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Living independently is no small feat in life. It takes a lot of courage, but I find it to be a rewarding experience nonetheless. 

The start of 2023 marks a full three years of me living independently in Adelaide. It has been full of many ups and downs, and most definitely a big part of my journey in life. I’ve been able to exercise my freedom through small experiences like impulsively going to Coles after dinner because I’m craving ice cream, or simply walking out of the house without having to explain myself.

Along with the great experiences came some challenges, the little things around the house that you never knew you had to consider. So, I wanted to share a few things that I’ve learned which might be obvious but haven’t been taught explicitly. 

1. Keeping track of documents and files. When I was living with my family, I didn’t have to worry about the utility bill or grocery receipts. But now, I’ve learnt that you never know when that utility bill is going to come in handy as your proof of address, especially tricky to keep track of if sent via email. I’ve learnt to keep either a drawer or file for physical documents or a cloud/hard drive storage for digital ones.
2. Food expires a lot faster than I thought! Living with my family I was never really concerned about expiry dates or eating the food before it went bad because I knew if I didn’t eat it someone would. Now, even if I buy something I don’t particularly enjoy, it’s not going to magically disappear from the pantry anymore. And when you’re the only person who can eat your groceries it’s more to plan ahead. I’ve learnt to avoid overbuying by having a rough idea in my head about what I want to cook and buying the ingredients accordingly.
3. Setting the time aside to cook is quite tiring. Perhaps it’s because I’m not quite a Masterchef but for me, cooking during the day bread up my momentum if I’m in the groove of studying or drawing. So sometimes I would start cooking after I get hungry instead of before, leaving me feeling starving by the time the meal is ready. It might sound quite obvious but it was easier to lose track of time than I thought.

Do you live independently? What’s something you didn’t realise before you moved?