There are a number of things to consider when moving out of home, particularly for the first time. So below are some questions and tips you may want to think about.
Where do you want to live?
- Consider where you want to live and where would be the most practical.
- Do you drive? Do you need somewhere to park a car? Some flatting situations may not have off-street parking available.
- Do you catch the bus? Do you need to be close to public transport? If you don’t drive, do you have physical limitations that require you to live in more accessible areas or close to places like a supermarket?
- Do you use support workers and disability support services within a certain area? Would you prefer to remain in this area?
- Do you want to be close to work, school or university?
- Do you have a preferred doctor’s practice that you go to and would you like to live somewhere close to them?
- Do you want to live in a quieter area or would you be okay living in an apartment block or university dwelling?
- Do you have a pet? If so, pet friendly rentals can be hard to find. It can help (if you can afford it) to offer to pay an extra $20-50 per week to be allowed a pet. If your animal is a service animal, this is different and you are still entitled to having them with you.
How much can you afford?
It is really important to figure out how much you can afford to pay in rent/board and make sure you don’t agree to move somewhere that would cost more than that amount.
When you move out of home, whether you go flatting with others or rent by yourself, it is your responsibility to make sure you are paying your rent/board on time. If you are living with other flatmates and you don’t pay your rent on time, this has an impact on them too as it could put financial strain on them or could result in them (and you) losing their accommodation.
Sometimes it can be helpful to set up a separate bank account for rent money or set up an automatic payment so that you know money is being put aside every week to cover your living costs. When you are looking for a flat, it’s important to remember that sometimes the cost you see listed doesn’t include power and internet. Those are separate costs that you will also need to pay.
In most cases, you will also need to pay a bond and 1-4 weeks rent in advance (the number of weeks depends on the agreement you have). The bond covers any damages you may cause in the time that you live on the property. You will get this money back when you move again, provided you have not caused anymore than what is considered reasonable wear and tear.
Living with others:
Sometimes it’s better not to live with close friends. Sometimes you might find that when you move in with people, although you got on with them well beforehand, once you move in with them the friendship may change.
Living with someone is completely different to seeing them from time to time. So, if you do want to live with friends, it’s good to be aware that the dynamic may not be the same going forward.
Consider your sensory needs. If you know that you are hypersensitive to noise, for example, it may not be a good idea to live with more than one or two other flatmates.
Communicate and compromise:
You have to be willing to compromise. Living with others means you don’t always get things exactly the way you want them. Everyone does things differently and if you are sharing space with other people, it can’t always be your way or your rules.
Sometimes it’s nice to talk about things and compromise if something is really bothersome to one or more flatmate. Other times it’s okay to let it go. For example, some people like the bathroom door to be kept shut all the time and might get really annoyed if their flatmate doesn’t close it when they come out. In this instance, the flatmate could kindly be asked to close the door, but it would be unreasonable to get mad at them for leaving it open.
Communicate. If you don’t communicate how you’re feeling about things, no one is going to know. There might be something that seems obvious to you and it might annoy or upset you, but if you haven’t communicated that with your flatmates, they may not be aware of it.
Have a discussion and agreement around food/meals. Are you going to do meals together or are you going to do them separately? If you are going to keep your food separate, consider dividing the pantry and fridge so that you each have a chosen spot to store your items. This avoids any confusion around what belongs to who. However, it’s good to be a little bit flexible with this. Sometimes your flatmates might need a bit of extra space if they made a really big dish, for example. As long as you have the space you need as well, try not to get too worried about it.
Respect the shared space:
Clean up after yourself. You should do your dishes within the same day or two. You don’t want to leave things lying out because they can get in the way for other flatmates, it can start smelling bad, and it can just look messy.
What you do in your room is up to you, but in the shared spaces it’s important not to let things get out of hand and not to expect anyone else to pick up after you. Sometimes it can help having a chore roster or a list of things that may need doing.
Be respectful of the time of day. That is, be mindful of the amount of noise you make early in the morning or late at night (generally speaking: before 8am and after 11pm). You don’t want to disrupt people who are trying to sleep.
This may be different if you are in a flat that enjoys staying up later hours or having more social gatherings, so it’s good to talk about it so that anyone who does want to sleep can sleep.
If you like having friends, family or support people over for visits, it’s good to check in with your flatmates as well. Sometimes your flatmates might not want to have other people in their home on a particular day. In this case it might be a good idea to meet your guest somewhere else.
Home should be a place to rest and relax for everyone who lives there, and people don’t always feel like they can do that if there are guests in the house. However, there should still be compromise. It wouldn’t be fair for you to never be allowed guests over. It might be that you just need to give a certain amount of warning, or perhaps there are just one-off occasions that your flatmate simply isn’t up for it. When it comes to support workers, that’s a bit different.
It’s probably important to let flatmates know that you have a support worker who comes regularly, prior to moving in with them, in case that is something they would not be comfortable with. You need to be able to access your support.
What do you need?
Do you need to find a furnished room or do you already have furniture (such as a bed) that you’ll be bringing with you?
You may need the following:
- Fridge
- Vacuum
- Bed
- Coat hangers or drawers to store clothing Couch or other seating
- Mop
- Pots and pans
- Plates and bowls
- Cutlery
- First aid kit
- Cleaning supplies and cloths
- Laundry supplies
- You may also need to set up power, internet and bins
- If you live alone you may need a lawn mower, however sometimes landlords will take care of this.