You’ve lived your life under the roof of your parents, and you’ve envisioned what it would be like if you had a place all to yourself. In the midst of that imagination, all the details are already in place; you know how big you’d like it to be, what sort of furniture you would have, and how good you’d feel coming home to a place you can call your own. At 23, at the very first place you get, there are some changes that happen.

10. You Enjoy Doing Chores

A day-off or on the weekends, for some reason you start to enjoy the fact that you finally found time to be able to organize that shelf and do those dishes. There’s a sense of pride in the end of each chore off the list.

9. You Buy Decorations

 You didn’t think these things were necessary the first few months you were living alone. But then later on you start to want to fill up those empty sofas, and those empty corners of the house. So you invest on certain things; maybe a center piece, a painting on the wall, or just random magnets to place on your fridge to add a little color to your four walls.

8. You Budget Everything

It sounds tedious at first but keeping a list of your income becomes natural after awhile. You start to contemplate how to spend smart. You take a look at that bank account from time to time figuring out how much you’d need for groceries and how much you’d need for that outfit you’ve had your eye on. It’s a little mix of necessity and luxury.

7. Grocery Shopping Is Super Fun

You love to fill up your refrigerator. Your lifestyle changes to the point that you are more aware of what fuel goes into your body, so you search for recipes and list down all these ingredients. You become excited about having a weekly visit to the grocery store, sometimes you stick to the list but sometimes you just cant resist buying a few things more. With your chin held high, you walk into your place with both hands clinging on to those heavy grocery bags. And hey, why stop there? You start collecting those eco-friendly tote-bags.

6. Your Alarm Clock Is Your Only Hope

Think about it, you live alone now and no one’s there to back you up when you decide to hit that snooze. You will realize that if you don’t get up now, when will you ever? You will eventually need to trust yourself, otherwise, it’ll all be too late; literally.

5. The Kitchen Becomes Your Laboratory

You either found a recipe or make your own; the kitchen is now your new laboratory and there are no rules. You try different recipes and experiment on whatever you think will taste good with the other. Face it, you are your only critic for now, so try everything you want and pretend you’re a chef serving for one.

4. Having A Tupperware Collection is Awesome

You’ve probably heard about that joke how the older generation’s fascination over Tupperware. Well, here’s the thing, if you’re living alone they become your best friends. Imagine how satisfying it is when you pre-pack your meals and store them so neatly in your fridge. You will learn to always have a spare for someone to borrow, or for you to bring to that dinner out. Your collection will have different shape and sizes but for some reason you’d want more when possible. You will enjoy entering stores that show a variety of these bad-boys, just browsing is enough to call it a day.

3. Mastering Your Weekly Schedule is Key

Since now you do your own chores, you do your own thing, and you’re the boss under the roof, you try to keep a little order to yourself. So, what happens? You have your weekly routines. When to pre-pack meals, when to go grocery shopping, when to have that night out, when to clean the place, when to workout, when to bring out that special dish you’ve been saving for yourself, and when to just sit on the couch and read.

2. You Enjoy Entertaining Guests

When your family comes over or a couple of your friends you try to be as hospitable as possible. Almost to the point that you have imagined your place as a somewhat restaurant or hotel. It’s a pretty fun task, and what’s even more fun is that moment when they start treating your place like some sort of museum: They will look around, maybe with a drink in their hand, saying things like, “Where did you get this? I would love to have one!”

1. But You Also Love Having the Place all to Yourself

You love living alone because you are free to sit down, relax, read a book and have some coffee when you feel like it. You love living alone because you get to crawl in bed after a long hard day. You love living alone because you get to experience a little piece of that vision you had when you were younger, and now you know what it would be like to have yourself your own little cave. You love living alone because you feel a little older somehow, a little bit more mature than you were the year you first moved out. You love feeling independent, even just a bit. And you love having the place all to yourself because you get to have that much needed peace and quiet.
So celebrate your life as it slowly transforms to adulthood, even though you can admit you’re still figuring everything out. Celebrate the fact that you get to say you have your own place! Celebrate, but make sure to be in bed by 10pm, because according to your weekly schedule it’s garbage day tomorrow; you have to wake up a little early in the morning to takeout the trash.. But yeah, celebrate your independence.

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