By Millie Looker
When I was 19 I went full “independent woman”, and decided to buy an apartment. Then I high-fived myself and invited a professional cupcake-maker to rent the apartment from me for a couple of years (no she didn’t pay me in cupcakes, yes I was disappointed by that).
When I was 21, the “independent woman” bug got me again and I packed up all my worldly possessions (aka the few items that fit into my bedroom at my parents house) and moved into my very own apartment.
I then got myself a cat named Baz and a fish named Valerie, and my new little family have lived happily ever after since…
… just kidding. Living alone is brilliant fun, but there is SO MUCH I wish I had known before I moved out. So, I made a list…
Here are 16 things you should know about moving out for the first time!
1. It IS possible to eat pasta for every meal.
2. Sometimes you won’t receive a bill for months and you’ll start to get a bit arrogant about it. Do not fall for this. It is a trap, and they will get you.
3. When you don’t live with a dairy guzzling brother, buying milk is the biggest waste of all time.
4. There are so many different types of light bulbs. SO. MANY.
5. You can freeze pretty much anything (half of my freezer is meals I’ve made in bulk, the other half is hydralite icy-poles – it’s called #balance).
6. You WILL need more than one type of cleaning product. I genuinely assumed that Spray N’ Wipe would get me through every situation. I was wrong.
7. You will call your mum / dad at least once a day for the first 3 months. Some questions include “how long does chicken last for?”, “how do you cook chicken?”, and “what should I put with the chicken once it’s cooked?” Haaa just kidding (kind of) (sorry Mum).
8. Find yourself a makeshift weapon and keep it next to your bed. Sometimes you might hear a scary noise – for example, a possum falling out of a tree and and getting trapped in your courtyard – and you’ll feel much less afraid when you go to check it out if you’re carrying a giant BBQ fork. Or at least, I did.
9. Do not try and blend homemade pumpkin soup in a Nutribullet while it’s still boiling hot.
10. It is nearly impossible to remember which bins to put out on bin night. Yellow or green, yellow or green….
11. Sometimes ants will appear in your house FOR NO REASON AT ALL. They just move in like they own the place with absolutely no warning and harass your cat.
12. Weeds will grow, regardless of if you have a garden or not. Mine grew to the size of small trees between the pavers in my courtyard – they actually looked quite fetching until they started lifting the ground. Oops.
13. Speaking of weeds… Keeping plants alive is hard work. Even if its a cactus. PS sorry to all the friends that gave me plants as a house warming gift, I did my best.
14. Something called Emergency Services Levy will appear out of the blue and ruin your month (shoutout to the Emergency Services though, you’re the real MVPs)
15. I assumed that the dishwasher would self-clean since it’s sole purpose in life is to clean things. It doesn’t. Thanks for the heads up, Mum.
16. Your family house will always still be “home”, no matter how long you’ve lived away from it. Shout out to my beautiful mum, dad and brother for always reminding me that I’ve got a place there if I need it.
Millie x
