Tips for living alone

Living alone is a very different experience from living with someone else. Some people live with housemates until they find a romantic partner to cohabit with, some live at home with mummy and daddy forever and some simply go straight into living with their partner from the start.

It’s for a variety of reasons that these people may find themselves suddenly living alone for the first time, and it can be quite a shock to the system. Things that used to be sorted out between two or more people are suddenly down to just one person, and it can be a little daunting. Combine that with potentially getting over heartbreak at the same time and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and unable to cope with living alone.

With that in mind, here are some tips on how to cope with living alone for the first time. Add your own in the comments below!

• Never leave a room without moving something closer to where it should be. You don’t always need to put it away, but it helps stay on top of things.
• Think to yourself “would I be embarrassed to bring a date home?” – if the answer is yes, tidy up.
• Don’t buy too much furniture at the start. Live there for a while and then only buy the few things you really need.
• Buy fewer things, but make them higher quality. No-one ever looked at their possessions and was thankful they bought them quickly.
• You do not need as many pillows as women say you do.
• You need more pillows than men say you do.
• Have speakers set up around the house so you can hear music in every room. It makes quiet days feel less lonely.
• Succulent plants only need watering every few weeks but make it seem like you are green fingered.
• Have pesto in the cupboard and some emergency pasta. There WILL come a time when you forget to shop and you’ll need a meal available.
• Personal artwork will make you smile each time you see it. Paint, draw, or use Prisma to turn a photo into artwork which you can then have printed on canvas.
• Remind yourself that no-one else will do a job for you. If you don’t put something in the bin, it will stay where it is forever.
• Touch each piece of paperwork no more than three times; once to open and read it, once when you deal with it and once when you file or throw it away.
• Keep at least one bottle of red, white and pink wine in the house at all times, along with tea, coffee and sugar.
• Invite friends and family over regularly. If you fill your house with people who make you smile, you will associate it with smiles and happiness.
• Get some tupperware; you’ll definitely cook too much sometimes, so get used to popping it in a box and in the fridge for another day. Use a dry-wipe marker to note when it was made otherwise you might end up eating food a little bit too old.
• Most of all, enjoy it. Listen to the music you want to as loud as you want to. Watch the movies late at night that you never could before, cook the food you love and come and go as you please. One day you’ll be living with others and will look back fondly on your time alone and the freedom it gave you.
• You’ve got this.