15 Tips For A Homebody

Posted by: KHTS Articles in News Articles July 17, 2020 - 11:43 am 0 343 Views

Introduction

Eating ice cream for breakfast, bingeing on the latest Netflix series deep into the night, and hosting parties with your closest friends are no longer a pipe dream once you live alone in your own crib. Decorate your home how you want to, adopt the pets you want, and make questionable decisions that you only have yourself to answer to. Living alone can be extremely liberating for many who have always been under the scrutiny of their overly strict parents. You can now call the shots and have the final say in everything within the walls and domains of your home.

Unfortunately, living alone has its own troubles and difficulties. You’ll now have to figure things like unblocking a toilet yourself without anyone’s help. Furthermore, living alone is not exactly frowned upon but it is definitely not the usual convention. Despite the latest studies revealing that about 42 percent of American adults actually live solo, many aspects of daily life and society are catered towards the nuclear family archetype. Here are some tips for our friends living alone or planning to do so in the near future which will definitely come in handy when you have no one but yourself to rely on.

Avoid a ‘Tric-key’ situation

It is important to be mindful of where you place your keys at home and where you keep them on your body as you are on the go. Being the only person with keys to your home, misplacing your house keys essentially means locking yourself out of your own home. Always bring your keys along, even if you are throwing out trash.

The best solution to this is to consider installing a digital door lock. You will never have to bother with physical house keys and all you need to remember is a secure pin code. Do remember to change your house pin every four months for security reasons. Otherwise, hiding a spare house key under your entrance rug or plant could do.

Neighbors are friends

Always introduce yourself and get acquainted with several neighbors near your home. You never know when you might need their help to watch your house while you are away or borrow some emergency tools or items.

Stock up your first aid kit

Part of living alone is taking care of yourself including when you are feeling under the weather or sick. Make sure you have your personal medication and other medical essentials ready to save you the trouble of heading down to the pharmacy or the clinic especially if they are not within walking distance.

Prepare for emergencies

Ensure your house’s smoke detectors and CO2 detectors are well-maintained and working. It would be in your interest to have a flashlight with sufficient power and batteries in the situation of a blackout.

Lend yourself an extra hand

Having trouble zipping up the back zipper of your dress? Attach a safety pin to a long string and then attach the pin to the dress zipper and pull the string. Works all the time for those pesky back zippers.

Ask for decoration help

If you don’t have a massive budget for interior design and furnishing, it is prudent to ask around your circle of friends and also your neighbor friends for any extra stuff they are willing to let go. Hit up Craigslist and check out for any neighborhood flea markets to get a bargain for some handy items.

Experiment with Cooking

Cooking and preparing your own meals can save you loads of money and is generally better for your health. Consider spending several weekends experimenting with easy to make recipes from cookbooks or online. It is cost-efficient to cook in bulk and store the excess for later by reheating the food in the coming days.

Go Bulk

As mentioned above, preparing your food in bulk helps save you some cash. This also entails purchasing staples like pasta, grains, and seasoning in bulk. For novelty food items, buy what you can finish and avoid overspending on too much food which is likely to be wasted because they expire before you can finish them.

Storage is key

Food wasted can be wasteful and costly for you. You can keep your food fresh for a longer period of time with proper storage techniques. Specifically for bread, freeze it in a plastic bag void of air. It will continue to toast beautifully even for months.

Set up a cleaning routine

Develop a routine when it comes to cleaning. Never leave dishes in the sink for hours on end because you will end up delaying cleaning them. Try to live by rules such as cleaning the dishes the moment you are done with them. Similarly, for vacuuming and laundry, do them on a regular basis. Before you know it, it will develop into a habit and become less of a chore for you.

Don’t keep rubbish

Opt for smaller bins and smaller garbage bags in your home. Smaller garbage bags fill up faster and force you to take them out regularly. Although this sounds counterproductive, it actually reduces the chances of pest infestation which is a bigger problem altogether.

Five-minute cleaning rule

Another good tip when it comes to cleaning up is the five-minute rule. You can base your cleaning decisions on whether the task can be completed within five minutes. For instance, if the task is drying your dishes and you can finish it in less than five minutes, then you ought to do it immediately. This prevents your chores from accumulating and is a rational decision-making process.

Fizzy Drinks

Choose canned fizzy drinks over the bottled ones. They usually retain their fizziness for a longer time than their bottle counterparts.

Get out of your home

Without anyone in your home, the urge and inertia to stay cooped up at home all-day are real for people living solo. Going for a short walk or an unplanned grocery trip will do your body and mental health well.

Make Weekend Plans

It is easy to fall into an antisocial rut especially for those with introverted personalities living alone. Sometimes it is recommended to make plans with your friends and family before weekends arrive to make a commitment to leave your crib. Making plans in advance makes you less likely to bail and helps you get some much needed catching up with your loved ones.

In Conclusion

Living alone can be troublesome despite the freedom that comes with it. What’s more, the freedom comes responsibilities too. We hope that our tips have helped you to put your solo-living life together and ready for adulting.