By Emma Accardi
This past June I moved into my first house with my 5 best friends and over the past 6 months I have learned so much about what it’s like to balance being a homeowner, having a job and being a full time student. I wanted to compile a list of tips and tricks I have personally learned in these few months as I reflect on this chapter of my life slowly coming to a close as I plan to study abroad this spring.
- Cooking and Meal Prep
I absolutely love to cook and find it a therapeutic activity for me since I grew up in a family that loves to cook. Although I love it, cooking is not for everyone and also can be tedious and time consuming especially when you are super busy. What I have found to be a happy medium is meal prepping. When I go grocery shopping for the week I tend to plan ahead the meals I want to have that week and try to choose recipes that take around 30 mins or less to make. I then choose a day in that week to meal prep where I know my schedule is lighter and make a mass quantity of a food such as a quinoa salad, pasta, or pre cooking chicken, and put it in my fridge for the week so then when I’m hungry and need to leave I can quickly heat up the food, or just eat it right when I get home. I also think that meal prepping has also allowed me to pack lunches to bring up to campus with me when I have a busy day and know that I won’t have time to wait in the long New World Tortilla or Skinny Pancake lines.
- Laundry
One of the biggest regrets my roommates and I can all agree on is that our house does not have a working washer and dryer, which then means that part of our weekly plan is budgeting an hour into going to the nearest laundromat. What I have learned is that you really do not need to do laundry every week because it can get super pricey to go every week so instead I have found that going every other week with one larger load is much more time savvy as well as less expensive. The laundromat right by City Market is our go-to because they have free wifi so you can work on homework there while you wait and also since it’s right next to City Market you can easily run and grab a snack there too (We highly recommend the Miss Weinerz donuts only available Wednesday through Saturday).
- Personal Space
I love living with 5 roommates and think it is never ending fun but I do agree that sometimes being in the room with 5 people and trying to do homework or just relax can be difficult. I really do love my alone time and being able to unload and relax after a long day in my own space, so making my room very homey and cozy was a big goal of mine when I thought about how I wanted to design my room.
- Chores
I think this is something my house really did not set rules on in the beginning, however I do think it would be super beneficial to assign roommates jobs in cleaning the house and its shared spaces. My roommates and I really just clean as we see mess around the house with nobody assigned to certain tasks however I do think that in reflecting on this, it would be super beneficial to have a chore chart of some kind to note what everyone has to do so that way nobody feels like they are doing “more” than the other people.
- Jobs
As an underclassman I didn’t get my first job in Burlington until my sophomore year however I think that in living off campus, it is super crucial especially if you plan to live up in Burlington for the summer. Although work can be something you dread, I actually have felt the opposite in my jobs personally because I really love my coworkers and the people I work with. I think that during the school year if you have the time for it, getting a job is a good way for you to take your mind off of school work and just make some extra money for that week. I know that working during the school year is not for everyone but I know personally that it has really helped me take my mind off of school and do something I love outside of the classroom too.
- Commuting to Campus
I think that the one thing I was thinking about when I was looking at places to live off campus was how far do I live from campus. I think that the commute to UVM is an especially important aspect of a home to look for if you do not have a car to use and considering how cold and snowy a Vermont winter is. I do not have a car currently and have found that as it has gotten colder, the public bus system has been a savior for me in getting to campus. You can use the maps app on your phone and simply just plug in directions to UVM and hit the transit option and it will show you the nearest bus stop to your house, and the times it is showing up. I seriously highly recommend utilizing these resources especially on days where the weather isn’t the most pleasant to walk in, especially up the big hill.
Nobody really told me what it would be like to live off-campus and I really learned everything through trial and error but having amazing roommates who are my very close friends made these errors a fun learning process. I feel like I have grown a lot as an individual in the past few months in really learning how to balance being a student and living in an entirely new environment. I am, however, very thankful for this experience and getting to spend it with 5 people I am so close with, and know that living off-campus will be such a uniquely amazing experience and I cannot wait to do it again next summer.
With lots of love,
Emma