In this post, we’ll look in detail at what you need to do (and what you can’t do) if you want to keep your sanity while sharing the house with a very complicated person yourself.
Like almost everything in life, living alone has its advantages and disadvantages.
The main advantage goes by the name of freedom. You build the house your way, you can walk around the room without clothes, listen to music at any volume you want, and do what you do when nobody sees you doing it or what you want to do if nobody can see you.
The main disadvantage, for many, is the name of responsibility.
In other words, now it’s all in your account. And not just the electricity, gas, and phone bills, but also the housekeeping, the dirty dishes, the clogged bathroom. There is only one person to blame: yourself.
So let’s look at the top 5 tips for those who live alone not to lose their sanity.
Tips for Living Alone # 1: Simplify Your Life
When we think of living alone, we usually think of abundance. Let’s do everything, have everything, enjoy everything, without having to be accountable to anyone.
This in the world of ideas. In practice, what you really want is to simplify your life to the fullest.
That means setting up a house that doesn’t require much of you to keep in order. Have a decor that’s easy to clean and easy to keep organized, otherwise, your home will soon become chaos or use up all its energy just to keep it tidy.
A simple detail can make a difference in everyday life, like a dish rack that is already built into the cupboard (ie if you put the dishes to dry, it is already stored).
Which brings us to the second tip…
Tips for Living Alone # 2: Automate What You Can
You live alone, which means you probably have to work to maintain the bills. Which means you spend most of your day away from home.
When you get home from work, at the end of the day, the last thing you’ll want is to tidy up the house, right?
So invest in some gadgets and automate everything you can and your money allows.
The washing machine is almost a must, but you can also get a dishwasher (God bless the inventor of this marvel), a coffee machine and even a robot that sweeps the house and still wipes it. floor.
If the budget does not allow it, the best thing to do is to adhere rigidly to the soiled, the washed-up, and the one-place rule for each and every thing in its place for household objects.
Another important thing to automate is the accounts. If possible, debit rent, condominium, power, water, electricity, telephone, whatever you have to pay to keep the house up to date. The last thing you want is to get home from work and have your power cut for nonpayment.
Speaking of rules…
Tips for Living Alone # 3: Create Your Own Rules
Discipline is freedom.
If you really value freedom, don’t believe that living alone means letting chaos take over and doing just what you want when you hit the roof.
In that direction instead of freedom, you will become a prisoner of a house that generates anxiety and mental confusion.
Each of us has a different level of tolerance for dirt and clutter. Therefore, you and only you can create the rules of your own home.
Here’s a list that can help you write down your rules:
- How often will I clean the house? What days? Am I myself or a day laborer?
- Will the dishes be washed on time? At the end of the day? At the beginning of the day? Even fill the dishwasher?
- How soon will I change the bathroom towel, the bedding, the floor cloths?
- How often and on what day of the week will I go to the supermarket?
And since we talk about the supermarket, let’s go to the biggest obstacle for those who live alone: ​​the food…
Tips for Living Alone # 4: Master Your Kitchen
If you have always lived in your parents’ house, or if you have always had someone (parents, spouses, employees) making food for you, then probably the biggest shock to living alone will be preparing your own food.
What most people do here is simply destroy their health . That means they appeal to the convenience and buy everything that’s easy to maintain and do: breakfast cereal, frozen lasagna, nuggets, microwave pizza, soda and everything.
Please do not do that.
If you are not familiar with this, we recommend that you urgently read the book Change Your Body (it’s free) and understand that what your body needs is real food .
If you insist on convenience and eat only frozen and processed foods, your health will soon deteriorate, you will get fat, get sick and have no energy for anything.
It is possible to eat real food without spending too much time. It is not as practical as frozen and industrialized ones, but it is very worthwhile.
Here are some good tips:
- Buy naturally practical foods: nuts, almonds, pistachios, bananas, apples, pears, grapes… nature already produces some foods that are practical just to pick and eat without messing a dish.
- Buy meat that doesn’t need much preparation: you probably don’t know how to cook well. So buy meat that needs to be beaten, seasoned, topped with gravy etc. They are not a good choice. Prefer the cuts that can simply be grilled with salt and pepper and so are ready within 15 minutes, such as chicken breast, tilapia, salmon, picanha steak, titty, kebabs. Yes, these cuts are usually a bit more expensive, but they have the advantage that you don’t throw anything away and don’t need extra spice spending.
- The egg is your friend: Chicken egg was once considered the second most nutritious food in the world, behind only breast milk. With one or two of them, you already consume all the nutrients you need in one meal. Moreover, they are easy to make to eat on the spot (scrambled, for example) or even to store overnight (boiled, for example).
- Cook in advance: If you are one of those people who has no time for anything, cook your food in larger quantities and store it in plastic pots. You can do this only twice a week, keeping the food in good condition. When it’s time to eat, just take the pot and reheat it in the microwave.
In the latter case, if money permits, hire a day laborer to do the job once or twice a week. In fact, do anything that allows you to eat real food. But never, never, never appeal to the industrialized and frozen.
And for you to always have real food at home…
Tips for Living Alone # 5: Know What’s Missing
If you went to do laundry and saw that the fabric softener was down, write it down. She opened the fridge and it looked like the Winterfell Wall, write down what’s missing.
By doing this throughout the week, you will know exactly what to buy the day you go grocery shopping.
Not only does this strategy allow you to keep your home always stocked, it will also save you money at the supermarket by buying just what you need.
Bonus Tip: Get used to loneliness
Apart from all this operational part of the house, living alone still poses another challenge: getting used to loneliness.
In the world of ideas, we think this is the best. We can do whatever we want without giving satisfaction to anyone.
At first, this is really fun.
Over time, however, loneliness can lead us into temptations and unconstructive habits. Some start drinking too much, watching too much television, playing too many video games…
A human being has a tendency to go astray when alone and you will need to deal with it if you really want to live alone and still keep your life in order.
A good tip for this is to invite people from time to time to your apartment, whether to watch movies, play games, or just chat. Another good tip is to leave home, enjoy the park, beach or square nearby.
All are palliative. What you will really need to do is learn to get used to loneliness and be a good person even without anyone watching over you.
That means setting boundaries, knowing yourself and coldly analyzing what you are doing with your life.
Leave a comment if you need help with this or any of the tips presented in this post. We’re here to help.