The idea of living alone for the first time in your life may be intimidating. You’ll be responsible for everything about your living situation, and you may be concerned that you’ll be lonely. However, learning to be independent while you’re still a student is a great life lesson. In fact, there are several ways it can set you up for success.
1. Have a Social Life on Your Own Terms
Socializing is a big part of the college experience, but it can often feel like your social life is forced on you rather than your choice. When you have your own apartment, guests are always your friends and they visit when you invite them. You’ll never need to suffer having someone else’s friends invading your space or feel like you must socialize because a roommate wanted to throw a party.
Of course, you will need to set boundaries. If you have friends who have never lived alone, they may misunderstand your situation and believe you always want company. This could mean they drop by unannounced. If you’re happy with such an arrangement, that’s fine. However, you may find that you enjoy spending time alone, which will be something you need to address with your friends.
Ultimately, with the right communication, you may find that you have an even better social life than if you lived with others. This is because you’ll be spending your social time with people you care about, rather than taking whatever opportunities to socialize arise.
2. Learn to Be Self-Reliant
Maintaining your home and solving all the issues related to your apartment on your own can be stressful at times, but you’ll have a great sense of accomplishment once you’ve finished a task or fixed a problem. If you’re able to balance this with knowing when to ask for support, you’ll have learned an important lesson that will serve you well throughout your life.
3. Find Out Who You Are
College is already a period of self-discovery. Living independently will add to that experience by showing you how you want to live and pushing you to become comfortable with yourself. It’s easier to be in tune with your emotions and to learn how to deal with the negative ones when you’re not constantly surrounded by other people.
4. Become Financially Independent
You’ll be learning plenty about how to budget while at university. However, it can be frustrating when the decisions of others impact your budget, which can be the case when you live with roommates. Not only do you need to split the cost of rent and utilities, you also need to contribute a share to household expenses. Living independently will help you improve your financial skills, which will be beneficial in the future — no matter if you decide to continue living alone or if you want to share your home.
5. Fill Your Time with What Matters to You
Living alone forces you to find fulfillment in ways that don’t involve other people. Even though you’ll spend much of your day outside your home — such as in class and at extracurriculars — you’ll still need to decide how you want to spend all your free hours.
Knowing what fulfills you will be useful for the rest of your life.
Whether you want to be completely independent or you’d prefer to have roommates, you can find the Queens off-campus housing for you at Foundry Mack. Our floor plans include suites with one to four bedrooms, available furnished and unfurnished, and you’ll only be responsible for your share of the rent. Contact our team today to secure a lease.
