🇬🇧 Tips for those who want to live alone

I was asked how to know if you are prepared to live alone and what monthly income a person should have to take this step. On income, it will depend on the lifestyle you want to maintain. But I will give tips, in this text, to calculate. About being prepared, I recommend that instead of leaving your parents' house directly to live alone, share an apartment with someone, to take over the responsibilities of solo flying, but sharing them with others. After living a year or so, go solo.

To live alone you will need to set up the property (furnish, decorate, etc.). Visit some e-commerce to see home appliances, furniture, etc. to calculate how much you will need for this purpose. You must also decide whether to use your own property that you already own, buy one or rent. In the last two options, it is also up to you to choose the location, taking into account your lifestyle and the facilities you want.

Here on the blog I already posted a checklist of a well equipped kitchen that can help you calculate this part. You can eliminate the items you find expendable. Eating out is an option, but I suggest having at least the basics in the kitchen, to make coffee or warm dinner. Always eating out, including breakfast, is very practical, but it can be quite sickening depending on the options you have close to home.

You can have a washing machine and a clothes dryer (or one that does both), use the building's laundry (if any) or a nearby laundry. A large basket to store dirty clothes is also necessary, regardless of your choice for washing them.  Some washers do not support washing bedding, especially comforters.

Bed, wardrobes (if not built into the property), table, chairs and sofa (I like the idea of a room with a beautiful rug and ottomans too) are other things you should include in the calculation, as well as sets of sheets, blankets, pillows, cushions, tablecloths, vacuum cleaner... Look at your current home and see what seems expendable and what can be added to improve your lifestyle.

Costs with transportation, leisure, water, electricity, gas, internet, among others, must be included in your spreadsheet.

In 2004, living in Porto Alegre (a big city in the south of Brazil), sharing an apartment, going frequently to international shows (tickets at R$ 40) and ordering restaurant food two or three times a week (cooking at home rarely), I spent R$ 1500 on all expenses (rent, food, transportation, college tuition, leisure, etc.).  Today, to have the same lifestyle, living alone in a brazilian capital, you would need R$ 8000 or more, as tickets to shows cost more than R$ 100, and each meal in good restaurants also costs that amount, in addition to all other costs that went up  in the period.

I hope that the coronavirus quarantine experience has also given you good tips on what you need to have a real home, a place where it is pleasant to be and not just a place to sleep and bathe. If you liked the tips, buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/nycka

Nycka, the nomad