Question:
I'm currently a year away from completing CÉGEP (for non-Québec folk, that's basically a bridge between high school and university) and the more I look into my options after graduation, the more it seems likely that moving out would be best. Things at home have degraded to the point where I can barely focus and get my work done here, most everything I've had to hold on to in the region is or will be gone, my best prospects scholarship-wise are outside of the province, my French is weak and that limits where I can work here, and this all seems enough to counteract the fact that tuition outside of Québec is much more expensive (for Québec residents, that is, otherwise it's about even with the rest of Canada).
The problem is that I really haven't been well-prepared for moving out. I don't know the first thing about independent living and my parents aren't about to tell me. I'm hoping to go to some adults in the church for advice on that, but right now I just want some idea of what I should start doing now so that I'll be more prepared to move out. Right now the plan is to work as much as I can without compromising my studies (a part-time job after I return from an intensive course in another part of the province in August, a local car show in January, and hopefully a summer job at my dad's workplace next year, which pays really well), try and learn what I'll need to know if I move out, and slowly get around to buying things I'll need to bring with me when I catch them on sale. Any advice?
Answer:
Hi Tracy!!!!
I would advise to parse through all your belongings, and decide to keep only the stuff you really need for living. Any nostalgic stuff you want to keep but don't really use (old gifts, etc) - maybe see if your parents would kindly store them for you so you don't have to move it.
As I indicated on your journal, money management becomes the really big issue when living alone. Things like cable bill, phone bill, rent and utilities can sneak up quickly and put anyone into debt if not careful.
To me, the rest of it comes quite easily and nicely.
Answer:
figure out what you need to live. Start not using conveniences you will not be able to afford.
You have to learn how to live on a shoestring.
Answer:
Learn to cook and do laundry! Or at least to do your own laundry without turning your blue-jeans hot pink (like my friend Whit did last semester...)
You will find that you have to buy a lot of little things that you never thought about before. For example, canned food is pretty useless without a can-opener. You'll need towels, washclothes, dishes/utensils, kitchen stapels like ketchup and butter, anything you're used to using from your parents house. Obviously, you will learn to do without the extra stuff.
Gotta love that shoestring budget!
Answer:
Laundry is a surprising element.
Listen to Bill and Jay. Frugal living is key, because you're going on a small income (comparatively), with little oppurtunity to upgrade said income. It is a little silly to get things you don't need to survive, do well in school, etc. I.e. no cable, and generally no internet- your school will provide that, I'm sure, with probably a wireless network. If not, you can still get a good deal on ISPs...
A surprising part of living, in my observations, is that part which is known as maintaining the fact that you're living here/there. Pay your bills, buy your food, clean, etc.
Answer:
Ah, a can-opener sounds like just the sort of thing I'd forget. I know I'll remember towels and such, simply from having had to pack for so many retreats, but I am so hopelessly dumb when it comes to some things. I wish I could find this budgeting project I did in my senior year; not that it's entirely realistic (it was for a household with a combined income of $30K... yeah, that isn't going to happen), but it would be as good a starting point as any.
I'm having a bit of trouble trying to identify what I will and won't need, service-wise. I haven't had to deal with utilities at all to this point, so I don't know how I could cut down on those costs. Cable I can rule out altogether, but other things are a bit tricky. I don't know how to prioritise keeping in touch with people... it's not popularly considered a need, and I'm prepared to go as cheap as possible on this front if I have to, but emotionally it is very much a need and I don't know that I can just ignore that. Transportation is the only other thing... I guess that mostly comes down to whether I live close enough to everything to do without public transit. (I can easily walk 1-2 miles in a reasonable amount of time under most conditions... any further and it might end up taking too much time away from essential activities, and then depending on my schedule there might be safety issues.) Am I missing anything?
Laundry I can handle easily enough, though I should probably get used to doing it on a regular basis. Cooking might be a problem. I can handle breakfast no problem, but beyond that, I'm totally lost. Am I right in assuming that it's generally cheaper in the long run to mostly cook from scratch rather than buying prepared meals? (Except for cheap noodle things and the like.) Any idea of where to go for easy recipes to get started on? What are some cleaning tasks I absolutely have to know how to do?
Books are probably going to be the hardest thing for me when it comes to deciding what to take. Everything else (guitar aside) I want to take doesn't take up that much space. I'm thinking of giving myself a box to fill with those which are most useful for whatever reason and then selling those in good enough condition/leaving the rest at home. The nostalgic stuff which matters most to me thankfully doesn't take up much space at all... I'm thinking not much more than a shoebox, all told. Of course, I'll have to look more carefully at this whole thing, because my room is quite cluttered and I think I'm missing something.
Answer:
it is usually cheaper to buy "elemental" foodstuffs, like flour and such and cook from scratch than to buy, say, the "good" brand of brownie mix, and you can use the flour to make more than one thing if you want to. However, cooking that way is harder, especially if you don't want to eat the same thing for a week (as from-scratch recipies tend to make a family-size meal). Get used to buying "store brand" for items that it doesn't matter. Generally boxed meals are ok, but the more "pre-prepared" you get, the more you have to pay for it. I remember being shocked at the amount of money that a "weeks worth" of frozen dinners (the cheaper kinds!) for a couple of teenagers cost!!!!! I can eat much cheaper than that if I buy canned veggies and stuff! Eating out is a definate no-no, but you already knew that.
You will need electricity and water for sure, everything else is "optional" (cable, internet, phone, etc) I have a cell phone for a phone service because it provides both local and long-distance service for the same price. Local service is sometimes avaliable "free" or included especially at a school, but you will need a phone to hook up to it and a phone card for long-distance. If you buy a phone card (useful to have even if you do have a cell phone!) it's cheaper to keep reloading the same one than to buy more cards.
For transportation, a bike might be very helpful since they are faster than walking. Now if you live in the mountains, walking might be faster if you don't have one, you might be able to buy one used from the classifieds (course you'd have to bum a ride to go get it) or a neighbor/friend or even a yard sale
Will you be moving to school? By yourself to an apartment?
Answer:
I think this is where I kick myself for never learning to ride a bike.
I don't know yet whether I'll be living in a dorm room or an apartment. I may very well end up going far enough that it would be ridiculously expensive to keep coming and going, so while a dorm room would be cheaper, I may not be able to go that route depending on the school. So I guess I'm hoping for a dorm room but trying to figure out how to manage an apartment just in case.