10 Tips For College Students Moving Out Of Home

As you're moving into the next chapter of your life, you need to prepare well for what life may bring you. College isn't as easy as high school, as you're in for a more difficult level in terms of learning and activities. But what most people like about college is it's their chance to move out of their home and live independently.  

In case you're studying at a college or university far away from home, it'll only be wise that you move there for comfort and accessibility. However, moving out of the house isn't all rainbows and butterflies. You need to ensure that you have everything with you as you cannot just head back home when you missed bringing an item with you.  

Moreover, listed below are the tips for college students who are moving out of home:  

1.  Prepare for Roommates 

While you may enjoy having your room back at home, prepare to have a roommate once you move into a school housing near your campus. While having a roommate may seem fun in the movies as they usually turn into their best friends, you need to accept the reality that it may not be the situation for everyone.

You can look for tips online or visit The Landing and read suggestions on how you can survive living with a roommate, especially on the first day. The best advice that you could follow is to learn how to communicate and compromise.  

If you're a person who just finds eating on their beds annoying, this might be a habit that you need to compromise as it's their bed and it's not bothering you. Not everything has to live within your rules as they have a particular trait that they'd love for you to stop as well. There's no such thing as a perfect roommate, and you're not perfect yourself either. You need to learn to compromise and communicate when needed. 

2. Decide Between a Housing or Apartment 

Before you can fully prepare for your new place, you first need to know which type of housing you plan on moving into. You could move into a school housing where you stay within a campus or rent an apartment outside your university. Depending on the country that you're in, the prices can differ. Some countries offer cheaper on-campus living, while some can give apartment living a lot more affordable option.  

Before you decide which place you'd like to live in, you need to do thorough research about which one would be the cheaper alternative for you. College isn't affordable, and you or your parents have to pay for your daily expenses, such as rent, utility bills, food, and other school stuff. With that, looking for a cheaper housing option would be helpful for everyone's pockets.  

3. Create A List 

To help you further prepare and avoid forgetting stuff back at home, it'll be a brilliant idea to create a list first about everything you need to bring with you to your college living. In this way, you can further evaluate which things do you need to get and avoid missing them on your way over.  

Upon making this list, first, take note of the everyday items that you cannot avoid bringing. You must get your fresh set of clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, bathroom essentials, towel, bedsheets, slippers, and other things that you usually use.  

Moreover, when you're adding items to your list, try to keep them light as much as possible. You don't want your move-in process to be complex by bringing your whole bedroom with you. You might want to consider leaving your favorite lampshade at home to avoid clutter. 

4. Purchase Moving Boxes 

To help you keep yourself organized as you move, it'll be a lot helpful if you could purchase moving boxes and label them according to what's inside them,  

With moving boxes, you can ensure that your items will be safe as you transport them to from one area to another as they're durable and should last you long. Apart from that, when you place your items inside a box, you're leaving more space open as you can just pile them up together without having the feeling of drowning with your things.  

To allow yourself to be more organized with your moving-in process, you should keep similar items together in a single box and put a label on them. You can sort them by writing bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, clothes, etc. In this way, you can immediately know what kind of box you're opening and which area of the room you can prepare next. It'll only be challenging to open plenty of packages and not finding what's inside.  

5. Skip Summer Class Unless Necessary 

If you're planning to take summer classes before you hit college to prepare further for what life awaits you, you may want to skip this process and just focus on your enjoying your summer and packing for the things you need to bring with you.  

When you're moving for college, expect that you'd be bringing plenty of stuff with you. You might even need to purchase new items, especially when what you have at home looks already outdated and you don't want to bring that for someone else to see.  

Moreover, if you pushed through summer class, you won't have enough time to pack, purchase, and prepare for your moving-in day on your new housing. When it comes to bringing your things, it'll be beneficial for you if you could pack days or weeks ahead so you can ensure that you've got everything you needed with you.  

6. Meet Up with Close Friends 

When you're moving out for college, expect that you'd only be seeing your old friends as little as possible. While you may be off to a different state, they might even move farther away to achieve their goals and dreams. Before you all move out of the state, you might want to reserve a whole day together where you all just hang out like you're supposed to and enjoy the time of your lives. 

As you move into college, anticipate that you'll be making new friends, which you could continue to keep even after you graduate. However, with your pre-college friends, it'll be challenging to keep track as they'd be moving to a different state for college and even after they graduate.  

Before you all head on to continue your lives, have one last hoorah, and enjoy your day together like there's no tomorrow. It'll be a day that you won't forget and will forever keep in your hearts.

7. Get Around Your State as Much as Possible 

As you're moving to a different state for college, you'll probably be going to miss your home town where you grew up in. Before you leave for college, get around your area as much as you can and eat your favorite foods that you can only find way back home.  

You can indulge yourself in your favorite local coffee shop, buy an excellent donut to take home, or visit your famous park where you usually walk your dog or just go for a run when you feel like it. In this way, you can truly enjoy and appreciate your state and why you'd always feel like that's your home.  

8. Spend Quality Time with Family  

Of course, your family would be there to support you while you go to study for college. While you cannot wait to live independently, rest assured that you'll miss the chaos inside your home. You're going to miss the smell of freshly brewed coffee, the TV on playing the local, and the little things that your parents and sibling do for you, which you cannot bring with you as you move to college. 

To enjoy your last weeks at home, you can have a family vacation where you can just enjoy each other's company and do the things that everyone loves to do. When you're off to college, you'd only be coming home during spring break and the holiday season, which can be a short period. With that, you need to cherish every lasting moment with your family as much as possible.  

9. Move-In Early  

If you're emotionally capable of leaving your hometown early, it'll be best if you could advance your move-in day so you don't have to deal with the chaos of fixing your things all at once. When you choose to move in during the big crowd, anticipate that you'll be having trouble moving around, especially if your roommate is packing late as well.  

When you choose to move in early, you can save time to prepare about where you need to put your stuff and clean your room. Plus, you can even start exploring the campus earlier, allowing yourself to be familiar with your buildings and places you could eat.  

10. Move Around 

When you move out of your home, you need to learn to enjoy the new city you're living in by moving around to different places before school begins. 

You'd be surprised knowing that some popular places are just a few minutes away from your university, and you could easily walk in inside with complete ease.  

As you move around the new city, learn their culture and discover new places. There'll always be a new food area where you can enjoy great food and have a good time while you're having trouble with college work.  

Conclusion  

Moving away from home can be an emotional event for the whole family as you're growing up and moving on with your life. However, before you officially move out, you need to be sure that you pack everything you need to bring to have a smooth transition to your college life.  

Above all things, don't forget to have fun and enjoy college life while you're still in there. You'd be surprised with how much you'll miss it once you're facing a more significant reality of your life, the corporate world.