10 LESSONS I`VE LEARNED FROM LIVING ALONE (OR WITH FLATMATES)

Exactly one year ago, I was packing most of my belongings into boxes to move out of my parents' house in order to start university in a different city. 

Within the last 12 months, I settled in in my second home and mastered quite a few challenges which come with living alone or with flatmates. When moving out, I knew that I didn´t want to live all by myself, so I decided on sharing an apartment with 2 other girls (it´s really typical in Germany to live in a shared apartment with other uni students). We all have seperate bedrooms, but of course share the kitchen and bathroom. Living with fellow students (and friends) is defenitely fun, but of course, there are some lessons to be learnt - doesn´t matter whether you're living all by yourself or (like me) with flatmates. So here we go: 10 lessons I´ve learnt from living alone (or with flatmates). 

1. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING ALONE AND BEING LONELY 
I think this is something you learn right from the beginning. Although I live in a flat together with 2 other girls, I am usually the only one that stays in Pforzheim over the weekend. At the beginning, I thought that it would be really boring to spend the weekend all by myself, but it´s actually really relaxing. You can dry your clothes in the hallway, make a spontaneous dance party, so it´s defenitely something I enjoy - but I am still happy when my flatmates are back!

2. NOONE BRINGS OUT THE TRASH IF YOU DON´T DO IT 
Since I have 2 flatmates, I am not the only one carrying this responsibility. Nevertheless, it´s already happenend multiple times, that we forgot to bring out the trash and garbage bin - which isn´t fun, especially during the summer. I´ll spare you with the details!

3. DECLUTTER REGULARLY
Personally, I wouldn´t say that I am someone with loads of clothes. I have 1m closet space as well as 1m of chest of drawers and everything fits in there with still some space left. BUT, it´s incredible how much stuff (or sh*t) someone can accumulate within a couple of years. Especially when packing your stuff into boxes and contemplating whether you should take your file of old diddl sheets with you, you´ll wonder why you haven´t decluttered in ages. 

4. BEING SICK SUCKS EVEN MORE WHEN YOUR MOM ISN´T THERE TO SUPPLY YOU WITH TEA AND TREATS
Being sick is, of course, never fun, but at home, the one thing making it better is your mom being there for you and bringing you tea and snacks to your bed. So when moving out, you better get used to getting out of bed in order to make yourself some tea and get some "get well" chocolate at the supermarket. 

5. YOUTUBE, PODCASTS, SPOTIFY ETC WILL BECOME YOUR BEST FRIEND
Especially on the weekends, when I am alone in the apartment, I often watch Youtube videos while having lunch or listening to a podcast while editing photos. With no one around, you´ll start craving someone´s company. So in case none of my friends have time to come around, I just put on a podcast, some music or watch a video to hear some human voices and be a bit entertained. 

6. YOU CAN SURVIVE 2 WEEKS WITHOUT A KITCHEN TABLE AND CHAIRS
Yes, you can! - or at least we managed to survive without a kitchen table and chairs for 2 weeks. Having breakfast standing in the kitchen and eating in my room at my desk for lunch, because eating pasta standing is not a great idea - I promise! 

7. MEASURE THE HEIGHT OF YOUR WALLS BEFORE TRYING TO FIT IN A 2,40M HIGH CLOSET
Another lesson I had to learn the hard way. I ordered most of my furniture from IKEA, among them a 2,36m high PAX closet. When ordering it online, I asked my dad whether I should check the height of the ceilings, but he just said, that the ceilings are usually 2,50 high. Nope, they are not! When we put together the top, bottom and sides of the closet on the floor, and wanted to put it into a vertical position, we quickly realized that the ceiling was in the way - GREAT! For a second, I thought we had to return it, but it worked out eventually. Lesson learned: always check the height of your ceilings before ordering any furniture and your dad isn´t always right (maybe just 99% of the times).

  
8. LEARN HOW TO USE THE WASHING MACHINE BEFOREHAND
Because otherwise, you will be standing in front of the cleaning department of the supermarket calling your mom which things you need to wash your clothes. Now, please don´t get me wrong, I am not one of those spoilt brats who don´t need to lift a finger while living with their parents, but I seriously didn´t know which detergent to pick from the 100 available.

9. COOKING FOR 1 PERSON IS WAY HARDER THAN IT SOUNDS
Even after one year of cooking only for myself, I still don´t know how many spagetthis you need for one person. Usually, I end up making too much for one person, but not enough for two, so in the end, I eat it all - oops. 

10. NOONE WILL EVER KNOW THAT YOU HAVEN`T LEFT THE FLAT FOR 24H
I guess that´s one of the perks of living alone. Noone will ever know that you haven´t set a step out of your apartment for 24h. I try to avoid this by going on a walk on the weekend, but sometimes, when it´s terrential rain outside, you have no desire at all to go leave the flat.

Please tell me, that I am not the only one who still hasn´t figured out how to cook for one person! Which lessons have you learnt when moving out?