MY FIRST MONTH LIVING ALONE

Hey there!! Today officially marks 4 weeks that I’ve been living on my own and I thought I would share my experience so far. There has absolutely been a learning curve associated with it but I am loving it so far!

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I feel like my living alone experience started off a little different than it does for most because I spent my first 2 weeks in quarantine. For one, this meant that I had a big adjustment to being alone as I went from living with family to total isolation.

MONEY SAVING TIPS –

The other thing that my isolation meant, is that I didn’t have the ability to go out and pick things up. As much as this was stressful at first, it honestly ended up being so helpful. It forced me to sit down and right a list of the things that I actually realized I needed to go our and buy and therefore helped me save so much money on things that I wasn’t going to actually use. I absolutely recommend to anyone about to move out on their own to try this as well because I would have spent so much more money if I just bought things because I thought I might use them.

My next money saving tip for you, is to think about the items where you can save money. See what extra things your family might have available for you to take and try thrifting one off items. I personally am someone that wants everything to match so I bought all new silverware and dishes, but for one off items that wouldn’t match anyways I definitely recommend trying to find them for cheaper/free.

Another tip I have been using to save money is to limit my grocery shopping. It’s so easy to pick stuff up at the store everyday on the way home, but because it is just me I would end up with way more than I would actually use. I’ve been trying to plan out my meals for the week so that I can pick up the stuff I know I will actually be using. I have a list of the weekly staples that I pick up & add any additional items I think of throughout the week. So far I’ve been sticking to grocery shopping once a week and it has been working out great for me! If you are interested I can definitely share what an average weekly grocery shop looks like for me in another post.

STAY TIDY –

I think that living alone can make it easy & hard to stay clean. There is no one else around to help you clean up, but that also means that I’m the only one making the mess. I’ve been trying to stick to a weekly cleaning routine (I can go into more details of this in another post) and also make sure that I go to bed every night in a tidy space. I find it is so much easier to stay on top of everything if I clean my dishes as I go so that nothing gets out of hand. Plus it is SO NICE to wake up in a clean environment every morning.

AVOIDING LONELINESS –

It definitely feels strange sometimes to spend the majority of my day alone but I have found a couple of things that make it not seem lonely. I personally love my me-time so this makes it the perfect balance for me.

#1: Make plans with friends. I’ve been making sure that at least once or twice a week minimum I have plans with friends for dinner or something. I personally find it so fun to hang out with my favourite people in the kitchen, making yummy food and catching up.

#2: Call people. Most days when I get home from work I have been getting in the habit of calling my mum or a friend to catch up and talk about the day. While they might not be there in person it’s always nice to chat with someone.

#3: Listen to podcasts. I especially love doing this when I am making dinner or cleaning. Particularly podcasts that are formatted like conversations are so helpful because you almost feel like you are with other people. I linked a few podcasts I love in my May Favourites blog post, and will be coming out with an updated list at the end of this month.

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That is all I have for you today, but I hoped it gave you a little insight on my first month of living alone. If you live alone as well I would love to hear some of the tips you have learned!

XO Cassidy Hannah