For students, moving can prove stressful
Nadiia Petryk
Many young adults dream about moving out from their parent’s house. What could be more exciting? No parents to control you, no boring rules to follow, and no chores to do. “I wanted to move out so I don’t have to deal with a lot of crap and can be able to set up my own rules,” said Jesse Hendeberg, an MCC student who just moved out from his parent’s house.
While thinking about advantages of living on their own, many young people do not realize that with freedom and independence come responsibilities, and living on your own is not only one huge party, but also a lot of hard work.
The first and most common misjudgment is how much money it costs to live independently.
Usually the cost of rent is the only one that is being considered, but there are lots of other bills that many students never consider while hanging out under the parents’ roof.
Electricity, water, Internet, cable TV, and phone bills are usually silently paid from the parents’ pocket.
When living independently, these bills easily add another several hundred dollars to the cost of rent, which now has to be paid from their own pocket.
“It is definitely tough to start living on your own. It’s always more money then you think, especially out here in Arizona where air conditioning has to be on 24/7, and prices just keep going up,” said Sean Ganzhora, an MCC business student.
Besides these obvious expenses there are several hidden ones which practically never get enough consideration.
Not many students think about how much money a monthly supply of laundry detergent cost. And every time the toothpaste tube gets empty, a new one does not magically appear by the touch of a Fairy Godmother, but it has to be bought, as well as soap, lotion, toilet paper, air freshener, etc.
Lindsay Brun, an MCC student from the Global Studies department didn’t expect some expenses when she first moved out from her parent’s house several years ago.
“I didn’t think about everything for the house, such as your cleaning supplies, and toilet paper, you just don’t think about stuff like this.”
The second important thing to realize is the fact that by moving out, mother’s 24/7 fully-catered restaurant is now officially closed.
Not only does all the food have to be bought with your own money now, but it also has to be cooked with your own hands, on your own time.
Mother’s culinary delicacies get replaced with the cheap and fast frozen goods like gourmet corn dogs, and authentic frozen burritos, which don’t just taste bad but are also harmful to one’s health.
Nathan Everingham, a psychology student at MCC, moved out from his parent’s house eight years ago and one of the toughest things for him was balancing the grocery money.
“Groceries are a lot more expensive then one might assume, paying for food is pretty pricy, especially if you don’t know how to cook. And when you eat out all the time it certainly can dig deep in your rent money pretty quickly”.
Finally, the idea about not having any chores is also one big myth. Instead of disappearing, the amount of chores doubles and triples, because now everything in the house has to be done by you and nobody else.
Stephanie Larsen, a student at MCC, actually enjoys being able to have a clean house and not having her siblings to destroy it, but she didn’t expect the responsibility of paying for the breakages.
“I didn’t expect paying for things that break in my house. For example, the garbage disposal breaks and I have to pay for a new one now.”
Living independently is not just having a big party. Moving out is a big and very important decision in the life of a young person.
It is one of the first steps to being a grown up, and this step has to be taken very seriously when one is truly ready.
