While freedom is sweet when you finally move out of your parents' house or a dorm and into your very own apartment, it actually is more than just getting sugary cereal in the middle of the night without anyone judging you. Once the excitement wears off, you would start feeling like you should have thought about it more than you did.
Here are 6 must-know before you move into your new apartment by Apartment Therapy:
1. Don't get a bunch of stuff you "think you'll need" before you actually figure out what you need
Don't give in to that overwhelming desire to have everything ready before your move into your first apartment. While you parents or relatives have good intentions for pressuring you to do so, it is easy to have a packing list of the necessary and ridiculously useless things. Just take what you believe you NEED, and just leave the rest for some self-discovery in due time.
2. Quality over quantity
Aren't you tired of getting a new vacuum each time the cheap one you have bails out on you? While first apartments don't always mean big paychecks, it is important to consider that you might actually end up saving more if you invest on one-time quality items that you can use for longer.
3. You might not know what your style is right away
Let your apartment evolve naturally instead of pressuring yourself to make it look good or "grown-up". Don't force yourself to figure it all out at once and instead be silly about it; try things out, make exciting and more risky decisions.
4. Get into the entertaining habit early
If you are not an entertainer, then maybe it's about time to get into it more now that you have a new apartment. You might be more confident this time since it's "your place". You can only get better by trying, so it's a good idea if you could start early.
5. Always check your curtain visibility at night
You can't underestimate the repercussion of not checking your curtain visibility at night. Regardless of the type of curtain you have, it's a must to get outside your house at night and see how see-through your curtains are. With a different lighting condition, you never know if your blackout curtain can still provide the same privacy it did from your previous place. You can thank us later for this.
6. Life would have been a lot easier if I had adopted a cleaning routine earlier
How is your cleaning routine? Now that you have your own place, you might regret not starting early on training yourself to have some decent cleaning skills. While it's easy to getting things spic and span at once, the everyday hustle could easily end you up with a cluttered, hot mess of space.
