that moving into an apartment would be the best for us financially and emotionally. I don’t know about you but I definitely appreciate alone time and in an apartment it is easier to get away if you need to cry real quick.
I will say that this decision was not an easy one. My parents were definitely unsure about me getting an apartment at the beginning. They wondered when they would see me, if it was too much responsibility and how I would handle school and work because I would need to get a job to pay my rent.
Even I was unsure at first, there were several times where I had anxiety attacks about living on my own. Could I do it? Am I too young to move out of my parents house? There were just so many unknowns because I am the first in my household to move out.
Eventually everyone agreed that this was the best decision for me and we signed the lease.
If you think that is where the stress stops, you are dead wrong. Now I had to figure out what I all needed to live on my own. This included needing a bed, desk, couch, kitchen table, cooking utensils and so on and so forth. The list goes on forever.
So, all summer I was gathering up things that I would need to take with me. Eventually it was time to move everything from my home in Pennsylvania to my new home in Kent.
Driving everything over was not too big of a hassle, although it did take two trips. The next thing I knew my parents had left and it was just my roommate and I in our new apartment.
The first week things went pretty smoothly or at least as smooth as they could. It consisted of unpacking, cleaning, organizing, shopping and did I mention unpacking? Although my roommate and I were living in the dorms together last year, we had to get used to living together again and what that looked like in the apartment.
Now a month later we have it down, for the most part. There still come some issues when it comes to taking care of bugs, sometimes crying is involved. I mean there is no reason spiders should even be a thing. But other than that we haven’t had any major catastrophes.
There are still some challenges that I have faced, such as cooking meat. I have lived here for a month but cooking meat scares me. What if I don’t cook it right and I get sick or something. I did just get some chicken though that I have to cook this week, so hopefully I will overcome that one soon.
Also being away from my family is harder than I remember. Maybe it’s because I have a year-long lease so I know I will be here the whole time or maybe it’s just hard to be two hours away from home. I try to call and Facetime as much as I can and visit often. I don’t know if this is something that will ever go away but just get better as time goes on.
If I could give any advice to someone who is moving out for the first time or just thinking about it, make sure that there is a support system around you wherever you go. Sometimes life is hard and you just want a hug or someone to talk too. I don’t know what I would do without my friends here in Kent or my family back in Pennsylvania.
Basically what I am trying to say is moving out is stressful but also a very exciting new chapter in your life. I can’t wait to see what this next year has in store for me.