Independent Living Over a Year, These are the Ten Things I Learned.

From Nov`21 to present day has been the most transformative years of my life living independently. I learned how to handle myself physically and mentally. Here are the do's and don't I learned along the way.

Photo by Pascal Habermann on Unsplash

1. Get a 1BHK :
   Living alone is one of the best things that happened to me last year. When I came to Bangalore, I found an empty room in 3BHK and shifted to it. The chemistry with my flatmates didn't go well, and I had to move. This time to avoid all the drama, I switched to a 1BHK.
   I learned how to handle myself. The first few months were sad since there was no one to talk. Then I learned to embrace the time by myself—work on my pursuits and hobbies. I got so much more time I didn’t knew I had. Moreover, meeting friends now was much better since I was not constantly with them.
2. Get a Cook/Maid :
   I cannot stress this enough, get a cook. If you are not doing so, you'll be ordering. And 90% of the orders are mostly junk; even if you order healthy, you'll never know the situation it was cooked in or the oils used. With a cook, you can have food as per your preference. I have a cook who comes once a day and cooks Lunch and Dinner. I manage breakfast myself. I still don’t have maid, since my flat doesn’t really get dirty. I choose to clean it on sunday’s, gives a good exercise as well.
3. Get a Washing Machine/Fridge :
   After paying all that deposit for the flat, it might seem excessive to get a washing machine and Fridge immediately, but if possible, go for it. It's a real time saver. I had a mini washing machine, that manual one, where you have to wash and rinse. Forget about spinning. That was very tiresome. This used to waste more than 30–40 minutes of my time whenever I washed clothes—on top of that,I forgot to close the tap wasting a lot of water. After getting a fully automatic washing machine, it's been a breeze.
4. Get a vehicle :
   Living in cities like Bangalore/Pune will cost you a lot if you go out a lot and don't have a personal vehicle. If I want to go to my friends around 12kms, a UberGo costs me ~400. Getting a private car will allow you to live your life as you see fit.
5. Get a water purifier :
   I still buy that 20lt water container every other day, and it's a real pain. I am going to get a rented one.
6. Eating healthy
   This may seem very generic, but living away from your parents, you lose control of what goes in your mouth and most of the time, it is junk. As said above, get a cook and try to keep off the outside and junk food. My cholesterol increased a bit after a lot of outside food. With money at hand and services like Swiggy, and Zomato giving you food on your table, It’s difficult not to order fancy stuff, especially with how tempting they make the menu screens.
7. Go out and Buy things from the shop.
   Put a stop to your ordering. With stats like `Bengaluru user spent a whopping Rs 16.6 lakh buying groceries and essentials on the platform’s Instamart`, `The report also revealed that a user from Bengaluru placed a single order worth Rs 75,378 during the festival season of Deepavali. Another user from Pune ordered burgers and fries for Rs 71,229, while another Bengaluru user placed as many as 118 orders for gourmet dishes in a week.`
   These reports clearly show how much people in Bengaluru are spending on orders. This isn’t good for you physically and mentally. Go out and buy groceries from the shop. Interact with vendors, and learn to haggle to save money and build a skill.
8. Invest and Invest :
   First financial independence is something else. Once you get the salary credited, it can be challenging to hold it. The temptation to buy stuff can now be fulfilled instantly. Investing it on credit day is one of the best things you can do. Invest at least 20–30% per cent. The easiest/safest way to do this is to start SIP via some broker (INDMoney, Grow, Coin) in Index Funds, FD, PPF, ELSS or NPS.
9. Create an Emergency Fund :
   Ensure you have at least three months' worth of the emergency fund. If you spend around 50k a month, make sure to have a minimum of 1.5 lakhs in your bank account. You never know when or how you might need it.
10. Prepare before buying significant assets/liabilities.
    Before spending money on a bike/car, make sure you know the maintenance cost. I own a Yamaha FZ (150cc). It gives a mileage of 35-40kms/lt. With shell petrol at Rs 113 a litre, it costs me around 2k/month on fuel. Rs 1200 servicing charge every three months. Bike cleaning, lubrication, polish and miscellaneous cost around Rs 400.
    That comes down to 3–3.5k a month on bike driving. With the car, the cost increase substantially. With a house, it increases more. The more assets you have, the more maintenance you pay, and the higher your cost of living go.
    For example, my guitar strings got rusted when I was out for a long. I need to replace it. My laptop keyboard stopped working; I need to get it checked. The phone's tempered glass broke down; I need to get it replaced. One friend has recently bought a cat, it's been 1–2 months, and he's already spent around 40k on her. Be vigilant of your purchase, considering the maintenance cost, since this ultimately becomes your way of living.

That’s the top 10 points that come to my mind. I hope it helps.
If you liked this article, check out my other articles.

Cheers :)