Moving for School?

Like most college students, I moved out of my parents’ house and into a student house close to my college. I chose student housing as opposed to on-campus residence simply because it was cheaper and I was paying for everything out of my own pocket. The student house I moved into was five bedrooms, two bathrooms. This meant I had to share with four other students, one girl and three guys to be exact.

When I moved in I had this fairytale type of fantasy in my head about what moving out would be like. I imagined a tidy, organized, house. I imagined freedom. I imagined everything working out perfectly in my favour.

And as you can imagine that was not the case.

Living with four other people you have to expect that there’s going to be some differences in lifestyles—no big deal, right? We'll when your housemate’s idea of cleanliness is much different than yours, some conflict starts to arise. I'm not sure about other people, but I like to do my dishes as soon as possible so I don't dread having to do them later. Or if I do choose to wait, I'm going to do it with a soiled glass or small plate, not massive amounts of pots and pans. To my surprise, many other people don't think the same way I do. And of course, these many other people are all my housemates. When you move into a student house, don't be surprised when you see your housemate’s dishes piled in the sink and on the counter and the kitchen table for days on end.

But dirty dishes aren’t the end of it. Apparently, no one else’s mom taught them to pick up after themselves. Imagine my surprise when I went to dry my dishes and the towel I was using had cheerios stuck to it. How does that even happen?

When you move out, you think of freedom right? Well make sure you read your lease. Read it twice. Read it three times. Make sure you don't miss any small detail. Or else you might end up like me. Written in my lease it says that I have to let my landlord know when I have overnight guests. Do you think that I acknowledged that when I first read my lease? I was just excited over the fact that I would be out of my parents’ house and be able to do whatever in the world I wanted. Well when you have to inform your landlord seventy-two hours in advance every time your boyfriend sleeps over; it feels like you have to ask your mom for permission. I cannot stress it enough READ YOUR LEASE! If you don't, you'll be like me, stuck only being able to do your laundry at certain hours of the day.

Another major thing I can strongly suggest is make sure you are on the same page with your landlord about payments. I've only been moved out for a whole month and I've already had this issue. When my landlord came to pick up everyone’s money for rent, apparently, they missed mine. They didn't realize I was paying with check and thought that I just hadn't left any cash out for my rent payment. So of course, I got the dreaded text from my landlord saying that I hadn't paid and I need to as soon as possible or else I'm going to get the old' boot. A few text exchanges later I got the whole situation under control. Save yourself the stress and discuss with your landlord payment options and which you plan on using.

I can't say I regret moving out, because I don't. I just think I could have been smarter about it. Don't be like me, make sure you understand exactly what you’re getting yourself into.