Five Tips when Moving Out of Home

Moving out of your parents home is an exciting time but you need to plan ahead and be ready for it otherwise you may find yourself getting the removalists to help shift you back. Whether you are renting, moving into a share house, heading off to a university dormitory or buying your own home you need to sort out your finances and make sure you are organised. There is certainly a lot to think about if you are buying your own home, such as making sure you can make the repayments and organising home and contents insurance.

Check your finances

Before you even move out of home firstly work out if you can afford to. If you are studying full time you need to consider how many contact hours you have at university and how much time will be taken up with travel, then work out whether you will have time to work. If you are just starting out in a job it might be better to wait until you are more financially secure. If you are planning on renting make sure that you have enough for your bond and a few months rent in advance, just in case you run into any trouble. You will also have the cost of utilities, food, petrol or public transport and other daily expenses.

Budgeting

Once you are out of home you need to keep on top of your finances. With the freedom of moving away from your parents home it is tempting to get a little carried away with buying furniture and other items for your new home, and it is even easy to get over enthusiastic when going food shopping and buying a lot of things you don't really need. Moving out of home can be a a bit of a shock to some people as they realise that every month the bills roll in and they need to be paid. Set up a budget for yourself and stick to it. Make a list of everything that needs to be paid each month and set aside money for these expenses first.

Furniture

When you first start out on your own it is likely that you won't have much furniture, and often people can't afford to buy new things straight away. Friends and family may have old furniture they can lend or give to you, otherwise you can make do with the few things you have.

Cooking

If you can't cook then now is the time to learn. It really isn't that difficult, just buy yourself some easy cook books and stick to the recipes. A cook book will give you step by step instructions so you really can't go wrong. Don't be tempted to just buy take away every night as it works out to be way more expensive than cooking from scratch, plus it is very unhealthy.

Cleaning

Moving out of home will also make you discover that the toilet and shower don't just clean themselves. Buy yourself the right cleaning products right from the beginning and make sure you use them, otherwise the task of cleaning, when you do finally get to it, is even harder. Vacuum once a week, give the shower a wipe down and try to keep things tidy as you go, it saves on having to clean an enormous mess.