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Moving to a new city alone after college is one of the biggest decisions you can make for yourself. It means moving out of your parents’ home and everything that comes with living rent-free: free food, water, electricity, Internet.
There are many factors why you would want to move out and be on your own. Maybe it’s because of your future field of work, your preferred lifestyle; or, you could be seeking greener pastures in the metro that you couldn't find in your home province. But do you have what it takes to move out to the big city?
Here is the complete moving out checklist:
- Consider why you’re moving out
- Choose a safe place to live in
- Stick to a monthly budget
- Be self-reliant
- Learn your bad habits and work on fixing them
- Build a routine and stick to it
- Be prepared for emergencies
- Only pack what you need
- Use your free time wisely
If you think you’re ready for moving after college but don’t exactly know what to expect, then read on for a guide on how you can manage to move to a new city after graduating and what to expect, with the least amount of hassle and inconvenience involved.
1. Consider why you’re moving out
Before tackling any other item in the moving out checklist, you need to be clear on why you’re moving out, in the first place. Not having a clear purpose on why you want to move out is the fastest way to regret moving out. Did you just get hired for a job that’s too far and expensive to commute to? Are there more job opportunities in the metro compared to your home province?
By having a clear reason as to why you’re moving out, you’ll have an easier time preparing your moving out checklist.
2. Choose a safe place to live in
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Safety should be your number one priority when moving to a big city after college. Condominiums for rent such as those from DMCI Homes Leasing Services is the safest option that you can choose. Their condominium communities are monitored 24/7 with CCTV cameras, and security personnel constantly roam the condo grounds. The security personnel also conduct frequent security checks on every condo floor; so you can be sure that you’ll be safe.
3. Stick to a monthly budget
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When you start living on your own, you’re going to have to start paying for all (if not the majority) your expenses by yourself. Creating a monthly budget plan not only helps you keep track of your monthly recurring expenditures such as rent, utilities, phone bills, and internet connection costs, but it can also help you identify how much you can spend on leisure activities and things that you want to purchase. It’s also a crucial part of moving to a new city; so work on creating your monthly budget as early as possible.
4. Be self-reliant
With living alone comes self-reliance. An essential in your moving out checklist is learning how to become self-reliant. This means not having to count on anybody’s help when it comes to doing house chores such as sweeping, cooking, washing the dishes, and doing your laundry — not to mention simple repair jobs such as changing light bulbs in your room. Without learning self-reliance, you’ll have a much harder time living alone. You might also be spending money on cleaning and repair services that could affect your monthly budget. So it’s best if you learn how to become self-reliant.
5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
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A moving out checklist wouldn’t be complete without drawing the line between being self-reliant and being stubborn. When moving to a new city, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to fix everything on your own, once you get the hang of self-reliance. You should, however, also know when you need to ask for help. There might be a repair job, like fixing a broken sink or a faulty power socket, that’s beyond your basic repair skills. In these situations wherein you’re out of your element, it’s best to leave these to the professionals.
6. Learn your bad habits and work on fixing them
When you’re moving out after college and start living at your own place, there’s one thing you’re going to have: an abundance of alone time. When you live alone, you’ll start to notice some of the bad living habits that you’ve never noticed before when you still lived with your family. Maybe you don’t sweep your new home as much as you should or wash the dishes right after using them and just let them pile up on the sink. The faster you realize these bad habits, the quicker you can work on addressing them, and the better off you’ll be.
7. Build a routine and stick to it
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A good routine is one of the things you need when moving out of your parents’ house. It will not only help you keep your day more organized, but it can also help you beat your bad habits. You'll end up getting more tasks out of the way much quicker since you already know what you're supposed to do at certain times of the day.
8. Be prepared for emergencies
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Emergencies can happen at any moment; and if you’re moving into a new city, you’re going to have to prepare yourself for the worst. Have a list of emergency numbers of the police, fire department, and nearest hospitals, in case you need an ambulance for yourself.
Have an emergency bag with survival essentials such as a flashlight, extra batteries, a change of clothes, clean water, shelf-stable food, a weatherproof jacket, a map of your area, and alternative communication devices such as two-way shortwave radios. Make sure you bring photocopies of your important documents such as your driver’s license or passport so authorities can easily confirm your identity in an emergency situation.
9. Only pack what you need
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When you’re moving out after college, you should only pack what you need. You don’t have to bring all your clothes or memorabilia from your birth home. You may not have enough space for all of them at your new place.
Here are some essential items you should pack when moving out:
- A set of sheets and pillows
- Enough clothes for settling in
- Basic cleaning supplies
- A set of plates and utensils
- A small toolkit
- Important documents and IDs
10. Use your free time wisely
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Living alone guarantees you’re going to have free reign on what to do during your time. Instead of spending an entire night binge watching the latest trending Netflix series, why not learn a new language? A study from the Annals of Neurology showed that learning how to speak two or more languages slows down cognitive aging. By learning how to manage your free time, you can get the most out of living alone.
Moving into a new city alone in your 20s can be both exciting and nerve-racking, at the same time. Always remember that once you move out, you’re now in control, but not everything may always go as planned. But, hopefully, with the help of the tips provided, you’ll be more prepared than ever to take the next big step into adulting and move out into the world on your own.
