Finally being a big boy and moving out of my parents house. What are some things i should know about that people dont tell you?
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r/CasualUKu/EngineerNerd121 (8110)

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It's actually easier to clean your dishes if you do them immediately after you eat rather than giving it a few hours/days/weeks to let the cooking residue crust on there.

Also a good idea to wash up as you cook. If you’re waiting for something in the oven or pan, just quickly wash up anything you’ve used so far so you have less to do later. Makes it feel more manageable

Jon Richardson taught me that. Fill the sink with hot bubbly water (no cold water) and anything you use while cooking just toss in there. By the time you’ve eaten your meal and return to the kitchen, everything will be practically clean and the water will be a manageable temperature.

Nah nah mate if i eat the meal im going in food coma and am now too lazy haha

Wash as i go wotks for me. Waiting for microwave? Clean. Waiting for water to boil? Wash up. Waiting for pasta? Wash up.

You wait for water to boil? I thought boiling the kettle and pouring it into the pan was the norm...

I've always used the kettle method and didn't realise it wasn't the norm until I moved in with my SO

Depends what your cooking. Obviously having boiling water quicker via the kettle method is a better way of heating water, but!

I was taught that root veg should be started cold and brought to the boil but above ground veg like cabbage or something should be placed in already boiling water.

So you should look at what you are cooking and decide if you need to heat on the hob or cheat with the kettle.

Gas is cheaper than electricity so I tend to opt for boiling on the hob over the kettle. Depends if I’m in a rush as kettle boils quicker!

You must be absolutely minted by now

I have the best/worst of both worlds - the power boost function on an induction hob 😂

I love my induction hob and tell anyone that will listen

Ive been using my keurig quickly heat water for years now

Edit:spelling

You should get a Bosch, ours heats all sorts of things :)

My kettle in student accommodation is mank and has floaty rusty bits in it, so I don’t like using it for stuff like pasta. Tea is fine, I just give it an extra thorough rinse and the flavour masks any disgustingness that might remain.

Bro you can get a kettle for like a tenner in home bargains or something do yourself a favour 😂

Buy a new kettle

Tell me you're lazy without telling me you're lazy.

Get a kettle descaler from wilko or something. Cheaper than a new kettle even! :)

Sounds like it needs a clean I put vinegar in over night..Albert the other students that your doing this …or not lol

Jesus wept I'm almost tempted to make you my Christmas charity and ask for your Amazon wishlist. No English man deserves that.

Do you not wait for the water to boil in your kettle? Because you might be doing it wrong. You still have to wait for it to be boiled...

How fast is your kettle!?

Not very, it doesn't have any legs

This is the most grudged upvote I've ever given anyone.

I feel special 🤣 I'm sorry, recently became a dad so I'm getting into the swing of the jokes

much, much faster than a pot on the hob.

I have an induction hob with a boost setting and it’s actually as quick or quicker than boiling a kettle.

But you have to watch it like a hawk as it’ll go from bubbling to overflowing in seconds!

But I was always told it can never boil while you're watching it. They wouldn't lie to me like that, would they?

Depends if you can set a temp on the induction (sometimes you can I think), if you set it to 95 or something it shouldn’t quite boil E: while still cooking things I mean

I think you need a new kettle, my friend.

Yes, but kettles aren't instant. While the kettle's boiling, you can wash up a chopping board and a knife

I use kettle

Depends what you're boiling. If it grows below the ground, start from cold water. If it grows above the ground, add to boiling water.

Interesting take, I've never heard this before, what's the reason behind it?

It was just something I was told by my old head chef. I think it has to do with root vegetables and such being a lot harder and more dense, so the slow rising temperature helps soften and acclimate the food for more thorough and even cooking. Give it a go when you're making carrots next time! Add salt, pepper, thyme, a whole cracked bay leaf and some butter to the pot. The butter is important, it melts and creates an oil that the fragrances of the herbs can attach to, which then coat the carrots when removed from the water. Remove the carrots from the water, rather than tipping the water from the pan.

Sorry I'm an English cook, I could go on for ages about root veg!

I absolutely love this! I fear it'll get buried in this comments section though. It might be worth making a whole post which includes lots of cooking tips, I'm sure a lot of people would be appreciative! I think skills like this are prone to being lost in modern cooking practices for the average person.

Thanks! I'd love to make a post one day explaining how to do a Sunday roast properly. We English get a bad rep from the Europeans for having bland food, but the reality is it just sounds bland when you say potatoes, carrots and beef. If you were to deconstruct any Italian food the same way, it'd sound just as dull. The French, admittedly, are on another level. But a proper English Sunday roast is fine soul food.

I fill a pan wutg water, about third of the way, and put it on the stove and then boil the kettle with just enough to make a cup of tea and top the pan up to the right amount.

I swear it shaves seconds off my day.

Obviously it goes without saying you need to leave enough to make a cup of tea!

Try the hybrid method, a small amount of water in the pan, topped off by kettle fresh

That's what I do, but it's somehow still never boiling in my pot, takes a good few minutes to get up to temp.
I've actually recently started putting a little in the bottom of my pot so I can turn the hot plate on earlier to get around it, even.

And your kettle is instant then, in this scenario?

Wait, do you do this for like making pasta? I’ve never heard of anyone doing this but I think it’d be so much faster then waiting

Yeah if works for everything you need boiling water for, including pasta! I sometimes don't bother if I'm not in a rush (or if I'm prepping other things anyway) but if you're pressed for time at all the kettle is usually much quicker (YMMV depending on stove type and kettle power)

You can't taste the water for salt if you're using boiled water! Unless you have a mouth made of asbestos

…you don’t have to wait for the water in the kettle to boil? Are brits so tea obsessed they have super kettles that instantly boil water? Where can I buy one?

In the UK the mains are 230v, North America normally 120v. More juice in the wires means faster tea. So no a UKkettle won’t help you in North America or Japan.

The kettle is more efficient and generally cheaper. I don't get why some people do it old school

Still have to wait for the kettle to boil

For what it's worth you'll feel better after a meal if you don't eat until you're completely stuffed! I used to get overzealous with portion sizes because I don't normally snack between meals (and am lazy) so I was always very hungry by the time I got to cooking.

You start off by putting yourself a smaller amount and letting that settle, then going back for more if you really need it, and saving leftovers if not. Eventually you'll just cook less.

This is all assuming your food coma is a result of eating too much, no judgement haha

Ahaha appreciated. Yeah i dont eat breakfast or snack, i do usually have a good lunch.

It makes sense to save more leftovers. I was brought up to eat everything and I just can't break that habit easily.

I think at least 50% of the coma is exhaustion from work though lol.

Yeah absolutely 100% understood on both the upbringing and work exhaustion fronts. It's important to not be wasteful, and hard not to just eat what's in front of you. And really if it ain't broke, don't fix it! All I know is I feel much better after meals when I have a little space left 😂

But at least then everything has had a good soak. You can just change the water in the morning but it will be half the effort to actually clean them.

The best tip though, is to just get a dishwasher. If you can afford a mortgage you can afford a dishwasher. Some kitchens don't have much room for one though, you may have to sacrifice your saucepan cupboard.

Normally when I cook the food is too hot too eat straight away so it's good to clean while waiting for it to cool down

This is the most important advice on this sub. I once didn't wash my dishes after a meal and subsequent food coma....

fast forward 6 months and the sink is full of the same dishes, i can see a bit of mould in a cup at the bottom, just out of reach between all the plates full of water...I havent eaten a home cooked meal in these 6 months. I now resemble a cheeseburger as it is all I have eaten since washing-gate began. I miss cereal.

Wash your dishes promptly. Have your bills come out all at around the same time.

Good luck.

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Did you read the bit where i said i cleaned up during cooking, before i ate?

Why the fuck you so mad dude?

Yeah this and if just waiting for the kettle do a kitchen job. Quick wipe of the fridge, tidy worktop, wipe cupboard doors etc.

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Its far lazier to put the job off hahaha. Just get it over with so you can relax :)

Too much sugar brotha

Jon Richardson needs to write a book on little tidbits of information like this. His old radio show with Russell Howard was full of them too

Except knives. Don't toss knives in there.

I can't eat until I've washed up everything that's been used and it's on the drying rack.

I eat really slowly anyway, so it going cold while I'm washing up (not that it takes more than a couple of minutes) wouldn't be an issue. Besides, it doesn't take too much to wash up one plate, one knife, one fork, a saucepan and a colander each day.

The grim reality of many people sharing a kitchen...

Somehow we managed to eat at different times but pots needed to be done before you left the room (and honestly yeah, you need the sink clear to cook)

I hate things in the bowl while I'm washing. It restricts my hands and dirtys the water with bits and that. While i'm washing I want to keep that water as clean as possible.

anything you use while cooking just toss in there.

Unless there's a significant amount of hot oil/grease involved. Tossing a hot pan full of oil into water will create quite a problem.

Can you explain this to my husband for the love of god

Except knives.

I always do this with the best intentions and then just leave the dishes 😂

I use a big metal kitchen bowl I put in the sink and fill.

I swear by this

The soak is the most important part.

You can do this with just regular cold water.

This is a bad bit of advice. Putting knives, or other sharps in water you will stick your hands into is a VERY bad idea. Second, putting glasses or plates in the water is asking to chip them.

Lastly, washing up order makes a MASSIVE difference to how much water you use and how good the end results look. Throwing everything in will just coat your glasses etc in a film of grease that will make them feel nasty and taste odd. Instead wash from cleanest to dirtiest. Glasses etc first, followed by plates etc. Pots and pans come before oven trays. The only exception is a rinse off when the water gets too bad, before tipping it away, and refilling.

I mean yeah, if you're privileged enough to have hot water in the kind of place you live after moving out. And if you don't have flatmates who also need the sink which is a tool.

I wouldn't want to eat round yours

Been telling my wife this for a decade. When I cook the kitchen is pretty spotless afterwards. When she cooks she uses the spare time to play phone games.

If I've put the kettle on, that gives my roughly a minute or more to see how much washing i can smash out.

I wish someone would convince my wife of this. When I cook, I clean as I go so at the end there is just what the food was served from and served onto left to wash. When my wife cooks, the kitchen is essentially rendered unusable. And yes I do realise that this comes across like the ramblings of some sort of Jon-Richardsonesque shrew, and I'm OK with that. I've made my peace with the fact that I'm a bit of a tidy freak..

Same in my house. Even worse is when she starts complaining about the kitchen being too small, and having no space. A quick look shows 2/3 of the workspace is now clogged with washing up, and she can't clear the sink to wash it up.

I second this. Vital part of all me prep.

CAYG all the way.

Clean As You Go

I don't follow this elsewhere in the house, but definitely in the kitchen. It works great for small places!

Spoken like a true chef!

This is exactly the same (i think ;)) as getting ur pension at 18, i really cba!

Definitely great advice. Makes after dinner cleanup so much easier.

I go one step further and wash up before I cook. Wait.

I lie to rinse stuff under the hot tap right after i use them my water comes out at 90° or more do takes everything straight off...

Unfortunately it makes washing hands unbareable after 5 seconds but its great for cleaning quickly

This, I've known so many people that while cooking are just sitting iddly instead of multitasking. Whenever I finish cooking I've got barely anything to do

This is real u/lifeprotips stuff right here!

10000000x this

Just wanted to second this point. It’s huge how much of a difference cleaning dishes and all while cooking makes

If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean.

This applies to such much more as well. It’s easier to maintain something then it is to let something build up and tackle it later (e.g. cleaning your toilet once a week instead of once a year)

Clean as you cook, this is the way

I think most people catch this, but I've had guests/roommates who needed to be told;

If you just blast the plate with water before abandoning it in the sink, that's STILL better than coming back to 4oz of sauce and grease that's now getting gunky. Also; PLEASE don't dump easily removed crumbs/sauce/etc. into the soapy water, use the second drain. I wouldn't want to use plates that got washed with a teaspoon of dish soap and half a bottle of bacon ranch.

I also had a friend who would deliberately add sauce to the plate. He'd also act like he didn't want seconds, put his first plate in the sink, and then come back for seconds 2 minutes later and use an excessive amount of sauce/gravy/whatever for the second plate. I haven't seen him for about 4 years now.

This. I still live at home but I cook every Friday and I’ll always clean my pans once I’ve plated up dinner as I know it’s far too hot to eat as soon as it’s plated and it will only take 2 minutes to clean the pans. Then after I’ve eaten I can pop the plate in the dishwasher and don’t have to worry about everything I used to cook. Only exception to this is when I’m baking I will leave everything until after the mix is finished.

I start my day with cleaning the coffee pot, brew a batch and in the meantime take care of whatever I didn't the night before, small things.

You know whats good trick? If you do have nasty dishes bowl a pot of water and pour over them. Really helps making the cleaning easier. Just be careful with boiling water

My grandmother always said, cooking starts with a sink full of warm soapy water. Everything you use goes in there, then rinse and place in dishwasher/dry with towel

Me and my gf try this, but we makes sure everything is ready at the same time. So at most we might have a few spoons, cutting board, and lids. So 90% of the dishes comes when we've finished eating.

Absolutely agree with this, especially if it’s a thing in one pot. Nothing better than just seeing the thing you’re cooking rather than anything else involved.

my wife still doesn't understand this after a decade of me explaining it

My wife engrained this habit in me and it's so much better. Guests arrive and the sink is close to empty. When they leave the main dishes to wash are just plates/cups/utensils that you can rinse and throw in the dishwasher.

Sure beats the hell out of washing every cooking pot/pan/paraphernalia as well.

Il also add that a dishwasher in a shared house will actually solve no end of arguments, everywhere I've lived with a dishwasher everyone got on better. It's still a chore emptying it etc but not on the same level as actually having to wash plates

But don't people then argue, if someone doesn't out something in dishwasher or doesn't rise plate off or who didn't empty filter, or whose turn it is to empty

Emptying the dishwasher isn't a massive chore though, it takes a few minutes max and doesn't involve actually washing anything or any hard work.

Much easier for someone to just do it or both people to do it simultaneously

It happens less than the arguments about the washing up not being done, plates left etc

You don’t need to rinse plates off.

Also a tip for dishwashers, run the hot water in the sink before running the wash. Another thing that I've only just recently learned, though it's obvious, dishwashers have a pre wash phase then drain, then wash. If your dish load is particularly greasy or filthy, a little bit of soap in the basin will make that prewash get a lot of the grease off so the main wash is using cleaner water.

I too watched the technology connections video on Dishwashers.

(Also the subsequent follow up on dishwasher soap)

If someone asked me if I watched an hour of content on dishwashing the answer is yes.

It was well worth it.

I havent scrubbed a dish since.

Only worth running the hot tap if the dishwasher is connected to your hot water pipes, some are connected up as cold fill only (like mine).

💯

Just make sure you have enough tableware so you still have clean items whilst half of it is in the dishwasher! Otherwise you'll be using a lot of extra water and electricity on half full dishwasher loads.

I have two dishwashers, I load one and use the plates etc from the other. When I’m done using plates from one I load the other, and then swap. I basically never have to unload the dishwasher as a chore haha.

This is the maddest thing I've ever heard and I love it. So your don't really need cupboards? This is seriously a game changer. As someone with no dishwashers, I am now going to go buy two.

But think about it, it’s so worth it if you’re a lazy guy like me 😂. I still have cupboards 😂 can never have enough storage 😂.

At the very least, rinse your plate off before you put it in a pile. I do my washing in batches every 3 of days or so, takes so little time if they're basically mostly clean anyway. Scorching hot water does most of the drying and it's all done in 10 mins.

in batches every 3 of days or so,

Cockroaches love and thank him for it.

I live in an HMO, so I share a kitchen with 2 others. I wash as I cook, and make sure all my dishes are done that night, or before I leave in the morning. My housemate has had an oven tray sitting on the counter since(checks the date) the 12th of November. I've reminded him a couple of times. He at least did add some water to it about a week ago. I just bought myself my own tray. I know it seems petty, but, I'm not his maid, and I've been cleaning up after him for several months. I drew a line in the sand. An occasional plate? No problem, but it's gone too far at this point. We have one other housemate who really doesn't cook much, usually just frozen stuff in the oven, and lots of take-away, but they clean up after themselves pretty well. I mentioned to him last week that he needs to pick up some bin bags, a pepper grinder, some dish soap and to replace all of my cooking oils(because he hasn't bought any in months and has used all of mine)

Rinse/scrub pots and pans after serving too - makes washing up easier after eating.

They’re in to soak…

That excuse only lasts until small civilizations begin to grow amidst the mould and worship you as their god.

Flashbacks to first year uni accommodation where I had to use my room's sink for everything because the communal ones were full with soaking dishes for over a month. There was stuff growing in the water.

I lived in a eight person house. The dishes flowed over the sink. Everyone else went home for Christmas. I bagged it all up and threw it out. Everyone came back to a clean kitchen and no dishware.

Yeah, but who the fuck has time to wash up 3 times a day, on top of that prepare and cook the food.

Dishwasher it is for me.

Anything that can't be dishwashed, sits in the sink for a week :)

Yeah scrubbing a plate is sooooo difficult. I think I might've pulled a muscle after breakfast

Try living with manic depression and tell me how easy it is to prep, cook and wash 3x a day, whilst working from home and living alone.

Less me being lazy and rather finding an alternative that fits my life better.

Feel free to wash up, idgaf, just saying my routine 🤷‍♂️

Same with depression here. I'm not saying if it fits you, don't do it. But saying who has time to wash up 3 times a day is making it like no one has time to do that. You didn't mention any of this stuff in your original comment

Fair point. I didn't really mean it like that, more in the sense of it's not something you truly consider during the excitement of moving into your home. Just setting the expectations for OP I guess, cause I certainly failed to consider it.

Sorry for getting defensive

Fair enough. I get that. You're right, that is what OP asked for. My fault too for going straight to sarcasm

Obviously this does not apply to those with a dishwasher, you fancy bugger

I told this to my housemates when I was at university, but they had other secret evidence opposing this that they stuck by.

I don't understand why people even put this off. In my house, everyone eats and cleans their own dish for the most part. Unless someone's at the sink already cleaning one dish, then they might clean yours too if you come over to them at the same time

yeah people never procrastinate in life, at anything

Yeah but procrastination makes more sense for difficult things or things that might be long like coursework or a project or fixing something in the house. Not something simple like scrubbing a plate or wiping your arse

are you really trying to gate keep procrastination

I've got one of those 3 layer drying racks so can blitz the washing and just leave to dry

I see this advice, I know this advice, I occasionally do this advice. Will it be the norm? Ask the plates piled in my sink.

I do my dishes before eating haha.

It's a piece of cake. Also, motivation.

I try to, but sometimes there are a shitload of dishes and it would take too long.

It's an incentive to cook healthy meals and make less dishes for yourself haha. Less dishes when you make salad!

Days or weeks yucky

This thread 😍 feels like I've finally found my people.

This can apply to anything. Clean up as you go. If you let things pile up it seems like way more work and you may put off doing it for even longer.

Alternatively, soak your dishes - leave water and/or dish soap to allow breakdown of food residue. Arrange dishes to allow this to happen (e.g. stack bowls, plates etc neatly and with water between each layer)

When it's time to do dishes, it's mostly just rinsing.

Just have one bowl and one spoon. Makes everything simple.

I wish every other adult I've lived with over the last decade was aware of this. Just clean what you can while you wait for your pasta to finish cooking or kettle to boil.

You don't even have to "do" the dishes. That's actually quite inefficient and a waste of time.

Use your utensil to throw away food into the garbage and then give it a 1-2 second rinse before putting it in the dirty pile.

That way when it's time to do dishes, you can efficiently and quickly soap and rinse all the dirty dishes.

Dishwasher. If the house burns down I will buy or steal a new one and place it on top of the rubble. It's just that much of a game changer for me lol

That's fair. I've been staying with my parents for a few weeks waiting to exchange on my new flat, and I keep forgetting and going to do the dishes by hand until my dad reminds me they have a robot for that.

I agree with this 10000x. My MIL leaves her dishes to accumulate for days/weeks, and it takes me about 2.5 hours to wash everything, it’s such a b*tch.

Just rinse them when your done and rinse your shit as your cooking ? Then you can properrly clean them as and when you like.

I read an LPT on Reddit once that basically stated that you pick up/tidy/clean 2 or three things when you walk into a room.

That really works for me

Someone else want to tell my girlfriend this? Thanks. Lol

I came here to say this

Bugs are no joke 🤢

My grandma's advice..."clean as you go". I've been doing this for decades. Miss you granny.

I feel personally attacked.

Modern dishwashers actually work better if you don’t wash them, just scrape off excess food into the trash and stick those bad boys in. Saves more water and you don’t have to do almost anything to prep the plate before it goes in

Always soak the intensively used stuff, makes it easier

Or soak them in soapy water for 30 min. Before. All comes off easily.

At the very least, give everything a quick rinse under the tap. Sauces and things crusted onto dishes sucks

Get a dishwasher if you can. I have pulled out of amazing places to rent before cause the landlord didn’t allow me to install a dishwasher (where it was possible to do so) PAID BY ME. No faff, stuff comes out hundred times cleaner than if you wash by hand, takes 4 minutes to load and uses less water

Throw out your dishes after use. Stop being poor.

Also, fold the laundry as soon as you take it out of the dryer. If you allow it to pile up, it can be overwhelming. Fold it immediately.

Also if you have a dish washer, the powder is cheaper and (if you use it properly) functions better than pods

Yup. Keep on top of your dishes, same with laundry. Future you will thank you.

If I have more than few pot/pans, they get left til I fin work next day. While I'm still in motion

I always have everything washed before eating its the best way

Pro tip, if you have burnt/ food stuck on a pan put on the stove and boil water in it. You'll save a ton of time scrubbing. I don't have a non-stick pan but I cook eggs. One I'm done cooking out comes the eggs and in goes the water. And all the egg stuck to the pan comes off.

Also, if it’s just you, keep just two of everything (plates, bowls, silverware). Then it CAN’T pile up. If you have extras, like for company, keep them in a separate spot you can get to semi easily. You’ll have to wash by hand instead of a dishwasher, but that’s fine since it can take a week or more to fill a dishwasher by yourself, and it can get pretty gross that way.

I mostly clean the kitchen soon after I finished a meal. Allowing dishes to sit very long makes dish cleaning more difficult.

Nonsense, fill the dishwasher as you go. Put it on after food clean in the morning, job done

Nah, I prefer to leave it till I've got a big pile so I can do it all in one and get it done quick as possible. No faffing around washing up every night

100% we started doing that last year after we got fed up of having a big pile of dishes to do everytime and it's so much easier when the food is no dry and gross

I’ve always kept a small basin style container in my left kitchen sink. I just drop in whatever little plate, bowl, cup I just used if I’m not able to wash it right away.

No matter what I’m cleaning later it’s always pre soaked and easy to clean. Saves a ton of water too.

If you're living alone and not a student you get a 25% discount on council tax.

This needs more visibility! Also bear in mind you must apply for it via your local council.

Kinda baffles me they didn't even check to make sure I'm not lying that I live alone.

Just filled in the details of my name, age, address etc and bam, 25% off and it took them about a week to send me a letter confirming.

If you or your landlord/letting agent have ever provided a tenancy agreement that is sufficient evidence to prove you live alone. If not, they do generally take your word for it but you'd be surprised how many people get grassed on by "friends" and neighbours if they're lying. Source: I work for a local council.

I did update my address as living alone for the electoral role when I moved in. Maybe they used that or something.

It varies from council to council but some do occasional checks by checking electoral roll records and credit reference agencies, to see if anyone else has credit accounts (phone/tv contracts etc) in their name at your address. It costs them money to do this though so it isn't worth them doing it too often.

Can confirm. My dodgy flatmate (who sublet me a room) got a letter from council saying he owe them money because it wasn't just students living in the flat as he claimed. I did sign up for electoral roll so could have been that.

I’ll take this one, so I’ve lived in my own for the best part of 2 years with the 25% reduction, but over the last 2.5 months my lodger has been here for some extra income.

Now I’m not living on my own but I don’t feel like coming clean, and when I was talking to the council guys over the phone, they said themselves that there is too many people and not enough staff to actually check the details, and that they don’t chase people up.

Soooo, winner, plus my council collapsed a year ago from loosing the majority of their money building a building that cost far more than they budgeted, our county has since been split into east and west. I really don’t feel a loyalty to “pay the man”.

I have an outdoor annexy building that qualifies for 50% off council tax (unsure why it needs to be taxed separately at all, frankly), but they didn't question it at all. Thought I'd have to send in proof, but no.

My flatmate sublet a room to me and apparently he was dodgy and filled the form saying it's only students living in the flat. Around the time we were moving out, and potentially because I at some point signed up for electoral roll, they wrote him a letter saying he owe the council money as it wasn't just students living in the flat.

Is this automatic or something you have to sign up for?

You need to let your council know, there's usually a link on their website

What is “council” please? Thank you.

So where you live well be governed by a council - eg tower Hamlets, Wandsworth or whatever in London. They all have their own websites. You should have let them know when you moved in as well!

Thank you for your kind reply. I live in U.S. Does Council mean Mayor’s office?

Ah sorry - so that advice is obviously not going to apply to you - are you just wondering out of curiosity? Just asking so I know how to tailor my response!

Hello again, thank you for your kind reply.

I am a word person, ( junior etymologist) if I do not know what a word/phrase means I want to know/learn.

I thank you.

Ha ha automatic money off, lol.
No it’s not

Should be automatically added when you tell them you live alone

You have to inform the council otherwise they’ll just send you the council tax bill at 100%

Weirdly enough it's automatic in SNP councils.. politics I know but...

Just put one of these on your window: https://www.amazon.com/FOREVER-FAMILY-INTERNET-Sticker-Motorcycle/dp/B01HL8KAGC

If you've been entitled to it for a while without claiming, you should be able to get it backdated

You can also get a discount if you are a couple and earn less than so much as well . They don't tell or advertise this though you have to ask

And if you're a couple (or two people living together) and one of you is a student, you also get a discount as it counts as a single person.

They what???

Households on low income can get discounts or support on their council tax. The how and how much varies from council to council though.

You can get council tax support if you are on a low income. This isn't to do with being part of a couple. It's often mentioned as part of claiming Universal Credit.

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Nope. This is a UK sub...

Ah idiot i am. I deserve the downvotes

Lol we've all been there

We are not the 52nd state yet.

51st being New East California.... formerly Taiwan.

You are thinking Birmingham Alabama US, they are talking about Birmingham UK.

If you live alone and then go back into full-time education, you become 100% Council tax exempt (you may need to provide your council with proof of your enrolment from your uni)

Technically you get 25% off if you are a student as well.

Students don't pay council tax at all

I know. And 25% off their £0 tax bill leaves them paying £0.

Alright smarty pants.

Also just to add REMEMBER TO PAY YOUR COUNCIL TAX. Me and my missus were lazy when we first moved out and didn’t setup direct debit.... paid it late by a day or two three times in a row and BANG, our details passed to debt collection agency to recover our council tax “debt”.

Bit of a pain - just don’t make shit mistakes like me and just put it on direct debit.

Nobody told me about council tax when I moved out. I found out about it the hard way.

Wow. Our council is really lax then - I have paid it a couple of weeks late several times as I always forget and I have never heard a word from them. I've often wondered how long it would take for them to notice if I just stopped paying it.

Dude in Brighton I got chased for years and then told I had to pay back whatever the the council tax was for the last 3 days of my tenancy plus the hundreds for collections fees.

If you didn't realise this, you should still be able to apply and get rebate going back to when you started living alone. After my ex moved out I didn't know this was an option for about a year, then got a nice fat payday.

Came here to say this exact thing - after I broke up with partner and moved into a flat on my own a few years ago, the 25% council tax discount was an absolute winner!

I'm an apprentice and I don't spend enough uni in time to be a uni student and get payed too much to count as an apprentice in the council's eyes. Pay as much for my 3 room flat as my mum does in a 3 bed semi ffs

Which I find really odd because living with a friend / SO effectively makes it a 50% discount providing you're going halfsies.

Meanwhile, I'm stuck with 75%? But hey, any discount helps when you're living alone, boy does shit get expensive!

I live with my partner and his brother so we pay 33% each. The property is bigger so the overall price is about the same as two of us splitting the council tax on a one bed house.

They’ll also ask you to reconfirm every fucking year.

And then forget to check your confirmation email, so they threaten to charge your discount back. Bastards

Also you can extend your council tax over 12 months instead of 10.

Again, you have to request this, but it lowers your monthly bill (not yearly, just monthly)

Also applies if you are living with a student

Also works if you're living with a full time student as well 👌

So you pay 0% or 25%??

If you're not a student then you get a 25% discount if you're living alone or if you live with a full time student because they usually pay nothing.

Some water companies do this also if you can't get a meter fitted.

I never knew this! I'm still saving to buy my own house, and this would be so helpful! More people need to know about this! Thank you.

Can someone provide a link on where to apply for this??

You'd need to go to the council tax section of your local council's website. There isn't one universal link.

This doesn't apply in Northern Ireland does it?

Don't know sorry. At least in England it's just a box you tick on the form the council send you when you move into a new place.

Well, that's me off to the local councils website to get my discount!

I did not know this

I recently moved in on my own and my friend told me about it. Saved me a decent wodge of money which is nice cos moving is expensive

You might have just saved me £300+ a year.

Adding onto this, me and my partner live in our own house and we’re both students, if there’s only 2 of you in the house and both students, you don’t have to pay council tax at all, it’s classed as a student household

Students are exempt from paying council tax. They don’t count as a person, which is nice.

A single person household is eligible for a 25% reduction.

Robbing useless cunts.

The weird thing with this (at least where I was) is that if you aren’t moving in yet (I did my first place up before moving in), you have to pay full whack. THEN when you move in alone, you can claim the discount. So zero people using the council services: full price, 1 person: 25% off…

This definition needs expanded. If you live in the UK in a household as the the only adult who is also not a student you will also receive a 25% discount on council tax.

My specific example: me, employed full time, wife student, 3 kids (were going for 4 but 2nd turned out a maniac and took a while to manifest - stick to 2 you horny bastards).

What is council tax please? Thank you.

I think it's not just alone. Isn't it simply if the whole household is students? So whether it's someone living alone and they're a student or 5 students sharing a house, I think it all applies?

You have to decide what you're going to have for every meal!

Honestly every day I go "uggghh what am I having for dinner??" Then talk myself out of curry for the 3rd time this week

You have more willpower than me

I try and eat somewhat multicultural, so curry (Indian or Thai), bolognese, chips with southern fried chicken or sausage, chilli, pizza, and beans in toast with fried egg if I'm feeling really done in 😂

That's one hell of a meal! What's for dessert?

Ah. The ol’ it’s actually one huge meal switcheroo

Hold my belly, I'm going in

Heh, not seen a switcheroo for a long time. Nice.

You still haven’t, there’s no link to follow lol.

Going where?

The 'switcheroo' should be a link to this fine Reddit tradition: https://www.reddit.com/r/switcharoo/

I know. Scorpion didn't set a link.

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Although I think it’s u/scorpionballs who is supposed to link it?

My bad, sorry gang

Allow me to save the day.

Ahhh the ol' reddit switcharoo switcharoo

Everyone upvote u/Ccracked we need to rescue our fallen brethren, tis no persons folley to not have awareness of one of our great traditions!

You didn't link the switcheroo! How very dare you!

28 years old, he was

And he was actually on a bus/in a library the whole time and everyone clapped

Agonising constipation, and for the coffee course a shit that's hard enough to cut diamonds.

I generally just hibernate the rest of the week, but I suppose an after 8 or two would do

Viennetta

One of each flavour, right?

What about the soup course?

a wafer-thin mint

Multicultural 10 year olds diet 🤣

I mean the "multicultural" was kinda part of the joke really

beans in toast

Is that like a toasted bean sandwich, or is it like that stew served inside a loaf of bread, but just beans?

Beans in a bowl of bread obviously

How did you fit all that in toast … and a fried egg

Are you me? This is pretty much the staple meals we serve in my house. Throw in the odd night of fajitas or tacos. Chilli and Bolognese are homemade and we do the odd steak-pie or roast chicken dinners too.

Oh I forgot to put fajitas in there!

High five dinner twin 🖐

For the sake of your health, have some vegetables. Potatoes don’t count.

I do. We have the lil steamed veg portions with chips, the chilli and Bolognese I make with tinned tomatoes, the curries have tomato or peppers or onions, hell even the beans count towards your 5 a day.

Plus I generally have fruit at lunch and sometimes breakfast

Goddamn, I would be morbidly obese in 6 months on that menu

I mean I guess it depends on your portions? I lost a stone and a half on it this year

I need to know how to make beans in toast.

Hot beans in bowl made of bread. It's a time trial as well because the bowl starts to disintegrate

If you like chilli and beans, maybe try some Mexican or South American stuff. I make Enchiladas and fajitas quite regularly, and they are fairly easy and tasty(with the right spice mix)

Yeah we do have fajitas, tacos and enchiladas every so often as well. I'd like to have them more but other than tacos they're all a bit fiddly to be bothered with regularly

I can understand that.

It's Wednesday

You misspelled curry night I think mate

If /u/Talinia is getting curry for the 3rd time this week... on Wednesday, every night is curry night ;)

I do some r/MealPrepSunday/ and make big batches of spag bol, soup, curry and chicken & bacon alfredo, stick them in tubs and bung them in the freezer. Then it's just a case of defrosting something and boiling some rice or pasta.

It’s a boring way to live your life, but I sit down on a Sunday night and write a meal plan for every day for that week. There’s nothing I hate more than getting home from work and then spending time trying to decide what to eat.

I think its quite freeing getting the plan in place. Cause then you don’t have to think about it

And you can shop for it, so you don't buy loads of stuff that you won't eat

This is one of the main reasons we do it. We both hate shopping so we have a full itemised list on our phones before we go to the shop. We can get a full weekly shop done in under 30 minutes.

Online shopping reduces that pain too

Yeah but what do you do when you get to day X and inevitably don't actually want the thing you told yourself you'd eat?

At least .. that's my constant battle.

Well, no, my constant battle is not to order from Dominos seven days a week, really..

Just eat one of the other meals you planned for that week and rain check the one you don’t fancy.

When we meal plan we plan about 5 meals for 7 days. This allows for the 'I'm not very hungry' days or 'I just want to snack' days or take away or freezer meal days like other people have said. Also, you don't have to plan what day you are going to have the meal on you can just pick one of 5 max options that you fancy that night. Also, meal plan food you like!

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Aldi’s Stuffed Crust Costello’s pizza’s are absolutely banging.

Past Self: This is what you eat on Thursday

Present Self: You can't tell me what to do!

Future Self: Why didn't you listen to your past self you fool!

I hate future me for this thing

I guess you just have to not beat yourself up if you don’t fancy it. My misses does the plan and she doesn’t like repeating meals too often.

If you don’t fancy it that day then a quick switch on the board changes what you are having.

I do the cooking and like doing new stuff. I think when you are cooking for yourself initially it can be daunting. But you can get a lot out of it if you stick with it

True story.

We’ve recently started hello fresh. Best thing about it is, the days we have hello fresh we don’t have to think and decide what to have. Just prepare and cook it. It’s meant we end up eating way better than we used too.

I agree with this completely, especially because my wife and I have overlapping tastes but quite a few differences too, and are often not in the mood for the same things. A weekly menu was a big quality of life change. It also feels very grown up, of you're into that kind of thing /s.

Cheaper and healthier too!

Yeah and I want to change it I can, but if not it’s already decided

I have a spreadsheet that once I’ve chosen what I want for the week generates a shopping list for me. I am both proud and embarrassed in equal measure.

This is fantastic. We also do a shopping list but we write it manually in a shared note in the notes app of our phones. We’ve saved a lot of money by writing a specific list, and we get the weekly shop done in about 30 minutes, which is great when you both hate shopping.

My nan cooks the same meal every day of the week (so 6 different meals and day out was how it was ) since i well since i can remember and honestly as the years have gone by i went to uni lived on my own again after u realise how much work it takes

Sign up to www.cookwithpickle.co.uk and you get the plan and shopping list done for you! Lifesaver.

I do the same, but on Monday morning at my desk. Do shopping at lunch for the week... Beauty of wfh

Also do your shopping by meals. Write down your 4/5 dinners for the week and buy ingredients for those, prevents overspending and wasting food.

I do that too, and I thoroughly enjoy doing it. I flick through old pages, have pages of dishes I can cook to refer to when I'm a in a little rut. Go through my meal plan working out what I need to get for it and what I have in. Super organised and saves so much money when shopping.

This also helps cut down on your food bill and food waste massively.

I do this while shopping, then I have a set of options depending on how done in I feel.

I have kids and this literally means I can spend more time with them rather than worrying about what we are all eating. It’s the way forward

I try to, but often forget. Or I forget to get the mince out to defrost so the plans buggered

Put the frozen mince in the sink under a gently running cold tap and it’ll defrost in about an hour.

You can pretty much brown mince from frozen with no detriment. It takes a little bit more time, you have to brown one side of the lump then turn it over and scrape the browned meat off while the other side browns, repeat until you are down to a sliver you can break up with the spatula.

Or you could keep a reserve bag of frozen mince on hand, since that is designed to be cooked from frozen.

I switched to frozen Quorn mince, no one has noticed and it cooks from the freezer.

this will also help with saving money if you can keep to just buying the things you need.

How depressing.

I tried that, thought it was a great idea as I also hate having to think about dinner when I get home from work. Problem was we'd get to Wednesday & the wife would turn around with "I don't fancy that now"..... Back to square one 🙄

You can do the same thing with sorting out what to wear for the whole week. Then just go on autopilot

Ill be taking the running over of the house when my Mrs goes back to work new year.

Im not planning a different weekly menu but one for about 2 weeks and to get the shopping in for it. We wont religiously eat such and such on a set night, but Fridays are usually curry, pizza Saturday, roast Sunday. We dont mind eating the same meals but at least a week should be between them.

My wife started doing this when we first lived together. It really does make a difference. A lot less food waste also. And yeah, not having to decide each night saves time.

And plan for there to be a flow to meals.

If you are a meat eater, a roast joint or fowl generates 'downstream meals'. Everyone knows you can make shepherds/cottage pie from leftover roast meat, but people don't always think about the fact that you can also make a ragu, giving you options for bolognaise, lasagne, moussaka etc.

Buying a whole chicken doesn't mean you have to roast it, or even cook it all at one time. get a decent knife and watch a few videos on how to butcher a chicken (Scott Rea has some excellent videos for that ) and you can roast the legs and wings one day and use the breast meat for something else later in the week, if you use the carcass to make a stock you can use it with some of the breast meat to make a risotto, or you can use the stock for soup and the meat for a stir fry.... lots of options.

That’s a good idea but I would see what I’ve wrote down to eat that day and think narr I don’t fancy that.

Yeah, I used to think I wanted to be spontaneous,but being able to plan the weeks meals before shopping means I buy everything I need, and I know what I'm having, and I have the time to try new things and be experimental.

Definitely recommend weekly menus.

We've been doing meal planning more and more because we end up just eating a rotation of 4 meals otherwise. We do it Friday so I can get the veg and fish in Saturday Market. It started out a bit boring but now my kids get involved and help plan and we do little starters and stuff. I'm pretty sure we're finally actually eating healthily.

I eat same thing every day, so I have same thing each Monday then each Tuesday etc

Like Tuesday is meatballs and pasta day lol

Yep. I have the same meals every week (e.g. stir fry, curry, pasta on certain days. I change the veg and the protein) and it's so freeing. Choice paralysis is a real thing!

Doing a meal plan makes life so much easier because I know what I need to buy at the store... No more getting stuck having to run out for one thing.

My days go much smoother because I can defrost any meat I will be using ahead of time and also prep some parts of the meal beforehand. Instant pot is a lifesaver as well!

And if it makes sense for you with how many people live there or whatever you can smash out something like ham and potatoes and a veggie one night, leftovers next night, then take them scraps and make some sort of Frankenstein stir fry (FrankenFry maybe? There has to be a pun or something here somewhere) and be done half a week of dinners.

Also, just sitting down and learning how to do a certain meal like the ham thing makes you realize how easy something like that is.

I’d have never even dreamed of making my own ham (in my 30s) till my wife showed me. You’d have to be a complete moron to not be able to do one of those Schneider’s half hams in the oven or whatever.

I just eat the same things all the time because I hate having to decide what to eat.

Make double portions and you save 50% of your cooking time.

I keep on trying to get round to this. One day...one day

Simple but ingenious.

Don’t think it’s boring at all. It’s liberating in other ways.

This is actually a good lesson: sometimes, the boring stuff can lead to excitement.

All that would give me is a list of things I didn’t buy on the Saturday

I buy my meat in bulk so I do it once a month, otherwise I end up with half planned meat in the freezer and the other half is random amounts of meat that I never seem to be able to make dinner right with.

I had to make a rotating meal plan like they do for nursery school children to save the stress of deciding what to eat in a) the shop and b) at home

Yeah I try to, but often just forget, or I forget to get the right thing out the freezer and then the whole plans shot

I hate meal prep!! Meal box delivery services like Gousto/hello fresh has saved my sanity. There’s two of us so we get a box of 4 meals with 4 portions. It means we don’t have to meal plan and only cook every second night because we have left overs from before. Also because we get 8 days worth of portions we save money. It’s also overly to pick from a menu instead of actually plan out and shop. Would recommend if you’re stuck for ideas

Nah, generally we do fine, I try and make a proper meal plan, but generally have a rough guide in my head based on what's in the freezer/cupboards anyway. We don't generally have much food waste cause I freeze the meat in portions when we buy it, just have to remember to get it out on the day I wanna eat it

They eat curry 3 times a day in India!

Brb booking a plane ticket

Sounds like a more balanced diet than mine. Mines either, nothing, ham and cheese toasties, or weetbix and milk, other than that I'll sometimes meal prep up to 9 meals of stir fry to eat during the week

Tbf I could probably eat toasties for real every day, but I think my husband would protest as he likes "Some kind of variety" or something, idk what he means honestly

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I mean I'm doing fine, I try and make a proper meal plan, but generally have a rough guide in my head based on what's in the freezer/cupboards anyway. We don't generally have much food waste cause I freeze the meat in portions when we buy it, just have to remember to get it out on the day I wanna eat it

the point when you feel like a real grown up is when you roll with that urge and make a giant pot of curry to eat for a week straight until you never want to eat curry again until a few weeks pass and you forget about being sick of curry and repeat the cycle.

I wish I lived in the UK. I would love to have curry several times a week. Is it expensive?

Depends if you're eating out/ordering in, or just making it at home. It's like £1-£1.50 a jar to make at home, and then like £2.50 Or something for chicken for two people, if you've got a big bag of rice at home that's cheaper, but it's like £1-£2 for microwave rice pouch that'll split for 2. So maybe like a fiver total? You can often get the jars on offer for a quid, and if you buy a bigger pack of chicken and rice it's much cheaper as well

This but pasta bake

See I'm lactose intolerant so pasta bake is just not as good for me cause fake cheese rarely melts as well

I'm sorry for your loss

Thank you, it's a constant struggle

My solution to this is to roast a whole chicken one day, and then use the rest of the meat for a curry and a stew for two other days. Bonus meal if you leave the carcass in a slow cooker overnight with some stock cubes for a broth type thing. It gives me a schedule and it's relatively cheap

Yeah we don't often have roast because cba with all the faff of having a nice one, but when we do we have like another 2 days of dinner plus a butty or 2

You can also learn to butcher a chicken down so that you get the price benefit of buying a whole chicken, but don't have to treat it as a 'roast'. https://youtu.be/Ue6zfbU0FCI is a good source to learn how. I learnt from that video and do this regularly. We use the drumsticks, thighs and wings in this recipe for Greek Lemon Chicken and Potatoes, which is a 'stick it all in one roasting pan' dish https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/242352/greek-lemon-chicken-and-potatoes/

Then the breast meat and carcass can be used for stock and whatever else you fancy.

You seem to be making stock from your chicken carcass, by adding stock cubes....

have you tried just chucking and onions, some celery and a carrot in the croc pot with the carcass and just making stock?

After the initial 8 hours I take the carcass out, becuase then all the small bits of meat I missed are easy to get off, put it that back in the pot with some veg and potatoes and make a stew. Takes a long time but it is divine. Definitely gonna try your idea of more veg in the initial stock though!

My husband and I did “No Takeaway November” because we realised how much we were having. Our bank balance feels better for it but man, some days were so hard. But it’s December today and I don’t fancy a takeaway so I guess that’s a good thing.

Oh yeah, it's too easy now to slip into the habit of any mild inconvenience meaning you just spend 2 mins on the phone and bam you've got takeaway coming

Fucking hell, I feel so much better knowing I'm not the only one

Curry club unite!

Mix up some eggs, add a little milk and pepper.

Pour into a warm frying pan.

Add a curry dish (even the rice if your dealing with leftovers).

Curry'd omlette

And it's not technically a curry...

I.... I don't even know how I feel about this 😂

My husband and I lived on homemade Chinese curries before I got pregnant and we conceded we should eat better. Spent like £5 a week on meat and veg, got a stack of curry paste boxes from the Chinese supermarket every month for about £20 (Maysan, just add boiled water), good times.

I love a good curry paste I've gotta tell you. There's a really nice thai one from a restaurant nearby that my local butcher sells but it's like £3.50 for 2 sachets and they want you to use both sachets per meal! We just use the one so get 2 meals out of it at least, but it's so nice I can never resist buying it when I'm in there

The Maysan curry is a box of paste for something like that, £3.50 or thereabouts, each box probably does 10 meals. Also free tupperware!

That sounds like a bargain all round then, might give it a look later

cook your own Curry then you can have a better curry than yesterday every day for a few days as the flavour matures :)

Cheesy tuna pasta bake with frozen mixed vegetables is one I like as its not boring if you mix up what grated cheese you buy. Unless you hate cheese then. Well idk

Can i recommend meal planning, you have this conversation once on saturday (or friday) do a weeks shopping for the stuff, you can even prepare ahead.

It is amazing, so much less effort during the working week.

Yeah I do try and meal plan, but often forget. I usually have a rough plan for the week based on what I know is in the cupboard/freezer and just try and remember to get stuff out on time

You can make 1 meal per week and have leftovers the entire week.

Thanks you just gave me an idea for dinner

Anytime 👍

Like that with me and my partner but we’re both so lazy we end up having another chippy

Guess what I'm cooking

Those are rookie numbers.

Its a bit more expensive but things like hello fresh and gousto are great for this, having varied and interesting foods basically on tap each week and you don't even need to worry about figuring out a shopping list. Now that I'm poor as shit I miss it so much. Eta: spelling

You ever tried one of those meal boxes you can get delivered? We always struggled with "what shall we eat?" EVERY night. But when we subscribed to one those meal box things, you come home, and pick one of the dishes you have ready to prepare. Changed my life, I swear!

This always confuses me as an Indian. People just mention curry here.Curry of what??

Tbh I have a really weird eating habit. I'll buy a couple cucumbers, mushrooms, tomatoes, tinned fish in sauce, sweetcorn, apples e.t.c.

And then just graze, I hardly ever cook and I eat veg raw, get my protein from canned pulses/meat/fish and throw in a few pre baked goods like sausage rolls or whatever.

Like, I don't eat meals. I just graze on raw veg and fruit, and pre cooked meat/pulses as a sort of grazing medley.

I eat healthy, I just don't eat meals. It honestly works well and it's much healthier than takeaways while taking as little prep effort.

I've just never met anyone else that does this.

When I move out I think I'll be living off Curries. I love Curries. I'd make a massive one then use some freeze-able containers to save some for future days.

I fail to see why you can’t have curry for the 3rd, 4th, or even 5th time this week

Auntie Herschel Kitchen

We basically eat a different type of curry for half the week, lol. Randang, Massman, Green, red and that brown Japanese one. Totally different meals, same easy process, almost identical ingredients (except for the paste). On a really lazy week we add frozen "stir fry" vegetables instead of prepping fresh. Occasionally I'll throw in a tandoori chicken just to round the week out. Lol.

*7th time this week…

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Same with Vienetta.

and cheesecake.

Love myself an individual 9" cheesecake

"Serves 5 - 6", yeah sure, if 5 of them are dead.

Looks like I've found my people.

if 5 of them are dead.

Because I ate them

Serves 4, all 4 me.

I’ve never yet met a serving suggestion I agree with

Five or six ants maybe

Didn't specify 5-6 different people.

Never have truer words been spoken 🙌

9’ *

Now I want to do a snow angel in a cheesecake

Cheesecake will be the most dangerous thing that I can make when I move.

And a trifle.

Serves 6. Does it fuck.

Vienetta!! Found the posh git!!! 😁😂

Seriously though, used to seem just so glamorous but I saw one a couple of years back and realised just how small our dreams were 🤣

Love inviting the boys over for cigars whiskeys and vienetta after a round of golf

I thought they were single portions...

Is there an alternative way to eat Vienetta?

My wife tries to argue so but I always win that discussion

Biggest revelation was realising that vienetta isn't some posh unobtainable dessert, it's like a quid from Iceland.

There was a long chat about this somewhere recently on casualuk. Something about the KFC bargain bucket smashing the illusion of unobtainable luxury.

That's beginner stuff

I miss Vienetta. We don't get it in US anymore :-) Tried something that looked like Vienetta, but it wasn't the same. I want them to sell it in US again.

Just to be clear… MINT VIENETTA

It applies to all, but especially to mint

You know you're an adult when your feeling of going to McDonald's 2 days in a row is the complete opposite of what it used to be

Halo top... Expensive, but a whole tub for just one of those days! A god send!

Also you can freeze slices of said cake and it'll taste just fine. For those who can't quite manage an entire cake in one go 😂

You mean for the weak

And you will

He shouldnt, but YOU can.. go on, its right there.

You shouldn't but I do

You can and should once. Beat the novelty and normalize coexistence with a non-eaten chocolate cake.

First thing I did leaving home, first nights tea was chocolate cake, 2nd nights tea was a massive bag of crisps. after that I thought I better eat better and bought a deep fat fryer hahaha.

Tip: cake freezes. Buy the cake, slice it into portions, wrap each portion separately in plastic wrap, put in freezer. Some time in next 6 months, when you want a treat, check your freezercake supply. (I also freeze 1cup portions of rice tge same way, for future meals)

Also, you can buy a whole chocolate cake and devour it in one sitting. You should and you can.*

Co-op Victoria Sponge Cake for me!

Mmmm... Victoria Sponge cake too

Totally didn't do this last night

If you don't slice it up, technically you're only having one piece . . .

And 6 bags of crisps.

As a tip for this one, the Tesco website has a “5 meals for £25” section, with new recipes each week all serving 4 (actually 3) people. Full list of ingredients provided at the bottom of the page.

There’s usually one or two veggie meals in each week but they’re all banging, and I say that as someone who was very much in the “meat every day” camp until I discovered how good these meals are.

As there’s a lot of hate for Tesco on here, I just get the list and buy everything in Aldi! Sometimes they don’t have everything so a trip to A bigger store is sometimes necessary.

Also means lunch for the next day is sorted, plus the money saved can go on something a bit more boujee at the weekend.

Co-op do a 'fill your freezer for a fiver' thing which usually has something like mixed veg, breaded chicken or a pizza, a potato based side, and ice cream. It's great for the occasional 'just chuck something in the oven' dinner. .

May have to check that one out!

Yeah the coop deal is actually legit, always handy in a pinch for an easy oven dinner.

heh, ‘occasional’

Co-Op is my local convenience store - always got my eye in this deal and have a chest freezer full of these deals.

Pro-tip: Always take care not to burn the ice cream when chucking it in the oven.

Tesco is mint, especially the really big ones. As far as I can I tell no other supermarket stocks the range of stuff that they do (except maybe some Morrisons branches?). Sure they're a bit pricier than Aldi and Lidl but not too bad if you have a clubcard.

thanks I hadn't seen this!!!

link for the lazy..

https://realfood.tesco.com/5-easy-family-dinners-for-25.html

Thanks so much mate. Did not know about this, we strugle to come up with new ideas every week, especially for a decent price. This will help a lot!

As there’s a lot of hate for Tesco on here, I just get the list and buy everything in Aldi! Sometimes they don’t have everything so a trip to A bigger store is sometimes necessary.

This is the way. Goto Aldi or Lidl first to get everything you can, then get the things you cant somewhere else. The Official Grocery Hierarchy.

Just wanted to say you're an absolutely amazing person. I did not know that Tesco 5 meals for £25 existed. You've literally saved me so much time. Thanks!

I did not know this and I've been shopping with them for ages.

Thank you for this, we've been looking for something to help give us a bit more variety.

People spend £5 per meal? tf?

The recipes on that list add up to £25 but they don't use everything up.

On the list for this week they have you buy an entire stick of butter but only use 50g of it, only use 4 out of 8 wraps, etc.

oh. Still, doesn't sound too cheap. £25 could easily last me a week and a half in food

OP said the meals serve 3, I assume you're talking about for meals only for yourself? That'll be the difference if so

Yeah I’m dumb mb

as they said, for 4 (actually 3) people

so thats 15-20 meals not 5

Ohh yeah I’m dumb. Thanks for pointing that out lol

Didn't know they had this, should be cheaper than likes of helloFresh, I thought it would automatically create the full shopping list but it is clearly missing some ingredients and quality is set to 1 gor all

Another thank you from me, I hate conjuring up meal ideas so this could help take the pain out every week!

This is an excellent tip. I was wanting to try and move away from meat for every meal. This should help.

5 meals for £25

Didn't know about this! Thank you so much

You’re a beautiful human being. I was just struggling with dinner inspiration for the week, and being in Washington state I never would have known about this without you!

I never knew this and as uni students who can cook but never know what to cook me and my boyfriend will definitely be taking advantage of this !!!

Or you can get a recipe box delivered to your door for a similar amount. Gousto and Hello Fresh are great for this.

Hello fresh is nowhere near the same price 😂 I have used them when I’ve had a 50% off code but they do some dodgy shit to get that 50% back.

Unless you’re on a massive wage or don’t mind forking out £40/week for just dinners, these delivery services are in no way sustainable.

Those services are massively overpriced, you're paying for the convenience of not having to think about your meals and having everything picked out for you. It's nowhere near as cheap as buying the stuff yourself.

I would disagree.

You're paying £24 a week for food with no food waste (three meals for two so you can get six or sometimes seven meals out of that). Going to the supermarket is great if you want to buy in bulk, but usually you're buying more than you need and if that food is perishable it'll just go in the bin and you've wasted your money.

To add to this..

For the cost, the quality of the food you get in the packages seems to be better, in my experience.

The variety is really nice, and learning how to cook things is fun too - you don't just bulk cook bolognese and live off it for a week. You can select different recipes each week, which takes 5 minutes, and you can be a bit adventurous which is great if you're just starting out with cooking.

Finally, as someone with two kids I don't have the time or energy to think about recipes for the week, and want to spend as little time as possible on bloody Sainsbury's website or in a supermarket. However, I want to avoid just doing ready meals or oven pizzas. Meal boxes are perfect for that.

I'm also a Gousto customer and unless you're on some kind of special offer, your info is wrong.

Gousto isn't £24.99 for three meals for two people. That's the price for two meals for two people.

Three meals for two people is £29.99. Four meals for two people is £34.99.

By no measure is Gousto a comparable price to Tesco's five meals for four people for £25. That's twenty servings at £1.25 per serving.

Gousto's best per serving price is £2.98 and for that you have to spend £47.75 on a box of four meals for four people.

https://www.gousto.co.uk/box-prices

Fair play. I wasn't comparing it to Tesco to be honest, just saying it's a nice way to get yourself into cooking.

Your previous message that everyone has replied to was a direct reply to the post about the Tesco deal. You said you could get a Gousto box or similar for a similar price lol.

Yeahhh I wasnt really paying much attention. Didn't realise the Tesco thing was £25 for a family of four for a week. That is clearly better value.

So I was kind of just thinking more that " ooh - Gousto do a meal plan for a week as well" and thought that might be helpful.

I beg your forgiveness!

the tesco one sounds pretty overpriced already, £5 is more than a day's food budget and they use it for one meal that you make yourself. Maybe it's good for someone new if they have the cash...

Recipes from tesco have never let me down. And they're usually quite barebones too, no fancy ingredients!

Sainsburies used to do one very similar, and I think Morrisons. I've got a folder full of various cheap recipes that I compiled when I was a student. I'd randomly select four or five, go shop, and then have ingredients for a weeks worth of meals.

NYT cooking does a very similar thing for a ~£5 a month subscription. They give you a meal plan for the week, and differentiate between weeknight and weekend recipes. They also identify any kind of diet thing you may need to know that the recipes complies with, like gluten free, vegan, diary free, etc. They also provide a list of substitutions and suggestions if the recipe doesn't meet your dietary restriction so that you can modify it to what you need.

It definitely doesn't meet the under £25 thing for tesaco, BUT the recipes are always delicious, makes lots of leftovers for other dinners or packed lunches. Everyone in my family thinks I am a wonderful cook, but I just make NYT recipes everyday. You can definitely check out the recipes for free before subscribing, but I find the subscription is totally worth it for the ease of being told what to make and not needing to be creative. It also keeps meals interesting, you don't get stuck in ruts with the same 5 meals.

Look up the TooGoodToGo app.. good way food for 3-4 quid but more importantly saving food waste👍

Nah don’t be telling people about this app…more people = less chance I’ll get a good bag 😂

Have a friend who has same food every weekday to make life easy. Pasta Monday, Chop Tuesday, Sausage & Mash Wednesday, Baked Potato Thursday, Fish Friday

Does your friend live in a wetherspoons?

I wonder if they sit down with the paper menu for a placemat?

Read this in public and I chuckled aloud like an idiot

Clearly not as it would be Mexican Monday, Steak Tuesday, Chicken Wednesday, Curry Thursday, and Fish Friday. 🤣 I miss these.

Then it would be curry every Thursday

Na there wasn’t a curry in there

Trick question. He is a wetherspoons

I keep it even simpler with fish, fish and a rice cake, fish, fish, fish and a rice cake and fish.

What do you have at 2?

Like the guy in the video, I had to think way too hard but I’ll be having fish and rice cake.

Wait… no, I’ll just have me fish.

We can not give any more up ratings to your original comment as its on 69... nice

I remember this guy, the bodybuilder on youtube his diet. Lol 🤣🤣

https://youtu.be/vUH0Qa3FGOA showing him now with another viral legend

He’s had some fish and some steroids in that video

I knew the lad, He looks back and laughs at the whole thing ever since hah!

Dude burned 1000 calories with the intense concentration required for remembering his food.
Linky

Fish!

Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal.

Fish!
Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal.

Fish!
Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal.

Fish!
Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal

Fish!
Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal.
Fish!

Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal.
Fish!

Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal.
Fish!
Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal

​

......I WILL!

I don't like fish

Today's fish is trout a la crème. Enjoy your meal

You saw that video too???? Lmaooooo

can i have fish, fish, fish and rice cake without the fish?

Fish fish fish fish fishy fiiiish loverly fish!!

The alternative Craig David version.

[deleted]

No need to worry about Sunday, get a lie in, stop at garage for flowers, and go get your Sunday roast at Mums - perfect end to the week.

Take car. Go to mum's. Kill Phil, grab Liz, go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all of this to blow over. How's that for a slice of fried gold?

That comment is so underated

Need to swap Wednesday and Thursday round. Bake an extra jacket or two then turn them into mash, no prep needed on Thursday and baked spuds make the best mash.

Plus, fill the extra skins with cheese and sausage (and bacon).

Need to swap Wednesday and Thursday round. Bake an extra jacket or two then turn them into mash, no prep needed on Thursday and baked spuds make the best mash.

Plus, fill the extra skins with cheese and sausage (and bacon).

I like the cut of your jib sir/madam. Very ingenious indeed.

Fuck, that sounds good. Taking notes

Chop Tuesday? Chop Suey?

WAKE UP!

GRAB A BRUSH AND PUT ON SOME MAKEUP!

Why’d you leave the keys upon the table?

Oh my god it's "keys", I've always heard "kids", that makes so much more sense

I don’t think you trust

[deleted]

Folks are attempting to introduce you to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSvFpBOe8eY

[deleted]

Ah, see, I didn't even clock they were wrong.

​

I'll get my coat.

Lamb Chop, Pork Chop

That would make more sense! Pre-caffeine brain isn’t quite firing on all cylinders.

That seems like a lot of choice for someone who has the rest of the week nailed down.

Chop-kabobs, chop creole, chop gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple chop, lemon chop, coconut chop, pepper chop, chop soup, chop stew, chop salad, chop and potatoes, chop burger, chop sandwich. That's about it.

ChopSueysday?

I have ready meal beef stroganoff monday, cheese topped rolls and tin of soup tuesday, ready meal chicken & leek pie wednesday, cheese topped rolls and tin of soup thursday, pizza friday

His name wouldn't be "Mr Valentine" by any chance?

I would only do this if I could alliterate all meal/day combos

i do this... well.. sort of; i have carbonara 2 days for 2 weeks, which gives me 2 parmigiano reggiano rinds for 2 tomato pasta bakes on the third week

shopping for one is a pain because i have to work around the specific quantity (and expiration dates) of ingredients

What a depressing existence

Yeah I do same it very easy

Listen to this OP.

Imo, proper meal planning is one of the most important skills in life.

People get fat because they eat too much convenience food and fast food / takeaways. I was one of them.

If you get to around 5pm, and you're hungry, and you haven't planned a meal, and your fridge is empty, and you been working all day... you are going to think "fuck it" and order food.

And guess what? Because you did that, you still won't have food for tomorrow, either. So you'll do it again. And again. And again.

Before you know it, you've put on weight and gone up a waist size. I put on a load of weight when I first lived alone. It's so easy to do!!

You MUST invest time in planning your meals for the week.

I know Fridays I will fancy something nice to "celebrate" the weekend, so I'll plan something fast and convenient for that night. Other days of the week, I usually just cook every other night - cooking one thing like a chilli, then eating half on the night, and the other half the next day.

If you can keep your diet in check, you'll go far kid.

Hey man, mind if I dm you re. this? I fucking suck at planning out my meals. I live alone and almost certainly order at least 1 meal a day. That's like 7 take aways a week and it's pretty fucking expensive. Could use some direction

Go for it.

Just reading through these comments…theres a great app i use called “fit men cook”…the free version is good enough but the paid one is a couple of quid and totally worth it. It gives you hundreds of recipies/meal plans and most come with a video tutorial and shows all of the macro/nutrition stats. You might find it helpful :)

Ýou're a legend. I have absolutely zero chance of getting anything done unless there's an app for it. Sad, but true. You may have just added 10 years to my life expectancy.

fit men cook

Has 9 trackers, run it in Shelter/Island/Insular.

Learn to cook curries, chillis, stews, bologneses, soups.

They are all cooked in one big pot, in surprisingly similar ways just with different selection of herbs/spices (and you can buy the herbs/spices once and they will literally last you years....) so once you learn one you will get the hang of the others easy and following recipe method becomes simple.

You can make enough in one big pot to put in the fridge and last all week, or freeze some and keep for longer. This is my go-to and means that I only really do a 'main' cook once a week, after that it just needs heating up, easy.

This is basically what I do at the moment. Hardest thing for me is actually committing to it.

I live alone and work from home and have depression, so getting the motivation to do anything is pretty hard at the moment.

Back when I was in the swing of stuff, Curry, Chilli, Pastas were really my go to due to my weird pescatarianism. Most meat, nuts, cheese can be replaced with Carbs (potato) or something similar, so they generally work really well for me.

Yeah I have been in the same place before, I got a little bit of enjoyment and self-satisfaction from cooking something good, sometimes it was the only highlight of the day.

For my 2c: One of the best things that I ever did when I was first moved out on my own was to sign up to one of those meal kit services for just a couple of months. It's more expensive, but I hoarded the recipes I liked and now I have a decent 20 meal repertoire that I can plan my meals around.

Certainly a fair point. I never considered on of those, but I did consider one of the services where they actually ship you prepped meals for the entire week. Like ready meals, but freshly made and stuff.

Still ended up cheaper than the 1 takeaway a day.

Here's my issue, and it's a completely illogical one:

I eat meat, but nothing that resembles an animal. So I can eat a burger, but not a steak.

I also don't eat cheese or most dairy. As a kid, I had an actual phobia of cheese and it's never changed.

As a result, any service that provides food is usually a pain in the ass to find a range of stuff I'd like.

​

To clarify, I'm not actually that fussy. I'll eat weird shit like Snails (escargot), king prawns, etc. It's just the resembling an animal/tit juice from an animal that weirds me out. Most food prep service is usually Meat, Dairy or Nut. I should clarify, even the taste of nuts is weird af to me. So annoying that I don't like the 3 bases of most forms of meals....

Also, none of this is my decision. Both meat and cheese/dairy will make me instantly gag. As a kid, my shitty grandparents forced me to eat meat/cheese and would complain when I was sick. Like I fucking told you guys -.-

same! except i was living on my own for a couple of years already and my 'mealplan' was take-out, badly cooked food or potato chips. the meal kit thing actually learned my how to cook and made me interested in meals/food i would have never tried if otherwise

I like to make a big batch of something and freeze half (but in 1 person servings). That way you don’t have to dethaw the whole portion, so you won’t get sick of it. Also, if you’re too tired on a week night you can just throw it in the oven. Voila! Dinner.

Soups that freeze well (like chili (don’t freeze creamy soups or with pasta) in sandwich bags.

Meat pasta sauce in sandwich bags.

If I get a rotisserie chicken, I’ll pull it and freeze for making soup later.

Bought too much fish? Start a freezer bag. When it’s full, you’ll have enough for fish stew or bouillabaisse.

Sorry. It’s cold, so soup is on my mind. Soup is also good for weight loss. It’s filling. You can sneak in lots of vegetables.

Lasagna= cut into squares, wrap 1 square in foil, store in gallon bag in freezer.

I'm always worried about how long stuff will freeze for.

Generally if I'm cooking, I do stuff like Curry, Chilli, Pastas. I usually use either Potato, Beans or Fish/Seafood.

I'm also aware my freezer has different drawers. One of which seems to give the longer shelf life.

All of these variables tend to stress me out. If I refrigerate left overs, I tend to only eat them the next day and bin the remainder.

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

I also mark date I made things on ziploc bags with permanent marker before freezing. Or write on masking tape if putting on Tupperware. It helps with food safety. 🙃

Also, for your colder drawers store meats. Veggies/bread can be in less cold sections.

Thanks for the advice!

Check out an app called Mealime. It’s like a meal kit service, but you shop and chop. Tons of great meal ideas for all kinds of diet options. Once you pick your meals for the week it ports all the ingredients to an in app shopping list in the right quantities. You can check off what you already have and add other things you need. Then just go to the store and buy the list. Then you can just pick from the meals on your plan knowing you have everything you need. Game changer.

Good luck buddy, I hope you find a bunch of new favourite recipes!

I've found this quite useful when I started living alone: https://i.imgur.com/NjXJ8V2.png

Have lots of relatively healthy food that lasts a long time and cooks from frozen. We tend to buy lots of good food and store it in the freezer and then forget to take it out in time! You can cook lots of things from frozen like breaded chicken or fish, kievs, quiche, and even a small balanced ready meal is better than a takeaway even with the preservatives. Have plenty of potatoes handy to do jackets (baked) and quick and easy frozen or tinned veg like beans, peas, sweetcorn. “Cooking” dinner isn’t really a problem when it’s just shoving something in at 180 for half an hour and then 3 mins for veg at the end.

What about meal order services like ‘mindful chef? ‘ They send say 4 bags of fresh ingredients with recipes for each box of tasty but different meals (you chose and can chose dependent on goal or diet)… the key is its not prepped ready meals but fresh ingredients so u cook which is rewarding. Just invest in a proper chefs knife (which will cost) 👍🏽

get good at one meal, make a big pot of it and eat it until it's time to make the next pot. when you need variety treat yourself to a takeaway. this saves a lot of time and money and thinking and if the food's good you could happily eat it every day

I'll add to r/JFedererJ's advice: if you're going to cook something like chili, or bolognese sauce, or beef stew, or tomato soup, cook a lot of it. Then freeze it in portions, in rectangular lidded plastic takeout containers. (If you have one of those stupid little UK fridges with a rudimentary freezer, get yourself a dedicated mini-freezer at Argos. They're inexpensive.)

Then pack your freezer with those ready-meals - because that's what you'll have made for yourself. And the next time you come home late, too knackered to do anything, pull one out, microwave it or put it in a pot and heat it up, serve with a salad (if you can be bothered to make one).

To be fair I can still do all that meal planning, have stuff in the fridge and go "fuck it" and order a takeaway. Some days you just have one of those days.

This is an excellent piece of writing.

Might print it out and stick it to my fridge, and I say that as a supposedly adult mum of two.

Spot on, please listen OP

This. Just a plain mince. Then you can later turn it into curry or chilli or just plain mince on toast. Plus any other additions egg. In a jacket potatoe etc. And good for breakfast or lunch too.

Depends on the takeaway. My go to is Lebanese mezze, and then make a wrap out of the leftovers next day. Prob more veg than I could ever be bothered to cook.

Yep.

And its so easy to meal plan once you have a few recipes under your belt. Learn how to make a couple of good pasta sauces, and make a big batch so you have lots of leftovers. Lunch/dinner for a few days. Any meal you make, make it for at least 2, if not 4 people. Most recipes cater to this anyway, and you can just fridge portions.

Some of my favourites are:

Big batch of Bolognese sauce, fridge/freeze some of it, just cook up some pasta on other nights, easy peasy.

Chicken with ginger and scallions. Suprisingly easy to make once you know how, and cheap. Make it, fridge half, cook up some rice or noodles to go with later.

Also, always have stuff that keeps for a while or just easy meal items.

Tins of tuna fish, eggs, rice etc. Easy to throw something together without breaking the bank.

Great advice this, I would add, make a larger portion size so you can have some for lunch the next day, or freeze it for another night when you feel lazy and just want to bang something in the microwave

On the subject of meal prepping this may be pedantic and insignificatnt to some, but it really helped me.

I used to fill in a blank week calendar and used to take me quite a long time because I would be out of ideas or have to think about how to fill in a gap on a certain day. Plus I felt that I had to keep checking it. It seemed like a lot of stress.

Now I just write down the number of meals in a week (i.e. 7x number of meals a day you're planning for) and then plan how many of what I´m cooking.

i.e. 7x2 = 14 meals, so:

  • 4x Bolognese
  • 2x sauages and mash
  • etc...

Very minor and can make some days a bit repetitive, but I find it easier to then just commit a couple of evenings to cooking 1-2 meal batches. Combine that with a couple of very quick/no cooking meals. Now every day I just go to the fridge, reheat and I’m good to go.

Christ, I read that part you wrote about celebrating the weekend and it made it so obvious how dystopian our lives are now.

Have a pizza to celebrate the 1/3.5th of your life that belongs to you. Fuck.

This is a great tip, you'll also save a ton of money by meal planning rather than forking out for 3 £15 takeaways a week

Buy a slow cooker,prep your meals the night before,switch it on in the morning and your meals ready for when you get home.

I do this but I each same thing each day. So Tuesday is meatballs and pasta day

This is gold. Wife and I spent 30 mins a week working out what we're going to eat that week and adding whatever ingredients we need to the grocery list (or online shopping basket). Cook twice as much as you need (or more), eat free for a day.

If you can't cook, https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/ is your friend and then it's a case of practice makes perfect. Sharpen your kitchen knives, even new ones, it's surprising how much faster and easier it makes using them.

This is the best advice you can give to anyone. Just take 10 minutes to plan what you're going to eat for the week and find out what you need to buy. You've now got your shopping list for the week. If you only buy what's on that list then you're going to have cheap weekly shops and you'll waste far less food because you know you're going to eat everything you buy.

Cooking in batches is a great idea as well. Cook enough for 5 meals and freeze 3 of them, put 1 in the fridge. Do that 2 or 3 times in a week and you've got a couple weeks worth of meals frozen so all you have to do is stick it in the microwave. Or you can take them to work and have them as lunches.

The food I cook myself isn't healthier than the food I order...

I have a wall calendar that I write down every meal I plan on having for the entire month. Usually about a week ahead at a time.

Get a wok, delicious healthy meals in under 10 minutes, all in one pan for those days you cba to really cook.

+1 for this. Can also make enough stuff for 4 nights - one portion for tonight, one for tomorrow and 2 for the freezer. I'm sure you'll have plenty of those plastic takeaway tubs you can use haha. Nothing better than a hard day, the fridge is looking a bit bare and having a home cooked, piping hot curry ready in the time it takes to cook the rice.

Getting a crockpot can easily help u eat right, and have planned meals for the week. A full pot of chili or a good sized roast can last you all week. Pre-chop your veggies on Sunday night, throw your ingredients in Monday morning before work, and set the timer for 10 hours. You'll have fresh hot dinner waiting for you, and at least 2-3 days of lunch and dinner for the week. Me and the girlfriend made turkey curry soup with the left over turkey and veggies from Thanksgiving, and we are still enjoying it for our work lunches. Something to think about your left-overs though.... We give our food that is cooked and stored properly in the refrigerator about 4-7 days shelf life. Anything that is cooked and prepared with vinegar, salt, and or sugar generally lasts longer. Everything in this reply is cheaper than a full meal at a fast-food restaurant.

From what I've seen, what might be a good thing to do is get some freeze-able containers, do a day prep/cook, then freeze excess into another day or two worth of food. Future proof it up a bit

Friends, I tried to make a sub for this r/thisweeksmenu

I'd LOVE traffic to steal your ideas!

Or make sure you have a big enough freezer and do a big batch cook of 2 or 3 different types of meals on the weekend and alternate eating the different meals throughout the week. I’ve done this a few times and it’s such a relief when you know you don’t have to cook after work and it’s something fairly healthy.

That’s the thing about eating junk food! It might taste good but it comes at a price, getting fat is so effortless, just don’t do anything.

Make one big meal and store it in tupperware in the fridge all week!

Or cook multiple frozen pizzas, and store them in tupperware to be reheated later

I understood that reference

This is what we do. Chilli, pasta bake, shepherds and cottage pie, make a huge 6 portion meal and it’s half your weeks work done!

If it’s not something I don’t absolutely love I will order off just eat and bin most of it

When I move out I can see the local takeaways profits rapidly increasing

[deleted]

Gousto is brilliant. Also gives you something to do with the girlfriend 4 nights a week.

This is a genuine struggle on the daily

To tack onto this, its easier than ever to learn how to cook! And it's a really good idea!

YouTube is your absolute best friend for cooking good food on a budget, and making leftovers. I would recommend "Ethan chlebowski", and "Joshua Weissman (especially his but cheaper series)" as a good start.

Also, when you go shopping, plan your meals and make a list of ingredients. It will mean you don't accidentally spend loads on stuff that doesn't make a meal, and overspend on stuff you don't need.

OP - get a slow cooker!

Slow cookers are the best

I just outsource that decision to hellofresh

I have a unique ability to eat the same thing every day for months until one day i suddenly decide to make a change. Currently egg fried rice is my staple.

That sounds not super healthy! You could choose three recipes to witch daily so you’ll have more variety in what you eat!

I’m not saying you’re unhealthy though

I kinda just put whatever veg i have in there. It's not just egg and rice.

Ok nice! Disregard what I said then! Cheers

This isn’t brought up enough but in the modern world it’s so important as it’s so easy to give in and order crap.

I was gonna write this!

This sucks. Doing a meal plan in advance is a chore, but makes evenings so much more bearable if your day at work is awful

I just cook enough for four or five, and have the same thing several days in a row, and freeze a few portions for another time.

Your username is like a northerner saying covid

Ha ha, very true.

Pro tip: To avoid the situation where you end up having nothing because you can't decide, buy a big box of something quick and easy like instant noodles. Always good to have something to fall back on when you're wracked by crippling indecision.

Butterscotch Angel Delight for every meal then. Next!

And you can’t decide to have pizza every night!

It's liberating! You can eat as many onion rings as you want!

I guess I’ve beaten the system then! I don’t have meals

I just order an XXL pizza and eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next two days. Problem solved.

Then by dinner on the 3rd day you're like... Oh god I've literally been eating the same pizza for 3 days i can taste it just by looking at it

After 7 years I still haven’t figured this out

I'm quite convinced by now that it takes more effort to decide than to actually cook that meal.

If you like it, cook a chicken. Use it for chicken breast pittas or similar, use the other in a meal, use the dark meat to make curry etc. also try a slow cooker if you’re finding you’re short of time. I often stick on a beef casserole or sausage casserole for our daughter’s evening meal, by bunging it all in the slow cooker in the morning and leaving it on low all day. There are loads of good recipes online too!

Edit- I’ve done lovely curry and soups in there too!

Sunday. Use it for batch cooking.

/r/MealPrepSundays

Conversely, you get to decide what you’re having for dinner!

They need a freezer, so they can cook a bunch of stuff, then freeze it to have a week or so later.

Get married. Then you have someone to never plan meals with and get increasingly frustrated that neither of you are particularly good at the adult thing.

Batch cook and freeze it. I have two 5 litre slow cookers and a 15L pan so i can make a huge amount on the hob - it solves a lot of this problem.

Not if they go with hellofresh, gusto or whatever

This is the worst, hello fresh/gousto and other companies do the boxes which are really good when you have no idea what to do

I still live at home but I imagine when I do move out I will meal prep and just cook for the week on a Sunday so I don't have to think. It might be boring or repititive but you're less likely to eat unhealthy foods and you don't have to put any thought into it.

The effort into baking 5 chicken breasts is maybe like 20% more effort for 500% more chicken and less wasting energy cause it's all being cooked at the same time

I recommend cooking multiple portions at a time so you only cook every 2-3 days!

If you make a huge pot of something; chilli, stew, bolognese. And you make it taste great, you can eat that every night for four days. Saves time and money... and washing up.

I love cooking but I hate thinking or deciding ugh. Lists help, but STILL! Sometimes I have to use some brain cells to figure out and it's very annoying lol

My partner and I have created an excel "meal randomiser" for dinners. We've got a list of all the dishes we cook, along with a score out of 10. The score is how much they will come up in the overall list (we have 30 dishes, with a total of 173 points. A dish rated 4 is 4 of those points, and a dish rated 8 will be twice as frequent). We enter what we have eaten recently, and it randomised a suggested meal for us, excluding things we have recently (currently aet not to give the same dish for 14 days, or the same "group" (pasta, curry, rice, noodles, wrap etc) for 7 days).

Especially when living alone, very rare to see items packed in singles...better have that kitchen foil and some plastic tubs ready to freeze.

The food expires very fast. Now I realise why my parents were constantly shopping and why deal days are so important.

I have legitimately asked my husband why dinner has to occur every day.

When you cook - cook a lot and freeze it.

And this means every meal. Breakfast lunch and dinner. Every day. Forever.

On the plus side, the only time you have to eat something you don't like is when you're broke and you screw something up in the kitchen but kcal are kcal.

And remember to have stuff in for meals. Today I had half a pack of custard creams and some peanut butter on rice cakes for dinner washed down with water and a small baileys. Guess who forgot the food shop and didn't get hungry till 9.45....

We reduced this problem by going for Hello Fresh. Not a lot of people’s cup of tea, but there’s plenty of choices and means we throw less unused food away

Not if you stock up on Military MREs. Nutritionally complete and easy to consume. Just don't forget your fibre tablets (or constipation will speak with the devil's voice).

Jokes on you I only drink calorie formula so I can just make it the night before.

Cooking in batches is the solution! Especially when you live alone, just warm up a bowl

Eating out, take out and delivery can cost a fuck ton of money. Get a crock pot, learn how to make a pot roast, soup and beans and such

Cooking ahead is great. When you are making dinner, it's pretty easy to also start preparing soup or cutting vegetables for another day

Get a crock pot. Make large batches of affordable, portion friendly meals. Freezing meal size portions saves time and money later.

Soups. Easy to freeze, or to keep a pot in the fridge. A good one from scratch will take up your Sunday, but worth it all week long. Cheers!

I make big batches of everything. I don't mind eating the same thing all week, and you could also freeze some for later.

If I’m cooking a meal, I usually cook enough of the dish for 2 days (or even 3 if you want). Then after I’ve eaten tonight’s dinner, I put the rest in the fridge/freezer, so I don’t need to cook tomorrow’s meal from scratch. I just heat it in the microwave. If you don’t want the same meal 2 or 3 days in a row, store in the freezer.

Store it in the fridge if planning to eat in the next 1-2 days. Or store in the freezer if not planning to eat it for a while.

If your freezer is small, I take things like pizzas out of their boxes when storing in the freezer, as it saves a lot of space when you really are trying to shove a million things inside a tiny freezer.

This! Planning what meals you’re having and going shopping knowing exactly what you need with a list can save you an absolute fortune

Doing this ahead of time will help you eat healthy too!

Also, learn how to make a few decent meals aswell as eating noodles or beans and cheese.

I recommend making big batches of food and freezing in individual portions - curries, chilli, casseroles, pasta sauces etc. Get a big pan and make enough for 7 or 8 portions, buy a load of small plastic tubs and portion up the food you cook into the amount you'll need and chuck them in the freezer. If you want meat then buy the cheaper cuts and slow-cook it.

Soon you'll have a freezer full of quality food that you can microwave in 5 minutes while you do a quick pan of pasta or rice or something to go with it.

Create a weekly rota of meals then when you reach a point where you think I don't want this today I'd prefer **** you just swap it out.

Marriage is just 2 people choosing what to have for tea every night... until one dies!

This is the biggest ballache for me. Every day we ask 'what should we have for tea?' And then come to some agreement between the 3 of us

That’s the best part, getting to eat whatever you want when you want 😊

I do HelloFresh.. works out £5 per portion for 3 meals. Also I don’t have to plan anything 🙃

Sorted food is a godsend

Slow cooker is one of the best things to happen to my life. I prepped a chicken curry.. (look up slow cooked meals) just chop and add raw ingredients, can of kidney beans coconut milk, turmeric and whatever else. Leave on low whilst you sleep or go to work for say 8 hours, or on high for 4 hours. Bang some rice or packet rice and boom.

Accumulated dust eventually reaches a sticky stage. Aim to remove it before this happens

It's the greasy kitchen dust that gets me. All along the top of the cabinets, the blinds, all the nooks and crannies.

If we ever get a new kitchen, I want an extractor fan over the hob!

Edit: this got 1000 upvotes. Thought I better fix the spelling mistake

Speaking as someone with an extractor fan above the hob.. it doesn't seem to help.

Plus now the sticky dust has a glass extractor fan to stick to, as well.

Exactly this. Ever kitchen extractor I've been around might look clean. As soon as you touch it, they're sticky as fuck.

Take off the light cover and you have grease dripping out.

OK. I rescind my statement. I wanna be rich and hire a maid instead

This might come across as entitled as fuck, but if you can afford it then £40 every other week for a cleaner is an investment.

Ours does all that sort of nasty shit which we never get around to doing, it's worth considering if your time is more valuable to you

If we had the spare money I'd be tempted. Not for the washing up and stuff like that, but for keeping on top of the grungy bits. The mould in the bathroom, the kitchen grease. Wiping the walls and the skirting boards, dusting tops of the doorframes and picture, windowsills, radiators. The sort of stuff that you don't think to clean until its disgusting

With kids this becomes a god send. Happy to work an extra hour to cover the cost of not doing it myself over the weekend and spend that quality time with the kids. An hour lost in the week for an hour of weekend time seems a fair deal.

What might take you two hours could take a cleaner one hour. Even more value for money

Get an Audiable subscription. Listening to a book while you clean is a great way make it less tedious and it's much less expensive than a cleaner.

That really depends how hooked you get. The subscription is a taste of good stuff from the dealer, then they get you with the 3 for £18. Only £6 a pop eh, might as well get this entire 27 book series that sounds interesting...

Then I'll sit on my ass and listen whole still achieving fuck app because I don't want to get distracted and miss something.

You shouldn’t let mold grow and fester until its disgusting, it should be eliminated at the first sign and the area treated with an anti-mold product so it doesn’t re-occur. Sounds like you’re regularly breathing in mold spores which is very bad for you. You can also prevent mold by having good air circulation in the room.

We have no air circulation in the room. No window, just an extractor fan with a trickle vent, and a dehumidifier.

The landlord knows, but there's not much we can do other than just wash it off and invest in shares of black CIF

I’m in the same situation, there’s no window and the extractor fan doesn’t work. I set up a small fan outside the bathroom that pushes fresh air in, and i leave the door open after a shower. No more mold.

I'm worried that doing that will just spread the moisture round the rest of the house.

It wasn't such a problem until our water tank was swapped for a combi boiler. We got a hell of a lot more water pressure, but also a lot more moisture to deal with

It will, that’s the idea. Spreading the moisture from an enclosed space to areas of the house with better air circulation. The moisture will be diluted to a point where it’s not causing mold.

Chances are it will just cause more mould round the rest if the house. Or that's what happened to next door anyway

My wife and I agreed to get a cleaner about two months ago, and it has absolutely been the best thing. £30 every two weeks and we never have to worry about dusting, cleaning the bathroom or doing the hoovering. Just makes living at home more pleasant because you don't have a list of chores in the back of your mind.

Absolutely. When you're both working full time, got a couple of grungy smelly children and absolutely no drive to clean once everything else is done, it's totally worth it!

And even when you do have the drive to clean, who wants to be out using the power washer at this time of year?

/r/powerwashingporn would like to have a word with you sir

I’d have to clean before a cleaner came to my house. The shame of another person seeing my house not clean is a hump I’d struggle to get over!

How do you go 2 weeks between vacuuming? No kids?

Our living room, hallway & kitchen is vacuumed at least once a day if not twice, and the rest of the house is every 2-3 days.

once or twice a day what the fuck, are you okay? are you one of those people who goes out and trims their lawn with scissors?

Somebody hasn’t got a dog!

maybe im just a slob

You would be surprised at how quickly it gets to the stage where you need to hoover when you've got kids. Same house, same people, before kids, I hoovered about once a week and tidied up the living room every two weeks to keep it ok.

Now with two kids (1,5 and 4) I have to that daily, and it still isn't anywhere near as tidy as it used to be. If I could have a house with a separate playroom (second living room) I'd be happy, but we don't even have a separate dining room. I can't tell my kids "no snacks in the living room" when that's where we eat.

Play doh, glitter, random bits of crap from god knows where. In the kitchen bits fall off the side when cooking or whatever that need cleaning.

I don’t trim my lawn with scissors... but conveniently I do vacuum it every now and again! (Mainly after a garden party) Astroturf is lovely for that.

I was wondering this too. I have one child, 3 years old. The living room / kitchen is vacuumed probably twice a day on average.

My partner and sister laugh at me because I always seem to be hoovering. But I'll bet their feet aren't laughing, walking around on a nice clean floor.

I have a 2 month old and 2 year old; the house is hoovered top to bottom a couple of times a week, but I sweep the entire downstairs at least once every day. The joys of toddlers!

Yep no kids. Until now, our first is 1 week old, so I'm sure things are going to change soon!

You only clean your bathroom once a fortnight??

Those are cheap prices, thats awesome ours is 100$ every 2 weeks..

Absolutely. If you can afford a cleaner, hire one.

You pay someone to clean your gutters and do your plumber.

Source: someone who can't currently afford a cleaner but has had one in the past and loved it.

You pay someone to .. do your plumber

My plumber is in charge of having himself seen to!

I do need to pay someone to do my gutters, though .. damn trees *shakes fist at nature*

It makes everything else that bit easier. Still a luxury spend though really, it depends how much your time is worth

I live alone and I'm not on any fancy high wages. I have contemplated a cleaner to help in my little flat. Just a couple of hours every other week or something. There's just so many things that if not done regularly end up being a huge job (like cleaning sticky kitchen grease off everything)

My BIL hired a cleaner for the communal areas once a fortnight.

She only does a basic daily clean and it irritates me that BIL and BF refuse to clean up after themselves because we “have a cleaner”.

The rare time I do a deeper clean, I get asked “what’s the point? We have a cleaner.”

Basically, OP, don’t be dirty or lazy.

Yeah sitting on your arse and making more mess because you have a cleaner rather defeats the point.

Still need to do those deep cleans etc, unless you're so flush you have them doing that too. I'm certainly not...!

I’d rather clean up after myself but not the guys! My mum got fed up with the smell from the microwave I use once a month (it’s used daily by the others) so she cleaned it. The next day it stank again!

So done with these two and can’t wait to just live with my partner again. At least he used to listen when I made him clean up after himself, and I had a proper routine. Now I feel odd being the only one that does anything.

I’d rather the cleaner just did the deeper cleans.

They sound delightful...

Best of luck, hope things change for you soon!

£20 a week to keep a place tidy sounds entitled af to some people, but spending it in a pub is so normalised. Sometimes social norms really make me tilt my head to the side in an attempt to understand it by looking from a slightly different perspective but no.

Indeed, not that twenty quid down the pub will even get you anywhere anymore, it's basically three pints if you're anywhere but a spoons

People choose to prioritise differently, and that's fine.

not that twenty quid down the pub will even get you anywhere anymore, it's basically three pints

Well.. that'd get me drunk, at least!

I can't lie, it would me too... And leave enough for a kebab

Thing is where the fuck do you find one? We got a shitty one from task rabbit and never tried again.

Bark? Try advertising on local facebay type pages, usually local companies will monitor them.

Word of mouth is usually the best bet really

You only pay your cleaner like 60 bucks for a deep clean? How's many hours does it take them?

No that's for regular stuff. That's for two hours

Ah! Makes sense. :)

Nice try there teaspoon thief !

I don't trust strangers in my house because we've gone from having a sizable amount of teaspoons, to like 7.

Just buy a new house everytime the kitchen gets sticky.

This is the answer we all strive for

If you're rich enough, you can just buy a new house when the old one gets dirty.

Ah yes... Brilliant idea! Though I am nowhere near being rich enough to buy one house yet

Every maid I've ever been around might look clean. As soon as you touch it, they're sticky as fuck.

Take off the cover, there's grease dripping down.

[deleted]

Dammit. I am the hot one who cooks and cleans.... Maybe I should be getting paid for all this shit then 🤣

Stick the grease filter in the dishwasher every couple of weeks

I don't care who you pay, but clean your damn grease trap, 308-A Red Seal sheet metal mechanic here, I design, fabricate, and instal air flow systems, unless you 100% want to ensure that you have cockroaches and are never able to get rid of them, clean itttt, because I won't either, I'll just charge you 300$ for showing up and only put a new steel cover where the old greasy one was while cleaning nothing.

And this is why I made sure my flat does not have a open plan kitchen living room...

You have to replace the filter every 6 months. It shouldn’t be that sticky

Dettol mould & mildew remover instantly eliminates the stickiness and makes everything so much easier to clean. I dunno if that stuff is safe to use in the kitchen but I don't care, it's made my life a whole lot easier.

Beware though, it will ruin your clothes if it touches them.

Put in a new cooker and extractor last year, last month realised the filters are now plastic and metal and designed to be put through the dishwasher. Very greasy and apparently the blue edging was original protective film that got left on.

The old extractor fan had filter sheets that were supposed to be occasionally replaced, they were not.

You gotta wipe those while they're still hot and steamy right after cooking. Or boil a pot of water. Or invest in a steamer.

Keeping a kitchen clean is hard work

The only ones I’ve seen work are the £1000+ ones that are built into the hob and extract by pulling everything downwards like a massive vacuum cleaner.

A friend of mine had one of those installed .. well, it's part of the hob .. the video of it working is bloody impressive!

Is it actually an extractor or just a carbon filter?

Actually an extractor to the outside world.. inherited with the house so might well be a poorly bodged, badly installed, eighth hand, 20 year old unit for all I know, of course..

We had a proper outside venting extractor fitted and it was a total game changer, kitchen doesn’t fill up with smoke every time we cook and everything isn’t covered in grease either

Get out the white spirits and wipe it down, cleans it up in a second, and the extractor is right there for the fumes

I've seen a lot of kitchens where the extractor fan just extracts to nowhere. Cheap landlords just stick one in, but it just pumps the air right back out again, often into the cupboard above it. There are some hoods that pass the air through a filter first but they aren't very good and need changing often to have any effect.

You know you have to turn it on, right?

:)

I thought my extractor fan had a frosted glass effect

nope

Yeah they're also the most unreliable garbage ever, secured by tiny little thin plastic tabs and most of the parts go EOL within a few months. So they can't even be maintained or cleaned.

This is why in Asia, where stir-fry is your normal go-to method of cooking, there's a whole industry for hood extractor fan cleaning

My new houses extractor fan isn't connected to anything

Pretty sure the problem would be so much worse without the extractor.

White vinegar + baking soda

Works a charm

The extractor fan kinda helps, as long as you change the filters regularly, but it still doesn't stop the occurrence. The only way to avoid buildup is cleaning every time you cook something on the hob, which can be a ballache. There's no nice easy solution, just regular maintenance.

We don't have one at all. So we have greasy cobwebs in the kitchen and everything (I mean I COULD clean them up) it's just one of those things where I just leave it until it gets too much then get the scrubbers out

Gotta get into the habit of regular cleaning. Doing it when it all builds up to the point where it's noticeable makes it harder to deal with.

This is from someone that leaves things from time to time, and I hate having to deal with old greasy cabinets it when I could have just given things a quick wipe down sooner.

I know! We have a serious mould problem in our bathroom (no window in there and the extractor fan does fuck all) so that takes up lost of my regular cleaning time. I'm now learning to do this with the washing up, and I've always been on point with the clothes washing each day. It's just the grubby jobs that I want to leave to do all at once

We have a serious mould problem in our bathroom (no window in there and the extractor fan does fuck all) so that takes up lost of my regular cleaning time.

Cilit Bang black mould remover is the absolute shit. Spray it on and leave the room, this is important as it's powerful! I actually stuck one of my covid face masks on too while I was doing it. Leave it for 10 mins to an hour depending on how bad it is, and then just wipe off. Best £3 I've ever spent! We have a Victorian terrace and the bathroom wall gets mouldy no matter what. We've even had a specialist mould guy out and he basically shrugged and said there not much we can do to prevent it, it's just due to the construction of the house. I've tried all sorts to get rid of it and this stuff is far and away the best, and very low effort.

I do love that! I have it on my amazon subscribe and save. I preferred the black CIF, though I can't seem to find that anywhere anymore

I changed the bulbs on my new house's kitchen lights. The amount of dust grease that had coagulated up there. Needed a shower afterwards I felt so unclean.

It's not pleasant. Very satisfying once it's all gone though

I actually find the smell of bleach comforting. Reminds me everything is clean. Too many bad rentals with black mold I guess. My girlfriend hates it though so I have to wait till she leaves to indulge

After the initial eye-watering tang goes away, it's not so bad. Least you know its clean

My extractor fan is covered in the sticky dust.

You want an extractor fan over the extractor fan. Was cleaning the greasy kitchen dust off the glass around the fan a couple of weeks ago

And another one over that?

Yeah all the way up so the glass of the last one is flat with the ceiling so you don't have to clean that one

I like cooking curries, but my SO doesn’t like the smell (has no problem scarfing down a curry though, but that’s a digression) so I got a BFO professional restaurant extractor fan from a liquidation auction on eBay. The electrician had to put a special circuit in to power it. It’s so powerful that if I put it in full power, it sucks the kitchen door open if it’s not latched shut, and if I have the open fire burning in the lounge, it sucks the smoke out of the chimney and back into the room.

Bloody hell 😂

That vents OUTSIDE!!! Why is recirculating the nasty cooking vapors ok?

If you get an extractor put in for the hobs plx ensure that it actually extracts to outside and not to the kitchen ceiling like the useless one in my kitchen!

The blinds gets me. Then I went to clean them and bent a few of them.
Debating just getting some curtains that I can easily wash regularly.

Not just the blind though. It's the cord that's really manky too

When I can afford a new kitchen I will demand the gap at the top either be smaller and blocked off or made larger and be storage with pull down doors. This way I don't have an out of sight surface collecting all that crap.

Put newspaper on top of all the cabinets your can't see. Then you can just swap out that newspaper once every few years or whatever

The Unity of the Undying Roaches approves this message

Then there’s things you never even thought of cleaning then wondering why they look like crap.

Skirting boards, light switches, shelves, doors, screens, bathroom tiles that aren’t just the floor and shower.

I open my window whenever I cook. But I get what you mean It on my curtains and on top of cupboards

Nooks and crannies, yes! Perhaps this would be more accurate than the word 'alcoves.'

Protip: When trying to clean it, use something acidic like vinegar, or if you can find it, dissolve some citric acid in water. It's the only thing that will cut through.

I'm using my old German grandma's trick for this. One layer of old newspaper on top of your cabinets. Replace that every 6 months.

Invest in some Elbow Grease de-grease spray which you can get from Home Bargains, Poundland etc. It's dirt cheap and it's the best kitchen cleaner by a country mile.

Dirty hob - cuts right through it. The nightmare oven hood - not a problem. The grease ridden dusty tops of cupboards - spotless.

I recommend it to everyone now after finding it a few years ago. Use it on my filthy, greasy bicycle every few weeks. It's like a miracle thing that everyone should know about.

Yea my mum has one but hates to use it. Makes me open the window

It's the greasy kitchen dust that gets me. All along the top of the cabinets, the blinds, all the noks and crannies.

It comes from oils that get aerosolised when cooking.

The oil particles are relatively heavy compared to other particles in the air so they fly a lot further and aren't sucked out by extraction fans either.

Are those fans not standard in UK flats? We have them in America especially newer built ones. But to be fair I have had a number without em too.

It's a house, built in the 80s. We have a vent brick in there and that's it

Use newspaper on top of your kitchen cabinets and switch for new pages every 5 years or so. Traps the grease very well

Put newspaper on the top of kitchen cabinets. The greasy dust sticks to the paper and you can throw it straight into the bin. A quick wipe down, replace the paper and you have clean surfaces

Would be a good idea if I didn't have loads of crap on top of my cupboards.

Wipe it down with WD40 or GT85. You're welcome.

Oooo I have a can of that stuff for the bike I don't use anymore. I'll have to rember that one. Thanks

Open the window first, it's magic for cleaning steel surface, hobs, extractors etc. Spray on directly or onto a cloth and wipe on / off.

I got an extractor fan, ahh problem solved. It only delays the greasy kitchen dust!

I just rented a place that hasn't been painted in 9 years. I had to wash the ceiling multiple times...

Just wait til you have to change the strip light in the kitchen then....

Naw just one of those dome lights. Luckily I was a painter during the summers since 7 th grade and I got free paint.

Put old newspapers on top of thr cabinets. The sticky dust will be on the paper and if you want to clean you just replace the sticky newspaper with new ones. The cabinets will stay clean

As kitchen grease ages, it turns into sticky adhesive-like gunk. When it gets to that stage, only strong cleaners like household ammonia will remove it. Open the windows and use rubber gloves.

Baby wet wipes work well for getting the worst off, a pack for 82p. The extra moisture for cleaning up baby poo means each one gets more gunk off per swipe. Once it's mostly clean switch to your regular kitchen cleaners.

Line the tops of your cabinets with a couple layers of newspaper. Then once a year (if you're lucky) when you climb all the way up there to actually clean, all you have to do is replace the paper.

Use Elbow Grease spray to clean it, an absolute life saver

Best thing to get this off is bicarbonate of soda and washing up liquid in a paste, and a light scrub.

Elbow grease (actual brand name) is your friend, cuts through grease and dust on kitchen cabinets great.

I must be cleaner than I thought (and I absolutely hate dusting!), never had sticky dust in my house

It's the result of constsntly cooking with oils. Are you oil free?

Ahh that makes sense, I very, very rarely use any oil to cook and if I do I only use a tiny amount. Can’t believe I never knew that was a thing, TIL

How do you cook without oil? Do you never use a pan? Everything is boiled?

Everything is take away or oven pizza.

Never had pizza actually and I only get takeaway a handful of times a year, just not really into fried foods.

Oil is used for so much more than frying. If you cook lean meats like chicken it's required both to prevent sticking and as a heat transfer agent to ensure even cooking. If you're sauteing veggies, again, it's required as a heat transfer agent (and also a flavor transporter...). If you boil everything, then....checks sub..... Your food will be bland which I guess checks out.

Use a non stick pan for the meats. I use cast iron, no oil needed for meat. Sautéing can be done with a spoon of broth instead of oil.

Edit: my cast iron is well seasoned so it is practically non stick.

Broth will only get to about 100° C, oil can get much hotter. You can't get the maillard reaction which makes the veggies extra tasty at 100° C.

The broth will evaporate quickly, leaving taste and extra heat.

But then you're back to having no heat transfer medium. Believe me, I've used broth to saute before when my wife had to go on a zero-fat diet. It's not even close to the same. At that point you're just steaming.

I have never cooked meat and I very rarely boil foods so I’m pretty happy with my cooking methods. I use plenty of seasonings and spices so my food certainly isn’t bland. Thanks for the critique though lol.

Edit - thought you were replying to my other comment where I explained to somebody what I tend to cook

Non-stick pans, steaming and ovens also exist.

Never had pizza? Ever?

i use the microwave for everything

You cant fry/sear/cook stuff with a microwave oven? Unless you use exclusively frozen food?

I use my oven mostly, I also eat a lot of rice, legumes and veggies, curry etc. If I make a stir fry or something depending on what’s in it I’ll either just throw stuff in dry or use a tiny splash of avocado oil. Can’t even remember the last time I used a frying pan. I don’t boil stuff very often either, maybe if I have broccoli or want to make mashed potato.

You eat healthy. But how do you make curries? I've visited India several times, and learned that you have to use oils to make any type of Indian curry. Indians in the south love their coconut oil.

I don’t know if it’s like a traditional curry but I roughly use a recipe I saw years ago. I just throw some tomatoes in the blender (or tomato paste at a push), add that in a pot with split red lentils, canned chickpeas, diced carrots, onion and mushrooms, grate some ginger root and garlic in, add turmeric, garam masala, cumin, chili flakes. It’s pretty tasty!

Nice! I never learned how to make traditional curries but remember watching several times and enduring the popping and cracking of certain ingredients in oil. I am trying to go oil free (save for extra virgin olive oil on my salads), so found your post interesting.

Good luck with going oil free, hopefully you’ll end up learning some interesting new recipes.

Thanks. That or I will go the opposite way and submerge myself in a vat of Crisco!

we're in the UK sub. they boil things.

I bought a house from an Indian family once. VERY sticky dust.

Never had an issue myself though.

The guy who was the tenant before me, must have sprayed oil on everything.

Impossible to clean, I ended up using a wallscraper and petrol to chip through about 3 mm of something.

This is blowing my mind that so many people have to deal with sticky dust!

Same here I have no idea what people mean by sticky dust. Sticky as in hard to clean off? Or sticky to the touch? Or both?

The look of horror on my face reading 'sticky dust' like seriously how long do you leave dust for it to become sticky

I just completed on my first house and whilst overall its in a good state.. dear god the 'sticky' dust..

Hahaha :) But congratulations on the house! And now it’s your sticky dust - always nice of sellers to throw in a few extras that aren’t on the chattels list!

Professional cleaner, one off cost...start from clean, makes it much easier!

Where do you find sticky dust?

Skirting boards mostly, in the living room. It was behind where the previous homeowners had the sofa so was likely just not cleaned all that often. But a good clean + a lick of paint and it's looking almost brand new.

Fairy power spray, and a good, scrubby cloth. B&M do some that are microfibre on one side, and a sort of netting on the other. Spray the power spray on, dip your cloth in hot water, and use the scrubby side to get it off. It's the only stuff that got mine off. Hot water alone did nothing.

Best solution for sticky dust is cif cream, does a number on it really easily.

I came here to say this, it doesn't have to be Cif, any own-brand mildly abrasive cream cleaner will do the job really easily. Trying to use spray cleaners is typically a waste of time.

Also air fresheners and dust are a horrid combo. We have indoor cats so often spray whenever we take out their business (we try and keep on top of it to give them a more pleasant experience) and we learned the fun way that if you’re gonna be spraying a lot of air freshener, you wanna keep on top of your dusting.

A layer of newspaper placed on top of kitchen cabinets eliminates (the need for cleaning) sticky dust from these surfaces.

I didn't notice the dust on the cooker hood for about 10 years. Took a steam mop to shift that bad boy. Can't do much with the amber-like goop in the filter though. I just try not to think about what's in there.

If the filters are removable and made of metal, there are some good hacks for cleaning them - YouTube that shit and see what you find

Yes! This!! ...and just dust in general. It's everywhere, and humanity is fighting a losing battle.

For all of you that are struggling with 'sticky dust' - sugar soap is your new best friend.. mostly used by decorators it's quite literally what it's for. Also if your home was rented/owned by a smoker before.. it cuts through nicotine stains too

Yeah, invest in microfibre cloths and place them in strategic locations, dry wipe things down every once in a while.

We call it “dusty fudge”

Also dust mites are heckin' wholesome.

Sticky dust…? How is this a thing! Never experienced this in my life

Set a reminder to dust / hoover once a week and it keep on top of it so it never really gets bad. You can do a quick half-arsed whizz around and it's not a hassle; let it build up and it becomes a big chore. Same with anything really.

Bathroom dust is my enemy, I wipe it and it just sticks to my cloth and gets all over the place.

Hoover or dry wipe it first.

And if you can't, dishwasher detergent in warm water works well to get it off of everything. The liquid stuff, not the pods or the powder.

The stuff you need is called "sugar water" weird name I know

Wasn't one of Quentin Crisps' Universal Truths, "Never do any housekeeping! After the first four years, the dirt doesn't get any worse...!'

A basic tool kit goes a long way, couple of screwdrivers and bits and bobs

Same goes for a cheap drill.

I bought a drill for like 25 quid or something on amazon when i moved out and i swear its been one of the best purchases i've ever made.

This advice is underrated. By all means have your main tool box in the shed but you should have an easily accessible kit in the house, containing, pliers, a spanner, adjustable screw driver, drill, tape measure and hammer.

Aka the messy tool draw

Drawer.

Thank you. 32 years old and can’t English good

Get yourself a cheap small toolbox for those items and wack it in a cupboard.

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I love my IKEA tool kit! So basic and lives in the boiler cupboard but gets so much use

Just wait until you get an electric screwdriver. Hands down the best purchase I’ve ever made.

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I went cordless and its served me fine, but im in a position where if i need to borrow a corded one i can

A small step ladder for changing bulbs and hanging curtains etc.

I had a cheap cordless drill that worked fine. Used it again a year later, and the battery was dead. Get a corded one unless you’re going to use it regularly

The cordless ones usually come with a charger

Damn, is this normal for batteries? So I needn’t have sold my Tesla for £200 when it broke down after a week?

A lot of people make that mistake. Go to any motorway services and you will see abandoned Teslas lined up in a special section of the car park.

Good advice. My mate gave me his corded drill when he "upgraded" to a cordless. He has since gone through several increasingly expensive models. Mine still works fine, and I only use it a few times a year, so it's practically new.

The issue is that most cordless drills are drill drivers with clutches and adjustable torque so you use them on screws.

Corded drills are just drills and are pretty useless for driving screws.

So for most people a cordless drill driver is more versatile.

People are obsessed with everything being battery powered. If you can stomach using a cord (really not that big of a deal most of the time) it's much better to not have a battery, for longevity primarily, but it's also cheaper and often higher performance.

Probably cause it was using old Ni-Cad batteries, they were shit at holding their charge. The new lithium stuff is much better in that respect, a lot fucking lighter too.

My cheap 30 quid drill gets used every few months and it's never let me down.

I'm going to differ with you here. A good drill. Cheap non-powered hand tools. Cheap things you're not sure if you'll use much. A good drill. Buy right, buy once. I'd actually recommend spending the money on a multi-tool cordless set including drill, impact driver, circular saw, and Sawz-all. Make sure it's at least 18v.

These will be the four main power tools you use for the rest of your life. Get a good brand. Do NOT buy Craftsman, B&D, any store brand. I recommend the yellow and black ones, or if you're feeling spendy, the red and black ones.

Backing this one up, particularly if you're going to buy an older house. I bought a mid-19th century terrace and my cheap drill from Wickes just didn't cut it. Packed in after a couple of attempts to attach a washing line to the exterior wall. Victorian bricks are tough.

Make sure it has a cord. I’m done fucking around with cordless tools. The battery is always dead when you need it.

Don't forget a stud finder for pipes and cables!

Cordless drill/driver combos are cheap and save a lot of time and headache later. The drivers sometimes have a hammer function for plaster on brick too

Bosch do an IXO or something electric compact screwdriver for like 30 quid. Godsend, comes with 4 or 5 screw heads and more importantly allen key heads.

Eats IKEA furniture or anything outside of drilling in to walls (which even then it's not bad at when it comes to plasterboard).

And don’t just drill screws into the wall. Make the hole, rawl plug, then screw goes in

And if it's a new build, or the walls sound hollow (board with dot & dab or, if it was built in the 90s and is a flat, 'eggbox walls'), also buy plasterboard anchors.

buy plasterboard anchors

Tradesmans tip here, buy the Spit metal PB plugs, not the cheaper plastic ones. Worth the extra cost every time

That too - "buy once, cry once" applies to just about everything you'll buy for a house.

I should add there is a knack to getting wall fixings to go in so your shelf (or whatever) comes out level, too; a knack I do not have. If it's plaster on brick, I will inevitably clip the edge of a brick (so the drill bounces off the brick and into the plaster line), and if it's hollow plasterboard I will still somehow manage to find the only screw in a 4ft radius.

I'm just lucky that way.

Fucking story of my life. I check the level fifty million times but once I've drilled it all goes to cock

I will still somehow manage to find the only screw in a 4ft radius.

I bought a strong magnet for this sort of thing, because I'm useless at finding the stud in the wall

Get some strong magnets and you can find screws where the plasterboard is screwed to the stud. Not only can you dodge the screws but you can fix your thing into the stud rather than just plasterboard. If plasterboard is your option setting anchor tool and a stud finder to avoid pipes and cables.

https://www.amazon.com/TOVOT-Anchor-Setting-Assortment-Plasterboard/dp/B081H79Y4L/ref=asc_df_B081H79Y4L/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459517253659&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4607931033971938415&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9057273&hvtargid=pla-1027069533767&psc=1

Do you have a link to these anchors please?

These are the Spit ones. Never have any trouble with them

I've had a couple of these fail on me (think it was user error by the previous installer). I've started using these: https://www.screwfix.com/p/easyfix-hollow-wall-anchors-8-16mm-m5-x-52mm-10-pack/12229 they are insanely strong. Probably a bit overkill for everything though.

Saved me moving things like radiators before when other fixings have failed and left a slightly oversized hole.

Ah, yeah those are great. Have used them before hanging extinguishers where there was no stud available.

All hangs on how strong your board is though, and if you have the room behind to take the length of the bolt before it splits and fans out.

Overkill is under-rated when hanging crap on walls

Nylon zip its. JFC

Zip ties have their uses. Lol

Zipits. Tradesman tip. ;).

https://anchors.dewalt.com/anchors/products/mechanical-anchors/light-duty-anchors/zip-it/nylon_zip-it.php

Ah, right.

No we prefer the 50mm spit ones, find they hold better and drill in cleaner than the plastic plugs.

Your miles may vary of course

lol. Nylon.

Which is totally not a type of plastic...

You don’t have to own the stereotype of the uneducated trades person.

https://www.upat.co.za/item/698-plastic-vs-nylon-what-s-the-difference

Tell me exactly why I should care?

Oh I see. Hopeless. Ok carry on.

Could you add a link? I have tried a huge variety of these but just not sure which ones you mean?

I added one to another response to this thread, should be right around here.

They're in screwfix for about a tenner

Yep absolutely. Always had problems with the plasterboard not holding things very well until we used the hollow wall anchors, they’re amazing.

buy the Spit metal PB plugs, not the cheaper plastic ones

Do you have a link ? Not sure what you mean ?

They just rip more of your wall out when whatever you’re putting up inevitably comes crashing down. Find a stud (in the wall, not to do the job for you).

Eggbox walls what's that as I live in a flat built in 70s. . What do plasterboard anchors do

I'm sure 'eggbox walls' have a name but I've found them in a couple of flats now, both built in the 90s, so I'm guessing they're fairly common..

Anyway, they are what appear to be two sheets of plasterboard (one for each side of the wall) separated and held up by nothing but a cardboard lattice (imagine lots of vertical lines of cardboard and lots of horizontal lines of cardboard making a cross pattern).. they remind me of egg box material :)

They're also a pain in the hole to put anything up on or do anything in (you can't fish wires, for example, to move a light switch). Hateful things but I imagine really, really cheap to put up..

I have no clue as to what's Inbetween the walls. Well I am due to have some rewiring done as it a council flat, apperntly they will do it via the loft

Yes, always hang things properly.

I am so scared ima go through a pipe! Any advic3

My neighbours just bash a nail in, proper old school.

This comment needs a gigantic neon sign of an arrow and the text THIS!

SPANNERS AND SOCKET WRENCHES. I didn’t have these for ages and every time I wanted to do something simple I had to nip round my parents’ and borrow theirs it was a huge pain in the balls.

Also pliers. Needlenose and standard. Can save a huge amount of sweat and effort.

Pound shops and wilko for cheap tools and bits. Won't last forever but they'll get the job done.

And the ones that do wear out or break, buy decent ones, as those are the tools you use most often, anything else can stay cheap.

A screw driver, a tiny screw driver, adjustable crescent wrench, needle nose plyers, and a measuring tape can do a surprising amount of DIY jobs around the house and car.

And get a toilet plunger before you need it. Especially if its a 1 bathroom place.

IKEA do a basic toolkit which includes a hammer. If you don't yet own any tools, it's not a bad place to start.

A cordless electric screwdriver is a lifesaver. If you use it to assemble ikea stuff, just set the clutch appropriately, so you don’t break shit.

I "decorated" about 3 rentals with a leatherman, best purchase I ever made. Guaranteed for life too when I bought it.

Buy cheap tools. If you use it enough that it breaks, you know it's worthwhile to get something better

But a bunch of cheap tools. Replace the ones that break. If you don't need a good quality tool, there is no point in paying for one, and the usage will determine which tools you need to upgrade.

Adam Savage described it beautifully: Buy a cheap tool the first time you need one. Then, when that breaks buy a quality one. Because that means you are actually using it enough.

Yes this! There’s a mini tool kit you can get in Wilkinson’s, has screwdrivers. Measuring tape, adjustable wrenches in it, Allen keys, can’t tell you how handy it is to have that in your drawer somewhere just in case.

Keep an eye out in Aldi and Lidl. Unless you plan on becoming a full time hobbyist or carpenter, their hand power tools are all <30 and are perfectly fine for DIY. My Aldi stuff shares two batteries and one charger between 4 tools and it's a gift.

This. My mrs bought a pink tool kit from GroupOn 8 years ago to which I laughed at, still in use today haha.

When I first moved out my dad gave me a tool box with all the basics. Really thoughtful and useful.

I got a shitty toolkit from Ikea when I first moved out.
Hammer, screw driver with multiple tips you can put in, pliers etc.
Set me back maybe a tenner, and it's been invaluable.

If I need to do something heavy duty I'll get real tools from my dad, but for the price that shitty tool kit has done a fair bit of lifting, and going strong solidly over 10 years later.

Something very important you need which I realized the day before yesterday is PLIERS. They have so many uses and some tasks are impossible without them.

Given places have had power cuts recently, get a few decent LED torches, too.

They have a great basic tool kit in IKEA, screw driver with interchangeable heads (including Alan key heads), hammer, pliers ect. for like £10 - £12

Also PTFE tape, invaluable!

When I moved in there was a bit of wood that I kept because you always need a foot long bit of wood eventually, helped me with sorting the blinds a year later

When my siblings and I each moved out my Dad gifted us a tool kit - and it's possibly the most used/appreciated gift I think I've ever had. It's so so useful to have in the house, and I think of him every time I use it.

get a first aid kit to go with that tool kit

I've got some bits, but no bobs, where can I pick some up?

I got a Multitool with a bunch of different heads from Screwfix, cost about 18 quid and has honestly been a lifesaver on many occasions

Bobs n vegene?

First thing I gave to my mate when he moved into his first flat. Sorted him out with a hammer, a few scroggies and an adjustable. (Might've given him a cheapo tape measure I had too but fuck knows, could've easily just lost that)

Any time you got the hardware store, pick up a handy tool. You'll be glad you did when you sidenote need a rubber mallet or something.

Get cheap tools first; you’ll find whichever you use most (and eventually break) are ones worth investing in a decent, more expensive version :)

Piggybacking on this, lots of chain shops have tool sets in "girl" colors that are often cheaper than the standard colors. They're the same tools and nobody's going to walk off with your pink spanner.

But at the same time if you are a bit more hands on, the job will always require a tool you don't have.

This goes on no matter how many different tools you already bought

This. Buying the right tool (as and when you need it) makes such a huge difference. Turns an annoying task into a simple one

This. The best moving in present I got!

Needle-nose pliers, snub-nosed pliers, crescent wrench, hammer, wirecutter are the things I use most. Especially the needle-nosed pliers.

DIY jobs take roughly 5 times how long you think they will.

And cost three times as much as you expect as you always encounter some issue along the way.

With five times as many trips to B&Q as you thought.

"why are you under the car with WD40? you were going to change the bulb in the kitchen"

"I am changing the bulb in the kitchen"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0

Came to share exactly that!

Watched the show when it first came out and enjoyed it. Rewatched it a year or so ago after becoming a parent and homeowner and it is so much better. The amount of times I felt like I was watching my life on tv was insane.

Hal is all of us. Love him

This is genuinely my life right now, I started last saturday with a plan to paint my office room and ended up dismantling the top of my stairs and replacing a split joist - having recaulked the windows inbetween

Still need to finish painting that room

American tv show? Blasphemy!

Kick ass American TV show you mean

What is the UK equivalent to Malcolm In The Middle?

You mean what UK show is Malcolm In The Middle based on?

Sure? or vice-versa?

Nah, no American shit allowed here. It’s called casual”UK” for a reason.

Fk Americans. We should all be hating them here.

Making a real bad example for the British here.

Nooo that's you for not noticing the joke of the national pastime of taking the piss out of Americans even though in....a couple of months or so by now, they will be doing better than us anyway.

Where’s your British pride?

Definitely one of the most memorable scenes of malcolm in the middle for me. Still mention it from time to time!

Local builders merchants will always be cheaper than B&Q/Homebase etc, but won't be open on sundays.

thats how i measure my diy job is this a 2-3-5 trip job

Plumbing projects add a multiple of 5 to this

Yep, all of the above.

If it's a one off item or service, it's probably better to try to pick up extra hours of work somewhere to afford the item or service you need.

My most recent example of this was trying to save money by doing a DIY look for curtains. I saved maybe $100 USD, but I spent 6 weekends finding the curtains, getting them hemmed, experienced frustration trying to hang them correctly, and few other energy draining roadblocks. I should have just spent the extra $100 and had it done in a few hours by the curtains store and saved tons of time, energy, and my weekends.

The exception is if it's a hobby where you're investing in a tool or material you'll use many times and warrant spending lot of time, money, and energy related to the tool and the projects you'll use it for.

Screwfix and tool station FTW

No wonder costs explode. Screwfix and Toolstaion are cheaper than B&Q in my experience. Scan their sites before going shopping

…thank you for reminding me I need to go back to B&Q. We’re almost out of paint.

And B&Q don’t like you using contactless because of its low limit. They only yielded for COVID. The amount of times you go in there for some screws and end up spending £80 on other stuff is terrifying

And you'll need at least one tool that you won't own and will probably never need again.

Source: still haven't replaced my broken air vent cover because I need a longer ladder.

"I can make this for less than they're charging for it, since they add a bit on to make a profit" - the cry of the person who forgets that economies of scale are a very real thing.

Ive experienced this first hand, put a new en suit in, had a £2k limit, didnt mind going over as I was aware most things do then by a freak accident after sawing the waste pipe to split it my phone fell out of my pocket and the electric saw slipped off the tile cutter and the corner landed in the middle of my phone screen shattering it.. another £300 on top of the original.. wasnt pleased

And when you get to a point in the job where there's no turning back you'll find that you need a tool that you don't have. And, it's Sunday so nothing is open.

Measure twice, cut once.. then buy more because you messed up the measurements.

I built a shelf to fit in a certain space in my garage when I first lived alone. It was 8x4 feet. I wasn’t too far off on the wood cost, but I grossly underestimated the amount of screws and bracketsI would end up buying.

Decided to DIY stop my floorboards from squeaking (like holy crap a mouse will make the whole floor groan), took 2 weeks longer than expected because apparently the builders rolled a D20 to determine how far apart to place the floor joists, how long to cut them, and what shaped to connect them in near the corners. Which probably explains the squeaking.

Dont forget the months it takes you to get round to them too.

This week I finally put up a shelf that I bought, sanded and stained in summer last year.

I'd just like you to know that I appreciate your commitment and follow-through, as I stare at the semi-completed kitchen cupboard paint job I also started last summer.

Honestly it’s only my love of Christmas that finally got me to do it as I bought some particular decorations I wanted to put on a shelf this year (not an elf) and it absolutely now needed to go up in my festive mind. Glad I did though. I believe you can complete your kitchen job :)

It only takes so long to get around to them, because you know they are going to require several trips to the store, take way longer than planned, possibly jamming, scraping or cutting your hands in the process. All while the game is starting in little bit?! I’ll get to it next week.

"If I said I'll do it, I'll do it. You don't have to keep nagging me every six months!"

Plus the time it takes to watch 4 different YouTube videos on the process

With at least one trip to Screwfix.

Halfway through a DIY job, I pause and ask myself: "How much would I pay someone right now to do this for me". At that moment a professional plumber doesn't seem so expensive.

Good tip too is to learn the power of rawl plugs. And most things can be solved by looking on tube.

Poly filler is a life saver for when you drill a hole and it’s off from the other hole you drilled even tho you used a spirit level and drew a line and make a perfect mark.

And never start a job when screwfix is closed

5x? You have mad skills. Mine take 10x to infinity.

And sometimes you will put a nail through a water pipe

Even when you account for it.

And they’re never straight forward!

You have X number of screws to remove? The last one will always be difficult.

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I do, the same with tightening: all in before a final tighten. I always seem to end up with a screw that has the head stripped.

What I’ve also learned, a project may seem simple and not require a professional, but the professionals know how to handle the strange, difficult situations that inevitably arise. We had a wall taken down that I probably could’ve done myself, but once it was down we realized the floors and walls weren’t totally flush and the amount of work it took to fix that was way above my abilities, but pretty easy for the contractor.

A million times this. Especially when you start and realise you have to first undo someone else's poor attempt at a previous fix.

Look at you, Mr. Speedy and Competent.

On that note, I will likely get a handy man going forward for a lot of jobs.

Supporting a local business and saving myself a lot of grumpiness…

On the back of this, dear God please make sure you have the right tools for the job, or at least borrow them from your parents or whatever. I spent fucking ages last night trying to get transit bolts out of a washing machine.

Once you have a tool collection built up I feel like you’ll save a lot of time get a basic tool set from whatever tool stores you have in the uk

My approximation is however long I think it will take. Multiply it by 3. It's worked pretty reliably so far

Only the first few times. Then you know how long they’ll actually take you. Also thing you diy you’ll tend to view with rose colored glasses. Everyone else will be more critical of the end result.

I would add to this to say that, if you can afford the cost and the time leaving whatever it is in disrepair for as long as it takes you to finish, at least try DIY-ing some stuff. Hang a door, patch some drywall, replace that light switch, replace that faucet. Just be very careful and be sure to follow all safety precautions and wear PPE no matter how silly it might feel. There are plenty of YouTube videos on all this stuff. You might make mistakes, but you learn a lot of very useful skills.

This person speaks the truth. Every time I diy n tell my wife it’ll take 15min.

1 hr later.. I’m two trips deep from Home Depot with bloody knuckles and my 5 year old sitting down n shaking his head “daddy always says it’ll take 15 min”

I don’t know if I completely agree with this. There’s loads of stuff around the house that I’ve saved money just doing myself.

But I think the point your making is like, learn how much your time is worth to you. Don’t be afraid to buy yourself out of a problem if it saves on stress, and you can afford it. That’s how I think about it anyway

And 3x trips to whatever supply store needed.

that tool you will need to accomplish the task will be missing when you need it also

It takes a half hour on TV, sometimes an hour....

If you pick the things you are good at, perhaps painting and decorating, or gardening - great. Alternatively, have someone teach you. I think this must be simple, have a go, end up with bag of bits and send to landfill.

Fuck me I though putting a new box over the consumer unit might take a couple of days, here I am a couple of months later having only just finished it

And often reveal 2 other jobs you hadn't planned to work on

Every single time I've thought of getting a new desk, new chair, new anything turns into a full day's job and at end, I'm morally/spiritually and physically defeated lol

It's a cointoss if the item remains standing after

This is so damn true, and I didn't really learn it until I bought rather than rented. When I was renting, I just put in work orders with my property manager to fix anything that I couldn't do myself quickly/cheaply. Now, I spend hours every other weekend dealing with one maintenance issue or another.

You think it'll take 30 minutes and one run to the hardware store. Five hours and three trips later, you're just wrapping up, not even fully satisfied with the result, but at least feeling like it's better than it was before. But then you have to deal with the next thing next weekend.

And every one trip to the hardware store is actually going to take 3 to accomplish

Where was this advice when my new blinds arrived 5 days ago. Got a lot of unsuccessful drill holes

Find out where all the stopcocks are. Better to find out now then during a plumbing emergency.

Look up your local rubbish days in case they are different.

Also. If you have a water tank in the loft, turning the stopcock off won't stop the leak.... Speaking from experience. We had to turn the water off using the outside stopcock (under the path out the front) and then drain the tank via the bath before the water stopped dripping.

Also, if you have a water tank in the loft don't ever fill the kettle using the hot water tap. You could potentially be filling it up with dead mouse soup.

Wait what

If you have a gas boiler you don't need to worry, old plumbing systems used a hot water tank and rodents can easily get in and slowly decompose. If you have a water tank you shouldn't have mixer taps either

Having a gas boiler doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have a tank

Even some combi installs still have tanks because they were half-assed installs

What you mean is if you have a combi boiler...

Heat only/open vented systems have a tank...

Not a boiler tank, a water storage tank. Water goes from the tank in the loft (the rodent/pigeon Spa) down into the boiler tank and then through the hot water pipes of the house. Radiators, shower, sinks.

Tip: You can install a valve almost anywhere.

PEX is really easy to work with once you do it a bit.

I have almost every area able to be isolated and drained separately. they even make valves with built in drain plugs now too. I haven't triend them yet though.

Even better if there is a water tank in the loft make sure it's sealed and there isn't a rotting bird in it.

What is a loft and a stopcock?????

Loft is the attic. Stopcock is a type of tap on a pipe that you turn to shut off the flow of water from the mains.

Also if you're unlucky enough to move in somewhere that still has fuses instead of breakers, make sure you're stocked up on spares. Last thing you want is to blow one and have to do without it because you don't have a spare and the shops are shut.

If you've still got fuses get that replaced with a breaker box by an electrician ASAP, as you need an RCD for protection in addition to the MCBs.

Get it looked at and see what the leccy says. I'm sure building regs say existing setups only need ripping out and replacing if they're failing or an imminent hazard. Any additions must be done properly with breakers obviously but certainly when I had some work done the sparky I had said the rest of the box was fine.

They are fine in the sense they do what they're designed to do, modern RCBOs are much safer by comparison though if you was to touch a live wire.

For anyone that still has a fuse board, never under any circumstances use the wrong fuse wire for your fuse. Eg dont put 32A wire in your 6A fuse, it can cause a fire if theres a short circuit

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7AY-GCCAAEaelQ.jpg One of these should do the trick!

Close and open said stopcocks twice a year to ensure they don't cease up, and you'll know if they don't work before you actually need them.

Do I need to do any other prep for tying this e.g turning off the boiler, or is it as simple as just ‘turn it off and on again’ as a test? We had a minor leak recently and made me realize I’ve (fortunately) never actually had to do this

Depending on the boiler it might be on a closed loop separated from the mains water. Can't hurt to turn it off though.

In all honesty, ask a plumber. Ignoring the ones on the boiler itself, providing the heating isn't running or any taps open then I can't see what closing and opening a valve for a few seconds will do. The water isn't moving within the pipework and is suspended, when you close the valve then water will still be in the same position as will be the pressure within the pipes. But this is a theory, not a plumber.

Depending where a leak breaks out is a different story. You got your radiator loop, cold in, hot out. Depending on the boiler type, the water might be pressurised.

Get the local council app for your phone for when you forget.

Stopcocks, plus find the location of the electric and gas meters, the main electric circuit breakers and the central heating tank / valves / boiler and thermostat.

Find where they all are as soon as possible.

Find out everything you can about the systems in your place if possible

Oh yeah, this, plus fuses, how your heating works and what to do if smoke alarms go off.

Or even better how to stop them beeping when the batteries low/dead without ruining your deposit.

And how to silence them when they go off at 2am when you made post drinking crumpets. There's usually a silence button on them somewhere, although I flailed at mine with a broom to try and hit it and took the whole thing off the wall. Don't do this.

I honestly hit mine with a spanner. I tried to be gentle, I'd called maintenance who didn't answer. It was in my student flat and I had an exam the next morning. It had it coming.

Agreed. A suitable death.

TIL stopcocks.

Sounds like general category for cock-blocking twats.

Ahh, a regular old Roshean Conaty aye?

Set 2 x recurring bi-weekly reminder in your phone calendar with an alert the evening before bins are due so you never forget to put your bins out each week

How do you find out where they are if they're not immediately obvious?

They are usually in a set of standard locations.

https://www.advancedheatingplumbing.co.uk/how-to-find-your-stopcock/

Here is something I found with a quick Google.

Oh god yeah. That is essential.

Omg this.

I knew where mine was but when my kitchen pipe burst I found that the handle had rusted shut so it couldn’t be turned :) so test it out straight away before you get an indoor swimming pool!

I read that as "stockpots" at first and wondered why damp Oxo was your primary concern in a flood 😂

Oh no! You have revealed my secret identity. I am really Marco Pierre White lol

American here, what is a stopcock?

Never knew it was called a stopcock.

This! And do it immediately.

When I was a student I arrived at my newly rented house and though to myself "first things first... cuppa tea!". I turned on the kitchen tap to fill the kettle and BANG!... The top of the tap came straight off and water was flowing out of the stem at full force hitting the ceiling. I had literally been in the house 30 seconds. I hadn't even brought in any possessions from the car. I was the only one there. I held my hand over the tap to stem the flow whilst wondering what to do. Thankfully at that second, and entirely coincidentally, my new flat mate turned up. He started looking for the stopcock and eventually found it out in the middle of the street - I wouldn't have looked there because every house I had lived in until that point had it inside the house. A flood was narrowly averted.

My kitchen ceiling would have appreciated this comment 3 years ago

Also fusebox/breaker. Less emergency more annoying to try and find in the dark thanks to how they work.

Also: if you have a combi boiler, find out how to check the pressure and how to top it up if necessary!

Why does cock pop up in so many British words... Very odd..

As Doris would say, we quite like a bit of cock.

Sean Locke’s tip

And test them now that you don’t need to use them. Rather than trying to turn the water off in an emergency and lime scale has ruined the stopcock. Try and turn it off and on once a year to keep it free.

Second this, also buy a sure stop for an extra backup! Will make you life a pure blessing if anything ever happens!

American here, why are we trying to stop cocks?

And buy a plunger before you need one!

Why would you want to stop a cock?

Crazy! You guys have to manually shut off your cock flow! Mine has a low flow indicator auto shut off that just sort of seals it up until the next trip to the john.

As an American, what is a stopcock? Yes I'm being lazy by not Googling it but I want to know why it's such a big deal. Are you talking about the release valve on radiators?

this is underrated!

Moved into my new place 3 weeks ago. Just realised I haven't done this, thanks!

As an American, what is that?

Are stopcocks present in a flat?

And test them every now and again.

Last time I had an emergency mine had almost frozen stuck, took an age to loosen.

Now I check them every now and again.

Get into the habit of cooking and shopping to a meal plan. You’ll save money and waste less food.

I can add to that, buy a slow cooker, it will save you a fortune

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Yeah I love my air fryer, haven’t used my oven in 2 years haha, I do like pressure cookers for speed but banging your slow cooker on in the morning and it being ready when you get home. I also find the slow cooker is much better at tenderising tough, cheap and fatty meat

The best thon about slow cookers is when you walk in the house in the evening and you can smell a lovely stew or curry bubbling away and you know you haven't got to bother cooking as it's all ready.

Yes, and you can put in the cheaper, but tastier cuts of meat - get beef shin for your curry, or brisket for your stew.

Pork cheek was a revelation for me! Making me hungry now

The problem with pork cheek is that someone (TV chef...) mentioned it was a bargain... and now it isn't any more.

Doesn't it increase your electricity bill because it's on for hours?

How much do you save on your gas bill by using this?

They’re only 2-300 watts, they’re more economical than electric ovens. To give a point of reference, that’s like running 2 of the old style light bulbs. A little fan electric heater is usually 1200 watts or more

My husband bought himself the ninja air fryer earlier this year, he loves it!

I'm looking at getting a ninja, the fact you can slow cook, air fry l, saute and roast etc in one appliance seems great to me. How effective is the air fryer? Never used one before.

And the instant pot slow cooks of you reallly need it for something.

Seconded, I was skeptical when my parents got me a slow cooker first Christmas after moving out, how wrong I was. It lasted 12 years, having just conked out and made many, many lovely meals.

Yeah they’re great. The important thing to remember is you don’t need recipes, just wang it all in there and experiment

Can use cheap cuts of meat too,the fattier the meat the more tender it comes out

Baking soda on cheap meat. Let sit for at least 30 min then rinse off. Cheap, quick tenderizer.

"Mmmmm, needs more wang."

Funny, my ex always used to say that to me 😂

I love the phrase "Wang it in there"

really? have little to no experience with slow cookers but this sounds appealing

Watch a few YouTube guides first just to see the best way to do it, once you’ve made a few meals you’ll judge what to throw in lol

that sounds cool af, ty

My slow cooker finally shuffled off it's mortal coil after a decade of proud service and I was genuinely sad. Throwing it out felt like losing the family dog.

I’ve hung on to mine for sentimental reasons, so it’s probably for the best I’ve never had a dog.

Came here to say this! You don't even need a fancy one- mine was about £20. Saves even more time than money!

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Yeah that’s a good shout, mine is really cheap too but I use a plug timer instead, you can get them on Amazon/ eBay for under £10

Defender 24 Hour Segment Timer Switch - Energy Saver Plug Standard Size - Hour Plug-in Timer Socket Set - 240v 3 Pin Plug with Programmable Time Controller (1 x Pack) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01CP44AU4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_1SVMPKWJTVQQQVDF6AHW?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 if you’re interested

Better still, face the fear, read the manual and buy a pressure cooker. Better results than a slow cooker without having to do all the prep before you go to work. Nice stew/curry/ whatever in 35 mins and you don’t get the weirdly unintegrated vegetables you somehow get in a slow cooker. Also, buy a rice cooker. So cheap in Asian shops all the time and Lidl every so often. Perfect rice with no trouble at all, kept warm until you finish cooking the main.

I love my rice cooker. Finish work. Put some rice on. Several hours later the rice is just there, hot and waiting for me.

They also make awesome porridge from pinhead oatmeal.

Personally I use both, there are advantages to both, nothing compares to a slow cooker when used properly with really tough, fatty/ cheap meats. Most people don’t layer a slow cooker properly

I’ve got both, but I’m not really a long term planner when it comes to my dinner; the pressure cooker wins every time. And I find veg stay weirdly hard in slow cooker stews even when the meat is tender. Great for rice pudding though!

I got an electric pressure cooker a few months back, I use it way more than I ever used a slow cooker, was a great investment.

They’re certainly much more convenient if you can’t be arsed doing meal prep

How much electricity do they use? Although I guess spending 50p more on electiricity for 4 meals is worth it

It’s 2-300 watts depending on the cooker, I’m not sure on the monetary cost of that but it’s a low wattage, bare in mind that’s going full whack too

Oh ok that's not bad. Will look into some recipes thanks :)

Buy some food containers that can stack. About £15 online for like 8 or 9 of them, bento style.

They pack away easily, you can stack them in the fridge, and each one has enough space inside easily for one meal.

I also find the cilindrical American deli style containers work great too, if a bit more expensive for...some reason. Use them for soups, pasta, sauces, hell I even use them for veg prep.

When I was a student, my slow cooker was the best investment I made. It was huge and I could cook at least 5 meals worth in it at a time. I’d just batch lots of meals up to keep me going. Buying ingredients in bulk keeps costs down too.

If you're thinking of getting a slow cooker, be warned - it's absolutely not as simple as Reddit says.

A lot of foods will screw up in a slow-cooker and have to be cooked separately - rice, dairy, pasta, chicken with skin on, delicate vegetables, alcohol, any herbs, red kidney beans..

You can still make good meals, but it's definitely not just "put everything in the pot and it's done". There have been so many Reddit comments recommending slow-cookers to beginner cooks because "it's easy" (including in this thread), but I've never seen anyone warn you how much food you could waste because of the long list of ingredients that slow-cookers can't handle.

I mean once you get a few recipes right (there’s loads of good YouTube guides) it’s pretty easy to judge it. I think you’re being a bit dramatic lol. Also half those things you listed are fine

Oh absolutely, but you wouldn't think you'd need to check for slowcooker-specific recipes if Redditors weren't over-hyping the versatility.

Especially when they always advise this to young people just starting their cooking journey who can't anticipate the pitfalls (e.g. OP who's just moved out, or my younger self). It's really disheartening to be a beginner cook, be told that "you can just stick it all in the slow-cooker, that's impossible to mess up"... and mess it up.

Don't get me wrong, I would still recommend slow cookers - any cooking implement has to be used in certain ways and that's not a disadvantage. I just feel that we hype them so much that it verges on false advertising.

Yeah that’s fair enough, it’s also worth pointing out I grew up on “whatever’s left in the cupboard” stews so I can eat just about anything. If you’re picky then you want to put in a bit more care

Slow cookers are so grim, it just over cooks the meat and makes the whole dish taste the same flavour. The misses wanted to try it and we used it for a while and then swiftly went in the bin

Sounds like you didn’t know how to use it properly mate

No, I just know how to cook decent food without a shitty machine

Ok pal have a good day

Again. You’re not using them right

You too mushy meat lover

I'm with you mate, slow cookers make everything taste like school dinners

It's literally for making stews and curries and things that need a long time to cook, but saves you doing it in the oven.

I was a professional chef and we used to braise meats over night in the oven and often for 24 hours+. Some cuts of meat that are fatty and tough require a long, slow, low temperature cook to become tender.

Although if you're putting a ribeye in a slow cooker and then going "hurr Durr overcooked wtf", I can see why you think they're not good.

I could maybe see it’s desire for a stew but I don’t eat them, a curry I’d rather just make in a pan... it doesn’t take THAT long to make a good authentic one, but obviously that’s not a mid week meal! The only reason I’d be inclined to use one is to infuse oil, but even then you can just do that on a hob.

Edit: the things I tried in it was pulled pork, chilli, curry, stew & some dessert thing. Pulled pork was just pure mush, chilli just didn’t have any depth to it, the chicken in the curry was all stringy after it’d broken down & the stew.. as I said, I don’t really like it so was a no from me there

Depends on the curry. Some are essentially a stew, which only gets better with time (to a point). Some of course are basically a spiced tomato sauce with whatever meat/veg you want.

Pulled pork is the kind of thing slow cookers are designed for. So you either left it on for far too long, or had some shit frozen pork or something.

Chilli you need to start in a pan to sweat onions and toast the spices first.

Chicken.. idk what to tell you. You put meat in a slow cooker, of course it broke down.

I'm not saying they're the be all and end all of cooking (I don't actually have one). But for simple things they definitely have their place. As with any other cooking technique, you have to learn how to use it. I would agree that people saying "just put shit in in the morning and leave it" aren't doing it right - which I suspect is why your chilli was shite. Most things you still want to start in a pan on the stove and then leave to braise in the slow cooker.

Tbf, my misses made all the meals in the slow cooker as I refused from the start and that is what she done. But that still doesn’t stop the fact I haven’t had anything nice from them when other people have provided meals from a slow cooker.

I just love cooking and would rather just do everything in a more manual process, even if it does take a lot longer that way. I have a saying that you can’t make nice food without love & there is fuck all love in a slow cooker!

I’m quite into my bbq’ing so anything that needs low and slow usually gets done in there anyways.

there is fuck all love in a slow cooker.

But it's literally the same as putting something on low on the stove or in the oven, as you so with all braises/stews/etc. Unless you just fuck everything in it at once and leave it. But you'd get the same result with chilli for example if you just put all the ingredients in a pan at once and turned it on a low heat.

It's like you don't understand what a slow cooker is. It's a low temperature pot so that you don't have to leave the stove/oven on.

also, costs a fuckton less to run. We worked it out at about 1/5th of the cost to use the slow cooker for things vs using the electric hobs (no gas here).

Slow cooker is a good one!

I'd also suggest a semi-decent rice cooker too.

​

I know many people argue that you can just hob it, but when you're full time working, the less time spent hovering over the hob monitoring rice the better. It makes perfect rice every time with almost no effort. They can also double up as steamers and more.

I read serious eats website, its amazing for recipes. Their tip that a Dutch oven on a very low heat with the lid slightly cracked kicks the arse out of a slow cooker every time was a game changer. You get that deepening of flavours from the slight evaporation.

Oh yeah nothing compares to using an oven properly don’t get me wrong, but I was thinking more cost effectiveness, slow cookers use significantly less power

Excellent point, I didn't think of that. I haven't got a heater in my tiny wee kitchen so I tend to use it as an extra heat source in winter!

This may sound dumb but what are the risks to a slow cooker? I would be shitting myself in case it set afire when I'm out or something.

Don't go grocery shopping when you are really hungry...

This is an underrated must

I occasionally use Mealime app when I’m uninspired - you can select a few meals from it and it puts together a complete shopping list for you with minimal wastage.

(Im well aware that I could do this myself but it’s a free app with healthy meal ideas too which suits me - also good for someone like OP who’s just starting fending for themself)

Also the effort of thinking about what you want to eat. If you know you've got ingredients for three meals in, say a ragu, a chilli, and a soup, then you can save all the time wondering what to have and checking what you've got in (and how much effort you have left) to make it with. Otherwise I find I spend more time thinking about what I want than cooking it.

/r/mealprepsunday

We do this, and on the weeks where the cupboards and fridge are literally bare before the shopping arrive (we have them delivered), we call it Greta week, and say “email Greta!” when we make the last possible meal.

Mealime is a great app for this

My wife needs to learn this

And cook six times more than you need, eat one freeze the other five.

Also on this, eat the food you buy before buying more, you got veggies? Use them with 7 days if you can. Easy to forget and then too easy to waste and throw out.

Milk doesn’t go off on the day and most food will last a long time if you freeze them.

And cook in batches, then freeze in 1-2 meal portions. It's much more time efficient than cooking every day.

Housework and gardening are a never-ending ball ache.

It's relentless.

Keeping a lawn in decent shape is a full time job,

I’ve got chickens, my lawn is practically non existent atm, it’s their full time job to eat it apparently.

You should try that chicken-proof grass, I hear that it's impeccable.

haha, fuck sake. I actually really, properly, laughed out loud. That's made my day. Glorious.

Well that’s the best comment I’ll read today

/r/angryupvote

This fucking guy

Damnit… just take it

Underrated comment right here

Absolutely first class

Did…did you just have this ready to go for this moment? Hahaha

Take your filthy upvote and get the fuck out

Take my upvote, damn you!

I normally absolutely hate reddit puns but this one got me good

what is funny about this? srs Q

Aww. Chickens peck grass. Chicken-proof grass is im-pecc(k)-able (not peckable) and impeccable (flawless/without fault).

I'm so low IQ for not seeing that lmao - thank you!

Nah, you're not. Puns are special and a delayed pick-up is pretty normal unless one's tuned to them. This was a particularly good one.

Wait, if I get chickens, I won’t have to cut my grass??

You won’t have to water your plants either because they’ll get eaten too! Win win situation.

Do they pull weeds too?

Mine love eating dandelions!

I want to borrow someone's chickens to eat all the weeds in my vegetable and flower beds before spring planting. I also want to borrow ducks. I hear they love slugs...

They'll not be eating it so much, they'll be stratching it out the way to get at the bugs.

We move our geese in from the orchard to the more sheltered garden over the winter, as geese are grazers and keep on top of it without attacking it. Of course they **** everywhere, but that's priced in.

For me it’s keeping on top of weeds without resorting to weed killer 😩

I resorted to weed killer, 4 litres of roundup later and most of my grass hasn't grown back in 5 months!!! I have 3 small patches of green and 60 feet of baron wasteland! my neighbors must think I'm a lunatic

The bloody dandelions haven't grown back so that's a win in my book

Dandelions are good for bees though! (and actually make grass grow thicker too).

Embrace the weeds, nowt wrong with them.

I only get rid of the really destructive ones that leave a 2-3cm circle of dirt if you let them get established, the rest can stay. Increased biodiversity is never a bad thing.

Yeah sometimes your happy that it's been raining for the best part of 2 weeks now I just can't cut the grass it's a shame

My parents have a big lawn and it seems like they just mow it like once every two weeks and it’s fine? What am I missing?

no it isnt

Yes it is

Lets break it down as a full time job. Approximately 60% of the time is spent mowing, approximately 30% of the time is spent trimming, and 10% of the time you are aerating, rolling, spraying fungi/weeds, or fertilizing (10% because this only needs to be done a handful of times throughout the entire season, not weekly). This is all that's necessary to keep a lawn in "decent" shape, probably in "great" shape.

A full time job is 35+ hours a week.

This means that, at a minimum, 21 hours a week would be dedicated to mowing. Since you require full time hours to manage your property, you are certainly using a riding mower which travels a comfortable 5mph (8km/h) while cutting. We'll stay conservative and assume you have a small 42 inch (1.07m) cutting deck. Assuming 7% of your mowing time is allotted to gassing, sharpening blades and maintenance checks, and another 7% to emptying grass catchers and clearing clogged cuttings decks, this leaves you with 18hrs of pure mow time each week. Now I only have 13 years experience mowing properties, but I can tell you that you only need to cut once a week on average spanning the warm season, to keep your lawn in "decent" shape. This means your lawn would have to have an area of 154,080 square meters (18hrs x 8km/hr x 1.07m cut) in order to be a full time job. Now what would this look like on a "property", well if the lawn was a rectangle or something approximating a square, it would mean the dimension of your lawn is

392m x 392m.

I looked up the median property size in the UK

Plot sizes of your typical home in the UK range between 10m x 30m, to 40m x 100m, depending on the density of the municipality that you live in, this space include the square area of the home itself, but we'll ignore that to give you a fighting chance.

At worst you are overestimating the time required to care for a lawn by 512X.

At best you are overestimating the time required to care for a lawn by 38X.

Assuming we are talking about someone with an above average property size, on average, it would take them 38 times less time than you are suggesting, so not a full time job, but closer to one hour a week.

You are objectively wrong. I suppose they dont teach math at oxford now do they good boy?

Slow day?

pwned n00b

If you think wasting your time writing out several paragraphs of pointless shit about lawn maintenance, constitutes owning someone, I’ve got news for you.

pwning n00bs is a full time job

goddamn squirrels digging holes in my lawn >:(

I hated keeping our front garden cut, so we converted it to a wild garden!

Sow some meadow seed, put in a bug house, only needs cutting once or twice a year!

Keeping your lawn up with your neighbours can become an obsession

My excuse for an overgrown garden is it is keeping my hedgehog and bee friends happy. That's what I tell myself anyway...

My lawn consists of slate. It’s a piece of piss to maintain and looks better than the shite patchy grass that I could never fix :)

Let the lawn grow free! (well, just a cut in September-ish and May-ish time) - less work for you, and loads better for wildlife.

Robot lawnmower is worth its weight in gold. Which is a good thing, cos it was nearly that expensive.

Just checked the prices and you're not wrong.

Lawns aren't necessary to have

Ugh, so much this. All my neighbours have great yards, I just want something that doesn’t look bad by comparison so they aren’t annoyed.

Jokes on my lawn due to terrible soil,turf being laid terribly by the construction builders and being down hill the natural state of my garden is bog and the upkeep is dead easy.

Easy dont have a lawn.

Get a lawn roomba. Saw them in the parks in Edinburgh. Pootle about, chomping grass.

Where the fuck does all this dust keep coming from XD

Leg dandruff. Arm dandruff. Scalp dandruff. Eyebrow dandruff. And so on.

Ahh good 'ol Kelloggs crunchy nut skinflakes...

Part of a balanced breakfast

Clungedruff?

So no ballsack dandruff then? Phew...

I did not ever say that

So just moisturise a lot and there will be less dust?

Definitely probably

If that was true, people would melt in a year. It is just so much. And it makes balls!

Then how come abandoned buildings gather dust as well?

Very slowly, from the non-skin dust-stuff.

Work hard… when you reach a certain status in life.. you can get “a lawn guy”

Skin cells, you shed thousands every day, it accounts for about 90% of the dust in your house.

So 90% of the dust is edible you say?

If you are a dust mite sure.

Oh I know what dust is, it's the quantity that always gets me with how regularly I dust

You mean powdered flesh?

I've been trying to sort the garden ready for the winter but it won't stop raining :(

Or it stops raining for a few days in a row while I'm at work and can't do anything before it gets dark, then rains for the weekend.

I need to give my lawn out the front one last mow before winter kicks in but by the time I’ve waited a couple of days for it to be dry enough it bloody rains again.

Exactly this, I've a baby at home so I've usually got weekends to sort things, every damn weekend it's raining and I can't get my garden sorted for the winter, really irritating.

If it’s dry and light, garden always takes priority. You can clean the house when it’s wet and dark, but you can’t do the gardening then; at the very min mow the lawn. Leave it too long and it’s a nightmare to deal with.

I am aware which is why I've been trying to get it done.

Oh yeah. It wasn’t accusing you of not 😂 More, saying how it’s a great example of why it’s something that when you get a chance, you do it. Otherwise it can ages before the stars align.

It's been about two months if me trying to get a day without a wet lawn. Doing my head in.

Same! Managed to get my front lawn done, but my back garden takes 3 hours, min. 😞

God damn you got a couple of footie pitches back there?

Buy a house with a big garden, they said. It’ll be nice in the summer, they said.

I’m starting to think ‘they’ are gardeners 😂

Yea my parents garden is stupid but they broke it into parts, takes a fair amount of work but it's nice.

Just salt the earth.

gardening

I feel like you should either enjoy it, or minimise it. I'd add it's much easier to enjoy it if what's there are things you've chosen

I’d also add if you don’t put work into it, you’ll never enjoy it. If you do, you’ll likely enjoy maintaining it.

We've got a large patio in the back garden which apparently has no barrier underneath to stop weeds growing through.

Weeding that bitch is the bane of my life. I've purchased a gas powered flamethrower that finally has made it all slightly less unpleasant a chore.

Growing my own fruit and veg is what made me love spending time in my garden. Watching your own food grow gives you an incentive to see that it does well and you get some tasty treats at the end. I also found out that my dog enjoys eating all the strawberries.

I moved my strawberries from my allotment to the garden, so as to give me a chance to beat the bird's to them!

gardening are a never-ending ball ache.

Nah mate, just go for the wild meadow great for wildlife style.

100%! it might not look neat but you can get some nice wild flowers growing on your garden. Bees love that shit. We let the grass grow wild this year and for the first time in my life I saw a squirrel sitting on our windowsill.

We did this and I was so happy and then we got angry neighbours and a lot of classist hate from the landlord :(

Really? That sucks. Personally I'd tell them to fuck off and mind their business. You're not doing anything wrong by helping the bees.

Take this seriously, because it's super true.

You will ALWAYS need something you haven't got.

Your deodorant, face wash and make up will run out AT THE SAME TIME.

Home delivery shopping is worth the delivery fee to not impulse buy and be able to plan/not have to carry heavy goods like tins.

If you've got the money to pay someone to clean, do it - but wait a year so that you really appreciate it.

Pick up after yourself to make cleaning and general housework easier

Getting a cleaner was the best thing I ever did, if you do get a good one treat them like pure gold as they’re just as precious.

You’ve reminded me how much I hate kitchens in general, mine specifically. You eat in the kitchen; three times a day most days. So you cook, you clean as you cook, you clean after you cook, and you clean after you’re done eating.

Just relentless.

It's definitely worth setting a routine for things like housework (and gardening if applicable).

Have a weekly routine and a monthly routine and try to stick to it. If you don't, things will start to get built up and then you end up spending an entire day scrubbing something that should have been a 10 minute job, or find that something is now ruined because it has been eaten away.

Especially when you have a dog/cat and no carpets downstairs. Just vac the floors and am hour later there's hair everywhere again.

Yard work? Bruh it's killing me. Moved out in April. Lots of grass problems cuz sprinklers are faulty, plus window planters very SUDDENLY started growing and blooming before I re-planted them lmao.

The yard takes too much time lmaooo. 3 fruit trees, 1 nut tree, a grape vine, and plenty of flowers and other trees on a quarter acre lot...never imagined the amount of work for a minute haha never crossed my mind.

Looking for a first home right now. What you described is my worst nightmare lol. The amount of work required to maintain the home is perhaps my biggest criteria besides location and price.

I TOTALLY feel you but I honestly shouldn't be complaining. Got a really good deal on this house + the land and agriculture that's already here. It was my grandma's house and my fianceé and I just happened to be looking to move out when they were looking to sell it. Too many memories here, would absolutely HATE to see a stranger destroy it.

It is bittersweet though. Sometimes I can't believe it's ours. We got very lucky...

But yeah never thought about yard maintenance when looking to buy

This. I’m swapping my 3 bed house for a 1 bed flat and honestly I can’t wait.

Mate get one of those outdoor robot lawnmowers, one of the best purchases we made about 4 years ago

Initial investment of about £500, and pegging

in the little green wire round the lawn. But we literally haven’t had to mow it in the traditional way for 4 years now. Even better, it’s always neat and short at all times, freshly mowed look

Easily a better machine than those indoor vacuum cleaners that bump into everything and get stuck under furniture

People crave gardens but as a garden owner they are just another room to clean that's also mostly wet

I'm surprised how few people enjoy gardening

everything dies, weeds don't stop comin' and they don't stop comin' and they

Haha that's very true, that and hedge cutting I could probably do without

I enjoy both of these, thoroughly. Wait, am I old?

I'm old and I detest both. I'd much rather be doing something interesting

I like gardening.

I was so stoked to have a garden after living in a one bed flat. Now I'm like ffs, the grass doesn't stop growing!

Major pain in the arse.

MY GODAMN GRASS WONT STOP GROWING

Big fan of the winter months here when it comes to gardening.

I still live at home but 100% behind the fact if our garden wasn't big enough to host a 11 a side local football team we'd have bought that fake grass by now - shits so expensive

Edit: Why the downvotes? I was exaggerating I live on a council estate in Salford for fucksake haha. Just were the end house in the row so we'd have to do all that grass aswell!

Laundry is the worst

You guys have gardens?

2 bed flat, top floor. No gardening, and cleaning takes 20-30 minutes once a weekend.

Because I clean as I go. Stood around waiting for food to cook, I just spray down surfaces in the kitchen, wipe down the backsplash tiles, wash up quick. When I notice dust on surfaces, get a damp microfibre cloth and run it over them (wood polish sprays are fucking pointless).

70% of my flat is wood floors, easy to hoover/mop, blitz hoover the bedrooms.

Surprisingly easy to do. I spend more time mindless watching YouTube on the throne.

Are none of you married?

Housework: if you clean the place once a week, whether you think it needs it or not, you'll be fine is that regard anyway.

A small leak can sink a great ship, so don’t buy take away for every meal

I wish I'd noted this. Left a flat in pristine condition. Liked the landlady and she said we were the best Tennant's she'd had.

Told her the bathroom tap was dripping. I was always happy to diy fixes for her as it saved her money and I got it done quicker. But the tap was a silly ceramic cartridge not a washer so is never got around to it having not done one before.

But at that point is told her it was up to her to fix.

Place was empty a month while she had the roof fixed. Tap eventually bust loose and went full bore. Drains were weirdly restricted (we'd mildly noticed they weren't fast drained but it was never a problem) and couldn't cope with full bore tap. Overflowed and flooded two stories water coming out the front door before she noticed.

She lived next door thankfully but even then. Ceiling Plaster ruined, carpets ruined and new Tennant's put off a month or more.

One of us should have shut off the stopcock. I should have told her sooner about the tap and let her plumber do it. The drains should have handled that. Just a trickle of crappy events. No cost to me and I get insurance should cover it but still feel bad about it.

I think you may have a drinking problem if your phone keeps autocorrecting tenants like that…

I did the math on this the other day as I realized I'd been getting a takeaway almost every Friday for the last 2 or 3 years. 7-10 quid a shot, every Fri, roughly 360-520 quid a year. Call it 400 or something. 1.2 grand over 3 years, gone, on takeaways out of...laziness and some sense of tradition/marking of a Friday. "Woop woop, weekend, get a takeaway."

Well, it’s a treat and you enjoyed it at the time. 1.2k over 3 years isn’t outrageous for enjoyment.

I have a budget I keep on my PC that tells me how much I spend on various things on average each month. My take aways were usually £12.50 - £18 and at my worst I was getting 2 a week though they’d last me a couple of days. The average went up to over £100 at one point.

Thankfully my diet is a lot better and I only get a take away in once every 2 weeks now, if that.

I should do the maths on mine but since covid my drive to cook has disappeared so ive ordered most nights, and order starbucks in the morning when im not working

Avoid hitting lettuce too.

Takeaway for every meal is a great way to get diabetes and die in your fifties.

That's not true. Great ships have compartments so that small leaks don't do that. But the take out part is correct

Somehow I think the phrase “frequent take-away causes an significant accumulation of cost” just doesn’t stick in the mind in the same way eh?

I don't know what you're talking about that's a great phrase

Curtains and rugs are insanely expensive

IKEA have some bargain rugs

Yes! Looked at a rug in Next that was something obscene (like £200+). Went to Ikea and walked out with basically the same thing for something like £40.

Of course it's hard to get out of Ikea without spending another £100 on stuff you didn't know you needed. Plus the meatballs, naturally.

Assuming you don't get lost in the one way system never to be seen again..

The trick to IKEA is walk straight to the checkout without looking at anything and looking at the discounted goods room, saves me a fortune 😂

I like to wear one of those horses hats so it blocks all my side views

If you get lost until closing, the employees will find you and give you a work shirt. Congratulations you work at IKEA now. This is not optional.

Dunelm have really good ones as well

This might get buried, and maybe I'm a bit of a snob, but I buy Persian rugs on eBay. Yes, they're expensive, but not as much as in stores, and good Persian rugs will last beyond your lifetime. They're durable, they're incredibly resistant to all kinds of wear and stains, they can be repaired and cleaned...they're an investment.

I used to feel kind of snobbish buying them but now I look at just crappy rug prices and I'm amazed. I can get a good quality Persian rug for what I pay for a cheap rug from overstock or something!

Homesense can have some decent ones at a reasonable (£40-60) price too. Just check the ones that are usually piled haphazardly on the table and ignore the fancy ones hung up nearby.

Yeah but they're all like 6ft by 3ft.

You need way more than that to make a rug look like it belongs and works in the room, especially a living room. Your rug should cover 2/3rd the distance to the TV, AND start underneath your couch or just behind it. A good 2m or more in length.

Then you're talking 150 quid or more for a rug, not the bathmats-in-comparison IKEA sell.

Urban Outfitters have surprisingly good value rugs too.

Chiming in to add I’ve bought some really nice rugs from The Range that weren’t expensive.

And don't get me started on mattresses...

Mattresses are one of the most important things you’ll buy though. Good sleep is important, spend most of the budget on the mattress, worry about the frame later.

If you think of a mattress in terms of cost per use it doesn't seem quite so bad.

I didn't really believe this until a few months ago. In the past I bought cheap mattresses and always suffered with lower back problems. Then I found a brand new and sealed memory foam mattress and sprung base on Facebook super cheap and boy, that thing is a game changer. Back pains are gone and I don't wake up feeling tired every morning anymore.

Spend money on anything that goes between you and the floor! I have never ever ever regretted spending more money on making my sleep more comfortable

A good set of tyres too if you drive. Nothing worse than aquaplaning at 70mph with your little renault clio in between a lorry and the angry man overtaking you in his range rover.

Honestly I've found mattress in a box options to be very good. I picked up a queen mattress for a few hundred bucks and I absolutely love it. $150 steel platform frame on Amazon as well and I have tons of storage space under the bed, nice mattress, nice frame, and I didn't break the bank.

Finding a frame that doesn’t creak loudly after a few weeks is the hard part.

Mattresses have a cartel around them. Expensive and good do not correlate there...

Google for anti cartel mattress, there was a nice scandal in Germany a few years ago.

Cartel what's the scandel

Most German mattress vendors had a price gouging cartel going on. New vendor wants to brake it, wanted to make a cheaper, better mattress.

Other vendors asked him to join, sued him, discredited him, sent him thugs to beat him up.

He won all lawsuits and the other vendors were hit with some fines. Since then he markets his (independently tested and found as superior) mattress as anti cartel mattress.

Link: https://www.bett1.de/anti-kartell

Ikea mattresses are so comfy and good value.

Spend good money on a quality mattress. You spend 1/3 of your life on it.

I bought a nice mattress online, then a sturdy 2nd hand frame for £50.

IKEA £99 doubles are fine for kids, possibly adults too. My super king was like £3/400? Not terrible if you shop about

I got my luxury tempurpedic on 5 year no interest financing, makes it a lot cheaper.

There's 2 things in this life that you'll spend the majority of your time in - your bed and your shoes.

Both are worth investing in! 🙂

Mattresses are expensive but they last forever. It can be tough to afford if you don't have a lot of spare dosh but they are absolutely worth the outlay and really not very expensive in the long run.

Rugs! I got my whole house done with laminate. Now I'm looking at spending the same again to put rugs in each room. Should have stuck with carpet.

Go to carpet shops and see if they have any scraps you like from finished jobs. Take them to someone who will whip the edges for you at usually between £1-£3 a metre (if in UK) hey presto cheap rug

This is a very cool tip.

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Can one casually work in a carpet shop?

Volunteering ad hoc?

Tbh, it's easy work. As long as your physically fit, it's alot of heavy lifting, and it's a great workout.

But doesn't casually working in a carpet shop suggest the existence of competitively working in a carpet shop?

I worked in a carpet shop once and the sales reps were on commission, so I’d say they worked competitively!

... then sell them on Etsy

Seriously. Good advice though. If I can be bothered to leave the house I might try this out.

Deffo worth a go. I'm a carpet fitter and some of the pieces we toss away can be pretty big and the shop are always happy to give them away to stop the skip from filling quickly.

If you can get them sold as a bonus then it could be a great earner, i always thought alittlw stall on a carboot would do alright on a Sunday

I think it would. I'm looking at needing some very large rugs and you're often looking at 300 quid or more for 2 x 3m rug. Granted some of these rugs are much fancier than just an edged piece of carpet, but still. If you're looking for something bigger than 2x3m though then you seem to be looking at crazy money if you can find anything at all. I suppose edging a piece of actual carpet is what people do for VERY large rugs.

Ye prices of anything bigger than 2x3 are usually well into the hundreds. Silly thing is a lot of those rugs are just fancy bits of normal from big brands that have had an edge thrown on.

Good luck on your rug search!

Used to do exactly this, used to do 1x3 for £1, 2x4 £2 3x6 £5

Used to take £200 every week

How did you do it? Did you hand sew the whole thing?

My boss acquired a machine that edged them, it was interesting wrestling a 20ft piece of carpet around a sewing machine.

How would one go about finding a carpet whipper?

Simple Google search or ask in a carpet shop, they will either take the carpet from you and send it to the whipper or they will give you their contact details. All shops need a whipper for when people want a runner on their stairs

"whip the edges" Is this a typo or what I should be asking for?

Whipping is just what its called when the raw edge is sealed so that it doesn't fray. It can be done with a thread with a sewing machine style device or a piece of material can be sewn on. It can be called whipping or edging

What sort of shop/service does it?

Its usually an individual but sometimes its a shop. Your local carpet shop will have the details of local people who can do it. Failing that a Google search should show where your nearest whipper is

You are very thrifty and I'm in awe right now

Our local carpet shops cut outs for dirt cheap are left outside, no matter the weather. I always have to give that one a pass

Always bewilders me why some shops leave them outside to get dirty or wet, they are instantly ruined

I bet they can't be arsed and hoping for an idiot to buy them, i don't fancy having bugs and what not in my house haha

I work in a flooring shop and this is a very handy tip. They’ll usually offer a whipping service too

Take them to someone who will whip the edges for you

This is like every "life hack" online, requiring the skills of someone who just plain doesn't exist in real life.

I searched for "carpet whipping" and the first result was someone in my town that advertises exactly that for £4/metre

Type carpet whipping in on Google and there will be a lot of options mostly local. All carpet shops need that service incase customers want a runner on their stairs instead of wall to wall.

TK maxx are great for rugs too

Rugs are easier to clean, and easier to replace when they get worn out in a decade or so

Why the regret?

One thing I didn't think about was just how much noisier it would be compared to carpet. I have three young kids.

Potty-train some puppys in your laminated home. No rugs will be harmed.

I don't even want to imagine the noise of puppies scuttling around on bare laminate

Primark has started doing rugs that are pretty reasonable

No, carpet is just fuzzy cloth that gets dirty and can never be cleaned properly. It's disgusting, when one thinks about it. Get rugs.

go to charity shops, you will find bargains, or gumtree and get loads of freebies

That’s a good way to get bed bugs.

Not if you set fire to them first. A nice crisp rug will really dazzle your guests and be an interesting conversation peice at any party's you have.

Yeah. Got my couch out of a furniture reclamation/charity place. It's not the nicest thing but it was only £45 or something and we just covered it with blankets and stuff.

Also got a nice old vanity table from the same place for my wife from the the 1920s that was made locally. Think that was £90.

Those places sometimes get really nice mid-century furniture. Last time I was in they had this 50's/60's sideboard with a drinks cabinet thing in but it had already been reserved.

But also don't cheap out too much. The cheapest stuff from Argos is basically toilet paper and blocks out no light as I found

Oh, I always go for dunelms blackout curtains as a minimum, they're not the cheapest, but they do the job and I have pairs that have lasted me ages

Agreed, Dunelms is great. Also the clearance section is a blessing for someone who's just got their own place for the first time!

Oh yeah, their clearance can be awesome!

Argos rugs on the over hand are an absolute bargain.

Dunelm have a good curtain/bedding bargain bin.

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When I first moved in I got alot of my living room stuff from charity shop.

I picked up a Toshiba 32" 1080p flatscreen TV made in 2011 for £80 still got it 3 years later and works great. They even threw nice wooden tv stand for free at charity shop

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What you mean are the dogs?

My partner brought all of ours from eBay, they are all heavy vintage velvet curtains that look amazing and do a fantastic job and keeping light out and insulating the windows from both hot and cold

Moved house a few years ago and wanted some yellow curtains for the living room. Went to John Lewis (yeah I know) and was quoted £800. Went to Next and got pretty much the same thing for £80, just had to take them up at the bottom a bit.

Curtains are? I bought a few sets of pretty reasonable blackout curtains from Homebase or something for like £30 each

moved into a house where we've had to put up 10 sets of curtains, no rails.

Cheapest curtains we found were £40 a go, and the rails for £10. 500 quid just to even get going.

No rails! That's just adding insult to injury

this house has so much insult :(

the windows aren't sealed properly, nearly froze to death last weekend, with the heating on full...

You can get some sealant putty from Screwfix for fuck all. Add on some foam shit between the window + the frame to make sure there and no gaps and you're laughing.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-exterior-frame-sealant-white-310ml/21638

https://www.screwfix.com/p/stormguard-extra-thick-weatherstrip-black-3-5m-2-pack/40425

Just avoid them entirely and call it minimalism.

If you go to somewhere selling rugs for £400, know that you can comfortably haggle them down to £100 and they'll still be making a profit.

Source: Literally just bought two £450 rugs for £175 for the pair!

Local independent carpet shops usually sell rugs at decent prices. I have a large double aspect living room and have two very good quality rugs that I bought for around £150 for both.

Curtains! I had to buy curtains for the first time a couple of years ago (previous flat had fitted blinds). I walked into the curtain department knowing nothing and immediately had a panic attack from all the different choices and walked straight back out again.

Lamps too, cannot understand the price of lamps.

I have one in living room and bedroom got both for free

Cheese is in this category too

Blinds2Go (and Curtains2Go similarly) online are the way forward. Made to measure and so cheap.

I got a pair of full length curtains for the bay window, one for a small side window, and a pair for the french doors - all made to size for about £400.

And lighting

But they also collect dust like hell. I prefer blinds and no rugs.

Rugs cost more than carpets. I can’t understand anyone having laminate and then huge rugs.

Especially thick curtains which help keep the heat in, my god.

Couches take forever to be delivered if buying new

If you want a made to measure curtains you’re talking a couple hundred pounds minimum. I thought I found the holy grail when the shop I bought my “Ready Made Curtains” off for £100 also offered £30 extra to cut to any length.

Kukoon Rugs are cheap and good quality

The price of cheese will make you consider eating curtain sandwiches.

Charity shops (at least the local CRUK) always had at least one set of curtains for sale. And if you ask kindly they might check the back shop in case any have just been donated.

Seen some cracking curtains in there but never had the funds. And I don't think curtains are something I could ever purchase without giggling and laughing because, curtains.

If you like persian carpets, ebay is a good and cheap resource. If you buy them from the larger suppliers, pre owned, then theyre already cleaned.

If you scour charity shops you can pick up some amazing bargains. I’ve scored brand new in packaging curtains, rugs, rug underlay and mirrors all from ikea for a fraction of the price. You’ve just got to be patient and keep checking back.

There are places that sell used/cleaned curtains.

Don't go food shopping on an empty stomach.

Always make a list of what you need to get too. It makes the trip faster and less likely to get things you don't actually need.

But sometimes it's nice to get things that you don't need but want. As an adult, you can make your own choices

Also make your list in grouped areas, fresh food, frozen food, cupboard food, non-food etc so you don’t bounce around the supermarket getting things from different areas and take twice as long!

Once you get to know your local you can write it out in order!

AnyList is fantastic for this, I have my categories setup in the order they’re in at my local Asda and whenever I add something via Alexa it’ll auto-categorise it (and usually gets it right)

I would mirror this and say to not go food shopping when youre full. So many times i do this and it turns out i have no food in the house because i wasnt hungry at the time so didnt fancy picking up things for dinners

Yeah it's worth picking up a few snacks on a food shop regardless. If I don't have any snacks in and get hungry I always end up wasting even more money on takeaway.

It's genuinely such a struggle! Don't want to be too hungry when you going shopping because you'll buy too much. Don't wanna be too full because then you won't buy enough. Don't want to have too many snacks because you'll get fat. Don't have enough snacks? You've just spent £20 on a takeaway. Should've just spent £5 on some microwave meals and snacks

Write a list throughout the week and bring it with you to the shop.

Also make a habit of buying some of your favourite fruits as substitute snack. Not what you crave most of the time, but it's awesome for the times you're a bit hungry. And if you feel like you wouldn't eat them anyways, make them more "accessible" then the unhealthy snacks. Those 5 seconds and 5 steps more you have to go to get them will often be enough for your brain to choose the fruit.

This is the worst. You get home and wish you’d bought so many things. I also hate it when I go shopping thirsty and I can’t decide what foods to buy because all food is unappealing when you’re thirsty.

I learned the hungry one in my twenties, but didn't learn the full one until much later.

Instructions unclear, ate everything in store, fridge at home remains empty.

Whenever I shop after a meal I buy fuck loads of sweets and desserts, it’s tragic

This does NOT work with alcohol.

The whole idea of this from my point of view is that it allows you to make better decisions when shopping, if you go on an empty stomach it is more likely you'll end up going for less healthier options since you will be hungry and craving for whatever comes across.

There are so many apps that will allow you to make a list (I use any list). Most times we buy the same things. You can “uncross” those items as you run out. No need to remember and makes shopping fast.

I've gone food shopping while not hungry and left with like some Dr pepper and some haribos. You need to be a bit hungry to make food appealing enough to buy

Instructions unclear, starved to death.

I second this. It’ll end up in buying all kinds of chocolate, crisps and snacks.

Shop after midnight for bargains.

Cleaning will take up much more time than you expect. And if you think you can save time by not doing it for ages and then doing a "big clean", you are very, very wrong.

Watch for black mold in the bathroom and around windows where condensation gathers. You can buy a spray for it.

Any recommendations? I have a never ending cycle of wanting the window closed because its freezing, but knowing I need to open it to stop mold. I'm losing against it unfortunately and need a decent way to fight back!

HG mould remover. Strong but safe to use on painted surfaces.

I'll have a look into that, thank you!

I use it too, its amazing stuff.

Not just their mould spray. All their products are just exactly what you were looking for without any fake marketing bs <3

HG was an absolute revelation. Never use anything else now

Seconded, HG is next level stuff.

Also, use mould remover the moment you notice it. If you leave it too long it can grow into the plaster which is an absolute ballache to sort.

Does this work on shower grout?

Yep, like a dream.

They seem to have two very similarly named products, do you mind linking me to the right one please?

Sure, I prefer the foam as it doesn't drip as much, so is easier to use on walls/ceilings/window seals. But the liquid is also excellent, although harder to apply precisely.

Do you have any recommendations for getting the oils out from behind the silicone in bathrooms? This spray doesn’t seem to get ‘behind’ the silicone

HG is genuinely incredible, mould just melts away and there is no mark.

After you shower, open the windows for a while, even if it's baltic, you need to get the moisture out of the room or it will keep growing.

Then get a little kitchen scrubbing brush and every time you're in the bathroom pick it up and scrub a little gunk off of stuff. A few seconds of that a day will add up.

Unfortunately, it's the bedroom, and it's forming on the walls now. I've tried wipes and stuff, but it comes back. With two of us in the room, breath collects. Working in the same room doesn't help, there's a pretty constant stream of breath adding to the window, and unfortunately the walls.

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I'll have a look into one, thanks! :)

Have you got a dehumidifier? It will help.

I could borrow one if they're definitely worth their weight?

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My dad asked what to buy when I told him we needed one (I run HOT showers and my room is a converted garage right next to that bathroom, HUGE mold problems. His friend said theirs was amazing and told him the model number. But it cost like £200 instead of the £120 model he could get somewhere else. He got the 120 quid model and it is LOUD as balls and unless it's sat at just the right angle it has internal vibrations that you hear through the house. It's also kinda slow and the power cable isn't long enough to go from the plug socket outside the bathroom, to being in the bathroom with the door closed.

I had a huge issue with black mold. Then I bought a dehumidifier, never had an issue since.

It was definitely worth it to me and I wish I'd bought one sooner

I'll definitely ask to borrow one, it can't continue like this! Glad one worked for you :)

I think you can buy silloca based ones too. My dad has a pair of black bags he puts in the classic car, they have a spot that goes from white to pink when they're wet and you put them in the microwave to dry them out again, would they work for a problematic room maybe?

The only thing to do is wipe all the windows down in the morning and leave the wet cloth to dry outside or in the bathroom.

Also open the windows for a good 15 or 20 minutes each morning.

It is counter intuitive to let out all the heat, but the reason you do it is to release the humid air. Should keep things fresh.

Also sounds like you have a cold wall which is a ballache to fix.

I just pray bleach onto the mould and it soon disappears

I had that problem too, in the bedroom. I opened the windows a crack when we slept, and just had another blanket over us, and then completely opened whilst we were eating dinner (so we were in another room and not getting cold).

You must get the humid air out regularly, it'll feel warmer too because the air isn't so damp when you're warming it up.

I have one of those little washing up brushes you can fill and added half white vinegar and half washing up liquid. I keep it in the shower and use it to scrub the bathroom down after you use it.

Buy a dehumidifier.

I used to live in a flat as a tenant. Landlord always had condensation issue in the 2 Bathrooms.

He provided us with 2 dehumidifiers. Take a shower, turn it on. 20 mins and the condensation has cleared.

Just be aware they cost a fair bit to run. But we ran ours years round due to lack of windows. With a window, you'd likely only need to use it when it's especially cold.

This is probably the best long-term solution I've found for mold issues without getting the root of the issue

Dehumidifiers aren’t expensive to run if you factor in the amount of heat they put out. Obviously if you don’t need the heat then you don’t factor it in, but for the typical U.K. property that needs heated 3/4 of the year, it’s great value.

I'm currently using Cillit Bang Black Mould Remover. It's strong stuff, so be careful on painted/wood surfaces

Can vouch for this stuff, it took the mould right out of the sealant in my shower. Took repeated applications though, 7 or 8 sprays over a couple hours.

Before and after: https://imgur.com/a/V13AGwF

Do you spray and scrub, or spray and let it sit on the mould? I don't want to scrub and damage the sealant, but also fear if I let it sit on the sealant will it get damaged? Anyway, please teach me your ways 🙏

You spray and leave it for 10-15 mins per application, then wipe off. When I tried it the sealant was completely fine.

Amaaaazing tysm 🙏

Kilrock mould spray from Home Bargains is the best black mould remover I have ever found. Spray it on, ten minutes later the black mould is gone. And I mean gone. After years of using “Flash with bleach” and similar useless shit, this stuff is like sorcery.

Damn that's pretty impressive! Will it effect paint or does it usually leave it be?

I sprayed it directly onto my painted ceiling and never wiped it off. No bad consequences.

Always squeegee excess water after showering, I hate doing it because I’m lazy but it really helps to keep the mould away.

  • edited to add missing word!

If your bathroom doesnt have an extraction fan get a really big one and get someone to fit it, itll be expensive but its worth it.

I'll give the one I can borrow a go, and get some mold killer. Hopefully should help over winter! Thanks to everyone for their advice!

As mentioned, HG mould remover but not on polished aluminium surfaces, if using a shower get yourself a window squeegie and use it on the tiles and shower glass and try to remove most of the water,after showering, then wipe down with a small cloth to remove the rest, it does help a lot.

Try to avoid leaving damp towels and face cloths in the bathroom and if there is an extractor fan, check the vents are not blocked with grime.

Also, for cleaning cooker hoods and kitchen wall tiles, get a pack of those hand wipes sold in screwfix or b&q, using those really cuts through dirt and grease quickly, metal cooker filters can be cleaned in hot water with a little soap but I use a little washing soda to break down the grease thne wash again in hot soapy water, washing soda can be used to cut through grease on anything so long as you rinse it afterwards and its cheap.

Dehumidifier, if no one gave you that advice already.

Invest in a dehumidifier - we have an old house and it's really changed the game in the fight against condensation mold!

Hey so I hope this helps. We bought small energy efficient dehumidifiers, reapplied sealant around all windows and doors, then used a bleach and water mixture to get rid of existing mold. To combat it we repainted the rooms with mold using paint made for the bathroom; it's made with mold resistant materials.

The dehumidifiers we bought were Pro breeze 500ml and 1500ml. We empty them both every other day; it's insane how much water it pulls out of the air.

Also, we dry any standing water in the window sills in the morning, it helps a lot.

Open it just a tiny crack if needed, get a hygrometer and try to keep humidity <60%

get a squirty bottle and a big bottle of strong bleach, fill the squirty bottle to half way with the bleach and then add water, swirl it to mix it up and then spray it anywhere you have mould, you can spray and leave it on sinks and baths and shower cubicles and wipe later, it's cheaper and just as/more effective than the 2 quid special bleach and you're recycling the same bottle, win-win.

Get a squidgee, keep it in the shower and use it for 30 seconds after every shower to get as much water off the walls and floor as poss

Bonus points: use a cloth too to run round the cracks for another 20 seconds, thus way no mould should ever grow and you won’t need to clean your bathroom for like the next 2 years

(Dust still builds up on the floor though)

Leave the exterior window shut and use a small fan that pushes the humid air out or pushes fresh air from outside the room in.

Spray some white/distilled vinegar on it it will kill it off for good then you just wipe it off...

In a damp area it may return after some time my house was a weed farm at some point but after a few sprays its been mould free for years

I mix a little bleach with water in a spray bottle and keep it in the bathroom. Mist the mold of you see black spots and they should disappear

HG or cif mould deliver, and Must Have Ideas has the most amazing hypochlorite gel. I'm not affiliated with them in any way, but that stuff is incredible.

Or the pink mould that is an accumulation of excreted body fat too. Thats just gross.

It’s actually probably this stuff - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serratia_marcescens Not that that makes it any better haha

Oh it probably is. Gross

This is why I keep windows on the latch so there’s airflow. I learned the hard way in my last place where I kept all the windows closed and had mould growing up the side of some of the walls.

Picking up after yourself (and others even) is essential. Do tell visitors to pick up after themselves. It is basic respect.

It's a really common "tip" but whenever you move from one place to another in the house, look around and see what you can take with you. Bedroom to kitchen, any rubbish or cups or glasses around that you can take with you, what about a load of washing to put on wile you're at it.

The only problem is you end up saying to yourself, right, I'm going to make myself a cup of tea, and 20 minutes later you ask yourself why you're cleaning the oven or something!

Haha. I needed some water so I picked up my glass, there was rubbish next to it so I took that to the bin. Noticed the bin needed a wipe down so I got the spray. Gave everything else a clean as I had the spray out, then the outside of the oven was so clean that I noticed how dirty the inside was. Got the glass cleaner out to do the oven window, then thought I might as well do the actual windows while I had the glass cleaner out.

You end up thirsty and with half a clean oven but every window in your house is sparkling.

Actually my top tip is to: a. Book a regular window cleaner, b. clean the inside of your windows every time they do the outside.

I call it "house defragmentation". Although the younger folks here won't remember the disk defragment tool in windows.

Yep. My tip is simply “never leave a room empty-handed”

“Never go anywhere empty handed.”

Small and often is by far the best way of doing it

I honestly believe this is the way to realised that cleaning does not take very long at all.

Washing a dish and a saucepan after dinner is quick. Washing a week's worth or dishes and pans is a pain in the arse and takes too long. Same with everything else, get on the door and put your shoes away and your coat or jumper back in their place. Otherwise you end up with a mountain of jumpers on the sofa that need folding and putting away.

Maybe that's just me because I have too many jumpers....

Cleaning up all the meal prep you've done whilst the dish is in the oven or simmering in the pan is another good one, I try to make sure it looks clean before I sit down to eat. I'm not getting back up once my belly is full

Completely agree. I try to set aside at least 15 minutes a day to clean my surfaces and sweep my floors, even if I don't think it's dirty. Saves so much time in the long-run. Also I wash my dishes while I use them as I'm cooking so by the time I've finished my dinner, the only thing left to wash up is the plate and cutlery.

Jumping on to this, as someone who is just now learning how to keep a clean and tidy house, clean REGULARLY. For me I spend a couple of hours every Saturday doing a general clean in each room in the house. Nothing crazy just a wipe down/dust/sweep/mop/hoover then once a month deep clean the crevices. Keeps everything generally clean and tidy and you’re not burning yourself out.

If you have adhd like me then a small clean becomes a big clean anyway coz you’ll find 10 other things to do during it and then your fiancée wonders why you’ve only done half the shit you were meant to do

Roll your eyes at me, but I use a microfibre cloth to wipe down my stainless steel taps and shower head rod after each shower. I also wipe out the sink quick after every use. Takes like 20 seconds each time.

The result? Haven't had to clean those surfaces in over a year since I started doing it, because no limescale buildup.

This for sure! My girlfriend still lives with her parents, and doesn't understand why I'm cleaning like everyday if I just cleaned the day before. It's a never ending cycle.

My parents are neat FREAKS they came over for Thanksgiving and us 3 basically spent the whole time cleaning lol.

Can I invite you around to explain this to my partner please?

I'm an old and just now learning this lesson.

Also, mess accumulates other mess. If you leave a few things out, they'll turn into a big pile of crap you aren't sure what to do with.

I find the opposite. When obviously cleaning as you go is the best thing, but also if you do leave it to mount up, it never takes as long as you imagine while youre standing there staring at it all.

Make sure you have a spare 9v battery for when your smoke alarm starts cheeping at you in the middle of the night

Fire engineer here.

Please note that smoke detectors should also be replaced regularly. Ten years is the generally accepted time limit. They become more prone to false alarming and can get contaminated, reducing efficacy when you need them to work.

Alarms tend to start chirping at night because as the temperature in the house drops the battery voltage decreases past the minimum, causing the unit to alert.

Also, get the ones that have a "shut up" button for when you're searing a steak on the stovetop.

Get a heat alarm for the kitchen, that will save your sanity.

That'll be an Aico. Lol

Aico alarms are the business. I must have fitted thousands of them by this point in my career, I wouldn't use any other.

Same. Properly built sturdy kit, everything else feels flimsy in comparison.

Wish they hadn't stopped the trade bulk packs of the 9v back up ones though, I throw away so many bases it's almost criminal

Mine does I hold in the tester button

Or stick a shower cap over it. Learned that from a builder once

Ooooh I'm gonna use that trick!!

In my shared flat we solved the problem by just not have smoke detectors at all. Bosh!

(we really should get them, I know I know)

Yes you should, naughty...

Presuming you're British based yes? PM your address, I have some spare fire angels on the shelf you can have.

That's very kind. I'm in Norway, and we live a three minute walk from a hardware store, so there's really no excuse. I'll get it sorted today actually. But really, thanks for offering. It really should be our landlords problem to fix this, but he's nowhere to be seen, ever.

Yes please do!

You're welcome regardless. Don't wait for the landlord, anything to save a penny those people...

its an easy way out of your contract

I never thought about the temperature / voltage correlation before. Thank you for the TIL!

You're welcome. Yep, it's the most common complaint I have, why does it always go off at night!

The test button only tests the battery not the sensor, i feel this gives people a false sense of security, with their old alarms.

Indeed. One manufacturer recommends only using the button, as they feel test smoke contaminates the unit too much.

I tend to ignore that and test them with smoke anyway.

But if the button only tests the battery how does that work

It tests everything except the smoke sensing chamber and electronics.

They have made some internal decision that they would rather people not test with smoke, which is fine. I choose as a fire engineer to test it in a real world scenario so I can be sure it works, for my customers safety and my own peace of mind.

No idea why they have decided to do that, sounds counterproductive to me

Hello,

Whats the recommendation for the number of smoke detectors needed in a 3 up / 3 down?

Also, what other safety equipment would you recommend having in a family home? Thanks 😊

3 up 3 down, so presuming one central ish stairwell with a front and back door only?

Yes 1 stair case but to the left of the building with 1 front & 1 back door

Okay. Bare minimum, one smoke detector on each level comprising the exit from the property. Usually this means two, but more of your front street door is through a separate lounge area or something.

I would recommend a heat/co multisensor in the kitchen too, all interlinked together so if one goes off they all do.

Anything more than that is great but not necessary, unless your layout is complex or your family has mobility issues.

Equipment wise, a fire blanket in the kitchen and a small powder extinguisher.

That's about it really. Test them regularly and replace them after a decade.

Amazing! Thank you so much ❤

No worries!

Honestly it's been nice to put a bit of work knowledge out there today, makes me feel useful. Lol

Its a useful skill to have!

It's certainly an in demand skill, massive people shortage nationwide!

What is best way to test it then as when I have had council come to test it they just press the button.

I have had it go off when having showers.

The light foes flash on it every so often

I'm guessing here. The flashing light probably means that its powered, probably by a battery. Mains powered alarms usually have a constant light. (Some come with both) The smoke alarms usually have an expiry date written on them, so people would replace them at that time.

Testing with smoke etc is not recommended by the manufacturers because, the smoke will probably coat any sensors after multiple tests.

You should probably give your alarm a vacuum.

So take the covering off and vaccum dust out?

It may say in the original instructions. You will probably be ok just to vacuum through the cover .

I can't get the cover off mine it suppose to twist and unlock, but it the kind where battery can't be replaced. Only has a tiny vent hole on one side

It may have a little plastic" key" that needs to be pulled out before it can be twisted off. I dont think it would be easy to remove

Ah OK thank you, I looked and couldn't see one

Also if it starts beeping due to low battery, you can push the button on it and I won't beeping for a 6ish hours, so you can get some sleep

Not all have this feature. Certainly useful though!

My alarms are easily over 20 yrs, I do the test every now and again but didn't know I needed to replace them Do you know if smart alarms (like the Google ones) also need replacing after ten yrs?

Edit, they do. That's disappointing for somethats 100quid

I would avoid the IOT type of alarms, it's added gubbins and expense for not a lot of return in my opinion.

If you have mains wired alarms, replace them with aico optical units. Easily the best residential alarms in the market

Awesome, thank you!

What's best to do if you have one that's wired into the mains for power like I have in my flat?

To replace? Aico optical detectors. Widely available, easy to change if you're not the sort of person that dribbles in his cereal, or a quick job for a sparky.

Best units around. Next time they need replacing you can slide the head off and click a new one on, zero fuss.

Feel free to dm me a pic, you might have that type already.

Any brand/model recommendations for a large'ish two story house? Mine are way overdue.

Aico. They have a wide range of solutions for residential properties.

The 3000 range are excellent sensors and easy to fit.

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Yes you must.

I can't talk, the sensors in my house stayed as the crappy yellow stained things it came with for about nine months after we moved in, so do as I say, not as I do...!

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My wife's eyes glaze over whenever I start talking with the sentence 'I saw this on reddit'

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No sir, one wife is enough for me ta.

I tend to lurk for aged then have a flurry of commenting, usually when I'm really busy at work and can't afford the time to.

Why do you need a high end flashlight?

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I'm intrigued. Got a link to a nice one?

TIL we need engineers to make more efficient fires. You sir are the devil!! We need better ways to control fires not let them run wild! Next thing you'll say is fires have feelings and need freedom.

/s

Chirping?

It's cheep. Source: Tommy Wiseau

The noise the smoke alarm makes to indicate low battery, or a fault

My friend has that issue for over a month, bugs me everytime I go round. But he won't replace it

My friend did that too, until i went around and took it off, turns out it had a non replaceable battery and was faulty! Replaced by the manufacturer who posted it out to them for free.

Also, get a carbon monoxide detector if there isn't already one in your new property.

Lol not if you get the new ones in a rented property, you cant remove those batteries ;)

I moved in to my new flat 2 months ago. Day 1, the hallway fire alarm was chirping.

Removed the battery on day 1 and have yet to replace it -.-

In my defence, the kitchen still has an alarm

Some of the newer ones are now single use. Supposed to last 5 years before replacing - most seem to last 5 months

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Mine's hard wired but has a battery backup for power cuts, so still alerts you when the battery is low even when it's getting mains power

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It probably has a sealed “lifetime” (10 year) battery backup

Yes and don't use a cheap ass battery. Good quality alkaline or better yet, a long life lithium battery.

Toilet roll needs to be purchased and doesn't just appear in the bathroom.

Also, don't underestimate how much toilet roll should be purchased.

Yes, there is a toilet roll crisis in our house this morning.

This was my main reason for getting a Who Gives a Crap subscription. Too many late night trips to the shops just to pick up toilet roll because somehow we never had enough.

Ditto! We’ve found the rolls last so much longer too, ordered our first box in august and still have 8ish rolls left, will probably get 5-6 months of use out of one box!

Terrible toilet paper though, Costco Kirkland all the way!

And the "emergency" rolls are actually a useful reminder to order more, usually when you're already sat down with nothing to do.

Who Gives a Crap

They ship paper from China. Recycled or not, that simply can't be good for the environment.

Represent! I haven't had to think about it in years.

The boxes seems to last forever as well. We’ve only made like two orders this year and we’re going to confidently not need another box until at least mid January - massive benefit in the long run

We get ours from Rural Trading - even better because it’s cheaper and the bog roll is UK sourced recycled paper rather than bamboo from China

Who Gives a Crap also do recycled toilet paper from UK sources

Oh I didn’t know this! It’s been a few years since I last checked!

Also: buying the biggest pack of loo roll you can afford is cheaper in the long run.

Buying the largest pack of a lot of commodities is cheaper in the long run.

Except when it isn't. (They're crafty buggers.) Whenever I start shopping at a new shop, after moving house or something, I try to look at the price per unit / kg.

That's what I'm talking about. 5kg of basmati rice is like 90p per kg vs £1.20 per kg for smaller packs

Don't forget to hang it the proper way too, don't want guests thinking you are stupid

Or avoid this issue entirely by not having a holder or rail for loo roll at all, like in my flat!

I put one in my house when I moved in, separate toilet and bathroom, the toilet is so small my fat arse usually knocks the roll off the holder when I walk out. I do intend to make them one room again at some point, it's stupid to me.

Yep doesn't matter if hanging it under helps stop pets and kids rolling it all out, it looks stupid.

Over all the way.

Sanity must prevail

For some really fucking bizarre reason the loo roll holders in my flat are vertical and around angle height and I just… ?????? Why? Does at least mean it can’t get put on wrong I guess?

You’ve put it on the door stopper.

70% sure that's to hold an extra loo roll or two in case the first one runs out. You can get a normal one and stick it onto the wall for cheap (or even those suction cup ones)

Jesus don't tell someone to adapt a rental property! Made something better? £50!?

Ah yes - making the point and claiming the karma, without risking picking a side

Fuck me toilet roll karma? Anyway it's clearly over not under

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Nonononono you're meant to swap it to the wrong way so guests don't bother you again. Or at least... That's what they've been doing to me.

Cunning Dan, I'll be honest I just switch it round when I'm pissed and proceed with mock indication

I live alone through the week and a 4 pack of toilet roll will last me ages.

However, I have two daughters and I'm pretty sure they eat the toilet roll or something when they turn up.

Went away to a caravan for a week, with their mum, and we went through a CRAZY amount. Like 7 rolls in a week or something. I was baffled.

​

EDIT: Please, I know women need to use more toilet roll. That wasn't really my point. I was just making a light hearted joke about not fully realizing the marked difference between a single man living alone and how much 4 people (3 of whom are ladies) use.

Haha! This is my life. Constantly scratching my head and thinking "...but we only just bought a jumbo mega pack with 30% extra free on Monday?!".

Depending on the time of the month, women end up using more toilet paper. Also can you imagine having to use toilet paper (not just one sheet) every time you use the toilet? :(

I completely understand the reasons. It's just a jarring difference and quite noticeable.

I use so much toilet roll when I go and I'm a guy

Same, do most guys just let a bit of piss dribble in their underwear? A little dab with a sheet or two of toilet paper does wonders

I do the old push in the gooch to drain, save the trees

Yeah I get that but just wrapping half the roll round your wrist is a bit much

I have IBS. Before treating myself to a Japanese-style skooshy bum toilet seat, I was nearly a roll per visit. At 50 quid my toilet seat paid for itself in a few months!

I won't lie.
I have had a look at those bidet attachments for toilets but I'm not convinced with the idea of cold water!

Mine is totally mechanical, so in the winter... Its bracing but things back in the tradesmans entrance seem to be naturally less sensitive to the cold so I got used to it quickly enough. Sooo clean feeling after!

Don’t know if this sounds obvious, but I’m surprised by how many men don’t know this: women need to use loo roll when we pee. That’s why we use so much more.

do men not???

We stand, finish, squeeze from the body end forward, then squeeze the rest out by moving my legs in a certain way that pushes on the balls and pelvic floor. Pretty much only like, a tiny drop might come out past that point and the tp sure isn't going to catch it because it comes like 10 mins later.

I mean, I'm not a complete moron.

I'm just pointing out the very stark difference between me living alone and a 4 pack lasting me a long time. To using a roll+ everyday. It's a pretty marked increase and one that still makes me think "Am I not doing something properly?"

You made the critical error of posting a lighthearted comment on Reddit.

RIP my friend.

I think most people have read it in the spirit it was intended.

I live with my partner. He has Crohnes disease. After all these years living together I’ve never once thought to comment on how much loo roll he uses. I’m glad he affords me the same privacy. Especially as I use toilet roll to clean the loo with.

Go you! You're a very considerate partner by the sounds of it. You should make a point of telling people on the internet how good you are, while belittling them. I wish there was more nice people like you on the internet, it would be such a fun place.

He sounds like an unlucky man; and not because of Crohns disease.

Imagine Crohns disease being the se one worst part of your daily struggle.

I think you may have misread my tone. I wasn’t having a go.

PSA: Men please use toilet roll to wipe your dicks when you pee. It’s gross

You don't need to wrap half the roll around your hand when you wipe though. We would go through a roll a day and I found out its because my ex uses way too much every time she went. She would frequently block the toilet from how much she was using.

Also, a lot of women (that I know) are pretty hygienic whereas the men have to be chased into the shower. And if I hear one more woman talk about her gross date and how she could smell his unwashed everything 🤢

I'm in a house with only us 3 guys in it, we shower every day, single roll lasts a whole week at least.

I do howeve use a lot of kitchen roll as tissues... Allergies.

As a woman, I use about a quarter of the amount of toilet roll as my chap - I have no idea what he does with it

Men calculate the squares needed, tear, fold and disregard as necessary.

Women just start mummifying their arm. I once witnessed my partner peeing..... 5 FULL REVOLUTIONS around her hand to wipe.

That's like 4shits worth of paper to me. I charged her £2 for the liberty.

When i'm alone a 4 pack will last me a month! When i'm not it's close to one a day.

Depending on the age of your daughters, I used to use loads of toilet roll as a kid because I scrunched it up to wipe. My Mum realised one day and taught me to fold 2 sheets instead. Bet my parents saved a lot of money after that...

Periods??

On the holiday? Without going into too much detail... One person for the first 2 days.

You would not BELIEVE how much loo roll I go through on my period. My boyfriend expressed disbelief about it once, so I said he was welcome to come and inspect the toilet bowl. He declined.

I can't believe how much I need to use when I'm on my period too. It's like trying to dry a shower head or a tap that's just been used - drips of water just keep coming and at some point you just give up.

If there’s not a full toilet roll in the bathroom when I need to go, I have to get one. It just pours out. And I wonder why I’m always tired…

Damn that sounds rough

Rough…kinda stings, too.

Oh yeah, I totally get it.

It's just a really noticeable uptake in the amount that gets used.

Oh boy…this is something not many men know, but when you’re on your period, you poop so much more as well. It’s because of the increase in prostaglandins. So not only are we wiping more because of the blood, there’s also a literal shit storm going on as well.

Period poos are the worst.

So just to be clear - there’s the toilet roll that goes down the bog first, to muffle the sounds of the clot/poop avalanche; there’s the toilet roll for the blood (maybe 3-4 good goes at LEAST) then the toilet roll for the poop (again, 3-4 generous handfuls). Finally, there’s the toilet roll we sob into knowing we’ve got years of this ahead of us every bloody (no pun intended) month.

THAT’S where your Andrex is going.

They are. You come away feeling like you’ve just done an hour at the gym. All these bastards who say “light exercise can help!” can fuck right off, or they can try to physically prise me out of the foetal position where I’m sobbing into my Jaffa Cakes.

You take the good.

You take the bad.

You take them both and there you have...
The facts of life

Dude I bought a 16 pack of bog roll just before the country went insane and the shops all ran out, I've only just gone out to buy some more this week.

7 rolls? Thems rookie numbers. Family of 4 and we took a pack of nine for a week away. All gone on day 5 and had to make an emergency run to the nearest ASDA. TBF I take some epic shits though nearly all 10 wipers (hairy arse).

We did buy more towards the end of the week, but I'm positive we left at least one in each toilet and took a couple home.

Was just easier to say the 7 I was sure of.

My boyfriend pointed out how much we go through now I stay at his house most of the time.. Oops.

Have IBD. It is a true fear.

Home bargains do great big packs of a brand called Nicky Elite for a good price which is great!

Thanks! You have just reminded me that I need to buy loo roll

I never appreciated just how much toilet roll women use until we started working from home. Remember all those guys who got berated for bulk buying loo roll? Imagine if they had a wife and three daughters and just needed to be sure they could make it though the month...

Toilet paper was my first thought for someone new to living on their own. It's an easy thing to forget how important it is if it is always there.

Too much is better than not enough

This applies to crumbs you brush off the kitchen tops. Without a mum there, you actually have to clean those yourself.

For the longest time I just thought they vanish to another realm when I wipe the benches.

Second this - buy more loo roll than you think you could ever use and it still probs won’t be enough but at least you tried

Work out roughly how much toilet roll you use and get an amazon subscription to the stuff. Means you will never have to walk to tesco holding in a shit and nice brands like Andrex are way way cheaper in bulk.

We get our toilet roll delivered by Who Gives a Crap so ours does just turn up at the door. It's great.

Second this. Same thing with dishwasher tablets.

As silly as it feels buying the giant packs, I don't regret it

Kitchen roll does not make a good substitute for toilet paper. Trust me I know. Was a rough week at uni

And get a plunger before you need it.

Please tell this to my roommate

Always have at least one roll to keep in your bedside cabinet for wanking.

Guests probably won't notice if you put the toilet roll on the holder, but they probably will notice if it's not on and just propped somewhere.

If you're shopping and you're not sure if you need toilet roll, buy toilet roll. Best to have one pack too many than one pack too few.

Presumably you live with women?

I could make a pack of toilet rolls last eight months. Whenever there's a women on the scene they're gone within a week.

edit. A big pack. I do wipe my arse, dont worry.

As a single male i bought a 12 pack when I moved house 6 months ago. I've just started the 4th roll... I honestly have no idea how people use so much.

I ended up with three large packs when I moved a few months ago. One I bought, another left in the house, and one my dad brought along. It's a supply that will last me at least six months.

It’s also weirdly expensive

Buy a bidet. Pack of toilet paper lasts me a year now.

We spent a little more and went with who gives a crap. Those boxes last us so long.

https://uk.whogivesacrap.org/

Why buy toilet roll when you have a shower? Just slap some soap in there and give it a blast and you're cleaner than what toilet paper could ever bestow.

1 is none 2 is 1

I have a bidet, excellent investment. TP still needed to dry the booty tho

Bidet. Bidet. Bidet. Will change your life.

And get the cheapest loopaper. Quilts aren't worth the markup, and your arse doesn't care.

don't underestimate how much toilet roll should be purchased.

I just pop to the parents for my toilet roll shopping. 4 rolls has lasted me 2 months so far and I've just put the 4th one on the hangar.

Shitting at work does wonders.

Do not buy cheap bin bags.

Use the annoying charity clothes bags instead.

I do this, I used to feel bad about it but whenever we try to put it back out (either full or still in its wrapper) they would never come to collect it anyway.

Don't feel bad. Most aren't charities. They sell the clothes then donate a pitifully small amount per ton to charity so they can use the logo.

It's so annoying that I've not managed to get one of these picked up as I get one every 2-3 days.

Don't buy cheap toilet roll, life is to short and your arse deserves better.

And heavy duty doesn't really mean heavy duty.

And to add to this, doubly bag your food waste bin! The bags are ridiculously flimsy and if you don’t double bag you’ll have to clean our rotten food liquid from the bottom of your food bin every week!

Always buy the cheap bin bags, just don’t fill them.

So if you half fill them, and they cost half the price, where’s the saving?

Every time I get cheap bin bags they rip just doing up the bloody tie!

No, you just don’t stuff them. Buy cheap, buy once, as the phrase goes.

Set up direct debits to pay for your bills, everything from power and water to council tax, and try and do it as a fixed amount, where you might be paying more than you need one month but then have it balance out the next (usually summer versus winter months in the case of power). You will forget to pay a bill, and one missed payment can affect you credit score for ages with some things. If you are currently renting but want to buy in the future, or get credit of any sort for that matter, this counts.

edit try to set them up to go out on payday, or as close to it as you can, then you know the bills are settled and everything else in your account is yours. Nothing worse than a DD that goes out 4 days before you get paid, and you have to factor it into your budget all month. Also, use a banking app to keep a check on your account, little things like buying coffee, having few beers after work with a mate etc. can add up and if you don’t keep an eye on the account it can be a shock. If you have the app you can just check you’re ok before you hit the pub.

try to set them up to go out on payday, or as close to it as you can

I always recommend to friends to aim for 3 days after pay day.

This is because many companies will not pay into your account over the weekend, especially a bank holiday weekend. But your bills will come out over the same weekend.

Some companies are nice and will pay early, but not everyone does this.

I think this actually depends on what bank you are with. Companies have to process payroll so that it is in their employees' bank accounts on payday, meaning that they'll send it over the weekend so it is there Monday at 00.00 for example. Some banks won't 'release' the funds until then, but some will have them available Saturday morning. I'm with Barclays and they do have it available on Saturday morning if payday falls on a Monday.

I'm with Barclays and my pay always comes through at midnight exactly on payday. The company pays us early though if the usual payday falls on a weekend.

This. I have bank of america and every job(like 25) I have ever worked and had a payday land on a weekend/holiday, I got paid the day before the holiday or Friday before the weekend.

Monzo has a feature where they'll advance you inbound BACS payments from 4pm the previous working day. Handy when payday is Friday or there's a bank holiday.

Nice? It's YOUR money. If pay day is on sunday I have that money at 6am on friday.

I use a second bank account for spending money. The day I get paid, I transfer however much I need for the month, so I don't even have to bother with checking my bills account.

I have a few DDs that won't let me change the payment date, and others that just take forever to change, combine that with moving jobs and getting a new payday...

This is a really good tip, but I would add that if you're on a tighter budget it's better to transfer yourself a weekly budget, as it's easier to keep track of.

I always work on a weekly budget, just makes things easier, plus I can ‘reset’ at the end of the week.

I have a separate account that all my direct debits for the month come out of. When I get paid (into my main account) I have a standing order to transfer out the (rounded up*) total to cover all my bills in one lump sum.

What is left in my main account is my spending money for the month (including food and fuel). The card for the direct debit account doesn't get used and gets left at home.

  • I round up for every bill to the nearest £10. That £34 bill gets worked out as 40 for x. That way I also slowly build up a buffer so that if I have an emergency I don't need to worry about my bills for a while, I have that small safety net.

Direct debits are great, firstly because you don't have to remember to pay them, but also because some bank accounts will give you free money to switch current accounts if you've got a couple of monthly DDs. Check Money Saving Expert or similar to see who's got the biggest bribe and switch every few months!

I have a spreadsheet which I use to track when my bills are paid and how much and my credit card balance is so I know how much I have to spend on other things. No surprises or overspends.

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Yup, done this too, managed to save a good amount by doing this.

Yeah, totally agree with DD going out soon after pay day. I get paid end of the month and then have DD come out around 6th of the month following.

I don't do it on pay day as I feel like that's asking for trouble in case your salary doesn't go through for whatever reason.

Personally I prefer standing order. I find utility companies do some dumb arse stuff with Direct Debit. With standing order in in control. But this does require being more organised and on top of your bills and utility usage. But heartily agree with regular monthly payment throughout the year. It's so much closer to your paycheck and less surprise.

I have 2 bank accounts for this exact reason. One to live off one for bills. Every payday I topup ny bill acount with my bill money + abit extra so I know my bills are covered and theres a buffer incase of emergencies.

Starling Bank has a nifty thing where you can put your money for bills into ‘pots’ , and pays the bills from the pots directly, then you can just keep your spends in the main part of the account. The account won’t let you spend what’s in the pots without you moving it over, so you’re not left short for any bills coming out at the end of the month.

All of my bills are done by the 15th, I've spread them out a bit so if anything happens, I don't suddenly have a shortfall. Worked great while I was paid monthly, not so much now it is weekly.

Make sure to check that the auto pays go through the following month! I set up autopay for my first apartment in LA and there was a verification problem from the bank. Suddenly I didn’t have any power.

Open a second bank account, tally all your monthly bills and leave that amount in the account with the direct debits, then transfer everything remaining to the other account. That will become your shopping/takeaway/frivolous shit account.

Never have to worry if you’re accounting for everything before spending money ever again.

In the US, companies will let you change the date when your payment is due. So if you have too many bills due in the beginning of the month, check to see if you can move some to mid month.

The 16 week wait to get a sofa! You can rent a sofa (if you need to) for a very low price, from the British heart foundation. They will drop it off for you, and when you’re done with it, they’ll pick it up, ready for somebody else to use.

We did this when waiting 16 weeks for a new sofa to turn up. 🙃

That’s really cool, I didn’t know they did that. I have just moved and just have my old sofa that doesn’t fit in the room whilst I wait for my new one haha

just buy a second hand 1 off facebook for cheap, you can often get a really good stuff that people just want rid of

Can’t recommend this enough - look for second hand stuff for everything where possible.

You’re reusing stuff and stopping it going to landfill, delivery is quicker (though you’ll need to do that yourself), plus it’s sooo much cheaper.

When I bought my first house couple of years ago I got a solid oak dining table and six chairs for £100 second hand. Needed a little sanding and rewaxing but was otherwise in good nick.

I've got a £1000 settee for free and nothing wrong with it, they just wanted space for another settee

Got our couch for 20 pounds off our local charity shop. Great for environment and also great when the money goes to charity of course

Same! When we got married we had no money. Got a 3 piece nearly new Parker knoll suite for €150 and got a mahogany dining set for £100. Also charity shops sometimes have great stuff. Our side board was only £50 and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Jumping on this to say if you can't transport a sofa in your car/don't have a car - Hertz do van hire hourly in some locations. Usually from a B&Q. So if you need to hire a van but not for a full day I think it's like £13 an hour. Have done this for multiple furniture pick ups and got the furniture super cheap because no-one else could collect due to size.

This comment chain is just a speedrun guide to getting bedbugs I swear to god.

They’re selling it for cheap because of the love stains

Sure, if you want bed bugs. Oh god I’ll never take anything second hand now unless I know the person.

I often wonder how many people died in some of my thrift clothes

He's just moved out of his parents house. Buying a new sofa would be an insane thing to do. There are a ton of good second hand ones available for a tiny fraction of the cost of a new one.

Where tf are you buying sofas with a 16 week wait? When I bought mine I got next day delivery on it.

DFS was a 3 month wait back in May for the one I wanted. Ended up using Ikea and got a delivery date for a weeks time.

British Heart Foundation is great for furniture in general.

This caught me out when I moved house and needed a sofa! Luckily DFS have some available much quicker than that.

eBay do some amazing ones that are ex display and half the price.

Waited a week for mine from Ikea. The one I wanted from DFS was a 3 month wait so paid £400 for this one thinking it'd just do me for the year and I'd upgrade to something comfier when I had the time. Don't even need to, it's great.

American here. Is this a thing? You can't just go to a furniture store or IKEA and go home with a sofa?

Sometimes, but generally most main stream furniture shops will only have one or two colour options in stock for quick delivery in my experience, if you want something other than those it's made to order for you.

The exception to this is places like IKEA.

Im not from the uk and just fell into this thread so whats that about a 16 week to get a fking sofa?!?!?!?

Learn to cook (if haven’t already). The freezer is your friend. You will save tons of money.

To piggy-back on this, buy salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil, oregano, cinnamon, sugar, and cayenne. Buy the cheap store brand sauces, soups, canned vegetables, etc. and learn how to liven them up by adding spices instead of buying name brand items.

People raise their eyebrows and don't believe me when I say I spend £35-40 a week on food and often end up with leftovers.

Being single without kids has so many benefits.

You have to check the house for serial killers yourself before bed

The chance of there being a serial killer in your house is absolutely tiny.So it's much better to become a serial killer. That way you're safer, as the chances of there being two serial killers in your house is practically zero.

On it

That is quite an aggressive manner in which to open your mini box of cereal.

I was thinking "wait, there's no non-aggressive way to open those bastarding things". But no okay I'll give you that.

Do you work for an insurance company?

It really ratchets up the chance of there being police in your house though, which depending on your perspective is just as bad.

Unfortunately the more people that take this advice, the higher the odds of two serial killers in any given house become.

Seconded. And never skip the under the bed check

This also means you are responsible for the monsters in the wardrobe and under the bed. Please make sure you make a note of any dietary requirements they might have. Nothing worse than a lactose intolerant beastie farting all night.

I love doing that check. Makes me feel so powerful walking around the house with a hammer and sweeping back the shower curtain.

Not concerned, the chances of there being two serial killers in the same house is very slim.

Under the bed, too.

Hey, there's one in that reflective surface, and one over there in that mirror.

The chance of a serial killer hiding in the house of another serial killer is miniscule, which is why I take my chances and don't bother checking routinely.

Setup a separate bank account and try to save as much money as possible, regardless of how small that amount it.

This guys got it. It's better to start small and early than not to start saving at all.

I’ve learnt the hard way :(

Same here. I started saving when I was in serious financial trouble and it's saved me when I lost my job earlier this year. I was originally saving for a car but that money went on bills instead and allowed me to have several months to get my mental health in check. I start my new job in a couple weeks and I'm actually looking forward to it.

I still live at home so I'm not sure how different it'd be when I have more bills (if it ever happens), but what i did was a bit like this. I opened a bank account and put a few hundred in it every month for spending money, and the rest just sits and accumulates, meaning that I don't have to think about the money in saving because I'm rarely in the position to need to spend money out of that account.

I recommend the OP checks out r/UKPersonalfinance and refers to their spreadsheet. It’s a bit daunting but really useful. A small ‘emergency fund’ saving account is a godsend.

Completely agreed & a good subreddit

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I also over compensate for bills/outgoings so my budgeting will always come out more than what’s actually coming out, so we roughly pay around £152 a month for gas/electricity (yeah it’s high, we have an electric car) and will budget that for £155.

this guy r/ukpersonalfinances

Big up Monzo pots! And savings accounts. Granted I haven't used a normal bank for a couple of years but they make it so easy for this kind of stuff.

The misses has Monzo for shopping bills, vet money etc. I don’t get it/understand it but she does so I leave her to it haha!!

It has a lot of great features that the big banks are starting to pick up on. If someone owes me money I can send them a link and they can pay me back instantly by Apple Pay or Google Pay, it's nuts. Sorry to shill, but they are great.

Yep, set up a standing order for the day after pay day and you'll never even have to think about it (unless you want to see how much dosh you've saved up)

Pay bills, Save 3 months of outgoings, put that in premium bonds along with any money you may need within 5 years (house deposit, wedding fund etc). High interest current account for sub 3 year money, rest goes into a S&S ISA

Premium bonds, how do they work? Are you likely to get a decent long term return? Is it easy to withdraw if needed?

It's essentially a monthly lottery instead of interest, 1 ticket for every pound held. Very easy to buy and sell but unlikely to beat inflation. Also government backed so very secure.

Each pound is a ticket to a lottery basically, prizes anywhere from £25 to £1m. Statistically, it's about 0.9% interest over about £7k (IIRC, there's info about returns online). Which won't beat inflation but is on par with many high-interest current accounts (that often only pay interest up to £1500). Takes a couple of days to withdraw, but no charges for early withdrawal. Very secure.

It also gives a little bit of excitement when you check the draws every month, akin to playing the lottery but without spending anything to do it.

If you're talking long term like 10 years plus, then an ETF in a S&S ISA is the way, can make some serious interest with a long term investment.

And save on payday. Round your wages down to something you deem acceptable. Say, for example, you get paid £1630 a month, treat that as £1500 and skim the top off into an ISA. It’ll shock you how quick it builds up.

And another separate bank account for budgeted spending money. (Coffees, nights out, whatever).

Things I discovered in my first 2 years of moving out when I was 18 (back in the 90s but it's stuff I still do now and find useful so still relevant)

Keep track of your monthly outgoings. Maintain a spreadsheet of all of the regular things that come out, rent, council tax, water, electricity, gas, phone, broadband, house insurance, car insurance, car tax, savings etc. Keep a track of how much and when it comes out. This will be really useful when it comes to planning your money.

Get paid into an account that you then always keep enough in to pay those off.

Put the rest into a separate spending money account, this is your day to day account you use when you want shopping etc.

That way you'll never find a bill suddenly rejected because you didn't have enough money.

Keep updated on your utility accounts, make sure you provide meter readings regularly if you don't have a smart meter, don't get surprised by a years estimated billing and find a sudden bill for a grand from British Gas or whatever.

Pay your council tax, the council don't fuck around if you forget.

When you move out, absolutely ensure that the accounts are properly closed off with your utility bills and final amounts settled. It's not nice to have a utility company suddenly start chasing you over an electricity bill 3 years after you've left a property.

Get a big folder, keep important documents in it. Don't lose them.

Important documents include things like your tenancy agreement and inventory.

When you move into your house the first thing you need to do before moving in is do a video walkthrough of the property highlighting the condition of it. This is your reference back to when you leave and your evidence if the landlord ever tries to claim it wasn't in the condition you got it in. Make sure that video contains something showing the move in date.

Turned into a bit of a general advice thing instead of just a point on using a second bank account, but it's stuff I wish someone had told me 25 years ago, and lessons I learned the hard way.

I feel like I'm looking at myself. This comment needs to way higher up. We have a 'bills' current account, we split bills 50/50 and then put that into that account, all bill DDs go from there. Safe, secure, no possibility of direct debit non-payment.

Alternative: set up a separate bank account and use that to pay bills and save. Each money immediately after payday, pay in a set amount that will more than cover your bills. Never have to worry about sudden shocks in billing, and easy savings all in one.

My wife’s and mine wages go into a joint account, cover all bills and outgoings. We then set a standing order into our own accounts for spending money. If we have a good month wages/overtime wise, we will transfer a little extra each into our accounts

Work out how much you can save each month and treat it like a bill. The mental exercise of "I don't have that money to spend" makes it easier to save.

Also recommend a stocks and shares isa for this. You'll have to Google around for how these work.

Secondly to that, start saving a deposit to buy a house NOW. It might seem like an impossible forever away thing, but saving a little a month in a regular savings account that is designated for a house purchase will help you when you to get to that point.

As someone who recently purchased a house because my LL decided to sell, if I'd had a more money stashed away I could have afforded up to another 100K on a house. If I'd saved just 50 pcm for the 4 years of my last rental, I'd have had another 2.4k to negotiate with instead of getting insanely lucky. If I didnt have a well paid job, I'd never have been able to scramble the money together. But if me and my Mrs saved 200 pcm each, we'd have had about 20k deposit, in 4 years.

It really adds up, and renting has gotten wild, even in remote areas. It'll only get worse. You'll want to escape that if possible.

Enjoy your freedom!

You will BLEED money for the first while, stocking up on household essentials you haven't even considered yet. Save every penny you can.

I use Barclays and you can book meetings about saving etc which was really useful. This was the first thing the person recommended open a separate account and fire whatevers left over into it or setup a standing order

Yeah this, seriously! Look up compound investment.

There's also some "Save the Change" things with some bank accounts. If you spend £1.50 it will round it up to £2 and stick the £0.50 in a savings account.

If you forget about it, it sort of racks up! Just had a look at mine and there's £300 in there since I started it in July. £300 saved that I didn't even know about

I use the Chip savings app (but there are loads of others). It links to your bank account and auto saves what it thinks you can afford, based on your spending pattern. I also top up when I know I’ve got a quiet month and sweep up whatever’s left just before I get paid. All small amounts but they add up, and I can withdraw if I really need to. (Try to never withdraw though). At least it earns some interest while it’s in there and as it’s a savings pot, I feel like I should t be touching it.

Yeap, even if it’s just £50 a month, always good to have a bit of a safety net.

We have debt, because I didn’t have the advice when I first bought, and my misses wants any extra funds we have to pay off debt ASAP. But please, pay around 50/50 into debt/savings if you’re in this situation. If you don’t save any money, when something goes wrong, you need to use debt and you’re back into that cycle.

Not sure you need a separate bank account, but a separate savings account with your bank would be a good idea so you can separate out savings from your current account.

You won't get great interest but it's one step out of reach from your debit card spending.

It’s easier for me to manage money, do what’s right for you

Moneybox s&s isa is the only way I finally started saving, direct debit out every week and after a few years you'll more than likely see better returns than any savings account

I set up a separate account for bills and always put the full amount for the Monthly bills plus 15% and its a rule that the money is never touched for anything but emergencies and household bills. Saved me countless times

Kinda baffles me that the average savings of an individual was 9 grand in 2020, with the median annual saving of 2k per household.

I'm only on 10k more than the average UK salary, and I save a grand a month easily.

I could save a grand a month easily if I had an extra 10k a year. Unfortunately, some people don’t have the best upbringing and aren’t taught about how to properly budget etc so this kinda stuff needs more presence in our education system along with paying bills and what’s needed to run your own household

Some banks have a Save the Change thing (mine does, Lloyds) where every time you spend, it rounds it to the nearest pound and transfers the difference into a savings account (so, if you spend £4.79 on something, the bank will round that up to £5 and transfer the 21p to your savings). Might not be for everyone depending on financial circumstances obviously but it’s pretty decent for little dribs and drabs you most likely won’t notice to get put away for you. Basically the digital version of emptying the shrapnel from your wallet into the massive change tub at the end of a day.

What I did. Then got a ps5 with it, but back at it again

If your workplace will do it, you can have multiple direct deposits so you can divert an appropriate amount to a separate savings account without ever touching it!

This is always good sense. They say try to put 10% of your income into savings each month if you can. It adds up over time too and you’ll end up with a good nest egg. I personally have a standing order set up to move money from one of my accounts to another each month so I don’t have to think about it.

Pay attention to emails from your gas and electric supplier. Before your bill is due they will ask you for a meter read if you don’t have a smart meter. Give regular meter reads to pay accurate bills. Otherwise you’ll find yourself paying estimated bills which can be really inflated.

To add into this, take a photo of the gas and electricity meters on the day you move in / become responsible for them. You don’t want to be paying for the previous person’s utilities!

To add to that, if you are renting take photos of everything and if there are any things that need fixing make sure you get it added to the inventory. Then on the flip side when you leave take photos again to prove its in a good state.

To add to this, they will bill you anyway and continually have false data due to "bugs". So contact their data protection officer due to that fact and they will sort it for you. Also check their maths, because rounding errors in 2021?

I know this is kinda random but I wonder if someone can help me. EDF installed a smart meter at our home and said they'd give us a reader for it. Then weeks went by and nothing so we asked them and they said they would give it to us. Now it's been like a couple of months and still nothing and we're paying more for our bills. Were we supposed to get a reader/display unit? What's the best way to go about this?

Keep nagging them about it. If they're anything like a lot of companies they're probably going for the "ignore the problem and it'll go away" approach.

Thank you. I was starting to think have we misunderstood how this whole smart meter thing works and we don't get a display unit. I'd left it for a bit because I got caught up with uni work but I'll keep bugging them after submitting my work today

Don't be afraid to kick up a stink on social media if they try to fob you off. It should be a last resort but for my provider I've found their social media team to be more helpful than customer support.

The data protection officer can also be more helpful xD

Thanks. I'll try again but if they fob me off again, I'll do that

I would rather not have electricity than be with EDF.

They're consistently the most expensive option I see and their customer support is shit. Unless you're in a fixed term it's probably worth changing suppliers.

See also: Eon.

EON was at least cheap when I used them, I know someone who gets a 25% discount on EDF through his work and it was still more expensive than other suppliers.

I think we're fixed. Will definitely be changing next time after how long this whole smart meter thing has been

Wait you have to choose to be with EDF and they don't just randomly decide they're sending debt collectors for £700 after ten days even though your address has literally never been served by them and you have that enshrined in legal documents but EDF don't care?

Similar for water bills. Tell them you live alone and the size of the property.

I was paying £30 a month when I first moved on to my flat. I rang them up and gave them some info and they put me on the lowest rate which was about £10 a month at the time.

Even now with a smart meter I pay about £160 a year.

This is one I still need to get sorted.

I'm paying £30 a month at the moment living alone. My online account keeps telling me there's a meter installed in the property but it's nowhere within 40 feet of the place. I've looked everywhere for it. I've even been out on the road checking for covers.

It’s arguable worse when they underestimate for a few years. Then finally get a reading and you’re heading for a CCJ if you can’t cover the costs when they demand.

Definitely this. It helps to provide readings monthly so you get a proper feel for your usage. Also, if you do build up a credit balance that isn’t just seasonal, get that money back and put it in your savings account.

get that money back and put it in your savings account.

This is one I'm not really arsed about any longer. Interest rates are so abysmal that I'll just take out my excess once every 6 months when my next 6 months rent is due.

I'm only paying 6 months rent up front because interest rates are so shit that I'd rather just have it paid and done with.

1 year fixed savings are what, 1.3%? That's £45 a year for not having access to that amount of money I'm paying. It's just not worth it.

Or worse, under estimated so when you move out you need to front up for a £480 final gas bill…

Bollockkkss I didn't take a meter reading yesterday

Or underestimate (happened to me with water) and when I moved out I got whacked with a £500 move out bill. Very stupid of me

Otherwise you’ll find yourself paying estimated bills which can be really inflated.

Yeah, one time a meter reader for our house just punched in the estimated usage. So the system thought the reading was '240'

previous reading was like 12345, so the system assumed the meter wrapped around, and the next bill was for 87895 units.

Give regular meter reads to pay accurate bills

Hahahaha, ahahahahahaaah, ahahahahahhhhaaaa.

No.

Not since all the non criminal suppliers just went bust.

Mould is a pain in the arse and most people aren’t aware how much it builds up.

Get some anti-mould spray and give your shower curtain a good coating whenever you clean the bathroom. Leave it for 5 mins before rinsing with the shower head.

When you take a load out of the washing machine, make sure to dry the water collected in the bottom of the door (the rubber section) and leave the door open overnight to dry out the machine.

1 part white vinegar 1 part water makes a good anti mould spray and window cleaner.

Yes, using strong anti-mould spray should be a last-resort measure and not every time you clean the bathroom. Prevent the need for it by opening the bathroom window, shutting the door and fully airing the bathroom and spreading out the shower curtain to dry or replacing it with a glass screen. Using powerful sprays damages your lungs and is linked to COPD and other issues later on. Don't wreck your lungs!

Shit is that true?

Conspiracy time, the other Redditor says no, I say maybe. Often paying the litigation in the future is much cheaper than not having the obscene profits in the present. I'd be curious to see any studies on the damaging effects of these sprays to our bodies, and more importantly who paid for those studies. Lobbying is often considered an American politics problem, but we do see it very often here in the UK, it's just less politicised.

No.

Think how much money tobacco /asbestos companies paid out in settlements. No large multinational company is selling known damaging chemicals to litigious Americans. Not because large companies are nice, because they care about not losing their profits to legal costs.

Also not listed as a cause on the NHS site

https://osha.washington.edu/news/regularly-using-bleach-linked-higher-risk-fatal-lung-disease
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6813668/

Americans being overly litigious is largely an urban myth but there is a long and well documented history of large corporations trying to portray average Americans as overly litigious.

It makes a tolerably good spray (because mostly things just need a wipe with a damp cloth anyway) and it makes your house smell of vinegar.

£1 for a supermarket own brand spray works much better and the pennies extra you spend over mixing your own are well worth the time saved.

I use it undiluted one round killed off my mould for good been years since... smell goes away fairly quick best way would be to spray it crack a window and go out for abit

Found the scientologist!

r/unexpectedvinegar

99% spirit vinegar only. You're better off using MG chemicals mould spray.

However, do use some 99% and baking soda in your washing machine with your hot whites wash.

For stubborn mould I soak strips of kitchen towels in dilute bleach and place them overnight / a few days. Makes cleaning it a lot less messy!

I've heard they do this in hotels and this is why the grout is always so white!

No they just have really brutal chemicals.

This is great for removing mould/mildew/black stains on your bathroom grout

Also, air the place out. Especially in winter you have to be diligent, otherwise you'll have condensation and mould all over the window areas particularly in bathrooms and bedrooms. Windows need to be opened.

When we had one we used to put the shower curtain in the washing machine

Use an n95 mask when spraying any chemicals.

Also, the HG brand professional cleaners are the bomb - the degreaser can strip an engine and their mould spray kills mould through a wall and a closed door.

Mate, I just invested in some HG oven degreaser. It’s so strong I can’t believe it’s even legal.

Fix the ventilation and humidity. If you try to clean up mould you will only clean it in the places you can see and get to. That doesn't mean those are the only places it exists, and it will put spores in the air even if you cannot see it. You need to make sure mould isn't growing at all. Get a humidity sensor and fix the ventilation to maintain the humidity at a mould free level.

For the washing machine, I also take the drawer out where you put the liquid in (you usually need to push down a sort of clip on the top in order to fully pull it out). I leave it out overnight also, as the top of the inside of the drawer also gets mouldy with time.

Washing machine cleaner (e.g. Dr Beckman) from the supermarket can be used to clean (and also de-scale) your washing machine. If you live in the West of UK, you probably won’t have hard water, but you can check online if you’re in a hard water part of the country)

Tea tree oil is also good for mould

I thought that was just a poor design on our washing machine but I guess it's not unique to have a little bath of water resting in the rubber bit! I mop it up with a cloth after every wash.

I've also started taking the drawer out and rinsing it, then drying it on the draining rack as that thing never got dry, even leaving it open, and made some lovely orange mould.

Depending how soft or hard your water is as well it's a good idea to get some salt to put in the drawer with every wash too to try and keep limescale away!

If you find mould on walls the best thing is to clean them with "antifungal wash". You can get some from Wickes. Better than anything else I've used, and it keeps walls mould free for an entire winter.

All cleaning fluids and anti-bac should be left for minimum five minutes. They don’t work if you wipe them straight off

When you take a load out of the washing machine, make sure to dry the water collected in the bottom of the door (the rubber section) and leave the door open overnight to dry out the machine.

I take the tray out and rinse it, dry it with a towel and dry inside the area where the tray goes. Reduces limescale build up on the hoses/holes that push the water in to the tray, and bloody hell if you never clean that tray, the amount of black, sludgy gunk that can build up in the tray and toward the drain at the back is disgusting. Really surprising how much softener residue gets left behind in the tray after a wash, and it just sits there mixed with leftover water that didn't drain...getting skanky.

Only takes a minute or 2 to do, and everyone has time to do it.

Freezer is a good purchase

Putting an extra layer of clothing on is a lot cheaper than putting heating on

Know where your stopcocks and fuse box is.

Been scrawlling though the comments in hope someone mentioned the stopcocks a d fuse box. Honestly you may not think these things are important, untill your home is flooding is the dark.

I still haven’t found my stopcock and I’ve lived here for 9 years. Think it’s been boxed in and tiled over in the kitchen. When I had my boiler and shower replaced the plumber had to turn it off at the water meter which I have no idea how to do. Fingers crossed I never get a serious leak!

You need to find it. It be where the main point of entry is for the water. So typically kitchen in a house, but could be a bathroom, downstairs, in a flat. You wouldn't be able to get access to the water meter, as those are typically outside of your property and are owned by the water company. Under s manhole, so you wouldn't be able to get access, nor have the tools to shut it off.

Both me and the plumber searched high and low for it and came to the conclusion that it must be behind the boxed in area in my kitchen, behind the worktops and cabinets and tiled over. I can get to my water meter, it’s under a little cover in the floor of my brick shed (I take readings from it every couple of months so it’s fully accessible) and that’s how the plumbers have ended up switching off my mains supply when they needed to but I have no idea how to do it myself or which tool I’d need.

Yeah to be fair, it happens all the time. People don't realise what it is or think them un-sightly so they cover it up. Not realising how important it it. Even you you are just doing some routine water works. At least you can access your main supply, I would recommend having a look at it. Figure out how you would turn it off and if you do need a tool for it. Just in case something does happen. Granted unlikely it would but the day it does.

That’s sound advice, thank you! I’ve wondered before what I’d do if I found myself with a burst main or something so maybe now is the time to do a little research just in case and find out how I can turn it off at the meter in the event of an emergency!

Vacuum cleaner too, depending on size even the mini battery ones are ok, though ideally a full size plug in type.

Cordless vacuum for sure, batteries last half an hour now which is plenty unless this guy is moving into a mansion

I get the extra layer of clothing thing but surely you shouldn't let your house get, and stay, cold, especially through the winter...right?

No, am just saying not to reach for thermostat at first feeling of cold.

I…have been saying stopCLOCK for my whole life

Also, even if it's freezing, make sure to open the windows for a while everyday. This will help avoid mould.

Also, dampness will make a house cold.

I've found heating is insanely cheap compared to what I thought it was going to cost me.

Over summer I was £40 on both electric and gas per month. For November I was £46 and I had the heating on a good few days, even left it on whilst I was at work a few times by accident.

You parents will have a lot more sex with you out of the house.

Probably just after you close the door, right there on the rough hallway mat.

So don't have second thoughts on the driveway and decide to go straight back. Even if you have forgotten something, keep walking and give them an hour or so.

.. just speaking as a parent....

Honestly I hate that this thought pops into my head. My girlfriend pops into her parents house all the time unannounced. I at least give my parents a heads up I'm coming over.

I just can't imagine not being able to "do" anything at any time of the day without an unannounced visitor just walking in.

I wouldn't like it now and I don't think I'd like it when I'm a parent. I'm just worried I will see something I will need therapy for.

Put your key in the door and turn the key slightly. That should prevent anyone from putting their key in from the outside. My dad seems to forget this when he locks the doors because my mum is always being locked out the house and I have to let her in.

Once while living at home I was going out for the night, but popped back 5 minutes after I left because I'd forgotten my wallet. Every light was off and there was no answer when I knocked on the door or rang the landline. Eventually my dad came to the door and explained that they'd been playing darts in the outhouse. The lights weren't on in the outhouse either.

[deleted]

It doesn’t have to be with each other… 😂

Yeah this appears to double the chances...

Pat Mustard will be right round there.

He didn't specify it was with each other.

You parents will have a lot more sex with you

Exactly

Yea and when you leave they can finally get back together for some banging.

You parents will have a lot more sex with you

i'm not sure I want that

It’s awkward when their younger sister walks in though.

Buy a radiator bleeding key and bleed them radiators.

Make sure to up the pressure again on the boiler. There's videos online on how to do it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNj9lhyrfvI

Itttttts LITTLE ALEX HORNEEEEEEEE

And actually learn what to do to bleed radiators.
Had one housemate that was bleeding his bedroom radiator for about 4 hours before he asked when he needs to stop.

Hadn't stopped doing it when water began coming out. Had turned his radiator into a fountain.

Also if memory serves, hadn't turned off the heating first either, so his room was like a sauna.

Is there a reason to bleed them if they appear to be heating up properly?

I've been in my house five years and have never done it, but as far as I can tell there isn't a problem with them.

If all your radiators are hot across the top - then mostly likely not.

Not if they're working properly, no. You only need to bleed them if they aren't getting warm when they should be, to let air out of the system. Then you need to top up the pressure at the boiler.

This comment and whole thread just reminds me of this sketch.

Bread goes out of date at insane speed.

Buy sliced, freeze half, else it gets green before you can eat it. Do not just cut off the green or black bits by then it has spread all over the slice.

Freeze for sure, bread thaws really quick too

And toasts from frozen.

Green - Pick and go, Black - Hell man no

nah, if there's visible mould on bread then there's actually a ton more mould that you cant see in there also.

Generally correct, but the green stuff isn't likely to hurt you, it's basically what they inoculate blue cheese with.

you can still smell and taste it

very true, but it can be frozen and lots of toasters have a frozen bread setting.

Frozen bread setting also works for potato waffles

Good information this

As does milk.

I gave up on milk after it kept going off. I also have noticed now that milk makes me feel a little sick if I have a bowl of cereal so maybe I was always intolerant of it and didn't notice?

Non dairy milks last a bit longer (but still go off) I recommend switching to that if you find the dairy milk goes bad before you finish it

The high fat ones are the closest sub to dairy milk in my opinion, especially oat. They're often branded with "for coffee".

Tbh this is why I found plant milks that I like instead. You don't have to be vegan to find one that you like in your tea/coffee/cereal

That’s probably intolerance, perhaps cut of cereal and use milk for other things then cut out milk and still have cereal. To see which might be the problem.

Intolerance tends to grow as you age as your body doesn’t produce enough or any of the enzymes needed to break down the lactose as you get older. You can buy lactase pills to help if you’re dead set on dairy though.

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This! I've managed to keep a loaf without any mould or anything for like a month after the use by date before by putting it in the fridge.

I thought mould grows quicker on bread in the fridge?

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Just googled it and it does seem that the fridge is a bad place to keep bread because it accelerated the recrystallization of starches.

And even if it's still in date don't be surprised during the summer if you find mould growing on it.

Get a bread maker.

I don’t experience this honestly, but I do end up snacking on bread a lot. Pretty cheap and delicious at 2am after a couple pints.

soak up that alcohol.

If you put ut in the fridge it lasts much longer.

Best to have an airtight non plastic bread bin which keeps bread from going stale and it lasts longer. Source; home baker making bread without preservatives.

You don't put it in the fridge lol?

Get on the bagel train. Those things last for decades

Get the stale bread nice and damp, wrap it in tin-foil, stick it in the over for 20 mins and voila! Brand new bread.

I have refused to buy bread since moving out on my own. I would need to commit to eating sandwiches at an incredible rate in order to get through an entire loaf on my own

fruit and veg even faster. it's just not worth it!

I usually refrigerate it and it lasts a lot longer, sliced bread that is.

crappy mass produced bread, yea. Get a decent fresh loaf - sliced if needs be. Kepp the bag done up and squish out surplus air. 1 loaf should last you allmost a week.

Steal your parents vaccuum. They're expensive and they're probably looking for an excuse to buy a new one.

I would fight to the death if my child tried to take my Shark.

Moved out at 19. Survived 19 to 32 on hand-me-down vaccum cleaners.

Devicded to yolo and buy a Shark.

Have looved hoovering ever since! So quiet, sucky and have nice little headlights

it is a game changer isn't it?

my mum gifted me her Shark Hoover. Best thing I was ever given

Nobody is having mine. :)

fair, my mum just hated how dirty the carpets were in my rental bc nobody had hoovered them in years it looked like 😭

from my cold dead hands...

I asked to borrow my parents and have it hidden in the basement now.

Navigator fam, bro

Also just buy a Miele if you need to get one. They're better than all the other ones.

Speaking of vacuums, don't bother with fancy Dysons, just get a Henry. They're absolute workhorses and are only a hundred quid.

I've gone for a battery powered dyson, with henry as shopvac/heavy duty boi

very small house, and the extra expense of the battery powered is so worth it, because I actually vacuum regularly now

The downside to henry is his bulk and the fact that he yeets himself sideways at the slightest provocation. Also stairs.

very first world problem though

Exact same here. Henry did all the clearing up after building work and if there’s ever plaster dust. Dyson is the daily hoover and it takes 15 mins to hoover and entire 5 bed house.

There's a reason you'll never see a professional cleaner using anything other than a Henry. They're cheap, indestructible and easy to fix.

Second the Henry, absolute tanks.

Or just get a miele and hand it down to your great grandkids one day

I'm planning to send my kids to uni with our old crockery & cutlery. Time for new but it's so wasteful to throw things out. Cough.

Lol.

My brother had been borrowing my mums vacuum for ages.

Wouldn't be a problem except every time he wanted to borrow it, he would phone her and ask her to bring it to him. Then he would keep it longer and she'd have to ask for it back... and river herself to pick it up.

Queue his 40th birthday... I probably should've got him something great and fun.... nope... got him a hoover! 🤣

I got a good vacuum for a present one time.
Such a great gift, it's insane.

Wood that steal as much as you can. Starting from scratch is bloody expensive.

Yoinked it after a week

This is so true lol

I created a playlist specifically for cleaning. It's all happy upbeat tunes that encourage movement (and singing along) so the cleaning is more enjoyable.

Otherwise get the £110 karcher thing, no regrets.

Always check your bank account at the end of the month to make sure your bills went out, especially council tax, they will not forgive and fine you heavily

Familiarise yourself with the location of your trip switch and water mains tap.

Get spare sets of keys made and give them to trusted people who will be available.

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Take them round some chocolates and tell them how much you appreciate them, I love it when people have good neighbours.

I like the idea, but day you moved in is bold.

Also, change the locks when you move in because the previous owner probably handed out a bunch of keys too.

Being alive is fucking expensive. Budget. Use Monzo or another app based bank to devide up your spending into bills and disposable income.

Monzo has a great 'Spare Change' function, which will round up every transaction to the nearest £1 and save the difference, I'm sure other apps have this too.

I recommend turning it on and forgetting about it.

I saved just over £700 this year from just using the round up feature.

You don't even notice the money going out and at the end of the year you can give yourself a nice lil Christmas bonus 😂😎

Probably a silly thought, but I always get concerned about apps like that. How safe are they to use ?

I haven't used Monzo but I've being using a similar app called Plum for years.

Most of the 'big' savings apps like these are regulated by the FCA so it's extremely unlikely they will scam you or that you'll be left without your money.

I save around £1000 a year using plum and have never had any issues accessing the money and you can stop it at any point.

In some ways they're safer. With Monzo I can create virtual cards, which I use online. If there's ever a data leak, I can instantly cancel it and create another one. No phoning and waiting days for a new card. You can also freeze and unfreeze your card from the app. I've done this a couple of times when I've lost it. Freeze it just in case, then unfreeze it when you find it in your other jacket.

The app is as secure as your phone, which is pretty secure if you've got face ID or a finger print reader. Any money-out transaction on the app requires you to re-enter your PIN.

It costs a lot more to heat your home than you expect

Everything costs more than you expect.

Especially cheese

i actually found a really cool hack to not spend so much on cheese; become lactose intolerant at the age of 21 right after you discover how amazing camembert is

I feel like I saw people say this so much before I moved out that I actually expected cheese to be more expensive than it is lol

Wyke vintage cheddar is about £1.70 from Home Bargains, or other mature cheddars from Aldi/Lidl. But this only works if you don't come out with a workbench or a load of German Christmas snacks.

You can get an almighty brick of cheese for about twenty something quid from Food Warehouse that will last you until the end of days. Or months, if you have kids.

For some reason bog standard cheddar is really really cheap in M&S food at the moment.

Yeah we’re not especially good at thinking at scale - part of our skewed perception. Like how we’re blown away when we’re presented with how many more hours are in one billion days versus one million

Edit: a million seconds is 12 days, a billion seconds is 31 years - that’s the comparison I was remembering

I live in a tiny 2 bedroom flat where I put the heater on once a day for 2 hours from November to the start of March. It costs me £1500 a year on energy as it's all electric and I'm getting the best tariff available.

Moving into a 4 bedroom new build house with great energy and insulation ratings where the average energy costs for the current properties of the same style are £500 a year (estimated if there's 4 people in the home).

What the?

I'm in a 2 bed flat, 87 rated in efficiency, and initially was paying £44 a month gas and electric, now £54 a month but British Gas say they owe me £50 in credit.

So that's from 500 quid a year to over 600 a year on an 87 rating. Then again I do have a gaming PC which is almost always on and costs a good tenner a month on its' own.

I find it hard to believe a 4 bed new build would be so low on energy. ESPECIALLY a new build where it's guaranteed the insulation is too thin or cheap, walls made of paper etc.

The new house is 90% efficient with solar panels on the roof providing hot water heating top ups. There’s triple glazed Windows with argon instead of vacuums for insulation and actual insulation in the walls compared to where I live currently. Also saw inside the attic and the insulation is about 4foot thick

It’s what the costs are for the houses already built in the same place.

Oof, jealous. Double glazed windows are surprisingly inefficient at keeping the cold out. You can walk near them and feel the cold radiating off them. My place is a 2013 build and the living room has 2 floor to ceiling double windows, AND 4 french door windows leading to a balcony, so it gets noticeably colder in there Vs the rest of the apartment. More windows = colder room.

Sounds like yours is way more sealed up.

You've no idea how badly insulated old housing stock is, especially if windows are single-glazed with metal frames. Actually, some places built in the 60s have no insulation at all.

Not sure how true it is but apparently leaving the heating on is supposed to be more effective than doing it in bursts.

If its on consistently, it only has to do little top ups to maintain the temp compared to starting from the bottom. Insulation will probably go a massive way though and influence this greatly.

Especially at the moment, jesus fuck is electric expensive...

My household income is decent... 3 adults earning a decent wage. Still can’t afford to heat the house!

Amen to that...we're paying over £200 a month currently and the kids still leave the fucking lights on!

Excuse me whilst I have a stroke

At least were in the U.K. and don’t have to pay millions of pounds in medical care if we have a stroke!

True, may that never change...!

Going from PAYG to direct debit, I found the opposite. I went from paying £60 per month for electricity and gas combined to £23 per month

We were fine with PayG, but now it’s a smart meter and we constantly seem to be topping it up! :(

Insulation is seriously underrated when it comes to heating. Living in a new build its very efficient. It's a huge priority now looking at my next house.

Cheese is expensive

I've got a cheese advent calendar. Caramelised red onion cheddar was day one. I'm broadly opposed to things in cheese, but for advent I'll allow it. It also means cheese at 6:30am which I will also bend for in this festive season.

My partner had one of those a few years ago, but it was a bit of a swiz because you only got 4 different types of cheese, and it was random which one you got each day. Plus one of them was something rank like wendleydale and cranberry, so they just sat in the fridge for a few weeks before being chucked away

Mine lists 10 cheeses on the rear. Also crackers and chutneys. So I have some hope.

Definitely a more upmarket one than the random one he had from asda then

There's nothing quite so shit as advent calendars that just have 3-4 things that it gives you at random each day.
You want variety, excitement in your daily find, not "Oh, the same shit I had Tuesday and Sunday. Awesome."

Damn, how didn’t I know this was a thing! I need one of these to go with my whisky calendar

And essential

Aldi for cheap cheddar

I use Aldi for nearly everything other than vegetables, cheap and mostly decent quality ingredients

Every store does something the best. I genuinely wander through all the supermarkets.

Aldi has a very simple rule. If it seems German it's brilliant. Meat alcohol and cheese is unmatched for the price.

Why is Reblochon 3 quid from Tesco for a 1/3rd of a disc, when you can get a whole Brie, nearly twice as much, for 2.50 and it tastes better/stronger?

Honestly couldn’t tell you, I don’t use Tesco for anything though, they’re consistently bad on quality and price

If you have a pay as you go meter for your gas and electricity, get rid of that shit.

It's a hassle to top up all the time and compared to paying with direct debit it can be up to 20% more expensive.

Plus they're usually always on a Standard Variable tariff and in today's market with constantly rising prices, isn't the best place to be.

Actually at the moment a standard variable tariff is the place to be due to the price cap. All the fixes are more expensive. That might change again in April but the advice is to wait until then and see

Keep in contact with people you like talking with via the phone, visits and activities. Not just WhatsApp - life is a lot more nuanced than a convenient WhatsApp message.

Further to this, and obviously circumstances permitting, I'd have a look into some sort of regular local social activity or volunteering opportunities, especially if you'll be living alone (ie not with housemates/a partner) and working from home. Otherwise it's very easy to fall into the trap of not going out unless necessary and from experience that can really knock your mental health, especially at this time of year.

I wish most of my friends understood this. Maybe I'm just an arsehole that no one wants to talk to though! :-D

Pandemics aside, yeah. Also don't recommend moving to a new city just before one of those.

Have enough money to cover your first three months bills & rent.

It can become isolating.

As u/Bully90 said, get a secondary account (hell, have many savings accounts - I have mine with Starling and have many savings pots, all named) for unexpected stuff. Within my account, I have Car Repairs/Servicing, play money, eBay (selling), fuel, holding money and my spending money. I have other savings accounts too, doing other things.

Try and estimate your gas and electric, and add £10/15, ideally £20, just in case.

Cooking wise, invest in a slow cooker and time plug/smart plug. These are amazing and you can cook loads in them.

The first shop you do will be your biggest, as you’ll be buying sauces, spices, cooking utensils, pots, pans.

Learn to shop thrifty (Aldi/Lidl are great).

I have a slow cooker. Could I PM you some hyper-specific dietary needs and see if you've got any recommendations? I've no idea how to use it!

Welcome to Flavatown. The great thing about a slow cooker is that it hides a multitude of sins behind a good stock or a hearty tomato/veg sauce. Most sauce based foods only get better with time.

The best advice is to learn to think on your feet. Hyper-specialised, specific recipes will fail when you run out of 1 ingredient (or it goes off 😒). Build a solid understanding and then try to have 5 meals you can always cook, even with some improvisation.

This is a great start guide regardless of dietary restrictions: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Fat_Acid_Heat_(book)

Thank you very much!

The dietary restrictions are neurological. I have sensory issues with textures and such. So the only healthy things I usually eat are specific vegetables, chicken, and some typical Sunday-roast style foods different styles of potato. Also good with rice, pasta is fine.

So I eat really simply, or unhealthily, but on the plus side it's very easy to track what I have in, and I don't run out of anything.

I'd hoped the slow cooker would take some of the thinking out for me. Portion, put it in, set it, then eat later. No timings, overdoing it, messing with oils or whatever. I find cooking really overwhelming unless I cook the same meal every day. Hope that provides some context.

Interesting. Have you tried something like a nutrabullet? You can obliterate chickpeas for a nice smooth hummus, and it works nicely of all manner of fruits etc.

Try to have those things you can eat, stocked in your freezer.

I don’t tend to portion things for my slow cooker. I fill and out all away.

Stews and soups are easy to prep, fill with your ingredients, add water, stock and herbs etc to your liking.

The above can fill 2/3 days worth of meals (and longer if you add to it), and you can also freeze and take out later.

You’re welcome to message, but I see others have replied too.

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This. I found out the very hard way that for a significant proportion of people, if they see you as "nice" they will do things like go in your garden, park on your drive, build their extension 50cm on your land. They would probably take your dinner out of your fridge and eat it if they thought they could get away with it.

You name it, every time you see a headline where a neighbour dispute that has escalated just know that there are some cheeky mfs that would do these things if there is a perceived weakness. It has been a very difficult lesson for me and one I wish I had known much younger.

That saying "good fences make good neighbours" is based on fact.

This experience made my sympathise with curtain twitchers who just go straight to the police/council a lot more. You think you're being nice letting someone know their dog is upset while they're gone and before you know it you're living in hell of them going out of their way to fuck you over. The letter from the council without your name on it avoids all of this.

the almost daily, knock on the door of old people asking me to do things like sign them back into Facebook and restart their routers

Oh god, I'm getting flashbacks!!

We used to have an old South Korean lady living next door and this was a bit of a problem. However, about 50% of the time there would be another knock on the door later on and she would be handing in a plate of spicy chicken wings or a bottle of wine, so it could have been worse. But still, it never happened at a convenient time.

Good fences make good neighbors

Whilst power cuts are rare in many places, they do happen, have a torch in a convinient , easy to reach place.

Potentially the modern version of this is keeping a power bank charged.

A good LED head torch is absolutely essential.

It's extraordinary the number of activities it aids.

A box of candles also.

Yes a few tealight candles can provide surprising amount of illumination

I have a torch that plugs into an outlet, so it's always charged. Even better, it has a setting that turns it on when it's removed from the outlet...or when the power goes off. So if there's an outage, it's easy to find.

That sounds brilliant, can you tell me the brand name. My elderly parents could probably do with a couple of these.

It's made by Energizer batteries...but I've had it a very long time, so can't vouch for its current availability.

Thank you, I can't find that one but I've found a different brand, NiteSafe, and I'll have a look around to see other products. Think this could be really good to have at the top of the stairs for my folks.

A practical tip for power cuts that a mate of mine told me: A lot of time power cuts are caused by a trip-out, if so there's an automatic thing that will reset whatever it was and see if it goes down again. If power goes out, wait a few minutes before calling 105 and see if it comes back on. If power comes back then immediately goes again, it means it's tripped out again and it's time to pick up the phone.

And it's really useful to know that number in advance. I've got a fridge magnet from the power company which has proved useful

This was handy 20 years ago but now every phone and smart watches have torches 😂

But not always good battery life and most torches are a lot more robust than a smart phone. If there's a power cut in a storm and I need to go check on a neighbour or prop a gate shut I'd much rather take a torch than a phone

The hardest thing about living by myself is deciding what's for dinner every night, and cooking enough just for one person.

Once you're in a routine it's fine.

Also for cleaning, I try and clean one thing each night I get home from work, like a bathroom, or hoover the carpet, or dust and polish worktops. I find it much better doing that than spending a whole day off cleaning the whole house, whatever works for you though!

Food shopping too, I go shopping every fortnight, nothing worse than getting peckish later on and there's not even a slice of bread or milk in the house.

And finally, and most importantly, toilet roll. Don't wait until you've run out to buy more, it doesn't work.

Good luck brother

The hardest thing about living by myself is deciding what's for dinner every night, and cooking enough just for one person.

Learn to batch cook; slow cookers & pressure cookers are your friend!

Now you only need to cook once or twice a week, instead of every single night. Really does simplify things! Some great subreddits for this sort of thing!

Starting meal prep is one of the best decisions I ever made. I tend to make a fortnight's worth in one go and use a few recipes so I'm not eating the same thing for days on end. Also second a slow cooker, I got one for Christmas one year and it's had a LOT of use since.

A counter side pressure cooker is just as game changing, want to chuck some beans in what ever you're cooking. Great now you can have dried beans available within 40min. Eat a lot of rice but don't want to have a single use rice cooker? Great, now you can cook up to X Cups of rice in 20min. Want to steam a log of veggies & fish, great now you've got a multiple layer steamer basket & can be done within 20min.

With the actual pressure cooker meals, can mostly do them in around 30min as well. So curries & things!

Honestly my slow cooker has fallen by the way side a little since I've gotten this. As I can prep a little something that lasts me 2-3 days normally & then have something fresh along side it that's done in there.

Stew! Once cooked, takes a long time but you get like 3/4 days worth of meals from it! Just stick the pot in the fridge after the first serving.

Buying little enough just for one person is hard.

cooking enough just for one person

I learned the opposite.
Cook a couple of days worth at a time and keep it in the fridge. Halves the amount of cooking/prep you do a week.

Obviously doesn't apply to all goods but most will still be edible the next day.

This seems like the best plan, I leave the house at 6 and get home around 7 at night, 5 days a week, so by the time I get home I'm never in much of a rush to start cooking a huge meal, I think the biggest struggle is finding motivation to get up and in about the kitchen and make a decent sized meal, but it's definitely worth it when it'll save me having to get home and cook a meal for the next two nights!

If times get hard,batch cook and freeze it, freeze leftovers when possible. Do not get takeaways,learn how to cook. Remember when your parents were shouting "turn off the lights, were you born in a barn?" They knew. Central heating? Turn it down in rooms you don't use. Go food shopping with a list and stick to it. There's a few bits to be going on with.

Lock your front door, even when you are in

But don't leave the key in the door, especially if it's a flat and it's the only door.

Also, make sure a family member or someone you trust has a spare key.

If anything happens like you slip in the shower and need help, you don't want to have someone have to smash your door in to help you.

The fire professional in me wants you to not do this.

A latch lock yes, but don't lock yourself in with a key please!

Because you wouldn't be able to unlock it from the other side I presume?

That and you don't want to be fumbling for a key in a fire situation, or even trying to find a key put elsewhere...

Its just added unnecessary risk

That living on your own is the best of times - enjoy x

Don't join neighbourhood Facebook groups.

Hard disagree. They're an endless source of entertainment for me.

My mate shared a video recently from his neighbourhood group of an Uber Eats driver having a sneaky shit behind someone's parked car. Those Ring doorbells see everything.

The 'dog mums' overreacting to every mildly suspect van driving down the road do make me laugh.

There are constant posts complaining about the "gangs of youths in the park all night" the youths are 13, the park is where they are supposed to be, 5 neighborhood teenagers is not a gang, and 8pm is not unreasonably late and it's actually quite considerate for them to wait for the little kids to be done playing

I drove up to my auntie's house in a new car, realised they were having a big dinner party and drove away to go back the next day.

She put me on the Facebook group and the next day 2 of the neighbours knocked on whilst I was there to tell her that the "suspicious vehicle" was back.

Driven by someone who looks a bit foreign, of course

They're gonna steal my dog and leave poison baked beans!

They really are. Even better are apps like 'Next Door'... it's like Facebook on acid.

Tried next door and the shear volume of boring crap drove me away

Hi, I'm Susan. 👋 Nice to meet you. Lived in this neighbourhood for 40 years, before all the foreigners moved here. It isn't what it was.

Probably all true. It depends upon your perspective. One man's bloody foreigners is another man's diversity

And sometimes one man's "bloody foreigner" is himself complaining about "bloody foreigners".

I once had to remind my nan when she was going on a moan that both her parents and her father-in-law had been immigrants.

A common scenario in my house:

mum places the express down on the side

"Do you know how many immigrants are coming this year?"

Did both your parents not emigrate to this country from Ireland in the 40's, mum?

"Yes but that's different isn't it?"

I'm not sure it is mum

My mum moans to her next door neighbour about the immigrants. The next door neighbour is polish.

Pretty much exactly the same conversation I was talking about, even down to the parents in question being Irish.

The only time I've ever seen real racism with consequences against immigrants, as opposed to mean words, was in Ghana when visiting family friends.

A lot of people there despised Nigerians. As a Brit I couldn't even tell one English speaking West African from another.

Plenty of racism with consequence in england, or europe for that matter

I joined ours because a guy down our road is well known in the area as being involved in drug dealing and often seen being taken away by police.

I thought the app might provide juicy gossip but nope, it’s women trying to flog MLM crap and older people asking what time Tescos is open until. Zzzzz

I joined ours because a guy down our road is well known in the area as being involved in drug dealing and often seen being taken away by police.

You know you can just ask him if you want to buy drugs, right? You don't need to wait for him to advertise on NextDoor.

The banner photo on my local Facebook group literally has the Co-Op opening times on for this very reason. Cuts posting in half lol

My mum is part of one of these, whenever I see her she tells me about all the people who are basically using it as a free rubbish collection service by simply putting things on the driveway and posting "free to a good home!"

The road I live down (it’s a bit out of the way and on the edge of the city) we have a whatsapp group that was made at the start of covid and it’s not been toxic but only good! Meanwhile the local facebook groups are feral places to be!

A girl i know asked her local one for a good place to buy fireworks before bonfire night. The pot was definitely stirred.

"HATE DOGS DO YOU?!?!"

Or something along those lines?

One of my neighbours posted a pic of a van, saying watch out for this van, its been staking out my house for years, you should be scared and another post ‘thats my fking van!’

I'm on the Nextdoor app. In London. The drama is fucking hilarious.

I basically never post and most of the people on there are poncy people I'd normally want nothing to do with.

During fireworks night period, there were people complaining of fireworks for about a month overall.

Like I live in the middle of a residential area, in the top of a church. So I'm pretty high up and have good acoustics and frequently have my windows open. I hear a lot more than these people, yet they hear 1 firework at 11pm and cry to Nextdoor...

A post on my local page got locked recently over discussion of "When are the council decorating their office? It's usually done by this time of year". Great stuff.

Ours is currently obsessed with overhead helicopters and I love it.

Yeah, until fucking November when there are endless whinging posts about fireworks, and how next door but one's giant plane-killer rocket from Aldi made their teacup mutt shit itself all over Auntie Mimi's crochet.

How else will you find out that every single van driver in town is a peado?

Once rented a flat in the nicer end of a large town. It was a completely new area for me so joined the local community group on Facebook to find things to do etc. Stopped reading it when a "Karen" type went on a rampage about the hedges not being trimmed and a couple of small potholes and compared her living conditions to that of a third world country. There was also a general hatred towards teenagers no matter how peaceful they were. It was either the park or home unless their parents gave them the bus fair into the main town so they didn't really have anywhere to go and got picked on for just hanging around with their friends.

I mean... they're awful and exist to show you the worst side of everyone, but they're sometimes handy. Nextdoor is even worse, but still very occasionally handy

But how else will I know the exact volume of dog shit on the pavements and what time big Tesco opens on boxing Day?

Wow you get all that variety on yours? Ours is entirely “whose cat is this” “I lost my cat” “is this cat stray” “this cat is bullying my cat”

Someone on ours actually picked up someone else cat and took it to a vets as they thought it was "lost". It was outside its own fucking house 🤣 sooo many people who think that cats are basically dogs.

Or Nextdoor. Basically Facebook groups in their concentrated form.

But do join the street whatsapp. You'll find out quickly if they are lunatics. Ours is mostly apologies for building work, parking tetris for deliveries, and recommendations for plumbers.

My neighbourhood group all went mad when sompeople parked caravans nearby. So I wound them up by saying I let a few into the flat block on my way out. You should've seen how many replies that got.

Buy a plunger before you need a plunger.

What for. I do not have a plunger. If you need it for a blocked toilet, use a cut in half 2litre bottle. works perfectly.

This man's seen some shit

I don’t drink anything that’s in a 2ltr bottle. You can use washing up liquid and boiling water but a plunger is easier.

4 pinter milk bottle works too.

Oooh, thanks! I’ll know what to use in the future.

Buy a 2 litre bottle before you need a 2 litre bottle.

Depends who you live with.

Some people flush things that really shouldn't be flushed.

I'm pretty sure blocked toilets are a myth, I've never seen one in my life. Do new builds have narrower soil pipes or something?

Sometimes all it takes is your wife doing a really big shit cause she hasn't been in a few days.

Try two weeks mate, looked like a toddlers arm poking up at me

Most of the time on Reddit the people who say get a plunger are from the US, who do genuinely use narrower soil pipes than we do.

I wish I were so lucky :( Live in England and experienced the unique and terrifying situation of a toilet on the brink of total nuclear collapse. At 3am. Whilst drunk. And naked.

Nope, am a Brit. Living in a rental place that has sensitive sinks hence the plunger.

Bizarre really, with the massive meaty shits they must take thanks to their fast food diet (huge generalisation, I know). You'd have thought they'd have wider pipes.

I'm fairly sure Americans are doing supersized shits as well.

Every week I get called out to at least 1 blocked toilet. 50 quid minium fee or a tenner on a tool for life?

Or steal one from a Dalek

Thankyou first and for most for the HUGE amount of replies.

Key points ive taken away so far.

1.) Cook in bulk 2.) Buy toilet roll 3.) Become a serial killer to reduce the risks of serial killers. 4.) Enjoy the fact that a can helicopter my manhood in every room.

Everything is more expensive than you think. Try and plan your meals, even if it’s just 3-4 per week. Will save a lot of effort & money.

Also energy bill tariffs aren’t always obvious; you can’t do like water where you pay a lump sum per month and use as much as you want… you might agree to pay a set amount but if that doesn’t cover what you use, you may get stung with a big bill.

Not every house is metered for water - mine isn’t so I left it as is. I probably pay a chunk more than I need to, but as I have a sproglet, I like to be able not to worry about bills as a result of spills, leaks, baths, paddling pools, hoses and general water play.

Yes, same here! We had a meter fitted but decided we preferred having the flexibility and the cost difference wasn’t much.

Get a plunger.

You don't need a plunger often, but when you do you need it fucking IMMEDIATELY.

Toilets know this, and conspire against you

And there are different shapes for toilets vs sinks

Learn to budget, and (wish I'd known this), learn to save.

Housework/DIY/gardening is a ballache, but maintenance is easier and cheaper than just letting things go.

Be a good neighbour.

Learn to cook.

And of course, check for serial killers every night.

Downloading a budgeting app is one of the best things I did. I just put in all my monthly outgoings, income, add everything I spend shopping each week and I know exactly how much I have left to spend and can plan ahead for stuff I need to save for.

This is sage advice. Truth be told, I’m still getting used to budgeting but I can attest to the importance of the rest. It took me far too long to master cooking but life is so much richer for it now that I have. Besides being healthier and cheaper, it can also impress your dates!

Your cutlery choice will haunt your for the next ten years. Don't buy skinny forks and spoons.

Buy double the amount of teaspoons as you think you need. They will disappear in sugar pots, work bags, that annoying gap under the fridge

And don’t buy ones with plastic handles, they don’t last.

In no particular order:

  1. Don’t pour oil down the drain
  2. Bleach and scrub the toilet every day
  3. Know where your circuit board is
  4. Always have spare toilet paper, dishwashing liquid, laundry pods, light bulbs and batteries
  5. Make your bed every day (the key to good mental health)
  6. Get household insurance
  7. Be a considerate neighbour
  8. Learn how to cook and always have ingredients for at least two meals - including vegetables! - to hand
  9. Don’t lose your key

Don’t lose your key

Also change the locks. Changing a Euro cylinder is a two-minute job and you don't know who might have a copy of the old key.

I can't believe I had to scroll down this far to find a mention of cleaning the toilet.

Speaking as a woman and a mother, Son, your toilet is nasty. There is pee all over it and it stinks. Clean it daily. Clean the bottom and top of the toilet seat, the outside of the bowl, the floor where it connects with the toilet, and the back of the toilet by the tank where it gets all sticky and hairy. After you poo, check the inside of the toilet bowl for damage. Splash some clorix into the toilet and use your toilet brush to scrub the inside of the toilet bowl, including the bits underneath the rim that are harbouring pink mould.

Someday, you will bring someone you care about into your house and they will see your toilet. This will be a glimpse into their future with you. Do you want that vision to be encrusted with urine and pubic hair, that they will have to clean? You do not.

You're welcome.

I'm a mother. None of the males in my house understand this. I ended up installing an en-suite for my use only and leaving them to it. Gross.

It’s okay to move back in if you have to.

Source: me, twice.

You might have to buy your own advent calendar

Might is right. My mum still buys one for me.

If you have a gym membership take your showers at the gym you'll save a ton of cash on gas bills.

Oh damn that's a good one, especially for me considering I have an electric shower. Only problem is the showers at the gym have zero privacy and are in the changing room, like no corridoor or anything. Everyone gets to see your weiner. Why the fuck did they choose clear glass doors for the showers?

Never pass up a chance to mog

https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/03/so-small.png

Upvote for humility. (also can relate, hung like a greek statue)

Admittedly some gyms have better showers than others.....

So the gym could claim they have a shower, but realistically no is going to use it, which saves them money in the long run..genius

Wtf, this is genius

90% of your life is now washing clothes

90% of your life is now washing ~~clothes~~ dishes

90% of your life is now washing ~~clothes dishes~~ cooking.

I can do house cleaning,

I can wash the clothes,

I can was the dishes,

I can do the gardening,

But if there is cooking involved... No thanks, I prefer to eat the same meal every day because if I try to switch it up, I am left with unlimited amount of something that I don't know what to do.

Also thinking about what am I going to cook everday is a pain so eating the same stuff is on easy level.

Clothes, dishes, cooking, house cleaning, DIY home repair. Rinse, repeat. Learn to love it. This is your life now.

"But I've just done a load half a week ago! How is the basket full again?"

Wait until children enter the picture

Washing clothes takes no time at all, 20s a few times a week. Hanging them up and folding them away, that's the drudgery.

A tumble drier halves that drudgery and it stops your house getting damp. So worthwhile.

Make sure to buy a good hoover, don't cheap out on one. It'll make your life easier

Cordless hoovers are cool, but be aware that with some (definitely Dyson), you have to constantly ‘pull the trigger’ which gives me a cramp in my hand if I’m hoovering for an extended period of time…

You might need one of those 4 way shape keys to unlock gas/electric cupboard

Invest in a metal one - the plastic ones are shit

You probably have been told this already by your parents but just to reiterate - You really DO have food at home. Eating out is expensive when you’ve got bills and a mortgage/rent to pay, and even cheaper meals adds up

You can eat as much cake as you want without being judged. This is both positive and a negative.

You have to spend good money on stuff like toilet paper, bleach, soap powder and washing up stuff

This is what i hate most. Buying tp to flush, soap to go down the drain and to top it off, buying a bag to throw shit away in followed by...u guessed throwing that bag in a bin to be thrown away. Buying cleaning supplies sucks and it's gone as soon as u buy it basically

Buying clothes washing liquid is one of the most demoralising things.

Make sure on move day you have a box with essentials in it, milk bread sugar toaster couple of plates and bowls. After a full day moving and trying to put as much away as possible, you're probably not going to want to dig through all the boxes to get something to eat.

I remember the first day I was in our new house, and calling up the electricity company to 'sweetly' ask to join/hook us up, because cor, we'd like to start the kettle boiling for a cuppa!

(We probably could have just turned on the gas hob, but it is funnier to tick the eleccy box because of a cuppa!)

Move day, have kettle tea coffee milk and sugar, mugs and spoons. The movers or your mates will need refreshments! If using professional movers have some cash to give them a tip!

I just recently did this. My family helped me out with renting a van and moving, so two of us drove ahead with the most important/breakable/necessary bits, including the kettle/toaster/snacks and then got the basics set up while the others turned up later with the van. Made for a smooth sailing day!

Or save money and use vinegar with water

Pay your council tax. I stopped paying mine when i fell on hard times and then moved to a new city and didn't pay it there either. Ended up with 2 attachment to earnings orders on my wage of 200 quid each. Absolutely crippling.

Everything is more expensive than you think it is. I just bought my first house and moved out, fuck me, the amount of money that just disappears is nuts. £100 a month on council tax, £40 a month on WiFi, £20 a month each on life insurance, £30 each on phones, £30 on home insurance, £100 in electricity, £150 on food, 20% in tax, £300 on the car, 300ish on petrol and not to mention £700 a month on the mortgage. I’m sure I’m forgetting somethings but you get the idea. Also lawyers cost a fortune.

And another thing, I think is is a uk only thing, but this pissed me off to no end. The bank will only mortgage you for the amount on the home report, but houses are going for 10%ish above their value. So, let’s say you are a first time buyer, the house you want is valued at 100,000. You will end up spending 110,000ish to win the house. So time to cough up 5500 for the 5%deposit, the extra 10,000 that the bank won’t give you, 2-3 grand for lawyers and then add moving costs. So when you see a house for 100,000 and think “sweet, I just need to save 5gs for the deposit” you probably need to quadruple that first.

When you have a unexpected big bill (your boiler will break down and probably soon) your parents will be there to help pay for it.

There is no shame in asking your parents how to read the electric and gas meter.

Remember water is no longer free, set up that account.

Your washing no longer does itself. On the plus side your Mum was wrong and most clothes don’t need ironing as the creases will fall out within a hour or so of wearing, just make sure you hang them up and don’t leave screwed up in a basket/floordrobe.

Steamers are also a nice alternative to irons for those pesky few clothes that are a bit too creased. Fuck ironing

If you use a tumble drier, just fold them when their still warm. Automatic ironing.

I still iron a formal shirt but that’s about it. Never tried a steamer.

[deleted]

Don't bother ironing anything amirite?

I'm 31 and have never ironed anything. Too late to start now.

As a guy at school used to say he uses his body as an iron.

There is no shame in asking your parents how to read the electric and gas meter.

My super-unsecret method is to ash teh googles or Youtube, if asking parents isn't too much of an option.

"Floordrobe" - I will have to remember that. It actually made me LOL.

We’ve been through the teenage daughter years. Guess you have as well!!!!

If you take your clothes out of the dryer as soon as they're done and give them a little shake before you put them away, you're probably not going to need an iron. Use a hair dryer instead, after putting the item of clothing on a warm radiator for a bit

You’re a terrible cook and will miss your mums food.

I recently moved out of home and this advice does not apply to me one iota considering my mother boils chicken and adds ten gallons of milk to her mashed potatoes.

One of the joys of moving out (for me) was learning how to make nice food. My spag bol was OK for a few years, but now it's far superior to my mum's. I can't make as many dishes as she can (I'm fussy and wouldn't eat half of them anyway) but all of my food is better than my mum's

Putting the tumble dryer on won’t break the bank. It does costs a bit but it’s not going to financially ruin you. Also the same with lights. Or anything my dad kept telling me cost too much to run.

Also using a tumble drier is better than drying stuff on radiators etc. as that just causes excess humidity which can lead to mould and damp etc.

​

I'd rather spend the money to run a tumble dried than spend money on getting rid of mould.

A dehumidifier was a great investment for the rental houses I've been in. Never have a damp problem again.

Dehumidifiers are great, but I'd rather avoid the problem in the first place.

There's other sources of 'damp' than just drying stuff on radiators. Seepage, showers, wet weather etc. all contribute, and that's assume you've a modern house - we had a 13th century one that was basically just a giant sponge.

Yeah we live in an Edwardian terrace and run two dehumidifiers at this time of year. Worth it though, we used to battle terrible condensation mold.

Yes, there are lots of other sources of damp, but drying clothes on radiators is a problem and a common contributor.

Absolutely! My partner went through a phase of blaming random appliances for the electricity bill. The tumble drier eventually got it for a month and we were sticking the heating on just to dry pants. We ended up with a damp, mouldy house, and a much bigger gas bill.

Just use the bloody tumble dryer!

Plus if you get the load out as soon as it's finished, you can fold it all and not need to iron anything.

Ruins your clothes quicker tho. Crack a window during the day if drying and wipe the sills and walls down weekly with some anti mould.spray.

But clean the lint filter! A dryer won’t dry well with a dirty filter, on top of them being a fairly significant fire hazard.

Also clean the one on the vacuum. That won’t burn your house down but it’ll burn out the motor and decent vacuums are expensive.

I love cleaning the fluff trap on mine lol. My biggest regret in life is not keeping all the fluff. Just imagine how much fluff I would have now if I had.

And yes, vacuum cleaners need the same treatment. Iv gone back to a bagged vacuum as I was sick and tired of having to swap and wash the damn filters. Proper bags are effectively a new, much much bigger filter every time. And doesn’t cost the earth either.

on top of them being a fairly significant fire hazard.

I did fire warden training at work and the stuff about dryers scared the life out of me. I never run ours unless we're in now and not if we're sleeping either.

And a tumble dryer is the only way to get towels nice and fluffy

Also the best way to get pet hair off clothes

Cannot agree more!

Using my tumble dryer is cheaper than replacing my clothes.

Fuckers round my way will steal anything.

I once watched a woman get her washing nicked from her washing line. At the time I found it hilarious. Now I’m a grown up, I would have been fuming and really stuck for clothes it that had happened to me.

Also you get to lie on the floor and put all the warm clothes on top of you after it's done.

That’s one way I suppose. I am a bugger for wrapping myself in warm fluffy towels though….

This.

We've moved around since moving out in 2013 and we've never had a bill that's made us go 'fuck better start turning stuff off' like your parents.

Last 2 places have had a tumble, we sleep with fans on all night, run 2 PC's all day, telly on at night with soundbar.

I'm not an expert on electronical efficiency but I guess things have moved on in the post 2010s. Cheaper methods are often a ballache and eat into my sanity-budget which is way more valuable than money/lost time.

Meal plans and shopping lists are very important. Do a weekly big shop with both of these sorted out and you'll save a lot of money.

You need to pay council tax so get it sorted as soon as you move in...

It seems obvious now but nobody told me and I ended up £400 in arrears after I first moved out

You will make mistakes, unfortunately; but you will learn from them and obtain a better understanding.

Don't focus on the fancy recipes when learning to cook. Pasta, tuna and a jar of pasta sauce is still far better and cheaper than supermarket quick meals.

Chickpeas are your friend. Very cheap, full of protein, and can be added to many recipes.

Make sure you apply for 25% Council tax relief if you're living on your own (and if you're paying for council tax).

Utilities are not as scary as they seem. Just be mindful about how much you're using. And if you have gas, adjust the boiler's timer to only heat the place during certain hours.

Decorating is expensive. Focus on the important things first.

Facebook market is great for freebies and cheap deals if you are lacking furniture.

Make sure you do a weekly clean of the place. Buy bleach and wipes. And invest in a toilet scrubber - mummy isn't going to scrub your poo away for you.

Also, learn to make a few (pasta )sauces. A tomato one based on canned stuff is an awesome way to perk up any meal. I always keep tinned tomato’s at home. Also, if you’ve got vege going off a sauce is a great way to cook them down and hide them. Carrots bendy? Grate them and chuck them in a tomato sauce, or in nachos.

In terms of making use of leftovers, if you make nachos, a casserole, or most things that are saucy and generally darker, you can chuck any leftovers you want in and you won’t notice them in the final dish.

To add to the chickpeas comment; beans! Keep a few tins of bean around and you’ve always got a way to fill out a meal.

Also, eggs. If you’re low on protein in something you’re cooking just chuck a few eggs, they’re an cheap way of making things way more filling.

Freezing cheesy things. If you’re making something pasta like and freezing it, instead of cooking it with cheese already on top, wait until cooked and pop it in microwaveable containers, then put grated cheese on after, that way you have nice freshly melted cheese.

Herbs: it’s always cheapest to keep a small herb garden, and a sprinkle of green makes things way less depressing. If you’re buying supermarket herbs be sure to pop them in an larger pot the moment you buy them and water from the bottom only, this prevents rot, especially as they often come already root bound and rotting from the bottom.

Msg: there’s a lotta myths about it, but actually it’s wonderful. It makes the most boring things taste so much better.

I’ll add any tips I can think of

Chickpeas are your friend. Very cheap and can be added to many recipes.

dried ones even more so and if you have an asian supermarket nearby you can get sensibly sized bags of them for fuck all.

Oh yes! Very. I made some nice curries with a good batch of chickpeas.

they are the place for go for herbs and spices too, i can get a bunch of corriander big enough to choke a donkey for 90p from mine...the equiv size would probably be 5-6 of the BIG plant pot ones from a supermarket. oh and the garlic bulbs are the size of grenades...

love my local Asian supermarket.

1) follow and complete the /r/UKPersonalFinance flowchart

2) learn to cook, cooking from ingredients and or dry goods will save a metric fuckton of money.

3) 2nd hand furniture and household items are great and generally the way to go in your first place.

4) IMPORTANT!!! if renting or even if not when you move in get the agent and or landlord to sign and agree the numbers on your water(if you have one) gas and electric meters. this will stop you paing for utilities you have not used

4.5) if renting while the agent is with you either you or they take photos of every single socket wall fitting and appliance so they cant say they were not in (whatever) condition when you know they were, also check the operation of any and all appliances provided with the property and the safety certs for gas and lekkie.

4.55) tumble dryers use too much electric, get a clothes horse and air dry your stuff

5) learn or be shown the location of your gas, electric and water points such as cutoffs and trip switches.

6) get to know your neighbours, be a good one

7) pop up a chart for bin day, better still set it as an alarm on your phone.

8) cleaning, yeah this one is a pain... do a room a day, have the weekend off.

9) 25-50mb BB is plenty for most people, don't get sky its fucking wank but get a VPN and set sail.

10) bumps and noises in the night are your responsibility now.

11) your house, your rules... enjoy the newfound power, and responsibility!

12) don't be fucking tempted with fancy ass knife block sets get a GOOD 8-10" chefs knife and a 5" ... that's all you need... wooden chopping board, if you buy a glass one i will personally turn up and make you eat it.

9) 25gb BB is plenty for most people, don't get sky its fucking wank but get a VPN and set sail.

25GB a month for home internet?!

that's less than a single game these days.

25GB a month for home internet?!

speed ffs not allowance....

25GB speed?!

what magical home internet is that?

you mean 250mb surely?

yeah... typo... ill correct it... in my defense i think i did quite well tying all that out on a phone :/

i'm just yanking ya chain mate :)

just caught me off guard.

hey don't worry, im a pedantic twat at the best of times, I've I've made a mistake i expect my nose to be rubbed in it :)

You said I’ve twice

Consider your nose rubbed in it

This is a solid list. I'd say re 4.5 I'd say make sure you take pictures yourself.

Point #5 is crucial, and make sure you find where those are ASAP

I'm on a pay as you go electric meter, and use my dryer at least three times a week - it barely costs anything. I really don't understand why people think tumble dryers ear electric nowadays

they use ~3000 watts

if you're happy to use that then that's no bother... but it is about 3x that of a washing machine.

It's hard to buy food for 1 (or 2) people so prepare to make larger meals than necessary then freeze a portion or two for later!

If you buy cheap you buy twice.

You often only use tools once. Buy a &cheap big set and then replace with quality as you wear them out.

You need to buy (and use) cleaning products. And toilet paper.

Thanks for confirming the need to use toilet paper... I did wonder.

It's a good reminder if Op has never actually bought any for himself before.
Easy to overlook the obvious when it's not something you've had to think about before.

I remember when I first moved out by myself.
Made sure there was a bed, and made sure there was a matress.
Moved in, and of course I forgot I needed some pillows and sheets.

Not a massive issue in summer, but moving in winter is another story.

Toilet paper? Damn it! This explains a few things ...

Don't forget bin day!

Get yourself two decent foldable clothes dryers to hang your washing on - they'll dry much faster if you can space them out a bit so you won't have washing hanging about all the time. And it's well worth hanging washing outside on a rotary dryer if you have one - makes them smell wonderful! And much better for your clothes than tumble drying.

If you have a poorly heated/ventilated place then investing in a heated clothes airer and a cover will be a good idea. Lakeland is your friend for this and will make a boring but much appreciated Christmas present.

We recently bought a heated airer and it’s so much better than having to have the entire heating on to dry a load of clothes

Buy a first aid kit.

Measure 20 times. Drill once

Still get it wrong, measure again, drill again

Don't buy Sky TV. I know loads of people scraping to get by, but still paying a fortune for something that gives them almost nothing. If you want to watch something on Sky find an alternative way of watching, like going to a pub (but don't spend a fortune in the pub).

But if you do already have a dish installed a Freesat box gives you a higher quality picture than Freeview.

One of the best investments I ever made was my Plex server.

Best decision I've ever made was not owning a television.

Absolutely brilliant call to not have the idiot box in my life.

If you will be living by yourself it can get lonely, especially coming home after work on a week night, be sure to have group activities you attend often to help.

I lived alone for the first time in a house in a tiny village for a couple of years and, though it taught me a lot about being independent and looking after myself, it can be quite an isolating experience.

But if you’re an introvert you will love coming home to an empty house every night

Additionally just calling a bud to chat some nights helps alot too. I do this on weeknights where I feel alittle lonely

How expensive council tax is....over £200 a month for some areas. Some can be more too

Check out the British heart foundation for couch suites, we got ours 4 years ago for £200 and it’s going strong. It was fully cleaned and in great condition.

Don’t use a space heater, your bill will be astronomical.

Make sure you have breakfast in, it’s the most important meal of the day.

Create a proper budget, I use YNAB.

If you forget to put the bins out, it has the potential to ruin your life. Especially in the summer if you have a small yard.

Your mum was right: there is no clothes washing fairy. You have to do it yourself.

Buy a plunger before you need it.

Buy a plunger before you need a plunger

Learn to cook. Learn to clean. Pick up that sock, no one else will.

the crippling realisation that we're a speck of dust in a vast black void.....also energy tariffs

Nobody has told you this yet, but buy a fire extinguisher for every floor in your property. Make sure you cover all types of extinguisher and know which one is where, what type of fire it's for and how to use it.

Check them every so often and keep them somewhere easily accessible.

Is this actually worth it? The fire warden at work told us that in almost all cases you should just get out and let the fire service deal with it.

It depends. If you wake up the middle of the night and half the house is on fire, then no, get the fuck out.

However if you're for instance cooking something and set a towel on fire, or your dodgy phone charger suddenly sets on fire while you're using it, then yeah absolutely. You can likely get the small fire out before any real damage gets done, and you can still call the fire brigade if needed.

Better than letting a small fire that you could potentially extinguish yourself burn down half of your house.

Fire engineer here, again...

I wouldn't recommend an extinguisher for every floor, that's overkill. A fire blanket in the kitchen, bought from a proper supplier not an amazon chinese special that won't work, plus a 2kg dry powder extinguisher for general use.

13A minimum rating on the extinguisher and replace it at five yearly intervals.

Rule of thumb is you can use an extinguisher if you see the fire start, otherwise just evacuate and call trumpton.

Ah a professional! Thanks for the advice, I was mostly talking out of my Arse and my own idea of common sense to be fair.

I just like to have one nearby really just in case. Forgot about fire blankets as well actually...

Professional is pushing it a bit, but it's a question that comes up constantly on here!

Some people do have them everywhere, and some houses need them everywhere, specifically thatched properties, it's usually a tenet of the insurance!

Well thanks regardless!

You're welcome lol

If OP is moving into a rental property, shouldn't there be a fire blanket supplied as part of the tenancy rules? Hardwired smoke alarms are also manditory for rentals.

Alarms yes, blanket no.

Rentals are obliged to provide hardwired smoke detection on each level that forms part of the escape route, plus CO detection (battery or otherwise) in areas of risk, such as kitchens with gas stoves or boilers

Which suppliers would you recommend buying from?

Brand wise, Amerex is the king of cans, but you won't find them from any old shop. Failing that, Gloria or Thomas Glover.

Search on the information superhighway for 2kg dry powder and your brand and you'll find several, Fire Depot and Fire Protection Online are two accessible sources for non trade. If you get a blanket from a recognised trade site you'll also be sure its a decent one, not a fake one that melts. The industry has a real problem with dodgy fire blankets at the moment

Thanks for this!

It's for the kitchen mostly.

I'm curious how many people actually do this. I don't have a fire extinguisher. I don't recall ever seeing a fire extinguisher in any house I've visited. I might have seen a fire blanket in the kitchen of a rented house.

If there was a small fire in my house I think I would, in order of preference :

  • Place the burning thing in the sink / throw out of the window.

  • Chuck a damp towel over it

  • Chuck a bowl of water over it (if not electrical / oil)

If I had any doubts about those things working, I'd just get out.

Yeah the damp covering would be my first go-to, but people panic in that situation so a fire extinguisher would be a good thing to have to hand. For the cost of them anyway, they're not crazy expensive or massive.

They're probably more useful for electric fires from dodgy batteries and chargers (most stuff is fire retardant and probably wouldn't light easily anyway).

If the route to an exit was clear and there wasn't an imminent danger of an explosion from gas, then I would take the extra 2 minutes to try out it out to at least save some of my house. Possibly a different story of I was home alone and would need time to go find my cats to get them out of the house.

Better to have one and not need it then need it and not have one.

Council tax and estate agents

Care to elaborate?

Youre always gonna be cleaning the kitchen. You cook? Clean the kitchen. You order takeaway? You still have to clean the kitchen. It never ends!

Slightly smaller one but this might not have crossed your mind if you’re a man esp if you didn’t grow up with sisters: make sure there is a (preferably) pedal bin, with a bin liner, in the bathroom, if you ever plan on having potentially menstruating guests over. When I was younger I went over to my bf’s house, he lived with just his dad, and it was very embarrassing to dispose of hygiene products :/

Yes, excellent point.

U will be broke all the time. Save money.

If you’re renting, there’s a fairly good chance that your landlord/ estate agent will try and screw you over when you leave. Take photos of EVERYTHING, every room and every tiny bit of damage you can find because this may be invaluable at some point

Buttered crumpets will become your best friend

Doing the dishes is shite. Purchase a dishwasher. I don't have one but I can dream for others.

When I was looking for the place I am now (rented) I wouldn't consider anything that didn't have a dishwasher. The magic cupboard rules.

If I was living alone like OP I think handwashing dishes would be manageable. Adding two others though, the dishwasher was absolutely necessary.

Do 15 minutes of house cleaning every day and you never have to put aside a whole weekend afternoon to do it. Invest well in a decent vacuum cleaner. Tip the binmen and the postie at Christmas. Stick to 1 night a week for takeaways. Make batches of food and freeze them. Change your bedsheets and towels once a week. Shutting doors keeps all rooms toasty and reduces your heating bill. Turn off lights in rooms that you are not in.

Tip the binmen and the postie at Christmas

Such a bizarre tradition.

Also I can't see how shutting doors will keep all rooms toasty and reduce your heating bill. That's only going to happen if you want different rooms at different temps.

You will reduce drafts across your home. Keeping doors closed keeps heat within rooms. Keeping doors open will cause heat to leach from rooms lowering the temperature of your home to the lowest common temperature - you then have to heat the whole larger space to reach a warmer temperature. Every energy-saving source cites this as a simple tactic.

Tipping the binnies and postie does no harm and makes them think kindly of you when things aren't quite right - it is of course not compulsory but they are the 2 people who are a constant service to your home that you don't pay directly (unlike a window cleaner). It's not compulsory.

You will reduce drafts across your home

What does this mean? If you're heating the whole house, then the only 'drafts' will be warm air moving to colder locations.

Keeping doors closed keeps heat within rooms. Keeping doors open will cause heat to leach from rooms lowering the temperature of your home to the lowest common temperature

But you want to keep all rooms warm. So the lowest common temperature is fine.

Every energy-saving source cites this as a simple tactic.

I can't find a single source saying this actually. There's certainly advice for shutting off unused rooms, but if you're trying to keep all rooms warm as you say, shutting them off from one another makes no sense at all.

If you decide not to get a tv license (we don’t as we just don’t watch live TV and don’t use anything BBC) they will send you repeated and countless letters threatening to come to your home. They cannot enter your home and the letters are to scare you into paying for the licence. Ignore them, you don’t have to have one if you don’t use it.

If you get unpaid bills (or even bailiffs) turning up for a previous tenant, do not pay a penny. Do not let bailiffs into your property, but be polite, calm, and ready to prove your identity, and give as much evidence as you can that the person doesn’t live there, such as bills in your name only. This is a surprisingly common occurrence where I live.

Less exciting stuff: - Having a washing machine of your own is totally worth it. - Mould builds up fast and is horrific for your health, deal with it ASAP. - If you’re on key meter I heard it’s cheaper to switch to an energy tariff if you can. How true that it nowadays I’m not sure. - You can get a single person discount on council tax if you’re the only occupier or only eligible person to pay, for example if your housemates are students. - Some places are really strict about the bins, to the point where refuse workers will straight up refuse (no pun in tended) to take trash if it’s in the wrong state, et recycling not washed or non recyclables in clear bags.

I have previously experience with the bailiffs turning up for the previous occupant.

They sadly died, house was emptied and sold to us from probate.

Virgin media were still chasing them for an unpaid bill. We received and returned several threatening letters from Virgins debt collectors.

Anyway, near Christmas they turned up, six months after we moved in.

I proved that I was not the previous occupant with my driving licence, council tax and virgin media bills from the previous months.

Virgin are Utter pillocks

My friend had it happen and the bailiff insisted on checking the house in case they were ‘protecting a fugitive’ over like a £20 parking ticket of something, lmao. It’s just pathetic.

But yeah you shouldn’t have had to experience that. It’s crazy the extent to which companies often harass innocent people with impunity, even when you make every attempt to explain the situation to them. The whole debt collection industry is a Wild West.

You don't have to prove shit, tell them to fuck off or you'll call the police.

You have to plan and cook your own dinner everyday and it's tedious as fuck. And until you figure out portion sizes you'll have plenty of leftovers. Tupperware is your friend.

Pick up after yourself. Your mum probably did a lot of cleaning, your job now

If your bathroom and bed aren’t clean, nobody will want to have sex with you.

You will forget to buy yourself a grater, a masher and a strainer. Go and get those immediately to avoid disappointment

Find a good charity shop. The furniture British heart Foundation furnished my first place.

Also, you would be surprised with the amount of furniture your friends and family are wanting to get rid of. Take it try save some cash to replace, replace it in 6month/a year/2 years when you have the money and it breaks or you want something nicer

Yep, it's amazing how much shit you gather. I can name a few things of the top of my head that I'd give up for free.

How expensive cheese is. Gets me every time!

Also, it can be frozen! Freeze half the block so it doesn’t go off

A blanket will get you comfortably through the annoying few weeks where it's a bit too cold to be comfortable but you feel bad putting the heating on already.

Flats have extremely limited storage space compared to houses. No attic, no shed, maybe no cupboards apart from where the boiler is, maybe limited kitchen worktop space. Before you buy something bulky you should have a clear idea of how it will fit in your flat.

And to add to buying bulky stuff don't feel bad turning down free things fron people either. When I got my place people were trying to offload treadmills etc etc. No thanku to clutter!

Write down the exact date.

You will be surprised how many forms ask for the date you began living at your current address and the dates you lived at previous addresses- going back years.

Change your bedding once a week. Knew a guy who didn’t change his… he’d left it for 18months.

You need to quickly identify who the bin leader of the street is, this is the person that dictates what bin goes out when.

Off topic, how old are you? My parents are on at me for moving out but I’m trying to tell them it’s not normal yet hahah.

Not OP, but I moved out when I was 26, made sure I had enough of a deposit to actually buy a house instead of renting like my pals did far earlier on than I did. I got shit for staying at home for longer but it pays off in the long run.

I aim to be out at 25. All my mates are gagging to be out now (22ish) and I just don’t see the point yet! Parents won’t be round forever, we have a laugh at home.

Pretty much was my reasoning too, got on sound with my parents and they weren’t in a rush to get rid of me so just stuck about while I saved a deposit. As a random side note, I just had a baby 6 months ago, although things might change, I can’t imagine ever wanting to kick him out when he’s 18 like I hear a lot of parents do. Anyway 25 is a good age to leave so aim for that my man!

But thank you, btw.

Don’t get into debt early on - I made this mistake when buying stuff for my flat and it set me on the back foot for ages

Save your food - the freezer will be your best friend when you can’t be arsed to cook. Even freezing things like left over rice will save you half an hour when you want something decent to eat but can’t be arsed to wait half an hour

Taking rubbish out every week is the most first world pain in the ass problem so make sure you remember when bin day is

You’ll have to pay double tv licence money for half a year which is utter bullshit so factor that into your costs

When you get broadband etc find one with a gift voucher/new customer offer

Make sure to take a photo of the meters - gas and electric. So you can go back and check it when you need to

Take a photo of the WiFi password as when you have friends round it’s so annoying looking for it

Get a door mat. You might think they are lame and look shit but it will stop your hallway turning into a mud run

Buy one more washing up liquid bottle than you need - running out and having washing up laying around is bull shit

Get an over the bath dryer - saves space

If your in a flat then generally air flow is poor, so keep a window open if you can or if you can afford one get a dehumidifier - I have one with a clothes drying setting as I don’t have a garden

Ikea, wayfair and freecycle are your friend. House stuff is expensive. Small medoum-priced indulgences can make real differences and give that "adult" feel. Example: nice soap in bathroom, framing posters and wall art properly, enough storage, a speaker for music, decent towels and bed linen. It took me to mid-20s to realise living like a student wasn't doing me any favours in terms of life quality.

Vinegar and dish soap solution cleans almost everything, I use it to clean the shower doors to make them shiny. Baking soda with a bit of water cleans stubborn oil leftovers if you've let it sit for a bit too long.

Most flat problems come from easy fixes that you either didn't notice or ignored until they become big problems.

A brick and white vinegar in the cistern halves the amount of water you use and keeps everything clean. You can get vinegar by the gallon very cheaply from farm shops, even if it is for horses.

I've got one of those dumb robot hoovers from Lidl's. Cost about £60 and it trundles around the flat while I'm at work and does a good enough job to prevent the flat from getting foul. A good easy metric to keep to is clean the flat once a week per person living there, even if it is just sweeping the crap off the counter onto the floor and running the hoover over it.

Change your router name to something non-unique (even if it's something dumb like "CIAListeningPost"), and make sure you're using WPA3 if it's available, and change the password. Cyber attacks on homes have massively increased since the pandemic started so make sure that nobody else is inside the wire but you.

Utility companies will try to defraud you if you give them an opportunity. Keep track of your admin and opening a complaint with the company solves 99% of any potential problems because that's the official way of calling them out on their bullshit and they'll usually give up.

Moving out is often more expensive than moving in. Try and stay in the same property for at least a year. If you do need to move out for some reason the landlord will hold you to the contract you signed. Similarly utility companies will decide that you owe them in full for their projected income. Staying with the same utility providers will typically fix that but you don't always get the choice of who your utility providers will be in the future. Sod's law is you'll sign a contract for an expensive broadband and TV package and then have to move somewhere where that company doesn't operate.

Make yourself known to the locals, i.e. chat to the shop owners, neighbours, local pub staff. Even if you do occasionally get locked into a tedious conversation the benefits significantly outweigh it. Reputation is a very underappreciated commodity.

If you flush the toilet and the bowl fills up with water DON'T FLUSH IT AGAIN in the hope of clearing it.

Let it drain for 20 mins until it's back down at it's normal level then get a bucket/big pot/basin of water, stand up on a chair and pour the water in from as high as reliably accurate. This will clear the blockage.

The classic plunger you think of, rubber cup on a wooden handle, is actually only for sinks and showers and will more than likely splash shit water back up in your face if you use it on a blocked toilet.

These are things I know.

Definitely cook in bulk and freeze, even if it’s just 1 meal extra in the freezer - many of the arguments my girlfriend and I used to have were around who’s cooking but since we have started freezing food it’s so much easier, cleaner and less time consuming

Pay your bills on time, no exceptions, and shit is expensive.

  1. Buy a 4 pack of Bog roll and stash it anywhere other than the Bathroom or Kitchen. It will save your arse one day in more ways than one.
  2. Used the last of something? Add it to the shopping list you keep on your phone. You've always got your phone with you right?
  3. Leave your home in a condition that you wouldn't be embarrassed for other people to find it in. You never know who might walk through the door or who you might bring home if your lucky. No one wants to walk into a shit hole so have a little pride.
  4. It's far easier to tidy up as you go along instead of being slack and creating mountains of work for yourself. That mountain takes up that free time you could be using to bring people back to your clean tidy and organised new home.
  5. Good luck in your new home. OSD Edit; Missing grammar.

There's always a bill you didn't know you had to pay

that the first night, may be lonely?
there i was surrounded by my stuff (mostly gifted from parents), and it just hit me, wow, this is it.
but that lasted one night, and maybe the next day, now i love it.

I do understand what you mean... but as someone else posted here.

I will be able to freely masterbate as much as i want to pass the time .....

The washing basket is never empty.

Unless you have a tumble dryer, invest in a DriBuddi! Lifesaver for drying stuff quickly in a pinch.

Ironing is shite. You may have already been a big boy and done your own ironing, but it was one of the chores I had the fortune of never needing to do living with my parents. Try to find the fun in it if you can!

Rent is expensive. Plan ahead with your finances. This is something I am still struggling with having moved out a few months ago, it's really hard to make your money last the whole month. If you can save, do it, even if it's a small amount. Having 100 quid in my savings saved my arse last month after a minor flat disaster.

Open your windows. And your curtains. I ended up with a mouldy bedroom window because I left them both shut for about a month. I know it's cold, but just do it little and often.

Finally, don't feel ashamed if all you do after a long day is chill at home. You're allowed to enjoy the space, you're paying for it. Enjoy the freedom!

Tv license is a scam

Make sure your water meter and electricals are registered to you and that your readings are correct.

And if you're renting take pictures of every room, every flaw you find and date them before you move in. Keep them safe until you move out. My old landlord tried to claim the dent in my wall was me, but since I took pictures with the date I moved in I got my deposit back.

Find out where your stop cock is

Don't forget to buy a box of condoms either

Be prepared to become an unpaid part time cleaner.

You CAN choose to eat a whole bag of haribo for a meal. But you really SHOULDN'T do this.

Also get yaself a budgeting book, track how much you are spending on things like shopping and bill's based on. What's coming in, really helpful for getting an understanding of what you need to put your money into.

Learn to put shit away when you use it, saves you so much time when you clean, if everything is tidy cleaning is a lot faster.

Laundry isn’t a single job, it’s a rolling thing where you put dirty stuff in, wash it, dry it, take it to the bedroom, put it away, then realise that during this time you’ve been putting stuff in the dirty hamper… so repeat

Get a tool kit, a first aid kit (include things like cold and flu tablets and immodium) and a spare light bulb before you need them. I made sure that they were the in first round of stuff we brought over when we moved into our flat.

Shop in Aldi/LIDL.

Buy in bulk where possible, get things that are on offer and store them.

Meal plan, Bulk cook and freeze if possible.

Set aside at least 20% (including pension) for retirement, plus a short term saving of 5-10%

Volunteer in your local area (scouts, school governor, help the aged, soup kitchens etc).

Make sure you pay your bills. The last thing you need is a poor credit score because it can shit on your future choices.

Water supply and water waste bills can be separate bills

Be organised and make sure you can afford all your bills. Account for every bill. I also meal peeper Monday - Friday for work and Dinner, so I can account for that. Weekend is for treats.

Do your chores a little at a time if you feel overwhelmed. Blast some music and it goes by fast. Then celebrate with a brew.

You'll always need double the amount of 4-gang plug extension cables than you actually buy.

Rejoice that you have a fridge all to yourself, but clean that fucker and don't let food expire!!

Never put non-stick pans or knives in the dishwasher. Also, buy some high-quality Japanese or German chef knives so you never have to buy a knife again.

Do something every day to keep the house ticking over. You will massively over estimate the time it takes to do certain tasks - got something in the microwave…. Have a quick tidy up etc.

Cheese is expensive

You need a pair of kitchen scissors.

You’ll understand why your parents were so bothered by weeds when you were younger.

They just don’t leave!!

When you go shopping, buy 2 of everything that won't go off but is inconvenient to run out of. Toothpaste, deodorant, toilet paper ect. When you've used all of the 1st lot, replace it with the 2nd lot and get 1 more when you next go shopping. Never run out of bum paper again! Also good as a bit of security if there's a time when you're really skint or can't get to a shop.

Don’t buy all your kitchen utensils and tools at once, buy them as you need them.

Learn to cook, it can be a fun passtime. It will take a while to build ups stock of herbs and spices but worth it (If you have an Asian supermarket near you you get so much more for your money). Slow cooker especially for the winter for casseroles and stews etc, cheap, cheap way of eating. Avoid ready meals, bad for you and expensive. Learn how to make cottage pie (if you like of course) make a big one and freeze portions same with curry and stews. Shop at Lidl or Aldi, big difference in cost for a week's shop. I tend to stock up at pay day for loo rolls, washing powder etc for the month so when money is a bit tighter at the end of the month I have enough.

Enjoy your new home but remember there is always something waiting to ambush you so be prepared for unpleasant surprises.

  • sort your council tax/bills/WiFi pronto. The council drags their feet, your leccy company will try to charge you for time before you moved in and the WiFi will take 3 years to get installed.

  • sort a routine. Yes even cleaning the gaff. Otherwise it'll be consistent 10pm dashes to tesco for a meal deal as you forgot to do the weekly shop and keeping it clean is 100x harder If you only clean when it's grim, this includes the bathroom as mold is a pain to clear.

  • man cannot live by pot noodle alone

  • you'll finally understand why your parents got ragy at cranking the heating up

If you need one, remember to buy a TV licence. It's easy to overlook.

Buy a shoe polish kit, a sewing kit, good scissors, superglue and sellotape.

These are the things I never thought to buy until I needed them!

Clean the bog after every flush and make sure you don’t piss on the floor . I hate that . I was so happy the kids moved out . Wash the pots as you finish with them . Don’t let your washing build up make sure you have tea towels vac up at least twice a week . Change your bedding once a week . Clean the inside of your windows once a month . make your bed . Put your clothes away when you have washed them . Make sure you never roll out of shit roll . Don’t leave the heating on all the time or you will end up skint . Last of all make sure you brush your teeth

Clean your bathroom on a regular basis. It’s not pleasant when you go around to someone’s house and need to use the toilet and it looks like a public toilet. Keep on top it and it makes it a lot easier.

Pay all your bills by direct debit on the day after pay day. Plan your food shopping and have back up food even if it just just beans. Cleaning. Pay your pension now. You will thank me for this advice when you retire. That last bit of advice I've given to sooo many ppl who join my team.

Learn to cook, it saves money and when you are somewhat familiar its actually quite immersive and therapeutic! Get one decent knife, some spices, a big pan (something like a circulon pan) and a slow cooker and you will be a kitchen wizard in no time. DONT ORDER IN! Best to save that money to actually eat out. Freezing portions of cook meals is also great for those days you can't be arsed, just make sure you remember to take it out in the morning and defrost during the day

If it takes less than 5 minutes to do, do it! Might seem obvious but it will help you keep on top of those small things like cleaning up, taking out the trash, folding the washing etc.

Might seem a little excessive but I recommend investing in a dehumidifier if you are living in a flat. Helps keep mold at bay, heating is more efficient due to the lack of humidity in the air and clothes dry far far quicker. You can also use the water collected to water your house plants.

Bills bills bills, everything can add up quite quickly. Get on top of this as quickly as possible to help with your financial freedom and stick to your budgets!

When you clean your bedsheets, make sure you have a spare and put them on as your others come off.

Don’t leave them and then head to bed to the very sudden realisation that you need to make the bed. It’s heartbreaking, trust me. Yet I do this every week and I moved away from home 12 years ago. 😂

Just the admin of utilities and Internet and insurance and blah blah blah. Is just such a fucking cock ache.

Meter readings? I would rather burn the house down and live in a tent.

Chinese supermarket, cheap noodles.

Nobody looks after you anymore :(

Buy loads of food containers, then cook in bulk (especially if you use a slow cooker - might as well cook for 4 or 5) then you can freeze them. You can freeze rice dishes but try to use them within a couple of weeks. Do this a few times when you get spare time and you’ll have a variety of different diners to get you through the week. If you eat chicken, then cook a whole one and strip it down and freeze individual portions. A large one generally costs about £3.50ish and will get you 6 to 8 dinners.

Download Pinterest…I use it purely for dinner ideas

Your credit score is extremely important and you may not be able to rent a place to live if you don’t pay your financial obligations meticulously.

Cooking fucking sucks when living alone...

It's all well and good when you live at home, or with a GF or something as you get to split the work.

I live alone and have to decide on, and cook Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner every single day. I also have to clean up.

TOP TIP: If you can, get a place with a dishwasher. I didn't think I'd ever use mine, never did for the first 2 months. Then I realise the dishes just piled up every week and the dishwasher fixed that.

On top of all that, you have to work, clean, try and do an exercise or some other shit that's good for you.

  1. Buy decent bin bags,
  2. Keep spare fuses, lighbulbs, batteries, screwdriver and a torch together as an emergency
  3. Don't be afraid to ask someone for help. From "I don't know how to do this" to "can I come over for food".
  4. Boiler cover is not included in house insurance
  5. Keep an emergency stash of toilet paper
  6. Always use direct debits for bills (set amount per month)
  7. You can eat cake and ice cream for breakfast and no one can stop you
  8. If you can't afford to buy it twice, you can't afford it. Basically don't make huge purchases unless you're sure.
  9. Adulting is hard, but you'll get to the stage where you'll pretend you have a handle on this shit like the rest of us
  10. If buying a house, check stamp duty, get a fixed mortgage for a couple of years while you figure shit out. Point out any faults before you buy

You know those round plastic lids that go on top of tins of coffee powder/granules? Keep those. They fit perfectly over any standard size tin so are great for keeping half cans of beans/soup/gravy/whatever in the fridge.

Council tax. Just pay it, right there, and on time. They WILL come for your belongings if you don't.

Know a plumber, know an electrician, know a locksmith. If you're renting try to have a good rapport with your landlord. I still rent (to my eternal frustration), and my landlord never visits because I keep the place maintained and send them bills for things they'd have to be bothered with like refreshing the descaler, or painting a room, or putting up a new TV aerial, all aggreed to prior of course. I don't just do that out of the blue.

You don’t actually have to iron your clothes

Remember to lock the doors before going to bed! This is something a lot of people seem to forget. Also, make sure you know what day your bins need to be put out. You'll usually find a calendar on your council's website.

Get a months rent, and put it away somewhere safe, away from you bank account or your wallet. Means you have emergency rent incase something go's wrong.

You may end up moving back in at some point through no fault of your own, so don't burn any bridges just in case.

The kitchen will always find a way to get messy

Adopting a minimalist approach to furnishing saves a lot of money and time

Clean the kitchen up every night. 15 mins effort makes such a difference.

Splash out on a good hoover, make hoovering way less of a bore. I've got a shark

Just because you can buy something it doesn't mean you can afford it.

Wash your towel AT LEAST once a week, preferably more (or have two towels).

Wash your pillows/duvet/sheets at LEAST once a week (or have a set you change each week). This means you need to learn how to change a duvet. It's easy, but can seem daunting.

Know that you can change your energy supplier easily. Shop around to see if you can get a better deal. Do this each year, unless you are tied in to a contract. Be sure there are no fees for switching either. Now is a dodgy time for energy prices though.

BUDGET! So important. Remember that rent is your priority bill. It can be easy to overspend on things. Others have noted this, but try to have all your bills come out via direct debit on the same day, preferably a day after pay day. Council tax, energy bills, broadband and your mobile are vital; you don't want to be in arrears to them. Set yourself a weekly food budget and stick to it. There are loads of online resources and cookbooks that will give you plenty of ideas for cheap, healthy meals. Might take a few weeks to get it right with experimenting, but you'll get there.

When getting broadband, don't bother with a landline phone, especially if it costs more. No one uses them and there's no need for them. You'll get nuisance calls and will have to pay for using it whilst also paying for your mobile anyway. If there's already a landline phone in the place you're moving in to, unplug it.

You don't need as big a TV as some might think.

Establish a cleaning routine and stick to it.

Buy a plunger before you need a plunger

Understand your budget as the monthly bills come in, and avoid paying for things that devalue on credit as much as possible. You'll have more money to spend on enjoying yourself in the long run if you avoid the "must have it now" and "it's not real money if it's on credit" mentality.

No matter how little you use your kitchen. You're ALWAYS cleaning your kitchen

Pretty much everything that will make a house nicer is way more expensive than you would expect.

How much your energy bills will fluctuate throughout the year. My energy bills are usually at least triple in winter than they are in the summer.

That you should keep in contact with your parents as much as possible. It gives you more fulfilling life.

People you live with are under absolutely no obligation to do things you ask them to, regardless of how reasonable or logical it may be, and it fucking sucks. Literally asking flatmates to clean up their shit in the toilet and they just straight don’t do it. Shared living is a specific type of torture I think everyone should experience atleast once in their lives. I know people that have had their own place/only lived with their parents are they are another type of dirty because they just don’t know how to clean up after themselves and don’t know the mannerisms that come with shared living. Also, patience is very important.

Get some noise cancelling headphones if your moving to a flat with a lot of neighbours

Buy a countertop dish drying rack.

Remember to buy toilet paper before its too late

How much basic cleaning supplies and toiletries cost. When I first moved out on my own I was surprised at the cost of paper towels, toilet paper, dish soap, laundry detergent, kitchen and bathroom cleaners, brooms, mops, etc.

Instead of “ having problems “ try to keep a solutions based attitude , less you stress about hurdles in life and tackle them piece by piece the easier problem solving will Be . It can be overwhelming at times , keep open ears for advice but give space that the advice given may not be the best or May not fit your situation . Congratulations and hope for smooth move for you. Main thing is to keep yourself safe while doing whatever you do , safe from people places or things I just mean in general . Don’t leave valuables in your car don’t just give some one who calls claiming to be someone from somewhere your information without reference and confirmation ( scam phone calls etc ) . Identify thieves seem to seek out those most vulnerable.

You'll need a folder to put important documents in, it will then live with you forever.

Good idea to change the locks if renting, as you don't know who was there before or if they kept a spare key.

Keep the original locks to put back on when you move out, as landlords tend to use new locks against you.

Bring toilet paper the very first time you go to your new house.

How to bleed a radiator

And top up the combi boiler water pressure! Know where the instruction manual is.

Use paper plates unless your parents come round!🤣

Small money takes care of big money. So budget. You’ll be shocked where you see money leaks.

Save your money. For what? Just to save. If your work has a retirement match take it. Then start to save up a $1,000. After that shoot for 3-6 months living expenses.

Pack your lunch. Shop the cheapest car insurance, cell service, buy cheap cleaning supplies, store brand food, pack your lunch, cook at home, drink at home. Future you will thank now you.

You never know when shit will hit the fan. This will keep you from having to move back in with your parents. Which sucks worse than a bucket of ticks after you’ve tasted freedom.

Council tax will fuck you up. Stay on top cause if not they will ram a debt train right up your arse and they have zero tolerance.

Can confirm. This is an easy mistake to make too

I discovered my kitchen and absolutely love to cook.

Light bulbs can be a bitch to get in sometimes if you not got the screw ins

Mortgages tie you down for longer than you think, if you ain’t sure where to live renting is not a bad investment.

Invest time and money into yourself, you’re worth it.

Open a new bank account only for your bills, it becomes easier to manage when it’s separate and make a standing order the day after payday.

You are correct in everything you say. Especially taking time and money to invest in yourself. Also where mental & physical health, wellbeing and self care are concerned…

I read, do yoga, meditation, home body weight & band workouts etc.

The list goes on and it’s all worth it as well as learning new skills etc, I also buy things that make life a bit easier and more comfortable, I think the 2 best things to my mind so far that I’ve bought is the Lumie Bodyclock Lux 750 DAB Wakeup Light. No more screeching alarm clock at 5am lol and The Hive Thermostat so that I can control the heating on my mobile phone…

EVERYTHING IS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN YOU THINK!!!

Get yourself a bag of wall plugs with matching screws and drill bit, it will make it easier when you inevitably put stuff on the wall. Uno do decent kits, I've bought them over the years and never had issues, they will even hold a TV on a plasterboard wall, although if its a huge TV or on a cantilever then you'll need sonething more robust.

Probably an obvious one but friends are usually easily won over with the classic booze pizza combo in return for help painting/decorating. A few friends makes each room much quicker and much more fun! Try and take the stress out of tasks like this where your can and it will make the whole process a lot smoother!

Again maybe another obvious one but freecycle.org, gumtree Facebook marketplace and groups are great. You can find selling groups that are more specific and will post or local ones as well. Also look up charity shops near you and ones that specialise in furniture. A tip with these is you can usually call each individual store. So if you had something specific in mind you were looking for you can ask if they have stock and enquire about pricing beforehand.

Don't necessarily feel you have to fill every space straight away, if you keep looking some incredible pieces come up free or extremely cheap. Everyone is totally shocked when I tell them how much of my stuff is free or super cheap! Try and get some things up on the wall because I find I put this off the most but it really makes such a difference! Good luck :)

Cheese is alarmingly expensive when you have to buy it yourself.

90% of getting rid of kitchen smells (sausages, burgers, bacon, curry etc) isn’t just using the extractor fan or opening a window. You’ve got to clean the splatter off the hob/tiles.

Also don’t ignore signs of damp.

That council tax feels like being molested through the medium of money, oh and your water bill will feel like a broken glass enema.

Cheese is expensive

Cheese is more expensive than you might imagine.

You don't have to pay your TV licence, is not a legal obligation

As long as your not watching live broadcasts on the BBC that is

Don’t set the central heating for always on !

Hard disagree!

Unless your rent is bills included. Then go nuts.

A tumble dryer will ruin certain clothes, make sure you read the labels and wash accordingly otherwise you're essentially wasting money, and make sure you get a drying rack thing and tumble dryer sheets if you do end up with a dryer

Meter readings. Take them often or get stung by estimates.

Dishwashers are a life saver. I have been living in a flat without one for 4-5 years now, and my god am I sick of hand washing dishes.

Prepare for the crippling loneliness

Old houses can get damp pretty easily if they aren’t ventilated properly and haven’t been treated, crack an upstairs window and leave it on the latch to allow condensation to escape. It’s also a good idea to keep your thermostat at about 14-15 degrees to keep damp at bay as well and to keep your pipes in good nick in the colder months. Assuming you’re renting, contact your landlord immediately with photographic evidence if damp starts to set in despite this, you really don’t want to be inhaling black mould spores.

Stay away from the shitholes Bradford etc

Buy a slow cooker

It's the only way to cook meat

Ribs that fall off the bone, chicken that melts in your mouth, etc..

It's the real deal. It's the real mf'ing deal

I guess you're getting downvoted because you said it's the only way, even though you obviously mean in your opinion it's the best.

I love chucking stuff in the slow cooker and coming home to the smell of something wholesome to eat.

There are of course other ways to cook, I'm not denying it.

But there are no ways that live up to slow cooking

The more time you put into meat the tastier It is

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If you're turning your food to mush, it's because you're using the slow cooker incorrectly

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I use it to make super soft meat, plus you can sear the meat afterwards if you want it to have a crispier outside for things

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I love a sous vide but not in love with plastic being on my food at higher temps or the waste. They say there’s reusable ones but the sound like a pain to clean as they never dry inside. If it wasn’t for that I’d definitely use it more

You’re a fucking idiot.

You get a month of euphoria and then the depression kicks in, and you find yourself lying on the sofa in stained y-fronts eating cold beans out of a tin.

TV licence is a scam. Don't buy it, don't give them any details. It's not a crime to not own one.

You’re gonna get raped

From now on you can NEVER marry a woman (only date them) because as soon as she divorces you she gets half the house even if it's not hers to begin with ...beehatches

The trick is to marry a woman who also owns a house, preferably worth more than yours.

No, clearly the trick is to marry a man.

That's where I've been going wrong!

It's a common mistake.

Paying 6 months in advance for TV licence. It's a right bloody con but everyone has to do it. Once done tho you forget about it..... Unless you're like me and begrudge them every penny!

Paying 6 months in advance for TV licence. It's a right bloody con but everyone has to do it.

fuck. that.

10years licence free... don't miss it one bit. netflix and streaming and the odd voyage are the way to go.

Same. Coming up 8 years license free. To be fair I’ve just moved and don’t even have my tv connected to an Aerial now

i dont even have a TV,

when i got divorced she kept my lovely sony Viera 42" and I just used a PC monitor, now I use a lovely 4k projector and im never going back, projectors, way of the future... >100" on the wall :)

Or join us in 2021 and ditch live TV. Netflix, prime, disney+ and nowtv subscriptions cost less than a TV licence and decent sky package.

You’ll probably end up back at your parents.

0⁶t1

You can never have enough cushions :)

Don't expect your landlord to actually help with issues. I'm pregnant, got a lung condition and had little to no heating for 3 months, had none at ALL during the weekend when it went minus and the landlord has ignored us for a month to sort it out.

Be prepared for this shit, landlord are greedy cunts and only help if you get people higher up involved.

firstly, congrats, I hope it goes well for you.

the biggest lesson I've learned is that you gotta make an effort to socialise with any mates you might already have, and continue making an effort to make more if you can. failing that, spend as much free time as you can doing something that means something to you.

while I made friends when I moved out, I wasn't spending much time with em which made me feel p lonely. didn't help that I sold all my shit to afford the ren-- basically don't do what I did, and you'll enjoy it.

Be prepared for weather that means snow shovel and salt however unlikely. In case of power cuts torches candles maybe a camping stove depending on how long they could last in your area. Stock up a cupboard with batterys, light bulbs, and basic tool etc. You never know when you will use that cupboard.

I did the same just over a year ago. Biggest thing for me was living on my own & working from home means I really need to make an effort on going out and seeing people. Doesn’t have to be expensive things, as money will be tight to start, but it’s very important for my mental health. Also, everything breaks just before payday when you can’t afford to fix it!

You will change for the better in ways you don't expect

When doing your washing just chuck everything in at once. Most clothes don't run, wool can go in with polyester, just set it to 30 for an hour. Use fabric conditioner. Get that shit out of there and hung up as soon as its done and you won't need to iron it.

Umm, this is terrible advice.

Done me good. I used to get super stressed out by laundry when I first moved out as it seemed like there was so much that could go wrong but then someone basically explained the above and I have never had an issue.

Council tax. It exists and sometimes nothing will remind you to set it up in your new place until your landlord starts getting letters for unpaid tax. Go to the gov site and set it up as soon as you move in.

If you’re not too picky about furniture style, local auctions can be insanely cheap. Especially useful if you like Victorian or Edwardian dark wood furniture or don’t mind a bit of sanding and painting.

Buy bulk. Get the house work and crap out of the way early so you can focus on what matters. Plan ahead.

Be respectful to your neighbours.

That Gas and Electricity are soooo expensive. Sometimes you gotta choose between turning your PC on or your heating... they both warm you up so that's not so bad.

Learn how to shut off your water now and check you can do it.

Much better than having to figure it out with water spurting out of something.

Gonna need a tool kit.

Not sure if you’re buying/renting, but make sure all your bills and council tax are being paid. Don’t forget to update your address for all your post too. Same with car, make sure your DVLA address is up to date. Good luck, and congratulations!

I havent moved out yet (why are mortgages so difficult) but I have been planning inbetween learning finance (thanks school, algebra really was essential to living /s) but I am guessing the silence? I would suggest getting some podcasts or something until you get used to it.

Learn how to manage your money and time

Set up a separate account and put your rent/mortgage money and all direct debit money in there. Then change all direct debits to that account. When you get paid transfer your bill money into that account. It will save you a lot of stress living your life this way.

Housework takes aaaages

Figure out where your mains water stop valve is and remember it. You never know when you're gonna need it

Buy a plunger before you need a plunger

Welcome to not understanding why you have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for a TV licence just to watch the BBC then lying about how you never watch those channels because they nothing on them

Learn how to do laundry, it's not hard but you'd be amazed at how many people don't know how to do it

You will suddenly become aware of weird noises during the night. Don’t worry it’s not an intruder or ghosts or zombies, it’s ok you can safely go back to sleep, it’s just your home making some weird ass noises.

You can drink beer in your pants whenever you want 👍🏻

£3 bit driver set - mini screwdriver with 16 fittings. Buggered if I don't use mine twice a week, so handy!

You have to clean everywhere!! Behind stuff, on top of things, constantly!!

Youtube is a god send for instructional videos. Anything DIY, there's a video on it.

Clean places like your bathroom and kitchen little and often, while you use them normally.

If you cook a big meal and leave yourself a warzone, it's way harder to deal with than if you cleared up what you could while you cooked. And buy a rice cooker.

If you live somewhere that is cold/ can get cold - work out the heating system. Timers are great when you want the place to be warm when you get home from work!

Keep your bills . You never know when you’ll need them

Coffee and cheese are SO expensive!

Dont turn the heating on or you will end up broke and cold instead of just cold.

Clothes and dishes don’t clean themselves 😄

Shits expensive yo

Especially relevant now that it’s getting cold, check that your radiators work and don’t need bleeding. Also check for drafts and stuff. Keeping a house warm is a lot of work lol.

Noises in the night

Make sure toilet roll is one of the first things you take into your new home. I have made this error before.

Buy a plunger. Don't wait until you need one.

Make as many of your outgoings Direct Debit as possible. I try and set them as close to just after payday as possible. That way, it's easier to know what your monthly spending is, disposable income, etc.

I have a Monzo account. I transfer a fixed amount (a proportion of the excess after accounting for my bills) out of my main bank account (where my salary goes) on payday. I only use the Monzo account for my ad-hoc spending.

If you're moving in with people, this is a massive culture shift. DO YOUR PART IN THE SHARED HOUSEHOLD. Not everyone will contribute equally. Learn how to communicate and deal with this civilly. Passive Aggressive notes are not the one.

If you're moving in with friends, BEWARE. It can be jarring, living with them, you'll learn things about them you didn't realise when you only saw them for a few hours at a time.

Find a good charity shop. The furniture British heart Foundation furnished my first place.

Cheese is weirdly expensive.

Picking out dinner ideas is really quite a task when you know you’ve got to make it.

Toilet roll runs out faster than it should for seemingly no reason and you don’t seem to notice somehow.

Housework never ends. There’s always something else that needs doing.

Most importantly, (or at least what I forgot to do), set yourself up a weekly food budget for shopping and pick a day to go every week.

It costs more than just rent.

Budget sensibly.

Look into your council tax instantly. I had it where I moved into a new flat and it slipped my mind because of everything with the move then they sent a letter 3 months in saying what I owed them so far in a hefty lump sum. Avoid this!

Eventually you will have to wash or at least spray and wipe all the surfaces such as cupboards, fridge, windows, walls (!), it helps if you do it often with a damp cloth (not the wall obv with damp), and windows. Outside as well. Good luck !

Take meter reads the day you move in

Seen a few buy a plunger comments. Not sure why, a cut in half 2 litre bottle makes a perfect plunger for a blocked bog.

Don't pay to get things like washing machines and dishwasher connected, its a scam, super easy to fit yourself.

Keep a bit of money aside. If you own your home, you know have to pay for everything.

Clean as you go. don't let things pile up.

If you have a bit of damp/condensation, get a loft ventilation filter. about £350, worth the money.

Heating is expensive

Your hearing will get worse, as you will suddenly find you can knock one out any time of the day without the need to listen out for you mum coming up the stairs.

The fun stops.

Council tax is rediculously expensive

I can help with the kitchen?

Essential cupboard items. Spices: garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, oregano, rosemary, dill, turmeric, cumin, curry powder, cinnamon, paprika. Other esentials: Flour, coco powder, yeast, baking soda, soy, honey, pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes, stock cubes of every sort, oats. Cheap fruits: bananas, apples, frozen berries. Cheap veg: carrots, white potatoes, frozen peas and sweetcorn Cheap meats: sausages, whole chicken and joints of meat. Buy eggs too!

You can eat like a king, queen or lawnmower with this. Bake bread, use the leftovers to make breadcrumbs and butcher the chicken to make homemade KFC (garlic powder, onion powder, paprika thyme oregano, salt, pepper). Vegetarian? Deep fried breaded veg is good too, or cheese sticks. I oftwn make oat smoothies for breakfast (oats, bananas, frozen berries, oat milk or regular milk). I add a spoon of cheap fat free natural yogurt to help with the gut. You can also make sausage casserol with rice or mash. Roast chicken with home made yorkshire puddings. Chocolate cakes, banana bread, fried rice. Also grab yourself a whetstone and basic knives. I recommend victorinox chefs knife, or anything similar, a small paring knife, and a cleaver. You can do just about anything from going through bones with the cleaver, slicing and dicing with the chefs knife, and peeling and fine work with the paring knife. Best tip, don't forget to buy baking paper, use it to line everything! No one likes scrubbing trays from the oven and the same tray can be used multiple times with this haha. You can also disregard all this and live off pizza, that's a good choice too!

Cheese is expensive

clothes dont wash themselves 😔

Cook, it will save you a fortune. Also cook extra and freeze for quick meals or just when you cba to cook down the line. Keep on top of your bills. Especially council tax, that one will sting if you miss it for too long.

Cleaning is absolute ballache. But it is much easier to clean every week then leaving it to build up and doing a big deep clean. It only took me about 10 years to realise this lol.

Don’t cheap out on toilet roll, also buy more than you think you need! Better to have too much than not enough!

You'll need WAY more towels than you think, tea towels too

Home insurance. Buy cheap and get cheap. Shop around and make sure you cover all your stuff.

I work in claims. People tend to buy a cheap policy that doesn't cover half their stuff and then when something terrible happens they don't get enough money back to replace everything.

It's fucking expensive.

You need to buy socks

Continuous stress and bills/dept you never knew existed coming back to bite you in the arse 20years later while you’re sitting on the toilet of your new house taking a sh!t.

Do a meter reading the day you move in.

Washing up, you'll do a lot of it. A dishwasher is your friend.

Buy Band-aids. While living in my first apartment, I cut the shit out of my leg while shaving. Realized I didn’t have bandages & had to tape a paper towel to my leg🤦‍♀️

The washing up never ends.

There is no law preventing you from adding bacon to everything.

However, it may not be ultimately beneficial for your health.

Mix it up a bit eh

Shit breaks all the time and you have to fix it

Change your bed sheets atleast 2 times a month

Find out the bin and recycling days, then put them in you calander.

My findings: You probably need about 10 tea towels or more. Just keep washing them. Nothing worse than putting a dirty tea towel on clean eating irons.

Stay on top of paying your bills, especially council/government ones, they quickly end up with court dates if they aren’t paid.

Toilet roll doesn’t magically appear. This was my first discovery when moving out.

Turns out you have to wash your own clothes, no one else does it for you.

Ooooh the bills start coming and they don't stop coming...

You'll be too tired to enjoy your spare time.

Before purchasing something, do a bit of research and buy the best you can afford.

Look for Facebook groups / gumtree in the nicer areas of the town/city you live in. People will give away top quality stuff FOR FREE because they can’t be arsed to take it to a charity shop or have the hassle of trying to sell it for cash.

Pay all your bills on time, preferably on Direct Debit

You have to clean. All. The. Time.

I just moved into my first house two months ago and there's always shit to clean. HOW?

Know exactly where your water stopcock is. If you ever need it in an emergency, you won't want to be wasting time trying to find it!

Learn to cook, clean and do basic DIY around the house, but NEVER with anything electrical, unless you really know what you’re doing. For whatever you don’t know, the internet is your friend. Oh, and you’ll also have to learn to budget efficiently.

When you're working out how much you need to pay in bills, don't forget the bloody council tax!

The TV license people will come after you. Even if you don't use the TV, they know you're there.

Take a photo and video of EVERYTHING when you move in, I've always had nice landlords but you never know what you might get charged for at the end of tenancy. The amount of agro I would of save myself in life if I'd done this is astonishing!

That yes Santa will still visit you but at his leisure depending how many Henry Westens Vintage he's necked and if there's loose shrapnel next to your bed he will have it. Same Santa but different vibe.

Get a dishwasher.

For the first couple of years, sorting out food, leccy, gas, internet, house maintenance and cleaning are an absolute ball ache but then u find a wife and she does it all! (Joking lol)

Set reminders for maintenance on household products. It will cost you more to repair and just spending a bit of time each month will save you in the long run

Take photos of the state of the place when you move in, and also after you've finished cleaing when you move out. 99% chance the landlord will try to take your whole deposit, but if you have these pictures then you can send them to the DPS and they'll give you most of your deposit back.

You can have cereal for tea whenever you like.

Also, change all your direct debits to the same day.

If you don’t piss on all of your things to mark your territory someone will definitely come and steal it all.

Register for council tax immediately! Those guys don't pay nice when it comes to being "late" and will send you a court summons sooner than look at you.

Quidco/topcashback for your utilities, will save you a small fortune!

Make a menu and budget food. Always pay your bills and keep on top of them every month by reviewing spending. Enjoy the privacy!

Save for a dishwasher. The amount of time you get back in your day not doing dishes is incredible

Also, if something happens with the electricity more elaborate than “a bulb went out”, call a professional

Drying clothes on a drying rack makes the room damp.
Get a dehumidifier to help things dry and avoid damp

Be frugal. Money just disappears so quickly and you need to plan for your bills each month and then put a little away for emergencies. Then what is left can be spent on regular things. Don’t just go for branded items when doing groceries. Shops own labels are good for most things. Takeouts are expensive and mount up. Cooking at home is always better for nutrition and the wallet! Also think before having mates over. The noise can turn neighbours against you and the clearing up the next morning is not fun! If you are renting, landlords can be a pain. Especially if other housemates or neighbours complain.

If you put something down when you're finished with it, it will stay in that same position until you move it.

But congrats, it is a good thing to do.

You kitchen will never be clean. Once you've finished cleaning, it's time to cook

Remember council tax and the tv licence.. if rent and bills weren’t enough already

Dont do it! Its a trap! Stay there as long as you caaaan, cherish it!

Learn and remember the bin collection days. There is nothing more infuriating than missing the collection and being stuck with a full bin until the next pick up.

Get a fire extinguisher.

Council tax. If you live alone, you get a 25% discount. It can be quite expensive so 25% off is significant. Make sure to go to your council’s website and have this applied.

Heating. You need to set these on timers, whatever is most ideal for you. During winter or any cold spell, many people have their heating on for anywhere between 6 and 10 hours a day. It just depends how cold you get, how well insulated your house is, etc. Figure this out and only have it on when you need it.

Shopping. I personally have my shopping delivered every 3-4 weeks. Some people buy less at a time but do it more often (once a week). It’s up to you, but remember the basics: milk, eggs, bread, fruit, veg, don’t forget toiletries. They won’t buy themselves anymore!

Set up a standing order to pay your rent. You can do this easily on your banking app. This way, you never need to remember to pay it.

Take pictures of the current condition of your house/flat. When you eventually move out, you don’t want any pre-existing damages to be blamed on you. If something was already broken/in bad condition when you moved in, take a picture of it otherwise you may have to pay for it later if you can’t prove you didn’t cause it.

Keep a spare key somewhere safe and accessible. Just in case.

Aside from all of the quality funny responses, make sure that you take meter readings the moment you move in (and take pictures). That way, you'll not end up paying for the person before you.

Keep on top of the dishes and devote a mad half hour to tidy your house in the evening so that it's nice when you wake up. It's crazy how quickly your house gets messy when when it's just you in it.

Each day of the week, have a room that you pay extra attention to. Monday clean bathroom Tuesday clean kitchen etc.

You know, like my flat is perfect and all.....

Your food bill is going to be huge if you don’t learn to bulk cook. Make big batches of 5/6 portions of bolognese or a pasta dish or homemade soup and put them in Tupperwares in the freezer.

Trust me, that £2.50 meal or £3 meal sound cheap but if you do that every day? You’re gonna bankrupt yourself.

Source: experience.

You’ll have everything planned out and you think you’ll have enough money for everything, you won’t

doing laundry is never fucking ending

It’s the little things like owning a can opener, you don’t realise until you need to open a can! Whenever you purchase something try and think about if you have the means to use it at home

Cheese costs an absolute fucking fortune

More storage ...you will always need more

Paying bills and getting home/contents insurance is the pinnacle of "adult" ball aches. But good work friend proud of you!

Buy the most expensive carpet underlay.

As you're just starting out on your own, you can then buy a decent value (ie not very expensive) carpet, and guests will comment on how luxurious / springy your carpet is.

The bins won't empty themselves

Gas and electric and expensive

(Mostly) always switch suppliers for things like energy (not right now stay where you are!), car insurance etc. You don't get anything for staying with a company longer, you just pay them more. Even if you go online and find your current company is the cheapest then call them to claim the online price, or cancel and resign up

Write down when the bins are collected

The moon's a hologram innit

You can have the girls your mother wouldn’t approve of stay over….

If you are renting, taking photos of everything and keep them safe for any possible future deposit disputes. Digging out photos has saved me 100's when landlords have tried to pin damage on me.

Another similar tip, if something breaks, even if you broke it, report it and get it fixed. If you leave it, not only might it get worse but if it ends up on your leaving inventory you will be charged for it. Generally repairs done during your stay (unless you've done something stupid) will just be done by the landlord.

BUDGET! Make a spreadsheet and log all your bills expenditure. It's very easy to get into a mess when you don't have some structure with paying bills etc.

That eventually you’ll get bored of unlimited nesquik

Dishwashers are a life saver. I have been living in a flat without one for 4-5 years now, and my god am I sick of hand washing dishes.

Learn how to bleed your radiators, and to repressurise the boiler afterwards.

Though, if you have a landlord, you can ask them to do it for you, but if the boiler ever lose too much pressure in the middle of the night when it’s winter and you can’t contact anyone, it’s a handy thing to know. (Some systems naturally lose pressure over a long period of time).

It’s pretty simple to repressurise, usually a tap/handle to let water in, keep the gauge between 1-2 bar. Though google the manual of your boiler to find it out.

If it loses pressure constantly, then it’s time for a boiler engineer.

Make sure you stop any dripping taps. Make sure the toilet isn't leaking.
Dripping taps and a trickling cistern can produce huge water bills. Check them once a month.

If you're not in a room, turn the lights off. It seems like a no brainer but living on your own can cause you to be that way haha

Stock up on cutlery, plates, mugs and glasses. There are few things worse than having friends round and not having enough things to accommodate. 90% of my mates who have moved out usually have an average of 3 teaspoons, 2 glasses and a plate.

Get a few easy to manage houseplants. They can keep rooms feeling fresh, they oxygenate the room and they make it look more homely.

Free time is exciting but will get old very quickly, keep yourself entertained and still reach out if you get lonely

You find out when mum said "if you have a shower wash behind your ears"... She actually meant your arse and balls

Set up direct debit to pay your bills on time, it's a bugger when they turn your gas off

  • Invest in a first aid kit. You never know when an accident is going to happen.
  • Scissors
  • A filing or organisation system for bills. You won't look like a fool searching for letters when you have to look back or do admin.
  • An ironing board and an iron.
  • With your own meals, get into the habit of planning them. You can find tupperware for frozen meals in most Household sections. It may seem like meal prepping, but boy does it save you a coin.
  • Water is going to be your cheapest bill. Don't leave all the lights on, don't go turning on the heating on full - just do everything basically to keep your bills at a low.
  • Wipe down the shower/any areas that are prone to mould. You will thank me later.
  • Get into the habit of doing 'light cleans' and tidy ups with one big clean a month or two if you so wish. You will literally spend minimal time just tidying in between and give yourself a lot more time.
  • Buy bulk, if you can and use frozen storage bags to separate your meats and freeze them so you don't have to defrost it all at once.
  • Look at home and contents cover. Seriously, if a device breaks or something goes wrong - it is much more straightforward to have it covered via contents.

Welcome to a new world of eternal paranoia.

Good luck!

That being a grown up sucks!!

Rent/mortgage has to be due at the end of every month and thinking have I got enough to pay for that and the utilities and buy your weekly shopping lol

There is way more cleaning than you think - skirting boards and suchlike - and it's way better to keep on top of it than have to spring clean. Also you need a repairs and maintenance budget for things like heating servicing, redecorating, etc

Dont buy the cheap thin bin bags.

I got a massive 250 bag roll from costco designed for catering. Never had a bust bag taking it to the bin

Council tax is a bitch

Don't buy cheap bin bags, not worth the saving

Buy a can opener, a pair of scissors and a bottle opener.

You got to pay for EVERYTHING and it might sound obvious but trust me everything costs. Bills, boilers, repairs, maintenance they all add up eventually trust me on that one buddy. Whereas before you will have days you didn't spend a penny now everyday some outgoing will happen.

Do the washing up.

get a rice cooker!

Clean and tidy as you go along. 10mins here and there is easier than an hour or two at the weekend.

Keep your toilet and kitchen spotless. Having the shits is no fun.

Council tax

Don't forget about council tax when your working out what you can afford rent wise.

Take all your big boy stuff with you. You'll need them.

Buy an electric screwdriver.

Don’t start collections of anything, clean up as you go, get to bed on time and don’t watch crap all night with a tv dinner. Get yourself a good circle of friends who don’t take the piss and you will be fine!

Not all your clothes go on the same washing setting.
Don’t overload your washing machine.
Clean your washing machine every few weeks.

You will have zero money

Choose a variable gas plan. We’re in a gas crisis and Everywhere is at the price cap right now, don’t lock into a fixed deal yet

Get a toilet plunger (different to a sink plunger, also useful) the day you move in and keep it near the toilet. You don’t know when you’ll need it and you do not want to block the toilet at midnight and be screwed until the shops open.

Make sure you have smoke alarms in your house, not just fire alarms. It’s often too late by the time there’s enough fire for fire alarms go off, but smoke alarms go off as soon as there is smoke.

Pay your council tax.

Don't pay the TV licence.

Water bills come in two parts.

Cooking is easy, watch YouTube videos if you don't know how to do something.

Bin day matters. Figure it out. When they post a leaflet through the door about Xmas and bank holiday changes, read it. Then stick it to the fridge.

I fact, anything important, stick it to the fridge.

Get strong fridge magnets.

Water bill in two parts?

Incoming water and sewerage are two different parts.

In some areas, they are two different companies.

YOU have to change and wash the bedding and towels regularly. I would suggest towels twice a week, sheets once a week unless you have a sex partner, then maybe at least before the next/different one

Make sure to clean your bathroom once a week so you don’t have to do a big clean with stronger chemicals

Leccy is expensive. Turn off lights in rooms you ain’t in.

Unless you’re spectacularly handy, get maintenance type insurance, Homeserve, British Gas etc (dunno if there’s others) so if your heating stops, burst pipe, no electricity etc you won’t be spending a fortune on an emergency call out.

Painting that little room you thought would take a few hours will be an absolute cunt of a job.

First thing to do when you've got your keys - read your metres (gas, electric, and water if you have one).

Otherwise the utility companies will almost certainly try to make you pay for last year's energy and water.

Also, utility companies are scumbags.

Keep an eye out for the wallet inspector. You must present your wallet, card holder and any loose notes you have. He may need to take them back to his wallet detector van to check them, just wait patiently for him to return.

Make a spreadsheet of all your outgoings so you can keep track of rent, bills and all other grownup stuff you have to pay. That way you'll always be aware of how much money you have extra.

Also, if you have to buy furniture, dishes bedding etc, don't buy them all at once. Just buy strictly what you need to get going, and then slowly work on getting the rest. I suggest getting stuff off the marketplace to begin with, and in time buy better stuff.

1) Council tax is more expensive than you'd think 2) Be considerate to your neighbours because sometimes they're useful 3) Be careful who you give a spare key to 4) A really good set of kitchen knives and heavy duty frying pan are a worthwhile investment 5) Charity shops are surprisingly good for making your place feel homely, cheap lamps make a huge difference to how cosy it feels, and a lot of other stuff there is much better quality/price then IKEA

DIY usually takes longer than you think and you'll uncover some god awful issue half way through that makes you wish you just got someone in.

Houses with dishwashers have less arguments.

Learn to cook properly, start off with small dishes that use a few simple ingredients. Build from there.

Being single, batch cooking is your friend. Along with a slow cooker/pressure cooker. These allow you to do a set it & forget it cooking, which simplifies things even further.

Consider the cost of this, again, being single. Weekly shop for raw ingredients, shouldn't be more than £40 at say Tesco/ASDA. £30 if shopping at Lidl/Aldi. Now avg cost of a takeaway, with delivery is around £12-17, for a single meal...maybe 2 if their portions are big enough. My self personally, £40 is an expensive week shop, on avg it's around the £23-28 mark

This all assumes 3 meals per-day for during the week and a weekly shop of £40. Just on takeaway alone £84-£119 per week if you have ONE takeway per night, avg price per meal £5.90-£7.57

Cooking you yourself for your weekly shop, avg price per meal £1.90.

Also another big one, learn to deal with FOMO. I've seen far too many people jump into & keep going further into, debt. Just because they can't miss going out, a few less times a month.

you have far less money than you think. If you ever find you’ve extra money, it’s because you’ve forgotten what bill it’s for. Make an accurate budget; be harsh about optional things (streaming services etc). best of luck!!

The bills can vary so you may have to cancel some of what you subscribe too. Also if you are on your own apply for single persons discount on your council tax.

Everything costs more than you think.

Deciding on meals is a massive pain in the arse.

Cooking for one person feels pointless.

eat pot noodles

Business continuity plan! Get a nice little note book and write down location of- Fuse board Gas shut off Water stop cock Bin days Important phone numbers Utility providers Insurance providers Alarm codes Appliance warranty dates Boiler service dates

And anything else is important. Then put it somewhere where you can find it when you need it!

You have to do everything now. The house doesn't magically clean itself anymore. One revelation that I hate!!!

There are a lot of issues that you might encounter that a little planning ahead can fix.

Things like properly cleaning and greasing locks and windows twice a year can save you big money in terms of having someone come out and look at it once it malfunctions.

That intermittent creaking you hear in the middle of the night actually is a monster.

Meal plan for 2 weeks ahead. Do shopping accordingly. You'll end up saving a fortune as well as time.

Buy a slow cooker/Ipot thingy! :)

The bills just keep on coming!

A can of WD40 always comes in handy.

Learning how to cook will save you a shit ton of money, will most likely keep you healthier for longer, and it's good fun. It's also a great "ice breaker" if you're not very socially graceful like me lol.

Boilers/heat interface units and washing machines always break at the most inconvenient times.

Save your money, make sure all bills are paid for before going spending it on personal treasures. You don't want to be homeless with mountains of debt just cause you wanted to party

Everything costs money or time or both!

It can be stressful but then again so is living at home. In the long run it is better and more liberating

Clean up as you go. Takes 2 mins, otherwise it all adds up to a ballache.

Cooking, doing dishes and laundry, and cleaning the house, are all things that take up your time and that you have to do over and over.

You usually don't have to pay attention to bills and other things you have to pay once you've setup direct debits or standing orders with your bank for them.

You need to mark in your calendar when you need to service your car and do the MOT, each year.

Take photos of valuables and proof of purchase where applicable, make sure they are covered on your insurance.

Take time-stamped photos of the meters when you move in as well as noting the readings.

If you live in a hard water area regularly descale appliances or they will break. White vinegar or citric acid is good for descaling a kettle.

You need to have a hot wash (60 degrees plus) in your washing machine every now and then to clean it out and maintain it. Wash something like cotton bedding and towels on this to kill dust mites and clean out your machine. Fabric softener is not necessary and you can live without it.

Don't wear outside shoes inside the house. It's less hygienic but most importantly also creates a lot more cleaning. Keep some inside slippers/shoes by the door and a pair for guests.

Keep a spare key with a very trusted person somewhere nearby.

Clean and tidy as you go. Also, learn how to clean properly. There’s nothing worse than someone who doesn’t know how to properly clean a room.

Wash your laundry before you completely run out of underwear 😅

Watch out for lobsters.

Get a bin for your bathroom. Girls in particular need it to dispose of specific girl things.

Buy a plunger and laxatives BEFORE YOU NEED THEM

You have to clean after yourself, your parents won’t do it for you 😭

Remember to set the thermostat, hive, nest etc so you have hot water when you need it. 30 mins before shower in the morning for example.

Expect to be skint

Your parents are going to start shagging in the front room, kitchen and dining room, as soon as you leave. Whatever you do, don’t picture that.

Try and get into a routine,as simple as it sounds it's one of the most important things when you move into a new place.Ive recently moved into a new gaff myself(hopefully for the last time)and locking down a routine is important.

If your fortunate enough to have multiple bathrooms, one of which you don't use - make sure to run the shower least used for 5mins every week or so. Helps stop legionella cultivating in your pipes and water trap.

Your gas boiler needs servicing every year and if you are renting your landlord should do it. You don't want to find yourself suddenly without heating when it breaks in a cold snap.

You need a CO2 alarm as well as working smoke alarms.

Best before dates on food are a guide, not an instruction to chuck away, but use by dates should generally be adhered to.

Open windows daily, even in the winter to prevent mould, damp build up, especially in the bathroom.

Have a household budget for everything.

There's myriad budgeting apps and tools out there, and the one I happen to use is You Need A Budget. No idea if it's the best or most effective as it's the only one I've used but it works for me giving peace of mind. If X goes wrong, if I need to fork out for an emergency plumber, I need to pay for a new this that or the other, my washing machine snuffs it etc...the funds are there (or at least partially there) and the expense doesn't induce a panic! Also just good for planning day to day finances, long term goals what have you.

Best to find one that works for you but keeping a budget is a necessity IMO.

Hi OP.

Create a proper budget and stick to it, I recommend using a credit card for all spend but if youre still quite young it might be easier to have 2 current accounts, one for your bills and one for your spending.

Try and allocate yourself a certain amount to spend each month on food+whatever you want. So if you earn 1500, let’s say you spend 500 on rent+bills (im assuming you’re sharing with someone else), £500 on food + your own time, £500 for savings.

Try build up an emergency fund, doesn’t have to be that big as you’re still quite young but maybe 3 months worth of wages. It just means you won’t need to worry about money too much; which as a young student I certainly did !!!

Others have mentioned food, cook your own meals at least 5/7 days a week and every other week skip the dominos for an asda pizza they are £3 instead of like 18 and still taste good.

Keep your flat clean and tidy, you don’t want to live in a pig sty as it WILL effect your mental state over time and also it’s not very good if you have girls/boys over.

Most of all enjoy the freedom :)

Keep all bills that come through the door. Buy a proper paper file box, buy some dividers, keep everything. You seriously never know when it will be needed. A water company tried to play some bullshit on me claiming I had an outstanding bill from three years ago. If I didn't have my paperwork to prove the bill wasn't mine, there would have been some problems! Keep the lot of it! While paperless is all good, I still print and keep it. I know, crazy right, what about the planet. was right once, nothing to say I won't be again! Companies make mistakes and often on purpose!

If you are living on your own, make sure you register on the electoral role and specify that you live alone to get the single person's discount on the council tax.

Make sure you update all your addresses for everything.

Home and contents insurance is a must. You may not think you have anything of value but if the day ever comes where a fire rampages through your home, you will really realise what things are just gone and can't be replaced easily. While things like passports and driving licenses can be easily replaced, trying to get yourself into a hotel room or something with no cards because they all melted in a fire is not fun, nor is realising you can't drive you car because the keys were in the fire somewhere and it's going to cost a bunch of cash to get a new one programmed.

Don't buy a cheap washing machine. And make sure you do your laundry regularly.

Designate a particular part of the week, say thursday evenings, to do actual housework top to bottom. That means hoovering, cleaning the bathroom and kitchen down, hoovering the crap off of the sofa, ensuring there's no out of date food in cupboards or fridge/freezer. And make sure you empty the hoover bag too.

Every month, either follow up your cleaning day or replace it with giving the windows a quick spray of windex, doing any DIY task that's just there and waiting (putting that shelf up for example), clean the oven and tip some drain cleaner down the bathtub and kitchen sinks to keep them cleared.

Biggest tip: The shed or garage is not crap storage central. Get some proper metal shelves for the shed and put them up, have places for everything. Gardening gear goes in one place, camping gear in another, suitcases for travelling in another, whatever you need to store. And the rule is that if you can't walk into the shed without stepping over 9 million things, the shed is a mess. If you have old crap in there, get it to the dump.

And biggest tip I can give you about living alone is to make sure you invite people over regularly. Not to the point where you tire of every single social interaction, but have people over to watch a movie, cup of tea or a beer, play a board game, whatever it is you and your friends do, get people over. Having people visit frequently kills the boredom and/or loneliness and you become the fun guy/gal in a weird way. I would also follow that up with get out of the place frequently.

If you are buying the place, get an electrical inspection done. Depending on the size of the place, it would cost around £95 or so and will come with a list of remedial work recommended. It's better to know the electrical situation. After my fire, I do it in every place I've owned - and it's saved my bacon I believe at least once. It found a pretty nasty surprise in a place I'd bought that necessitated a full rewire due to improper gauge cable used in most of the circuits, unsafe wiring likely done by a bodge DIY. It cost a lot, but it was worth it. While that's an extreme case, chances are the EICR will likely just list a few small issues which are either easily fixed or not very important - electrical "code" changes almost yearly so anywhere you move into is unlikely to be "up to code" unless it was freshly rewired a week ago. You just want to know that plug socket you're plugging your massive piece of equipment into isn't going to start a fire in the wall due to the cable heating up too much, etc. Trust me, been there, learned the lesson, and while it sounds stupid it's still worth it for the sake of £100 or so.

Always, always put some money aside AND DON’T TOUCH IT coz some badass bill will hit you when you least expect it. If you do use it, replace it ASAP.

Don't eat yellow snow

if it takes less than 2 minutes to do it, just do it. The house always needs to be cleaned, its fucking annoying.

Make sure you have a decent sized freezer, and keep takeaway tubs etc so you can buy or cook food in larger quantities and keep them.

Practice cooking - if you do a spag bol and it's rubbish, do it again quite soon so you remember how you did it last time. Add meals to your repertoire one by one over time.

Store acetone next to the superglue.

Water isn’t free 🤣

EVERYTHING gets manky if you don't clean it. There are just some things that build up slowly, so they don't look dirty after a week or so, and by the time they are dirty, you're blind to it. Make yourself a cleaning schedule for every room.

Don’t worry about paying utility bills for the first few months or potentially even years. Unless you’re on a metre just leave it all in the previous tenants name and when they finally threaten disconnection tell them you only moved in last week.

Be careful of the parsnip honeyfication on the third week of topical evaluation by the RFC.

You’ll be waiting 4+ months for a sofa, look in the sale for one that doesn’t need to be made to order. Also it’s worth making a spreadsheet of all the little things you need, like a draw tidy for cutlery and useful cleaning products

Never accept sweeties from strangers.

Not really something you won’t have been told but get an Air fryer. Your meals will be so much easier!

Cheese is really fucking expensive.

Be prepared to do little bits of maintenance DIY around the house. It’s not worth hassling your landlord over every little thing and it sours the relationship pretty quick.

Council tax is a mother fucker

Blankets and Oodies save on heating. Make sure you set up your thermostat & timer right.

Keep a savings account aside now that you have your own place to maintain.

Check to see if your place has already had walls & loft insulation if applicable, see if you can get it done if not.

Pan frying food means you'll need to clean your kitchen a lot more.

Check with the council for your 25% tax discount if you're living solo.

Getting smart meters fitted for utilities will save you a lot of hassle.

Don't stay on the same tarrif for a utility for convenience's sake: like insurance companies, they won't necessarily reward you for being loyal.

If you're in a flat, make sure that you don't buy more insurance than you need: the maintenance company should be looking after the building, you just need to insure what's in it.

If you're the owner, scan/photograph the page of your deeds that has your property boundries and which fencing/assets you're responsible for. You never know when that'll be useful.

Most neighbours are decent; try to stay on friendly terms with as many as possible and try to be considerate.

Always, always, always budget and plan ahead. You have a lot more to lose now...but you can also have significantly more fun. Enjoy it 😁

You'll be very tired all the time.

Cheese is expensive

Make sure to clean your house every week. It will make you feel better and more confident.

You don't get to take the monster under your bed with you. The council will appoint you a new monster within a month of your first council tax payment. This should be highlighted in your bill, Section 2 (Monsters), paragraph 3 (Bed), point two (Under).

Boring one from all the other responses - take meter readings the day you move in so you’re not paying for someone else’s energy.

Make nice with your neighbors. Especially if they're turds

Buy a dishwasher

You have to do your own laundry

Putting the heating on will cost you big. Like very big. Get a blanket for being on the sofa with.

Council tax is a thing that is very easy to ignore until they're threatening you with court action for 6k a couple years down the line.

All the utility companies will push for you to go paperless, which seems to make sense, however banks and other require bills as proof of residence. Pick one to keep as a paper copy, Council Tax is a good one for this

Keep paying your council tax!!!

If you get behind in yours bills, talk to the companies. Companies would rather get some money than no money and they'll agree a repayment plan with you to get you back in the black. Don't just stop opening the mail and hope it goes away, it won't.

If you don’t put it away, no one will

Be good to yourself. Get up, do things, clean. Talk to people. Do things. The best but darkest time of my life was living alone.

The first thing you'll wish you had handy when you're moving in is toilet paper

Your first time is expensive. There are a million things you never realized you actually need.

Cleaning supplies, kitchen utensils, kitchen appliances like toaster microwave, blender etc, furniture, toilet supplies like shower curtains bathroom rugs toilet brush and most importantly add onto your list FIRST - A plunger. Don't wait until you need that to buy it.

Why?!

See if your local butcher does meat packs. I get a large family meat pack delivered every few weeks with chicken, mince, sausages etc. and freeze everything. There are only two of us and a baby so we can get several meals out of it. It just needs a little bit of planning to remember to defrost what you would like in the morning or evening before.

There are loads of good recipes you can save on fhe bbc good food app to get a nice rotation of a few meals.

Also buying frozen veg has saved me a fortune as I have less fresh stuff to worry about using up before it spoils. I'm much more likely to cook if I just have to throw some pre diced onion in, the thought of prepping veg puts me off sometimes.

This has mainly been about food so here's another - use cashback sites when you sign up for home insurance and similar things to see if you can get any money back.

When your estate agent says they have paid a professional to clean the property, they haven't. This is the first of many untruths from these hellspawn wearing humanskin.

Make your bills your main priority every month, as long as you still have a roof over your head everything else is a bonus xx but also look after yourself aim to cook at least 1 meal for yourself every day, even if you're not that good at cooking or you're short on time, there are always great quick recipes for stuff on YouTube and as long as you're not baking cakes which you really have to follow the recipe anything else you can take bits out, put bits in and make it your own to suit your tastes, congratulations on your new home and I wish you all the best 😊 xx

Pay your Council tax without fail, those guys do not f*ck about! And can screw your credit etc by getting CCJs etc.

Stock up in cleaning stuff when it’s on offer, and remember when the bins go out!

A quick tip for planning meals (assuming you’ll be cooking for only yourself): I find having the same dinner 2 days in a row makes meal planning a lot easier, you’ll have far less food waste (most food isn’t sold with one person consuming it in mind) and when you try new recipes I found the first night was learning how to cook the meal and the second night was applying that so it’s easier cook and remember for the future.

Also don’t be overwhelmed by household bills, all it is is heating, electricity, water and internet (and council tax depending upon where you live as well as a landline bill if you insist in living in the 1990s).

Best of luck.

Learn to clean the toilet after taking a shit

Could tell you a million things..bills first then play..find out where your stop cock is...blah blah. Here’s one you’ll find out yourself. You’ll miss your parents and living at home. You’ll miss a favourite spoon. Here’s what else I’ve learned. Don’t worry you’ll see the parents again sooner or later. First “live together” relationships explode. 😳

Budget.

If you find a water leak in the home don't wait 5 hours to do something about it.

If you're not going out, you don't have to get dressed

Washing never stops???? There’s always more washing to be done!

Also make a shopping list when you go food shopping and make sure you know what meals you’re doing over the coming week, otherwise you’ll spend a fortune & still not have an idea what to have for dinner.

Check water pressure in showers and sinks. Learn how to add pressure to a boiler if using a combi-boiler. When hanging laundry indoors, always keep a fan turned on and the window open a little bit. Ensure properties that you live in are well ventilated and have good heating for the Winter months. Check for damp or mould. If you have leftover food, freeze it (and buy a microwave as well to save money). The list goes on!

Do your food shop online so your less impulsive and can plan your meals.

That box in your kitchen with 4 holes in it is a stove. Learn to use that or the microwave to save money other than eating out all the time 😂😂😂

Is it a new build?

Sofas and beds are expensive.

Meat and cheese are very expensive, so look up vegetarian meals to save money!

Some things I did every time I moved:

1) Take photos of the meter readings (and state of the house) when you move in

2) Learn where the water mains is in case of emergency, probably a turn switch thing (sorry can't think) just outside the house . And the trip switch box thing.

3) Have an emergency contact ready for out of hours problems. If you're renting the agency will have someone for you. Don't use your own if you're renting the agency can be assholes and not reimburse you for not using theirs.

Take electricity/ gas meter readings as soon as you move in

Switch to a new supplier as the old supplier will put you on a default plan which is expensive

Submit meeting readings to them every 3 months at the latest

(Only the first bit applies if you have a working. Smart meter but first generation ones aren’t able to be use by different suppliers so be careful)

Recycle properly. Because when the bin lorry doesn't take your bin because there are glass bottles in it. You will have to wait 2 weeks to get it emptied again and boy howdy will you then realise how quickly you produce waste.

Toilet rolls don't auto replenish

Throw away the cardboard boxes. I couldn't throw it all away at once, and did like 5 by 5. Roaches love cardboard apparently. I had never seen one so I didn't know what it was, drove me insane. Threw it all away, every bug was gone in a day. Throw them away very quickly !

Everything costs So Much Money! I wish you will Mr Nerd121

Do a meal plan, doesn’t take too long and if you’ve got a shared kitchen living room you can just watch tv while you do it, I save so much money in corner shop trips and takeaways. I’m not kidding, the savings are in the hundreds

A sink is not self cleaning

Set up a bank account, and transfer money into it each month to cover expenses (utility bills, council tax, loan repayments, mortgage/rent). Then you'll know each month how much you have for incidentals/fun stuff, and can budget accordingly, without having to worry about not having enough for your rent/bills etc.

I set up 4 DD from one account to the other, labelled 'rent' 'electricity/gas' 'loans' 'council tax'. My phone/tv comes out of my every day account, since it's a luxury not a necessity. They all get transferred out on PayDay. I have then set up DD to pay those bills on the 1st of each month. This way, I know they are paid, and I can save worrying about them.

For the every day account, you could use something like Starling - they have a phone app that shows your balance and spending every day. It does make life nice and simple :) My heavy duty stuff, the important stuff, is set up with a heavy duty, 'professional' bank (one of the big 4, since I don't need to worry about interest rates or anything - money doesn't stay long enough in the account :D). It works well, and I've not yet run into any overdraft (I've had this type of system working for the past 15 years ago - I started it when I moved to France, and just continued it when I moved back to the UK)

​

Edited to add: Grats, by the way :) Hope you love your new home, and settle in really quickly, and have an awesome time in it :)

Keep your finances in good shape, and get house/contents insurance.

/r/UKPersonalFinance/ and the flowchart for more information.

Furniture costs more than you expect, beds/sofas in particular.

Ham and cheese are fucking expensive

Don’t do it 🤣

Don't scrimp on bin bags, you don't need to be buying the vanilla scented shit but buy the right size or bigger and not the cheapest ones, for what you save it is not worth picking up garbage for 20 mins

Get registered on the electoral role. Any gaps in that can really screw your credit rating.

If you have time on the weekends make big batches of food... then freeze into portions. Then you don't have to worry about dinners in the week when you get home from work etc.

The cost of toilet roll! Trust me your be using 3 sheets per visit lol 😂

Toilets don’t clean themselves.

If a parent or friend offers a free meal.. take them up on the offer! I turned down so many from my parents when I first moved out. I was being stubborn thinking "I can find for myself". Now I can't wait to get an invite so I don't have to worry about what to eat after work!

Clean regularly. Deep clean every so often. Tidy things up as you go. Spray your rooms with air freshener regularly. Keep your fridge stocked (do a big shop and then top it up through the week if need be). Save some money every month, doesn’t matter how much.

You might have to turn the gas back on at the meter.

Washing never ends

Get a scour pad or something alike for washing up. Makes everything easier for just those giving cheeky difficult ones to clean

Bills More bills Then once every two months a surprise bill!

Pay by direct debit if you can and always shop around

That once you have to deal with a broken boiler you’ll probably be ready to move back in with them.

Stay there and save as long as you can

The dishes don't do themselves.

The toilet doesn't clean itself.

Your bedsheets... you can guess the rest of the list.

Don't fill the kettle all the way to the top. It requires a LOT more power to boil and will usually be cooled before your next cup anyway. Best to only put in a little over enough for one or two cups. It will boil faster and with less energy.

Clean up the little stuff and start saving. Your ultimate goal in life is to be financially independent. Good luck!

In emergencies, semen can make a nutritious snack.

Clean and empty your washing machine. There’s a small valve normally under the front panel. Open it and empty once a month

Buy a plunger before you need a plunger.

There is a certain order to bleed your radiators in. Per floor, start with the radiator furthest away from your boiler and work your way in, getting closer to the boiler.

Don't shop when you are hungry! Learn to prep in advance e.g a weeks meal plan displayed somewhere. Also if your making meat based meals use local markets to bulk buy and portion them into freezer bags instead of going buying a small pack from a supermarket every day. And don't forget to get what you need out of the freezer in the morning.

Cheap furniture, tools, and repairs will be way shitter than the money saved by not doing a proper job, like WAY shitter

Clothes washing ain't so bad

It's better to do half an hour of cleaning/tidying around the house once a week rather than do 2 hours deep clean once a month. The looming clean-up will fill you with dread and you'll be more likely to put it off and let it get out of hand.

It's way easier to dash about the house and give everything a quick wipe/hoover, as well as being able to live in a relatively clean environment 80% of the time rather than only 20% of the time.

If you're moving into your own place, make sure you get Council Tax sorted. When I first got my place, I got an email telling me to expect further contact regarding this, then nothing until a bailiff or something turned up because I hadn't replied to a letter I never actually got. I asked why they didn't email me and was told that department doesn't have access to email (despite their original email, and the fact I had sorted out other council stuff like rubbish collection entirely online). Then I asked why they didn't at least send it recorded delivery, I'd have been happy to pay that extra £2 rather than the £300 odd late fee I was being hit with and I was told that in these cases, as soon as the letter is sent, unless it is returned to their office, as far as they are concerned it has been delivered successfully.

Not that I'm still bitter or anything... But yeah, if you get that initial contact and then don't hear anything, chase it up yourself.

Buy a toilet plunger.

This is something you will want, before you need it.

Have a fire extinguisher close to, but not directly at, fire hazards.

Dry your clothing from the washing machine quickly or they will begin to smell, even once dried.

Leaving wet clothes in the washing machine is okay for a day or so as long as the door was never opened after the was finished.

Don't leave them wet and exposed to the air.

Ice cream for breakfast isn’t always the best idea.

You need to wash your bath/shower towel at least once a week. You might think you’re 100% clean when you step out, but drying yourself sheds a lot of skin and the towel stays damp. Don’t wait until it smells musty. Same for your shower/bath mat.

Your parents didn't teach you anything about the world ? It's their literal job 🥴

Cheese is surprisingly expensive

Split up the major household chores to their separate days. Dusting on Monday, hoovering on Tuesday, etc. Little and often, makes it much less daunting and you are able to keep on top of it and enjoy your weekend.

Try and make the chore fun, as silly as it sounds. Blast some music and dance around with a feather duster. Then you are getting some cardio in, keeping the house clean and releasing a little stress.

Find out where the water stop cock is. You'll need to turn it off if you have a bad leak and it's easier to find when your house is dry

  1. Batch cooking works - so does freezing the extra stuff for later

  2. Routine is an important thing when you live by yourself- not because you forget to do stuff - more it can reinforce positive behaviours

  3. Silence and solitude are lovely - but better if you are choosing to have them

  4. Enjoy it!

Cooking utensils are really important and look up for recipes that you can freeze so you don’t waste ingredients; it’s far more expensive to cook for one if you don’t do this.

Cheese is expensive

Read your rental contract and make sure you understand and agree with everything. Always hang your key in the same place.

Bills catch up to you FAST. Make sure you're saving as much as you can, unexpected things like boilers suddenly dying can seriously impact you.

That being said hope you have a great move and enjoy your well earned freedom

Have battery and bulb backups. A basic tool kit is also incredibly handy.

Also also - clean and tidy as you go.

Charity shops and bargain shops are your friend: it's random what you get but you can find some amazing items in there. Bigger charity shops even have good quality furniture on sale!

Granted the quality of the item might not stand the test of time, but by that point you will be in a more financially stable position so will be able to invest in pricer but higher quality goods.

Get ready for the misery of existence

Polishing your furniture is way more important than I thought it was. I just assumed mum did it to make the house look nice/clean, but it turns out I’m pretty allergic to dust - so when I don’t polish my furniture life is hell 😂

99% of clothes can just be washed on Mixed Fabrics 30 with no issues.

Don't drill above plug sockets downstairs!!

Food is hugely expensive now!

Large trees nearby your property are a pain in the arse this time of year!

Move back home its not worth it

Spend money on a good bed. It’s way worth it.

Decision fatigue re what to eat for meals is a thing.

If you'll be entertaining ladies get a little bin for the bathroom.

ITS VERY VERY FUCKING EXPENSIVE

Cheese costs a fortune.

Keep everything clean. Clean it as you use it, wipe the cooker and tops etc before you eat or it gets a big job. Don't do a 'big clean up' once it gets bad. That's a lie.

You will become one of your parents and walk around the house turning all the lights off and the heating down

I discovered how much my mum actually cleaned. I'm like how is this place getting dirty so fast! Well it's because there's no mum behind me clearing everything up. You actually have to do stuff, it's crazy.

Four tips I live by:

  • Learn how to unblock a washing machine sooner rather than later. Bring towels and a tray, and try to do it periodically - especially if you have pets!

  • Have a system to indicate when you're out of toilet paper in your bathroom. We have a silver holder for three spare rolls, and when it's empty we turn the top upside down - so the next person makes sure to fill it up again.

  • Keep some basic first aid stuff somewhere. Plasters, compeed plasters for blisters, painkillers, bandages, etc.

  • Buy decent coffee/tea, and if you have tradespeople in your house always offer them a drink and biscuits throughout the day. So many people treat manual workers like shit when they're in their home, so even the smallest gesture like offering Yorkshire Tea instead of Tesco Value tea bags from a decade ago kept purely "for the help" goes a long way.

Setup direct debits for all your bills as soon as possible after you move in

Always keep an emergency toilet roll stashed somewhere

Everything is probably going to be more expensive than you expect it to be. Work out your budget and make sure you have an emergency fund in a separate account just in case

If you're renting somewhere, take photos of everything, including the meters, on the day you move in (useful when you eventually move out)

If you're living on your own it's going to feel really weird at first, make sure you look after your mental health

I bought my first house a month ago and these are the first pieces of advice that come to mind:

  • If you have to buy any appliances, buy the best your budget will stretch for. Look for higher energy efficiency ratings, this will save you loads of ££ down the line.

  • You will be gobsmacked at how expensive house stuff can be. Rather than buying a bunch of cheap crap all in one go, build your collection up over time and always look for quality items. Check eBay/gumtree/charity shops for second hand gems.

  • Plain old Fairy washing up liquid is an amazing stain remover because it cuts through grease so well. If you live in an area with softer water, you can also use Fairy to do a lot of your household cleaning (if your water is harder, you’ll have more limescale and will need something tougher).

  • Be nice to your neighbours and write down their names as soon as you can after they introduce themselves, it’s so easy to forget! Being on good terms with your neighbours can get you out of a lot of sticky situations.

Congrats and good luck! X

Be very sure on who you want to house share with. Lots of problems can arise if not with a good housemate.

It’s really expensive to be an adult if you’re not splitting everything. - both in terms of money. But also time.

Specifically- that quote the electric company gave you about your estimated bills. Triple that probably!

Don’t do meals one day at a time- or one meal at a time, have a plan for a week, shop for that.

Source - me, and also my lad who got a flat, then moved back home.

Narrator: it was at this point that engineernerd121 realised he had fucked up!!!

Having a small set of tools is very helpful.

Get a dishwasher asap

Do your dishes! 🧼

A set of good quality knives, pots and pans can make a difference. Certain things you can be cheap with like tupperware or crockery, but a good quality set of cooking utensils can end up lasting you 10+ years without needing to be repaired or replaced.

You won’t be able to blame anybody for your shit anymore

Get a calendar and learn your bin dates.

They probably have told you already, but here are the things I've learnt (some things may seem too obvious to be real but eh)

Make sure you ALWAYS have AT LEAST 1 months worth of money saved (that's rent, bills, food, everything you budget for per month)

Get into good habits straight off the bat. Never let any more than one plate/bowl sit by the sink unwashed at any one time. If you wash up one plate, wash up one more item that's waiting. Clean your place before it gets bad, it'll save so much time and effort (a stitch in time saves nine).

If you're not very well off, look for housewares in charity shops, on websites and Facebook pages for free stuff and keep an eye out for people rehoming stuff on their driveways (make sure it's in decent condition). My flat is fully furnished and aside from my bed and white goods, literally everything else was rescued from people's front gardens.

I'm sure you already know how to change fuses and do small DIY jobs, but if not, learn.

Try to have a decent relationship with your neighbours, it can come in handy if you need a favour.

DM me if you have any questions

Learn what day the bins get collected and put them out the night before.

Learn some basic DIY. I couldn't wire a plug when I first moved out, but took the time to learn some basics, getting more adventurous as my confidence grew. it's saved me thousands over the years. YouTube is your friend!

Buy yourself a good book on existentialism and wallow in your new “freedom.”

You will never have any money ever again

Nights are scary!

Find the stop cock asap.

Some may disagree with this but I always have UHT milk in the cupboard as emergency milk. Sometimes it's hard to gage how much fresh milk you'll use as a single person so you may run out or it goes off. In which case, you have emergency milk for a brew!

Learn how to cook fast meals and always have the base ingredients at home.

Your parents may say you can come back whenever you want but they don't mean it really ;)

You think you’re gonna have a relaxing evening and then you notice the dust on the stairs has got out of hand so you think you’ll quickly sweep that up. But then you notice the dust and dirt on the landing and the bottom of the stairs. The bathroom bin has got a bit full so you clean that out but then notice the bathroom could do with a clean. Before you know it you’ve spent the majority of the evening cleaning up and you pass out watching tv.

Don’t buy a new sofa. Ever. Ignore the sales.

Gumtree is your best friend.

Owning a house is a money pit of stuff you don’t want to buy but have to buy! I love spending £4k on a boiler and planning to spend £12k on windows.

You can leave the toilet seat up now.

If possible share the accomodation. It cuts down your living cost drastically. Specially in my country. Atleast till a time you don't have a proper family or your gf moves in. It cuts down on the work required as well. Share the chores and you'll realise you have so much more time for yourself. But this could be a doble edged sword if you are not compatible with the person. But that's life. You meet new people, some you like some you don't.

People will offer you things to put in your house like furniture.

It's awesome! At first. Then overtime people start to offload their crap onto you. Learn to only accept things you really really need, or you'll end up with a load of shite.

Keep your fridge clean. Your food will go off quicker in a dirty environment. Keep your landlord (if you have one) in check, know your rights and make sure they hold up their end of the bargain.

When you buy a new bed you only get the frame, you need to buy a mattress separately. Mattress can be very expensive.

It’s a lot more expensive than what you think!

Filling the cupboards for the first time costs an arm, a leg and an arsehole.

Buy a good knife for cooking. IKEA have a solid knife sharpener too. I wasn't named after him for nothing.

How to shut off mains water!

Lidls and Aldi.

Eat properly brooo

Sort out Wi-Fi straight away

Electricity is expensive. Be mindful of what appliances you are using and when.

There’s a lot of things your parents did for you that you took for granted. Learning how to do them is easy, but gaining the motivation to do them for yourself is even harder. Be sure to improve your self-motivation skills as you improve your life skills

Check the price labels on the shelf and shop for the cheapest per kg/llb not the cheapest item.

No more bedtime stories

Make sure you pull your weight if you have housemates and deal with sharing out jobs as a team. Also deal with issues before they blow up!

Do not forget about Council tax and water bill!!! It’s surprising how often these charges are forgotten about. Sort them out straight away to avoid paying large amounts down the line. Yes they are extortionate but you must pay them.

Also if you do not watch any live TV then do not install an aerial and remove all bbc i player apps from all devices and deactivate your account if you have one. That way you do not have to pay for a TV licence.

Empty the dust trap on your dryer!

That staying at home and saving money to buy a house is the best option BY FAR.

Sod being a "big boy/girl" and renting.

Pictures or photos , in frames, on your walls will make your place a million times more like someone actually lives there. I am death, destroyer of worlds so I also have some nice little fake plants from IKEA that brighten up my flat too.

Shop at home bargains and B&m for home wear, ikea if you feel fancy or Facebook marketplace! Also remember to get insurance on the property (if you own it) and to log all your utilities and bills and store your documents

Bleach. You’ll end up buying more than you expect. Great for keeping the toilet free of a mess and smelling fresh.

If you have a friend nearby, give them a key. Being stood in the rain with a kebab at 2am too pissed to speak to a locksmith ain't fun.

a pillow costs a hundred dollars

chair costs a thousand dollars

you will live on a pile of laundry for the first year.

You're going to need lots of tupperware / clingfilm for leftovers.

Buy one big pyrex dish you can cook anything in.

You can never have too much toilet roll. I recommend 'Who gives a crap'. You can set up a subscription with them and they deliver it.

Try to air out your place regularly, and open the windows, especially if you dry your clothes inside. Mould is awful.

If you don't have a tumble dryer, I recommend getting a heated drying rack for clothes. You'll probably need it for larger items like sheets.

If you suck at washing up, try not to buy too many plates as it will encourage you to put off washing up for longer, and then you'll have dozens to get through. Sometimes I just cheat and use paper plates.

Putting down tin foil / baking paper under food before you cook it will save you so much time cleaning. Especially greasy / messy food like sausages or ribs.

Fitted sheets are the devil. Buy one size up from your bed size, or buy a regular flat sheet instead, it's much easier.

Throwaway disinfectant wipes are good for cleaning most items, instead of messing around with a different spray / cloth for every different area of your house.

Don't skimp too much on toaster price. You could buy one for £15 in tescos, but it will burn your house down.

Buy smoke alarm batteries before you need them. Not so much for the fire risk, they're just incredibly annoying when they run out and keep waking you up until the shops re-open for you to pick some up.

Cheapest place for furniture / household items would be charity shops or car boot sales.

Recommend you join 'Next door' app, it's a good way to get in touch your neighbourhood / find out about any crime in the area you should be aware of. People also give away furniture for free / cheap.

Bleach your toilet. Once stains set, they're a nightmare to get rid of. That said: When you bleach your toilet, don't use any other sprays until the bleach has gone, or you've checked the ingredients are safe to mix. Don't want to make toxic gas.

If you are living alone, get a dog. They will give your day structure and get you out the house regularly. Honestly looking after a dog is one of the largest life improvements you can make for yourself.

Henry hoovers are the best and absolutely worth every penny - there's a reason every pub and shop has one (they never break)

A slow-cooker will reduce your costs and effort massively in eating well. Go to your local chinese supermarket and buy a bunch of plastic tubs to use for freezing batch cooked food. Do your batch cooking once a week and freeze portions.

You now need a portable file for bank statements/gas bills/important documents etc. DON'T just put them all in a box and forget about them as clearing this out after 20 years is not fun.

Finding out where the water main tap in your new house is is vital - you wont need this till you REALLY need this.

Cheap vodka will remove red wine stains from carpets and a lot more besides.

Find a trusted friend or one of your parents and leave a key with them to your house.

Definitely get a few basic tools, always have tape, pens, zip ties on hand, don't skimp on the clear shower curtain liner, - (get the thick one), stock batteries if your devices run through them quickly (ex roku remote) light bulbs can really add up and it always seems like they burn out all at the same time, outdoor lighting and surveillance is an addition that can provide peace of mind living on your own, Save your major appliance instruction manuals and DO register for their included product warranties (not to be confused with the kind they try to upsell you at the checkout counter) that's all I could think of. Good luck to you and congratulations on the move.

Just go to dunelm or IKEA and get the basics to get you started. Everything is so expensive otherwise.

Put a jumper on before you resort to the heating.

Make fancy ready meals be your takeaway - you’ll save a fortune.

Make sure you’re on the right tax (income, council etc)

Pay stuff yearly if you can (car insurance, road tax etc).

You can ask shops for ex display items or off cuts of carpet and can walk away with some pretty big savings. Got half price of a bed frame and a tv once as they were display items even though the TV was “displayed” in its unopened sealed box.

Have some spare bulbs, fuses and batteries at home.

YouTube is your friend for self help videos. I successfully connected up washing machine and dishwasher with an extension and adding a Y connector to the intake and waste. Felt like an actual adult.

Start meal planning. If you live alone make dinners that will roll over for lunches the following day, will save you a fortune

Have a selection of spare light bulbs so you never have to wander round in the dark.

You don't have to buy everything all at once. Just get the essentials and then build from there when you see something you want or think of something you need. I regret buying my coffee table and TV stand as I was pressure to buy something. I wish I had shopped around and bought second hand. Which comes to my next point, you can buy second hand/vintage furniture for cheap. It will be better quality than buying something from ikea and it will last longer and wear better.

Change supplies for elec n gas each year, u can generally get a better deal if you switch every 12 months, look for a fixed rate deal for 12 months. Same with insurance. If u stick we same company you find bills jus climb and climb.

The washing up doesn't clean itself out of self disgust. I have experimented with this......

You have to pay for water lol. When my eldest moved into his first proper flat share with a mate, he phoned me and said “mum, why is there. Bill saying i’ve got to pay for water, it’s free isn’t it” 🤣🤣

Move straight back in. You didn’t ask to be brought in this world so your life is not your responsibility, it’s your parents. Make them pay for ir

Clean up AS YOU GO!

Bleach your toilet at LEAST once a week.

Some pointers I discovered on my own.

1) Buy the big family pack of toilet paper.

2) Store brand cleaning products are just as good a stage named and a fraction of the price.

3) Make sure you know what bins are going out on what day.

4) If your moving to an unfurnished place, then places like Very.co.uk have some good deals that let you buy thinks like a sofa, bedding, storage on finance.

Never do a food shop while you’re hungry. You’ll buy loads of expensive stuff you want there and then but don’t really need. If you’re living with housemates make a cleaning rota and stick to it religiously. If you share food make sure everyone contributes fairly; if not don’t let them take little bits here and there (it adds up). Be firm about boundaries from day one, everyone will get used to it and it’ll save arguments later.

Find out what days of the weeks each of your bins are taken. Nothing worse than missing a bin day and having an overflowing bin out the front of your house.

Turn of heating when not home, turn off light if not in room. Buy what you need, not what you want. (here and there is fine)

Honestly. When I'm home alone i use my phone torch more that the actual lights.

You can never have too many bowls or spoons. Your sex life is directly proportionate to how clean your room is and buy a big bag of dried pasta - you will never starve

Having a routine and having everything written down (calendar, notebook, anywhere really) is a real god send. Even things like passwords use a password manager, reduces the clutter in your head and in your inbox from all the password reset emails. Like don't try to remember everything, I even have things like what bins go out on a given date on my calendar that I get a notification the day before for.

Make sure you keep organised from the get go, it will help you tremendously in the future if anything goes wrong you can trace it back to how, when and why.

If you use a pot or mug, knife anything really. Clean as soon as possible, it'll make your house feel more like a house and less of a pigpen. You'll be amazed how much of a quick clean will help you out mentally. Once I started cleaning asap after using something my life feels a lot less overwhelming.

If you have bills coming through as an email and not out in the post (most people have it as an email these days) make sure you get into a habit of checking your email atleast once but ideally a few times a day, this means that if there is a problem then you can sort it out asap and stop a headache a little later down the road.

Pretty much as an overall tip, make sure you get into a routine of checking things and doing things asap. This means that it is going to be a huge time saver and headache saver in the future.

Every cent counts. If you don't have to buy something--don't. There's nothing worse than asking your folks for help because you spent all your pay on frivolous stuff you thought you could afford.

I realized this in my first month alone--know your absolute costs: rent, power, internet, phone. Add your obvious costs to that: food, travel to and from work, extraneous for possible pet care. Put it all together, subtract it from your monthly pay (even if you get paid weekly or bi-weekly--do the math) and then see how much you've really got to work with.

That's the best advice I can give.

Cheese is very expensive.

Immediately make yourself a little pantry or storage area. Maybe 3-5 shelves of a wire rack. Stock up on TP, PT, laundry detergent, bar soap, an extra lightbulb or two, and a first aid kit.

Do this successfully and then top off once a quarter and you’re basically set for life

You can eat an entire lasagne in the bath.

Not having any money is expensive.

Buy a Slow Cooker ! They’re a godsend over winter.

Honestly, plan and prepare the building blocks of your meals. Prepare sauces, broths, stocks, and boiled chicken to freeze, easy to defrost and throw together a dinner.

Your first bill from British gas will be fucking massive

Get a sink plunger and a toilet plunger (they're different) before you need them. Trust me on this

How to read the electric and gas meters. I have received a shocking high first bill in every place I’ve moved into.

You can turn the volume on porn up

Stay on top of the house work. If you just tidy as you go you rarely have to spend a day cleaning and tidying.

Just stay on top of it and you will be a lot happier.

Don't let your best bud move in with you.

Don't take advice from strangers. Particularly strangers on the internet.

Money disappears far quicker than you could imagine.

Keep track of your spending.

get a credit card and pay all your bills on that and pay it off straight away to get a better credit rating

Clean something every day, just like 10-20minutes. This way your house is always tidy and don’t really need to do weekly cleans

Things do actually cost a whole lot more than you think.

Don't forget about your bills.

Buy Carpet/Upholstery Stain Remover before you need it. At some point, you're going to spill something, and it'll be way easier to clean if you are able to do it right away.

If you are buying a place. Every time your mortgage term comes to a end you need to pay a new product fee each time. Had no idea about this when I got my first place.

It’s expensive

That it’s not a big deal. At all

Tidy everyday, clean (at least) every week.

This is my rule of thumb. If you live with more people you'll maybe have to clean more often. But you should tidy everyday. Before you go to bed, before you leave the house, before you sit down when you get back in. Put things away - make sure everything is where its meant to be.

'Cleaning' refers to stuff like laundry or hoovering or deep cleaning your bathroom. Things that make take upwards of half an hour to do well

Get a condenser dryer

Only buy things you really need.

Ikea is your friend. BUT make a list on-line before you go and be disciplined. Unless you can afford bespoke carpentry you might as well buy a Billy bookcase/Kallax. It's reliably good quality at a good price but use your loaf (I see you are an engineer nerd) and don't buy the obvious shit. And engineers are good at making, fixing and hacking.

You don't need everything at once. You can manage for a while with a fold up chair, fold up table and a bed. Choose the sofa you actually want, not the one that's in stock. Three months without one is nothing compared with ten years with one you don't like. Or twenty years if you are properly tight (or buy the apparently immortal Ikea ektorp). You can get stick-on paper blinds until you choose decent blinds/curtains. Last ones I got were £3.50 from Ikea (there's a theme here). I finally replaced them with bespoke shutters after about five years.

Save more than you think each month to deal with things that go wrong.

You do actually have to do a little bit of housework every day. If you keep things clean and orderly it is far far less work than tidying up a mess. And if you 'only buy the things you need' you'll have less stuff to keep tidy.

Meal plan - saves money, less waste and you don't have to think 'what am I eating tonight?' when you are knackered after work.

When you buy a bed make sure you understand what size it is, what size the mattress is, and make sure you buy the bedlinen to fit. For some obscure reason there are eleventy billion slightly different sizes of bed/mattress.

They'll be a lot of masturbation in the first 6 months

Cooking all your own food and washing your own clothes at home will make you money (you will save a boat load) and give better health. Keeping a clean home will make coming home everyday feel good, so that means you need to make an effort. How about that?

Cheese is expensive

People are saying "make a meal plan", the next advice I can give from that is... every time you want to eat beef or lamb, make fish instead. I've lost 10kg this year cutting out red meat and consuming less sugar.

Walking around naked loses it's magic fairly quickly.

If you live on your own and are single, the first couple of years are really cool and you constantly think "hey, I'm my own boss of the household and I can do what I want, this is so cool" - after a while though, the crippling loneliness sets in, as you slowly become more and more depressed and wonder why you ever moved out in the first place as actually, living with your Mum and Dad was the best you ever had it.

Dry your clothes properly or they smell damp.

Also heating is legit expensive. There is a reason Dad's get arsey about the thermostat.

Bills are an absolute ballache when you first move in.

Buying good shit early on will save you money in the long run.

If you're living with someone, make the effort to keep the place clean and decent, and set your own boundaries if they aren't doing the same.

You will wish you stayed 😂

Apparently you have to change those big sheets on the bed thing.

You can save a lot by regularly changing service providers. 20 dollar off my electricity bill the first three months, and I can cancel any time? Yes please. Same goes for cellphones, internet, and even insurance. Take a few phonecalls and ask what offers they have for new customers.

Contrary to most advice here (which is practical and helps you live functionally and cleanly), I would suggest you take some time to do stupid things that you can't do once you have a girlfriend/wife/family living with you. So definitely do things like:

  • Staying awake all night with the lights on doing whatever you feel like in all the rooms
  • Invite over your friends who are loud, unhygienic, or incompatible with civilised humans
  • See what kind of life forms will grow in the different biomes that emerge spontaneously if you just leave them alone
  • Put whatever you want on the walls, including painting directly on them
  • Leave your things anywhere, anywhere at all, just because you can

Buy two mains socket timers from Amazon or wherever.

Put one in the front of the house and one in the back, set to power on a 6 watt LED light in the morning and the evening.

That way, even if you're detained at work and the sun goes down, it still looks like someone's in the house.

If your place doesn’t have a water meter get one installed, they’re usually free to get put in and will save you hundreds of pounds. Water bills without one will just charge you 300 quid a year as a “guesstimate”, stick a water meter in and you can easily half it.

Living on your own is heartbreakingly lonely.

Vegetables expire very fast

That you were probably better off at home!

Sign up to your local Freecycle / Trash Nothing.

If you're not bothered about having secondhand stuff it's a goldmine of useful household stuff - all free.

Buy a dishwasher it will change your life.

Have a stiff drink before going mattress shopping

Have a small bin in the loo, with a cover on it for visiting ladies, they'll appreciate it.

Move into a place with little-to-no carpet, so you can just easily sweep/steam/Swiffer your hard floors to keep dust accumulation (and dust mites and carpet bugs!) away.

"Oh I didn't know that" is rarely a good excuse for anything. Learn how to take meter readings, turn your water supply off, and how bills works before you get into trouble. Always amazed at the amount to people who don't know these things before they spread their wings

You will be overwhelmed at how many times you have to clean the kitchen in one day

Robot vacumn, get it and forget about hoovering. Run it while you sleep. Also budget for a cleaner every 2 weeks.

Find a good butcher and fruit n veg shop! Them super market prices are redonkulous!

If you can, avoid putting ur workdesk in ur bedroom. After working next to my bed for nearly a year I can say it really makes u hate ur bedroom. Also get a shitton of toilet paper, I always forget to buy new rolls.

You have to pay bills

Realize that shit will break at the most inconvenient times. It’s annoying as fuck but it constantly happens. I had a leak under my sink, fixed that and then my garage door broke.. Fixed that then a month later one of my cupboards decided to start to detach itself from the wall..

Loads of great advice here.

Plan how you can get out if there’s a fire. In one place I lived, I even had a metal unfoldable ‘fire escape ladder’ that crumpled down quite small and lived in the corner of my bedroom because there was no way out.

Set up direct debits for bills! Otherwise it’s easy for forget to pay them/work out how much to pay and how often

If you ever make porridge or Weetabix, wash the bowl immediately. Otherwise it requires inhuman type strength to get the bits off later

Cushions are expensive !! Lamps are expensive. Basic DIY is scary. It is so much better to keep a regular cleaning schedule. And you should buy a duster. Do not let your bathroom get dirty (for your own sanity, but more so for your guests). Learn to cook different meals! Avoid a constant cycle of take aways.

Learning to cook really good food will save you a ton of money and bring a lot of enjoyment into your life. Also, YouTube is your friend for any home repair help you need.

Get to know your neighbours. You never know when you may need advice/help and most of the time they will keep an eye on your home while out. If there are any elderly neighbours, get to know them, loneliness in old age is a terrible thing and you may even brighten their day just by popping by and asking if the they're OK or need anything.

A plunger for the toilet, electrical tape for cables, insulating tape for pipes. If you live your life never needing any of them, consider yourself lucky.

Get on your council’s website and look at the calendar for which bins are emptied when. If you miss a collection it quickly mounts up.

Don't commit to one girl. Get as many as you can and do it all.

Also change your air filter every 3 months.

Keep in touch with your parents as you'll never find that love anywhere else

When it snows, shovel it off your drive and paths while it's still powdery. Then you won't get slippery ice forming a day or two later.

Batteries are expensive

  • Make a meal plan on a weekly basis before you go shopping, with the aim of cooking from scratch or eating pre-made and frozen meals more than not. Eggs count in this and are extremely cheap. I make things like chili, factor two portions into a weekly meal plan and put the rest in the freezer. Emergency food.
  • Own brand products are largely just as good, FYI.
  • Your bathroom needs cleaning once a week. A sponge and a mop is all that's needed. The inside of the shower glass also needs doing, though maybe once a fortnight.
  • Clean under the toilet seat.
  • When it's cold run the heating but also open a window once in a while - airflow and heat avoids mould.
  • Learn how your boiler etc works.
  • White vinegar is your best friend for cleaning. Mix 1:1 or 2:1 with water and spray away.
  • Do you have a lot of female friends? Stocking some sanitary products (they do not expire) has the opportunity to make you a hero.
  • Don't smoke or allow anyone to smoke inside. Doing it even once opens the door to doing it again and it's never ever worth it.
  • Get frames for things going on the walls.
  • Stock basic medicines - paracetamol, ibuprofen, plasters (also blister plasters), antacids, stomach stuff, etc. When you're hungover or sick you'll be grateful.

Life.

You become obsessed with the thermostat and lights that are on unnecessarily, also found myself complaining about the amount of loo roll being used.

Your parents aren’t going to miss you.

Pay your bills on time and save a little bit every month. It ain't exciting advice but you'll be glad you did.

From my experience, get shit done first.

I'm talking about when you fancy playing a videogame or watching a film etc and there's some washing up or a quick hoover to do, just get it done first. Sitting down to relax for the rest of the night while everything around you is tidy is so much better than getting up at the end when your fully relaxed and seeing everything you still need to do at some point. There's more chance you'll just leave it, repeat the cycle and eventually have to spend a couple hours sorting everything out.

May sound obvious but I stand by it.

Everything seems so expensive compared to living at home but the freedom makes it worth it.

Nobody cares about you. Well, not the same way they did before.

Nobody is going to help you not miss appointments, or make them, for that matter. You really have to hold yourself accountable. I see a lot of kids fresh out of college that still have to learn this. They can be smart and even hard working but have never been in an environment where they were truly responsible for every aspect of their own lives. Whether it's family, professors or roommates, they always have someone with them.

So, I would say accountability. Your responsible for everything, even things that are outside of your control. That's probably the hardest aspect to grasp.

You have to replace the vacuum bag.

Buy plain white plates and bowls. You will break one and you don’t want to have the pattern they discontinued.

Ikea do surprisingly good glassware.

You will use more mugs than you think

Invest in some ziplock bags. We buy meat in bulk and feeeze in two person portions worth.

You neighbours will be massive bellends with their wheelie bins, it’s inevitable!

BUY A NICE TOOL SET!!

Getting tradesmen for jobs is far harder than you expect.

everything is expensive and it's pretty much a terrible idea.

If you get into a routine of eating healthily making your own deserts is soo good as its way cheaper and idk about you but tastes soo much better when you make it yourself. My apple crumble is unbeatable.

Life sucks ....And then you DIE 😂 good luck

Unpack and make the place feel like home ASAP
I had to do a lot of DIY and decorating when I first moved into my place so I had the best part of a year living with just the essentials out and it didn't really feel like home until that was all done and I could get some personal items in the rooms.

For what works out to something like £1.50 a day you can have a housekeeper visit every other week to give the place a good clean.
It encourages you to keep the place tidy yourself and having someone come in and spend a few hours dedicated to the job really makes a difference. Obviously not everyone needs this but if you struggle to stay on top of these types of chores it is money well spent.

Plan your meals at least a little bit.
You don't need a full weekly menu but having a good idea of what you want before you do your shopping keeps the cost down and can help you eat a healthier diet.
On the subject of healthy diet, you can eat anything you want which is great but the temptation may be to eat lazy comfort food a lot more than is probably good for you so try not to have too many ready meals or takeaways.
Ikea do some good value steel pots and pans. The SENSUELL range is a bit more expensive than their basics but I've been very happy with it. Tefal do a good 5 Piece non-stick pots and pans set, but not everyone likes the non-stick material and you do have to be a bit more careful with it as scratches ruin it.
Victorinox do very good quality affordable kitchen knives. A couple of good knives, well looked after, are much better than spending the same amount on a big cheap set where half the knives you'll never use anyway and the ones you do use are kind of crappy. A couple of cheap beater knives you can use for opening packaging and feel fine throwing in the cutlery draw are handy though.

Do your laundry regularly, including the bedroom and bathroom items. Stale smells build up over time and you wont notice them but visitors will smell damp towels or sweaty bedsheets as soon as they go into the room.
I started using my washing machine as a laundry basket (I mostly wear dark colours and don't much care about separating laundry so this might not work if you need to do several separate washes) and it means I never have dirty laundry laying around and as soon as the machine is full I can put it on.
If you're going to do that though I do recommend you use a washing machine cleaner fairly regularly and let it air out often to avoid the musty damp smell washing machines are prone to.
Use dryer sheets in the tumble dryer if you have one to reduce static and give your clothes a light softening and fresh smell. Check the filters regularly, lint fires are no joke.

Try not to let the property get really cold. It's tempting to have the heating completely off when you aren't home and in the milder bits of winter and autumn that's okay but when its especially cold or wet having the heating set low when you aren't home keeps the chill of the property, its more efficient than having to bring a whole cold property back up to comfortable temp and it helps prevent condensation mould.

Say hello to your neighbours, it's much nicer having a friendly relationship with them even if it's just a head bob and a hi when you see each other.

Buy a robot vacuum and set it to auto. I prefer my cheap robot vacuum doing the work than me doing it with my stupid expensive Dyson.

Sharpen your knives every once in a while

Although you are now officially a big boy your hight will stay the same.

You don’t have to eat own brand cornflakes any more

If you are leaving to rent i wouldn't bother.

Everything costs double what your budget tells you it does.

Plan your meals out for the week before you go shopping, write a list as there’s nothing worse than having to run to the shop around rush hour to get something you’ve forgot! It’s very tempting but don’t buy takeaways every week, they end up costing a fortune. Take some time to learn how to cook and try new meals and you won’t miss takeaways. Wash up as you’re cooking, you’ll thank yourself later only having a couple of bits to wash up after dinner. Clean every few days or weekly, the longer your leave it, the worse it ends up. Being house proud helps a lot so try and make your house the way you want it to look. Invest in a good bed, mattress and pillows - you spend a 1/3 of your life in bed/sleeping! Get a Costco membership and buy things like toilet roll, bin bags, washing up powder, softener, kitchen roll etc in bulk - looks expensive when you’re in there but it’s quality stuff and it lasts you months. Get a wall calendar and write your bin emptying days on them and take your bins out the night before! There is nothing worse than missing bin day and having to put the extra bags in your car and take them to the tip or piling them up for another 2 weeks, especially in the summer!! Try and get all your bills to come out on the same day, just after your payday if paid monthly. If it’s your own home and not rented start putting money away for an emergency fund.. you never know when you might need it! Get a good hoover - other than the kettle it will probably be your most used appliance lol. Get a good knife or 2 and a knife sharpener - it’s much harder to cook and prep with cheap blunt knives. Be nice to your neighbours especially if you’re in a flat. Be tidy and pick up after yourself. Coming downstairs in the morning to a messy/dirty house makes me feel really crap. Do a clothes wash every other day - letting it build up is nothing but pain.

You’ll find your own way for sure but there’s a lot of good tips in this thread !

Always keep emergency food in the freezer in case you can’t do a shopping

Go and buy a slow cooker and a rice cooker. If you’re living alone you can get a small enough one of each that’ll only cost you £20 each. Meal prep a good stew or a curry with the slow cooker and have the ability to smash out rice whenever you want without having to do anything beyond washing it first. Both free up a lot of time you’d otherwise spend arsing around in the kitchen.

Cheese is expensive

If you're comfortable in the cooler home during colder periods... like now. Make sure to keep an eye out for condensation and deal with it the moment you see it. Wipe down windows often, make sure the walls don't have any condensation on them, check behind furniture that's placed against the wall for the same.

If it's regular... INVEST IN A DECENT DEHUMIDIFIER immediately, unless you want to keep the windows open 24/7.

If you get mold, it's a complete ball ache to get rid of.

Be nice to your neighbours, you never know when you might need them. Plus, it's great to dance around naked to status quo in your own house.

Really feel out the neighbors before you get involved with them. Some are great, others suck the life out of you

I know this is boring as fuck, but stay on top of your bills and plan your finances properly. I moved out and built up a significant debt that haunted me for years. Just get it right from the get go, so much less stress that way!

Don't use British Gas they're cunts

  1. No one is really looking out for you anymore.
  2. People will try to take advantage.
  3. Some people really want to help
  4. in general, you're on your own and you gotta figure out who to trust and who not to.
  5. Most people that you're gonna deal with, just want money, from you.
  6. Most people are good, except those that are bad.

Hope that helps. Bottom line, be skeptical. If it seems too good, it is. If it seems like it sucks, it does. Good luck!

Everything in your kitchen goes in Mason jars. Boom. Instant adulting.

Clean as you go, it's much less work and much easier to do 15 mins cleaning each day rather than end up spending the morning doing it on a Sunday.

Don’t touch the yellow snow

Basic screwdriver set, spanner set, a drill and a hammer. YouTube can help you solve almost any DIY issue as well. Also use a merchant rather than B&Q. They’ll recommend the right thing first time and it’s cheaper.

Set yourself a day every month where you go over your bills and finances and make sure they’re all in check. Also use Uswitch to get some decent deals. Eventually this’ll become habit anyway. And enjoy the freedom!

Clean your house. You must clean for at least 10 min per day. You don’t have to clean everything everyday, but you do have to clean something everyday. This will help at least keep things tidy. A messy house is really embarrassing. I’m genuinely uncomfortable being in someone else’s messy house even though mine is a mess. My messy house has also seriously affected my mental state. I get super overwhelmed, my mess piles up, blah blah blah. It’s more of a personal issue there but nonetheless living in a messy house will only lead to no good on so many levels.

Second, if you think need it.. get it. For example, if you feel your couch is too small and you find yourself constantly thinking about it all the time, buy a bigger one. Don’t sit there and think about it because of this or that. Proactively search for a couch that will fit your needs. This is your house and you’re there everyday. If you are wasting headspace thinking about the same gripe everyday then it’s worth the change. Obviously not everyone can do some things that quickly which leads me to my last point

Do not be afraid to buy secondhand. If this if your first place away from the parents you will learn a lot about what you like and don’t like in regards to interior preferences. I have gone through so much furniture moving from place to place and it’s not worth spending big bucks on nice pieces.

That it's all down hill from here..prepare to wish you had your parents to do shit for you again haha

All of this to say, you have to start caring a lot about future-you. Not just in the financial savings way. In the cleaning way, the meal prep way, the laundry way, all that. Future-you wants down time as much as right-now you. It's a gift to yourself to take care of that stuff consistently.

You can wank anywhere but close the curtains.

  1. Don’t buy cheap, it you do then you will have that cost + the cost of the slightly more expensive item (bin bags, cleaning sprays etc)

  2. Need to make decisions on what to have to eat for every meal, you may want to try and decide each week and then shop based on that. I suggest making meals in bulk and freezing in portions. If you have the space and money to do so then you may wish to buy an additional freezer.

  3. Charity shops, possibly facebay & eBay etc - if you need any storage or crockery, pots and pans, cutlery etc then try these first as much cheaper than brand new.

  4. Set up direct debits for everything as with so much going out you might forget to pay something. Just make sure you have enough to pay them.

  5. Set up a separate bank account for an emergency fund which you pay monthly into, this will come in handy when you have an unexpected bill or repair to pay for. And don’t be afraid to use it, you’ve saved the money so when the time comes use it.

  6. Clean regularly, maybe once a week. Don’t put off doing the dishes as no one will do them for you.

Food can either be a budget killer or a budget saver… eat wisely and healthy

Change your towels once a week - hang them up after use or they'll smell nasty and the smell will rub off on you and then you'll smell nasty.

Change your sheets at least once every two weeks - I prefer once a week but that's me. If you want company in your bed at any time grubby sheets are a huge turn off. And you'll soon discover the pleasure of fresh sheets.

To make it easier to remember I have a set day for clean sheets. For me it's Sunday but it can be any day you like.

Kitchen towels and cloths need changing every day or couple of days.

And for all of the above you really want to use a wash that's hotter to kill any bacteria. I know everyone talks about cooler washes to protect the environment but these are items which need a hotter one.

When I moved into my own little 1 bedroom place, there was an option to pay extra on my gas and electric to get maintenance on my boiler and other bits and bobs. That was 25 years ago, not sure if they still do that. (I'm in the USA now, so it's been a while!)

Budget properly

Make sure all of your bills are accurate and you're definitely paying for what you use.

I made the mistake of not paying the right amount for my water bill and ended up with an increased cost the following year to pay it all back. I wasn't warned prior to this either and I was naive enough to not double check.

Learn where the water shut off valve is. And the circuit breaker. And stay on top off having batteries in the smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector. Oh, and change the filter in your furnace.

Sink strainers to prevent blocked drains (shower one will catch hair & smell of vomit when cleaned but still less traumatising than unblocking shower drain), steel wire bundle for kettle to prevent calcification. Decent set of screwdrivers & a ratchet very usefull. Masking tape to remove least paint. Always check locks, safety of electrics & commute when renting and ALWAYS visit before renting: pick one area & specialise in it. Bed socks vest fleece & hat for cold houses to aid sleep. Install & check fire & carbon monoxide alarms. Clothing has care labels on: learning their meaning makes life simple. Worth the work of finding out where nearest laundrette is & downloading bus timetables. Teach yourself basic fire & electrical safety, might save your life. Ditto first aid.

All these great people came here and gave you really good advice, but all that popped into my head was "YES you CAN have dessert with every meal!"

Buy the minimum of things you can and buy quality instead of buying on whims and fancy. Coming from a hoarding family (hoarder myself). Wish I had saved for items that I really loved (I apply emotion to every object…haha) or ones that will last and love using.

  1. Bulk buy loo roll to see you out monthly - its a bain to keep buying weekly/ad hoc
  2. Get some air wick plugins for the place - it'll help make the place feel fresh 60% of the time, every time....

Ventilation is important! Even if it’s for a few minutes, open the windows regulary

You have to clean the toilet rim and the shower trap. Regularly.

And it's as bad as it sounds.

Everything breaks. Learn to fix it. Don’t rebuy or you’ll spend a small fortune. YouTube is your friend. Oh, and make all your mistakes on your starter house so when you flip it and buy your forever house you’ll have adequate skills.

Meal plan,make dinner that you can have for lunch the next day

Cheese is fucking expensive

Change your air filter every month

Even at basic levels you should learn to: 1. Cook 3 different full meals (u can then mix n match) 2. Clean. 5 minute cleaning jobs can make a big difference and don’t seem like such a chore 3. Read some financial advice about insurance, renting, etc. TENANT RIGHTS 4. Learn a few basic repairs. Suggested: toilet tank operations, sink pipe workings, weatherproofing windows/doors, 5. How to handle pests

Set up direct debits for bills to go out on pay day.

When you go shopping, either go somewhere with the scanner you take around with your or make a note of cost as you go round so you don't end up at the checkout spending £100 by accident. Try and shop once a week.

Paying your bills is better then putting it off and them adding 25% to 50% late fees of the original payment. It takes years but you'll get it soon😉

Groceries are way more expensive than you imagine, especially if you're starting with an empty cupboard

Mental health.

You add up everything everyone has mentioned + loneliness + paying bills + work grind + exercising + lack of nature + living in dystopian capitalist societies + life stressors in general, all you have to do is start slipping on any one of those things and then hello darkness my old friend, good luck getting out of that pit.

Sort your utilities and council tax out ASAP!

Crock pots are great. The ability to passively make meals with low effort, minimum chance of failure, and the amount you can make at price creating multiple meals at once.

Make a chore chart or you end up living like a dirtbag. Make auto payments for all your bills Get a dry erase board on the fridge for notes on what you need to buy

The clothes have to be put in the washing machine by hand, they don’t just magically go in by themselves

But yeah all jokes aside get yourself a laundry hamper. Oh also! A clothes rack to dry your clothes on was a life changer for me, especially heated ones!!!

Buy a little bin with a lid for the bathroom your guests will use. So many single men don’t have one, or have one with no lid which can be very embarrassing for female guests.

Clean little and often. Best rule you can make for yourself is “if you can do it in 5 minutes, do it now.”

You’ll thank yourself for it when you’re washing up isn’t stacking and there isn’t piles of stuff all over the place waiting to be put away.

Toilet paper should be put on the roller, loose side towards you. Don't want to be caught short.

And wash your hands. After bathroom. After making food. Before eating food. After petting the pet. Etc.

When you first move in your gonna spend a ton more than normal. All the shit that's just around the house you never think about you have to buy for the first time. So keep money aside.

Cloths, floor cleaner, toilet cleane, picture hooks, towels, etc etc. You'll suddenly find you don't own that much and need to buy it all.

My advice - “Keep that kitchen clean”

After living for nearly 7 years of undergrad and grad school with roommates, that will be my advice.

People ignore kitchen cleanliness. However, the kitchen is where your health and well being is determined.

All the best! Trust me you will have a lot of fun. Cheers!

  • Buy a big ass roll of blue roll which will last 300 years longer than kitchen roll

  • use command strips for wall art

  • if you have dot dab walls and need to put a mirror or something up use Duopower wall plugs

  • put a sign in your garden saying ‘wildlife area’ that way you won’t have to mow it ;)

  • be friendly with your landlord

Oh and I recommend my failed website - FurnishHim.com so your place looks sick brother

Separate your laundry. And use the right laundry detergent & water temperatures. A lot of people don’t do any of this but proper laundering will extend the life of your clothes.

They make detergent for dark clothes and really helps. Separate loads into whites, colors, and maybe darks if you have enough clothes. I also try to do a separate load of socks, underwear, PJs, workout clothes and was in hot water with a free & clear detergent. Dark clothes wash in cold water only. White clothes don’t need bleach every time but generally use medium to hot water. Separate loads for bedding. Another for towels. Turn nice clothes inside out. Hang dry clothes as much as possible it can also machine dry for 5-15 minutes to first get the big wrinkles out. If you don’t have dedicated laundry space then hanging clothes on shower curtain bar is really useful.

Everything is atleast twice as expensive as you would guess. 3 months of living away and it isn't getting much easier lol

It's amazing how much gas and electricity costs.. And food don't taste the same when you have to cook it.

Do NOT buy the cheap bin bags.

ALWAYS use condoms, no matter what others tell you

When you feel like cooking, sometimes cook a big batch of something freezable (chilli, Bolognese etc.). You'll thank yourself on the days you're too knackered to cook and can just cook pasta/rice and reheat the food.

There is a bill for nearly everything

Self cleaning ovens don't clean themselves !

I moved out permanently at 20, if I would have known how awesome it was i would have moved out at 10

Everything is way more expensive then you thought it would be

Get a plunger before you need it

Vacuum the bathroom before you mop/spray surfaces. Getting the hair out of the bathroom while it is still dry is far easier than trying to deal with it when it is wet.

For dealing with any unexpected household maintenance, YouTube is your friend. Just make sure you watch more than one video first, and make sure that it's relevant to you (e.g. best avoid any videos from the USA when it comes to electrical issues, because they work on 110V, and we are on 250V).

You've got to be your own parent now

Make sure you have a tool kit and flashlight!

If you are responsible for paying the energy bills, read and photograph the electric, gas and water meters on the day you move in. Otherwise you'll forget and you'll likely end up paying partially for the previous occupants usage.

Book your broadband installation BEFORE you move in. A data only sim (I used Smarty) can help you turn an iPad or old phone into a makeshift router if you're still waiting for installation by the time you move in.

You have to pay taxes.

If you sprinkle when you tinkle please be neat and wipe the seat

document EVERYTHING before moving into your new place. any damages, anything missing, any maintenance that hasn't been done. save it for move out time just incase landlord tries to keep your deposit unreasonably.

All shit is expensive!!

Don’t trust anyone.

Toast, biscuits and cereal are staple and healthy foods.

You're going to be broke.

Tidy up as you go along. Otherwise you will be overwhelmed by it! And budget

Cleaning - little and often. You'll find a vibe that works for you, essentially you never have to scrub.

If it gets lonely keep it together and don’t do drugs when you feel lonely and and follow in path of your goals

You are presumably renting, so you might be limited in what you can do, but even so: think security. Change the door lock (or interior barrel), give a spare key to your parents (with strict instructions not to use it; it is for you in case you lose yours), (replace old-fashioned locks you can "open with a credit card"). Get locks for the windows that allow them to be ajar but not opened so a person could enter. Get automatic lights on the entrances. If you have a garage perhaps there are high security locks for them these days (since you are an EngineerNerd you should be able to come up with something!). Give the impression of security if you cannot afford the real thing, like fake cameras or alarm boxes. Replace smoke detectors as you don't know how old they are. Hang a fire blanket in the kitchen so it is visible (they are only 10 quid or so), consider a fire extinguisher. Reflect on how you would escape if there was a fire in the main doorway; do you need one of those extensible ladders for escape by a window (keep the key to window locks near the window but not visible from outside), or perhaps just a cheap rope. Avoid real candles.

And if you don't have fitted cupboards, buy some cheap trunks or cupboards; they are great for hiding away mess so the place instantly looks tidy.

Get a few decent recipe books, decide what you're going to eat for the week, get it all delivered from your supermarket of choice. This has numerous benefits:

  • Saves food waste by only buying ingredients for specific meals
  • Eat healthier (depending on what you choose) because you're meal planning and not buying stuff on a whim/ready meals loaded with sugar
  • Save time: doing a food shop online literally takes me 10 minutes. Going to the shop takes fucking ages, especially when you can't find the thing you need and you end up pacing the aisles
  • Save money - similar to eating more healthily, you save money by not buying random bullshit on a whim

Honestly I don't know why anyone goes to the supermarket anymore it's so much better to just get it all delivered. We use Sainsbury's personally, and £20 every 3 months gives us food shops over £40 delivered without a further delivery fee.

I recently moved out myself, so welcome to the club! My advice is to embrace the independence that you're going to have. It's a fun time so enjoy it! Lot's of people will hopefully be giving you great advice so I thought I would lighten the load for you.

The washing is never done, the cycle is never ending! The cleaning doesn't stop. Clothes, dishes, housework. It's never done!!

Living on your own can become addictive.

There are lots of things that you have to do that may make you think “We’re my parents just quietly doing this all along and not making a fuss about it?!” Setting up and laying things like council tax and tv license. Cleaning random areas like outdoor winowsills and door frames. Replacing windows when they get ‘blown out’. Bleeding the radiators. Maybe I was sheltered but I knew about cooking, cleaning, utility bills etc. But still now in my 30s my husband and I will sometimes look at each other and go, I didn’t even realise that was a thing we had to do. These surprises are sometimes expensive too.

Get into the habit of spending five minutes tidying up before you go to bed, however tired you are. Cushions back on the sofa, dishwasher on, wipe the sides down. There’s nothing more demoralising than starting your day with yesterday’s mess and it just ends up with you resenting your lovely new space.

Ditto, make your bed every day. It’s a thirty second job that future you will always thank past you for and stops your house feeling like a tip.

Set up all your bills to go out monthly, soon after you've been paid. This will help you to budget accurately, with fewer nasty surprises at the end of the month.

When having a shower or doing any cooking especially if on hob.

Always open windows if you don't have enough ventilation you can get damp which can be a pain to sort out.

If your living in a flat and your above some get good underlay for your carpets.

Buy extra strong bin bags

Council tax is a thing.

Buy food in for the week and don't be afraid to stock up on tinned things.

Keeping on top of washing is a must as it cleaning/tidying. These build up really fast and dust will magically appear!

Buy a basic set of tools and a drill if you can.

Turn off lights.

You can't change your neighbours.

Buy some elbow grease from the pound shop. Seriously this stuff is amazing if you spill absolutely anything anywhere. Elbow grease is your friend.

Be prepared for mice invading your home and be on the look out for droppings.

TV licenses are a thing.

Learn when your bins go out. You do not want to miss that.

Oh man so many things.

Remember you need to clean your washing machine, don’t leave wet clothes in there either or it gets mouldy as heck and it’s a pain to clean.

Make sure when you move in you familiarise yourself with: water meter location, stop tap for the water supply to the property as well. I’ve had a few close flood calls with weird fixtures and such.

YouTube is your new DIY best friend, buy some basic tools.

That’s the most important stuff I learnt I think

If you are buying your own house, it’s a fucking never ending pit of stuff that needs sorting.

Council tax.

Biggest mistake I made moving into my first house was not realising that an improperly insulated Victorian house and a gas-fired central heating system with a broken thermostat do not good bedfellows make.

My first gas bill was hair-raising and I had to sell a motorbike to pay it...

Milk lasts longer than you think, bread goes off quicker than you think

Bread freezes remarkably well.

When you get home, immediately take out half of the loaf and put it in a zip lock bag. Freeze the rest in its original packaging.

Sounds stupid mate . But clean your fucking room !

If you plan your food shopping you will save a shit tonne of money

Don’t do it. Milk the parents for all you can!

Council tax is always more than you think :(

Yo clean your plates right after you eat or you end up with nasty ass smells in the kitchen, the bathroom is also a part of the house and is totaly worthy of keeping it clean like the rest. Keep a sticky note on your door so you remember to lock and turn off pretty much everything. Also dont cook when sleepy, just trust me on that and it s a good idea to leave a spare key to a friends house just in case.

Cooling in bulk will save so much frustration.

Make a budget and pay your bills early if you can. It will take the stress off of the process.

Iceland is good you can buy online if you spend £35 you get free delivery and with what they sell its very easy to do

Wickes is way cheaper than bnq and screwfix is way cheaper than its sister company Wickes

Get a girlfriend who's a med student who'll cook, iron and clean to avoid studying when she comes to stay.

Marry her a decade later and she'll pay most of the mortgage on a much bigger place as well.

Mind your business

When you’re viewing a house, the doors will all be open. Test them to make sure they shut properly and don’t stick. The amount of fucked up doors I had in my first place that either didn’t shut or they jammed shut. Also pay attention to how many plug sockets are in each room and test them out. In my first place I only had one working socket in my KITCHEN 😳

Kitchen bins are expensive and annoying to clean. Meat (chicken in particular) fucking STINKS if its been in your bin for about 2 days. That leftover piece you couldn't eat and threw in the bin? You're gunna need a new fresh bin bag ASAP otherwise you're house will stink.

AirWick do about 300 different types of automatic air fresheners. They do this because they can then make a million different types of refills and you can never remember which ones you need, so you end up buying a whole new air freshener. Also they're expensive.

If you’re on a meter for utilities, give readings often!

I just moved and got slapped with £300 left to pay on my gas.

You shut the door to your knew digs, maybe turn your phone to airplane mode. You answer to no-one. You are a God surveying his realm. That door shuts and the peace you could feel is bliss. Shit with the toilet door open. Wank without headphones on. Truly a wonderous world your own realm is

BBC good food is the best for meal plans and finding new recipes.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com

Council tax

Don't!

The fridge and the cupboards don't stock themselves,clothes don't walk into the washing machine and electricity isn't free.

Buy fairy liquid and some kind of refillable dish soap dispenser, I use a dishmatic but you can get pumps for sponges. Seriously. I save more money paying out for fairy than I would buying the cheap supermarket own stuff constantly, I’ve got a large bottle of fairy that I got ages ago, I think I started using it in March and it’s still about 1/4 full.

Also for bathroom cleaning get a squeegee, window cleaner, and also a scrub daddy and ‘the pink stuff’ (it’s in most pound shops). Use domestos or something similar and not the cheap supermarket stuff. Especially if your toilet is already dirty, it does wonders.

Oh yeah, find manual’s for all your appliances, and get a tool set (even if it’s the cheap Ikea one). You never know when it will be useful, because I guarantee you that something will break when you most need it, and if it’s a simple repair you will be better off doing it yourself.

Double check your bills and payments, even if they are on auto pay. The sooner you report an error, the more likely it will be a simple fix.

If you are able, try to sit on at least $1k, or as much emergency money as you can afford. When the shit hits the fan, you don’t have time to ask around for a loan.

If something has a small leak, is a little loose, or is making a funny smell lately... get it fixed ASAP. There is nothing quite like coming home from work to find a huge puddle in the basement from the leaky fridge water line giving way. New flooring, drywall, and replacing all the items damaged in the basement will take you months even if you have insurance cover it.

Always keep a first aid kit.

When canned, dried, or preserved food is on sale, get extra. It lasts for years and you will have unexpected guests, an inability to get to the store, or be financially crushed at some point. It will be nice not to go hungry, I promise.

TV license... The TV license...

Those aren’t your parents

The first shopping trip after moving in will be really expensive. You have to buy all the basics and cleaning supplies. After that you only have to buy replacements for what has run out.

Don't buy a faulty house. I bought one that doesn't clean itself. My parents lucked out when they got theirs because always seemed to be clean without me having to do anything.

It gets hella expensive. Buy Cardboard early, to have an Option B if needed.

Shit's expensive. If you like it clean you have to clean more often than you think. Getting girls over is now much more fun and relaxed

buy a pizza cutter

Your parents are ecstatic you are finally leaving. They are incredibly relieved that you're finally growing up and acting like an actual adult.

A bathroom bin. You may not use it, but visitors might!

All energy companies are insufferable, no matter how many times you give them a meter reading they’ll always want more.

Learn to cook, at least a little. I know that should be common sense but the amount of catastrophes my mates had in the kitchen as they had no idea how to prepare food unless you could boil it for 3 mins…

If you are ever going to have any females come into your house buy some tampons and sanitary towels and leave them somewhere in your toilet with maybe a note saying "help yourself if needed". They might never be needed but if they ever are someone is going to be very thankful for it.

Sometimes when somebody is telling you a problem or difficulty they're facing, they don't want/need you to offer a bunch of solutions, they just need someone to listen to them, to empathize.

Saving this thread for all the good advice!

Cooking everyday is exhausting

Don't get in to the habit of overeating because there's nobody to judge you. You'll regret it.

Shop around charity shops for living room stuff like sofas, TV stands, dining table etc.

When I first moved in I got alot of my living room stuff from charity shop.

I picked up a Toshiba 32" 1080p flatscreen TV made in 2011 for £80 still got it 3 years later and works great. They even threw nice wooden tv stand for free at charity shop

Get mattress brand new so don't get bed bugs or any oddness

If you can afford get a self defrosting fridge freezer, saves alot of hassle.

Cooker new is best, Induction hob ones are cheap to run but if you get stains on the top can be a pain to clean.

before you buy anything go look for it in a thrift/2nd hand store first!

also buy a bed-bug-proof mattress cover (not 2nd hand)!

Never go food shopping hungry …. Put the yum yums down

Get a plunger before you need a plunger.

Also, an addition I had never seen before my last (rented) flat was a first aid kit. I, admittedly, am accident prone but knowing you have a supply precisely for first aid in a specific location is great.

DONT FUCK YOUR NEIGHBOR

great for you! its exciting taking your first steps out into the big world I loved the independance when i first moved out, its great dont get me wrong, but...housework sucks and losing all you money every month to bills suck you get down because you cant afford many luxuries unless you work like 70 hours a week but at least im depressed in my own house lol

Do not take on car debt. Always pay credit cards in full each month.

IKEA assembly takes a lot longer than you think. Don’t start anything after 9pm unless you want to be up in they early hours swearing at a wooden peg thing and inevitably breaking it.

Find the water shut off: under the kitchen sink, in the front closet... There may come a time you'll be very glad you know where it is!

You can buy cheap on many things- bin bags aren’t one of them

You can watch porn any time of day!

Toilet paper doesn’t last as long as you think it does, buy it fairly often.

Don't listen to DemocRat bullshit...its easy to tell. When their lips are moving, its BULLSHIT..

Try to get used to wearing warm clothes in the house and not blasting heating out 24/7, if you like to sit around in a t-shirt and shorts you soon gonna be skipping meals.

Clean the dryer lint out every single load. Sure it can go a couple rounds but far easier to just make it habit every time than accidentally get enough build up for combustion.

Less should know and more pro tip.

Overpay your rent each month to make December a rent free one.

Not worried about Xmas in years.

Learn to cook the basics and build on to rhat knowledge. I had a roommate who was 34yo and could only make canned soups and grilled cheese sandwiches. Ladies do not find that sexy.

Bills bills bills make sure you get you're council tax, water, gas, electricity and TV licence done ASAP so you don't get hit with a surprise bill

Oi ye get ye fuckin droiving loiscense renewed innit

Don't forget your silly little telle liscense, fucking crumpet eating pillock

The magic washing basket was actually just a normal container emptied by your mother! Nobody ever told me 😳

Bread makes you fat

Put grease proof paper or similar on the very top of the kitchen cabs, once it gets all sticky and grim you just replace the paper 🤓

Your fridge doesn’t clean itself. That is a massive surprise to start with.

Watch out for your corn hole bud

You should wash your curtains on occasion

until they ban subletting rooms to multiple tenants we can never address the housing shortage

  1. Work out routines for things like shopping and cleaning. If you pick a day and stick to it, your life, house, and health will be better.
  2. Create an emergency kit with enough food and supplies to last for a week. I use a 5 gallon bucket with a lid on it. You can google standard contents.
  3. Know where the nearest emergency medical help can be found.
  4. Give a close friend a key to your place and always inform that person if you are going to away or out of cell range for an extended period of time.
  5. Buy the most comfortable bed that you can afford and invest in things you use daily or regularly.
  6. Take time to understand the basic principles of Feng Shui. It doesn't matter how fancy your place is, the placement of things like your bed are far more important than you can even imagine.
  7. A basic tool kit was mentioned but critical enough to repeat. Almost as critical as a basic first aid kit.
  8. Get at least one plant and learn what it needs to live well. Only get a pet if you can manage the plant.

The truth is you’ll figure it out as you go, don’t overthink it too much and enjoy your freedom! 😁. My only tip would be to make sure you learn from your mistakes along the way.

That real life is hard work, mostly dull, but occasionally wonderful and worth every second of the shit bits. :-)

Apparently your supposed to wash your bed sheets every week. I was shocked when I moved in theory my gf. I thought they were attached to the bed.

Congrats n good luck!! Injoy your new found freedom!!

Learn to fucking cook bro. It makes life so much more enjoyable when you cook excellent meals.

There's an offy within walking distance that stays open all night. Sorry.

"single occupancy discount" on your council tax 😁 it's either 10% or 20% off if you live alone so definitely worth getting it to save yourself a few hundred squid a year!

You need knives and forks, tea towels, laundry detergent, poo parchment, bedding, towels, bleach to name a few!

Also take photographic evidence of your meter reads as soon as you can and register yourself as the person living in the property with energy providers asap. Don't forget United utilities for water and also get yourself on the electoral roll and set up yourself for council tax.

Don't underestimate your outgoings - they are always more than you think. I have a spread sheet on my PC of everything coming in and out and I budget from that. Don't get into debt unnecessarily. I wish I had learned that at a younger age ☺️

Pets are great company but be ready to spend a fair bit on them. Also, cleaning up their shit sucks.

If you love them, you won't mind though. :)

They don't tell you that you can come home from work and lay naked on your floor, drinking brandy until you pass out and nobody will try to stop you!

This.... this is now my plan for the first few days

I hope you love it as much as I do

Your neighbors can suck. I never thought of this till now. But it's not a bad idea to check out the neighbors before you move in. Or ask to call the prior tenants to ask if the neighbors suck.

Be the scary witch or wizard neighbour. It's hilarious.

Make a list of everything you use in each room even if it’s just once or twice because it’s become part of your routine and you might need to buy some of that stuff before/after you move out. It also acts as a great checklist

Being an adult sucks , turn around and head straight back into their house

Appreciate the quiet.

Pay your bills, wear deodorant, don’t do drugs. This is the way to adulthood. Good luck!

Don’t go into debt! If you can’t afford to pay for it, save for it.

You have to pay money to live. Everything cost something.

Don't leave food open inside the fridge - it'll dry up and/or give a weird smell to the whole fridge. So get containers (hopefully the kind that doesn't flip upside down inside the dishwasher) and (Ziploc) bags.

If you misplace your cell phone, there will be no one to call it so "you can find it" Ask me how I know 🤦

There's at least one person on every street who is a serial killer.

Buy toilet paper life is a fucker when you run out of toilet paper

It’s always better to go to the party, than to always be the party! #truth

Premium brand toilet roll costs a fortune.

You get used to the nice Andrex your parents buy and that soft toilet roll feel and boom......... you've moved out and now wondering why a 6 pack of Andrex or cushell is £6 when it's only paper

Do not take out payday loans

Toilet paper

Anything that breaks down will break down exactly when you A, really need or B, have no money to replace/fix it. Cat got his entire vet procedures done a month ago finally, shots, neutering, deworming and overall healthcheck and it cost a lot but you love your little boy, it's okay, it's his health? Sike, cat now has an inflamed testicle, have to take him to vet, have to spend more! (He's okay now, had a little surgery but he's fine). Always try to reserve some money. You have no guarantee shit won't go sideways. I saved up money to fix my teeth that Hungarian dental care fucked to oblivion and get a better gaming PC, guess what, China decides to pull a pandemic out of its ass, leaving me practically jobless (I work on a commission basis next to uni) and having to use up all the savings. Still potato pc, still shit teeth. Always expect the worst, nothing will surprise you then.

Your microwave can also be used as storage.

You'll need weird things you don't think about like trash cans, shower curtains and a broom.

There is no legal requirement to give the TV licence people any details. Slam the door in their faces.

Find out what your nearby cheap grocery store is (aldi and lidl tend to be the cheapest for us) and plan to shop there first and most often. Price check at the more expensive stores (sainsburys, Tesco, etc.) and try to only get things there that you can't find at your cheap grocery. Avoid shopping at the expensive grocery if at all possible (waitrose).

Have a cheap easy and delicious meal that you can make for yourself one every week or two, but avoid having it more often than that. Then add another meal to your routine after a couple weeks. Keep that going until you have at least a week's worth of different various meals that you enjoy and are very comfortable throwing together easily. This will not only be great for feeding yourself but will make the prospect of hosting company (something you should do as frequently as possible) much less daunting.

Don't do it. Run home.

You should get an air fryer

Buy a vacuum cleaner with a chord, not a battery.

You will never, ever, be finished doing laundry. Also applies to cleaning the kitchen

The washing up NEVER ENDS

TBH these days, whatever thing breaks inside or outside your home there's someone on youtube who has made a HD video showing you how to sort it out. I've fixed pretty much every appliance we own and a couple of TVs.

Ask your mum what product she would use to clean; the veneer floor, sink, black bathroom taps/ shower etc...

Invaluable. If you're lucky she'll even buy them for you.. Or better still, demonstrate how to use them ! Win, win !

Cleaning things regularly is less effort than blitzing it every so often and means things stay in better condition. Boring but true.

And you have to scrub tile grout or it goes mouldy.

-Buy a toolkit, plunger, a fire extinguisher and first aid kid NOW. If you out these off, chances are the next time you’ll think of it is when you already need.

-doing a little bit of cleaning every/most days is less work than saving it for one day

-take pictures of the apartment when you first move in, esp any damaged areas. Send them in an email to your landlord so you have it in writing that these things weren’t your fault.

You’re now in control of preparing dinner for the rest of your fucking life. 😂

Food goes off much faster than you think

Slow cooker... that is all

Garden Furniture is really expensive.

Don't go cheap and get some decent curtains.

You need to change/research your elec /gas provider each year.

You also need to phone Virgin/Sky every year and threaten to cancel/move until they give you the same deal as you are already on.

Hoovering is something you should do at least every other day.

Tidying up after yourself is much easier than leaving it until the end of the day.

Invest in a security system, get renters insurance, and if something sounds to good to be true, it more than likely is. Good luck OP.

Prep for an emergency BEFORE the emergency.

Examples.

Leaking pipes - Have a bunch of throw away towels. Know where the stop cock is. Know the number of a local plumper.

Power cut or electrical issue - Have a torch. Have batteries. Have a number for an electrician. Towels again for freezer. Know where you consumer unit is.

Medical issue - Have plasters, bandages, pain killers, cough medicine. Put it in a place you remember and get to easily. If your sick you don't want to travel to Tesco to get anti diarrhoea tablets....

Some landlords are great, but most want as much money from you for as little work as possible. Make sure you always have a copy of your lease (You may have to use it as a weapon), and that you don't let them get away with fucking you around. 👍👍

A dustpan & brush are essential.

Keep a rainy day fund for when something goes sideways and you’ve got to dig into the bank to pay for an unexpected cost.

Clean your toilet. Please, for the love of God, clean your toilet.

The amount of single men that seem to think that it's acceptable to leave streaks of nature welded to the bowl horrifies me.

Spend at least 1 day a week to get your life in order. Fully clean the house, meal plan/prep, get groceries, do laundry. It typically only takes a 1/2 day, allows you to have more free time after work, and will make your week so much smoother

Take Photos of everything damaged in and outside of your new home. You Need this when you move out as prove it was already damaged.

Play music very loudly at 4 am.

Remember to put bleach in loo regularly

The sooner you decide to live in a clean house, and in clean clothes, the better for you and your social life. Problem: this takes time. Start now, and learn fast how to do it efficiently.

have a good amount of emergency funds. unexpected things happen

Throw away all the screws that come within packages and buy decent ones to use instead! Keep on top of your cleaning and washing because it’s a pain having to do it all in one go and make sure to be a good neighbour as you never know when you want to have a mad party, you want them on your side!

Some British heart foundation stores sell second hand furniture, which can help save a lot of money!

Also buy 20 pairs of the same plain black socks cause otherwise you will never have matching socks again.

Buy a toilet plunger BEFORE you need a toilet plunger. Like a fiver from wilco, don't skimp on it.

Buy a plunger before you need a plunger.

Change the locks. You don't know who has a key.

Don’t. Stay save $$$

Start saving for retirement. Every little bit helps, especially at a young age. As a young person I didn’t heed this, but now as a not-as-young person with a family I wish I did.

Not helpful in anyway but the cost of cheese when you’re the one paying!

the biggest thing is keeping on top of cleaning really

dedicate an hour or so every Sunday to dust, mop, hoover, clean the bathroom etc. and build up a habit of it

it’s way easier and takes far less time than letting things get dirty before taking the time to clean

One thing that should be extremely obvious but it's not because it's typically supplied by your parents buy toilet paper. I remember that realization when I first moved into my first apartment.

Pay yo bills then party

Save money for emergency repairs

Buying or renting? If you're renting I would advise you to take photos of a video log of EVERYTHING before you move your stuff in, if you can. That landlord might be all nice and friendly now, but you never know. My land lady was lovely until I moved out and she tried to screw me out of my deposit because the garden was 'messy'. It was summer and we hadn't mown it in a week or so. She conveniently forgot the shit state it was in when we moved in. The grass was five foot tall because the last tenant was lazy AF, punched a hole in the door and left dirty buckets of water and rubbish everywhere.

I'm not saying it will happen to you and the land lord is probably genuine, but just cover you back.

Want grown up meals but got mac'n'cheese skills? Crockpot for the win!

Your parents will miss you. Don’t forget to visit.

Get renters insurance.
Make sure your smoke and CO detectors work.
Have a plan for emergencies and know where your important documents are.
Know where the fire extinguishers are, read their instructions, and know that they are expected to be used for evacuation and not firefighting.

Bills bills and more fucking bills

Pay your bills in advance

Buy a water key to turn off the water if needed at the street.

Everybody has guns and wants to invade your home, get yourself a.. Wait this is casualuk. Never mind you'll be fine.

Turning your water off at the mains is a good idea when you leave for holidays. Ditto electricity and gas.

I didn't and came back to find that the fire brigade had entered through a window after the water heater failed spectacularly and was flooding the apartments below us...

That one day you’ll miss being at home with family and it won’t be an option anymore. Don’t be in a rush for “freedom” is all I’d say.

It will blow your mind how much the initial stock up on basic condiments will cost.

Its fuckin expensive

I should've read this thread 3 years ago..

You're gonna want a tool kit, a fire extinguisher, cleaning supplies, air fresheners or candles, some throw pillows for the couch, and a darn good blanket.

Theres been so much good advice in this thread, thought i'd summarise some of the best and add a couple of mine:

High Priority:

  • Read all meters, take pictures.
  • Locate stopcock and fuse box.
  • Get all of your direct debits set up, as close to pay day as you can.

Medium Priority:

  • Purchase a basic tool set, a torch and a radiator key if needed.
  • Vacuum cleaner, expensive ones are super overated.
  • Fridge with a decent size freezer, dont buy small cheap on that has a tiny letter box freezer at the top.

Quality of Life:

  • Dont underestimate how much toilet roll you need.
  • Remember to buy household cleaners e.g. Bleach/Washing up liquid/Washing powder etc
  • Freeze excess bread for later use.
  • Sniff test milk, always.
  • Keep on top of the garden, can go pear shaped quickly in the summer if you dont.
  • Dust accumulates like you wont believe, keep on top of that as well.
  • Give a set of spare keys to someone trusted.
  • Its better to buy too little food than too much.
  • Whatever you estimate a task will take, youre wrong.

Learn where the water cut off is for wherever you live, also the fuse box.

Hope that your neighbors don't know on your wall daily for 6 years

When weather turns cold for the year mice will come in. Be prepared to go on the defense and you can rectify it quickly.

Cheese is expensive. The kitchen is never clean.

B&M is your best friend for cheap / decent looking furniture. Also most other things you need.

Green, original washing up liquid lasts longer than the others.

Cheap frying pans are a waste of money. Buy a good quality one.

A good quality iron is also a must.

Some things don't need to be branded to be deserving of your money. A good frying pan, and good quality oven tins are a must, but, for example, cream crackers are just there to stop the cheese hitting the floor, so own brand is OK.

Clean regularly and you won't feel like you're living in a pig stye. Visitors to your house will judge you, regardless of what they say.

ALWAYS have buildings and contents insurance.

Make an effort to get in with your neighbours. They'll be a big part of your home-life whether you want them to be or not.

Start saving for a new kitchen and bathroom now. They're big money items and you'll be glad you saved, whether the house needs them now or not. The same goes for windows.

Always use good quality tradesmen or be prepared to pay twice.

Buy a good tool kit for little jobs around the house. You will need a drill, sander, etc.

If you can. Get a freezer. Cooking for one sucks and you can save a lot and make dinner easier if you freeze meals.

Soft furnishings like couch cushions etc are stupid expensive compared to other things

Set up auto-pay on your utilities to avoid fees.

Always make sure to budget for the month ahead and include room for emergency as you will need it one day

Learn where things like your fuse board and stopcock are located, and know how to use them.

Can be useful when something blows and you need to put the circuit back on, or you have a leak and need to turn off all your water.

Also learning how to spot and fix low boiler pressure. When it starts to get cold, you can get low boiler pressure and need to bleed radiators of air and top up the pressure. It can save time and money knowing how to fix it yourself.

Get to know some good trades people before you need them and buy a plunger or some other toilet unclogging device before you need it!

Since it’s your first time don’t get a place near the top of your budget. Getting started living alone has a lot of constant unexpected expenses. You’re going to realize you need a lot of things you don’t have and the costs adds up.

Roommates are tough, be patient and kind if they’re truly a friend.

It can get lonely. Make sure you stay in contact with your family, invite friends over for dinners etc and others have said, keep it tidy.

Make a simple meal plan for the week. Even if it is just for supper it saves a ton of hastle.

  1. Don’t use metal utensils on nonstick cookware.
  2. Don’t buy a shitty complete cooking set. Get a few good quality pans that can multitask.
  3. Never put good knives in the dishwasher.
  4. Hang some art up so your place looks put together - you can get some stuff at thrift stores and spray paint ugly frames.
  5. Never use Draino.
  6. Facebook marketplace has some great listings for used furniture. Don’t think you have to furnish your place all at once.

You’re gonna mess up, but it is part of growth. Just learn from it and try to figure things out. I love YouTube. Congrats on taking this step!

Make a budget!!!

You have no idea how useful that is.

Making a budget doesn't automatically cure all your financial problems. If you're young and just starting out, money's likely to be tight whatever you do.

But a budget helps you visualize what you actually need, what you want and what you think you can do with a little less of, or entirely without.

I know, I know; it sounds terribly dry and annoyingly grown-uppy. But you will find that after having made a budget, you don't really think about money as much as your friends who haven't.

Make a note of the date you moved in, what you paid. Address. And if you move again the date you move out. Do this everytime you move and keep safe. You'll need to know more often than you think.

I would recommend opening up a seperate bank account to put all your bill money in - add up all bills, and then set up a standing order from your wage account to your bills account, have all of the DDs come out of the bills account. I'd also suggest trying to put a bit extra in the bills account unless anything unexpected pops up. Then whatever is left is for food and fun money - I've used this approach for years and it stops me stressing about money as I know all the bills are covered.

Also, I would recommend looking at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ to look up the best way to approach bills (eg, best internet deals and elec/gas contracts, sometimes you get vouchers for signing up with some companies).

Always wash your dishes, or they will stack up for weeks on end. If you liter, your just gonna have to pick it up later. Go to bed, don't make a habit of staying up all night.

Budget. You’ve got bills and you gotta eat. What ever is left is savings or beer tokens. Overdrafts and credit card debt will slow creep up on you if you’re not careful.

I learnt the hard way

Cooking for yourself every single night is very annoying and sometimes boring. It’s easy to fall into take out often. But learn how to cook meals you really enjoy and want to try and you’ll feel much better about it all.

Here's some stuff I wish someone would have told me back when I moved into my first place

Cooking: Make a weekly menu for your meals. It takes 20 minutes, allows you to plan your grocery shopping for what you'll need per the recipes you're planning on making.

Get an electric pressure cooker ( the brand I have is called Instapot here. Idk about there) it'll make cooking a snap, clean up is simple, and you can find tons of recipes online.

If you're already confident in the kitchen, buy a beginners cookbook like Cooking For Dummies. It's a great way to get comfortable and cook g for yourself saves money.

Cleaning: If you're not already cleaning at your parents house, ask for whomever does the cleaning to show you how to clean a bathroom.

Same goes for laundry, if you don't know how to do it, get some instruction so you don't ruin or shrink your favorite article of clothing.

If you can afford it, get a cleaning service/maid to come by 2x a month. Clean up before they arrive because they are really there to provide a proper cleaning of bathrooms, kitchens, clean the floors/ vacuum and dust.

General things: Make a schedule for your chores. Ya, you still have chores to keep your place and self up, and no one is going to ride you to do it.

Buy a plunger. You don't want to ask your neighbor to lend you one.

Have a first aid kit. Ouchies happen.

A tool kit is a good idea, depending on your lease agreement, you might not have to use it much, but if you need a screwdriver and don't have one, it's a pain.

A schedule is a good way to plan your activity, keep everything from piling up, and be accountable to yourself. For example, I have found that going grocery shopping on a weeknight after work has been far less stress than fighting everyone else on a Saturday, unless you're a very early riser, so Tuesday night is my shopping night. Good thing I made that menu and listed all the ingredients I don't have on Monday night!

Oh and make your bed every day when you're done getting showered and dressed. It makes a huge difference getting into a made bed at night.

Did you do chores growing up? If not you might find it difficult to maintain yoy living space. Clean your kitchen and bathroom top to bottom at least once a month. Vacuum/Sweep/Mop once a week.

As for Feeding yourself find 3 things you can make easily that you enjoy and aren't terrible for you. Find ingredients when they go on sale and freeze the perishables. Also you'll find that a lot of foods like meat are packaged in family sizes. You can use half, reseal the other and freeze it for the next week.

One of the things that helps when supermarket shopping if you don’t have a car / taxi funds is to use a hand basket instead of a trolley. That way you can gauge the weight of the things you’re buying before you checkout and realise you now have to carry all this stuff home! Also taking a backpack to for heavier things can save your arms too!

Remember to bleed radiators and to check afterwards that the system is up to pressure

Don’t get behind on your council tax and the rent they will come for you

council tax! youre gunna hate it

Writing up a menu for the week and shopping from that is actually really helpful and saves money.

May sound mad make sure you stock up in toilet paper lol. If it’s shared some people are dirty mate.

If you're paying utilities at your new home then MAKE SURE you don't stick with whatever is already there. Specifically Electricity screws you in this regard. In my old apartment building eon would charge you £3000 a month for electricity if you weren't signed up for it. Just because the water is flowing and your TV is on it doesn't mean that it's not fucking you somehow.

Luckily this happened to neighbours and not me but seriously, save yourself £2900 a month and sort this out ASAP. Just remember to sign up for electricity & gas, internet (get fibre or you'll hate yourself), and water.

Utility bills. Pay them promptly. Utility companies don’t care if you are laid off or you are waiting for the next paycheck to pay the bill.

Food, cleaning supplies, medicine and toilet paper are infuriatingly expensive. Prepare to understand why your parents lost their hair shortly after you came around.

Work out the cost of any DIY before starting it. I started my garden almost a year ago and it's still far from finished.

Sort out your monthly council tax payments straight away. If you miss even one month the fuckers are likely to decide that you suddenly have to pay for the entire year in one payment...

(this might not be the same for every council but I've had it happen and it caused misery).

If renting, make sure to do a full inventory check (including taking pics of any damage) and sending it all to your landlord before moving in. That way they can't shaft you out of your deposit for damages that were already pre-existing

Clean the house once a week, preferably at the same time and day. Just put your headphones in and its not that bad. But if you leave it it becomes a real drag on your life.

Wash behind the ears , eat all your veggies and learn to tuck yourself in !!

Get contents insurance, and buildings insurance if you mortgage. Include things like bicycles, laptops etc especially when away from home. In my years I’ve had theft from inside and outside my home and I’ve been able to claim for replacements.

walk the grounds with a cadaver dog before signing anything

You can cook pasta in the sauce and make what I call one pot pasta 🍝 bon ape tit

First off, if you see gum on the street, leave it there. It's not free candy.

Something always breaks. On paper you look like you are making it, have enough money month to month and so you spend a little more to have some fun, just remember something always breaks and you will need that money more than you know

You're about to start being bombarded and I mean genuinely harassed by the TV licencing agency, either get a licence or go straight to the website and fill out the "I don't own or watch live TV" form

Bin bags are annoyingly expensive and it’s trial and error to find one that doesn’t leak or split.

^congrats!

Don’t move out. Worst thing I ever did.

Have a massive party, piss off the neighbors , deal with the fallout for years

Or dont piss off you neighbors

If you’re renting make sure that you take photos of any damages or blemishes in your new house as soon as possible! Check under and behind things too, particularly mattresses. Your landlords will look for any and all excuses to get your deposit from you, particularly student landlords. Best case scenario you can just forget about the photos, but even the smallest thing can save you hundreds of pounds if your landlord ends up being a cunt. Would have saved me a lot of money if I didn’t make that mistake

Make sure you transfer all your important documents to your new address, car, licence, bank, insurance, inform work, make lots of lists, read your meters when you move in and set up all your utilities, bribe others to help with flat pack furniture pizza and beer evening afterwards, buy all the essentials pans, plates, glasses, cups, cutlery, bedding, towels etc

Batteries for smoke alarms etc

Batch cook tasty home-cooked meals every Sunday. It helps me resist ordering takeaway when freezer food doesn’t seem appetising.

Don’t be cheap on toilet roll.

Don’t buy cheaper appliances/utensils if you can avoid it. Buy cheap, buy twice.

Keep your house clean as you go. It’ll make life a lot easier when it comes to actually clean.

Get a heated drying rack

If you haven’t used it in 3 years it’s unlikely you’ll use it again. Declutter.

Change your bedsheets/towels often.

Try to get a good relationship with at least one neighbour. It’ll make your life a lot easier.

Leave spare keys with someone you trust but not too far away that it’ll be an inconvenience to get them.

Don’t leave your keys in the back door.

Don’t wear shoes in the house. Don’t bring the outside inside.

Microfibre cloths clean stainless steel a treat.

Keep your house stocked with essentials such as cereal and milk.

Bleed/balance your radiators every winter

The list goes on….

Don't trust anyone with your money or health. They look out for themselves first as they need to earn a living. Research every advice you are given by professionals before you act on it.

Cheese is bloody expensive

A chunk of money disappears every month on shit you can’t see or eat - elec, gas, council tax…

All the noises you hear at night are monsters waiting to kill you and your parents won't be there to protect you like they have always been doing up until now.

Make sure you know where to isolate your gas, water and electricity. With the water, you need to know where the tap is from the mains supply to your internal house, and also where the primary water valve is outside your property.

You have to buy not only food. You also have to buy cleaning products, plates, utensils etc. Check out what your parents have at their house that "has been there forever" and you never paid attention to them. You need those things. For example, you need at least 2 towels. You need scissors. You need a hammer. You need a corkscrew. You need extension cords.

Cleaning is definitely and absolutely NOT just dusting shelves, vacuuming and mopping the floors. You also need to clean the fronts of the cabinets, insides of the fridge, inside of the oven. You need to clean the vents from time to time. If you can install dust filters in the vents, do it. Ground floor flats without filters get dusty extremely fast. Honestly, one day after dusting they look the same as before dusting.

Don't buy food products without a plan. You'll either waste a lot of food or you'll only buy snacks and no real food. Plan your meals, buy products to make them. Also, make a grocery list and do shopping ONCE a week. Or once in 2 weeks. You will probably buy snacks and treats every time you do shopping (I can't leave the store without a juice, some fizzy drink and some crisps) and the more times you shop the more times you'll buy them. You'll not only spend more money on snacks, but you'll also gain weight.

Don't get short taking a shit. always have more than enough toilet paper . Antihistamines and meds so if you I'll you don't have to then go to the pharmacy to get things

Always pay your bills (or make sure you have enough to cover them) before you start spending on other shit (including nights out). Somebody else below said pay your bills by direct debit about 3 days after you get paid, which is good advice. Working out a spreadsheet of your monthly incomings and outgoings should tell you what you have to play with each month. Build up at least a few hundred pounds in case of unexpected nasty bills, car breakdowns etc. Over time, you'll be in a great position if you can build that up to 3 months salary.

Unless you have smart gas/electricity meters, send your energy company monthly readings or you could get an enormous bill if they underestimate your usage. This happened to me, I've always had a feeling BG like you to underpay because it means you have to pay the balance off if you want to leave for a better deal. Use comparison sites for all utilities, broadband and insurance.

Don't accumulate credit card debt, at least pay off the balance in full every month. Debt becomes a leash that ties you to a job you hate and if you get fired/made redundant you're in trouble. Just save for what you want and buy it when you can. Getting a loan for a car is reasonable if you need to, just make sure you pay it off reliably. Look after your credit rating, missed bill payments, lots of debt and defaulted loans make your life harder and more expensive in the long run. Do. Not. Use. Payday. Loans.

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Don't let your place be where all your mates come to get wasted.

As I commented elsewhere, spent 30 mins a week working out what you want to eat for the week and make a grocery list of ingredients you need. Takeaways cost a lot more than cooking your own meals. Takeaway delivery companies add a couple of pounds on top of the price compared to ordering direct from a takeaway which offers free delivery or you collect yourself. Takeaways should be an occasional treat, not most of what you eat.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/

Sky TV is a luxury that isn't worth how much it costs.

BONUS POINT: Open your windows now and again to let some fresh air in. Aside from smelling bad and having low oxygen levels, washing, bathing, cooking, drying your clothes indoors and breathing all produce a lot of moisture, you need to let it out and bring oxygen in.

If you don't open your windows ever you will start to find moisture building up on the inside of your windows (especially winter) and going mouldy, dry foodstuffs feeling damp and the inside of your external walls going mouldy. Especially open the windows in your kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.

In houses built before cavity walls (roughly before WW2), the walls are one solid brick layer which allows your walls to cool with the outdoor weather conditions. Indoors, moisture in the air will condense on your walls and naturally occurring mould spores will germinate and you will have mouldy walls.

In old houses like these, don't put large solid things like bed headboards, wardrobes, coat rails or stack piles of crap against the inside of your external walls. In cold corners where two external walls meet, don't put anything there that will block airflow, you need warm air to circulate in cold spots. In houses with cavity walls, mouldy walls are less of a problem as the cavity prevents the inside of your walls being cooled by external temperatures but you still need to ventilate to release the moisture. Leave your bathroom window open for 20-30 mins after you shower. Leave a window open during or after you cook if a lot of steam will be produced, dry your clothes outside when you can and leave a window open if you can't and leave your bedroom window open for 20 mins after you get up. It'll save you a lot of time cleaning mould. I learned all this the hard way.

Fix any water leak quickly, it will get bigger over time and cost more to repair. Every water outlet has a way of turning the water off just to that outlet. Turn it off ASAP and call a plumber or your landlord.

I mean you'll probably still be living under someone else's roof.

Just less rules but now you are paying rent.

It's not as fun as it sounds.

You've to buy your own food and know what to cook!

I’ve lived on my own for 15 years and I’m still learning from these answers 😂

Easier to do a quick tidy before bed then you wake up to a nice house.

Less is more. Buy light-weight, easy to break-down furniture. Keep your living space simple.

Get a freezer, frozen food is actually good quality food, cheap, can store for ages and there is so much variety. Especially frozen vegetables! The reason it is cheap is because producers have almost no spoilage

The magic basket only works under your parents roof. I had clothes in there for a month before figuring I had to take them back. Worked like a charm.

Life goes as follows: Clean the kitchen Clean the kitchen Clean the kitchen Clean the kitchen. Every day until you die.

Welcome!

Don't get high before grocery shopping. You'll end up with only junk food.

Don’t jerk off too often

Don't kill people. Apparently it's illegal or something idk

Toilet roll does run out.

In all honesty the one thing that hit me was the price on council tax. This along with the eye rolling you get if you complain about anything related to the council.

It's not hard to cook really good food and it doesn't save time and money if you eat take away shite.

It’s quiet

Clean once a week. Get an ostrich feather duster, read on how to deep clean. Always clean under and behind things top to bottom (That’s what the feather dusters for)

Put your bills on auto-pay. As long as you can keep enough money in the account to cover them you'll never have think about them or deal with them getting shut off.

Number 1, Find a good mechanic! Now to the rest…

Nobody is coming to help you. You are your own person. You are your own adult. Take pride in your possessions and property. Don’t litter. Keep a tidy curb appeal. Always be friendly first then assertive second. Respect your neighbors even when they don’t respect you. Don’t call police for minor annoyances. Try to handle situations as maturely as you can. PAY YOUR BILLS! Don’t let people tell you how to live your life. If you are competent and confident, it’s cheaper and more rewarding to buy tools and learn a skill rather than pay someone else an astronomical amount to do the same work, and, you’ve started a tool collection! Buy what you can afford but don’t cheap out. Decent tools will pay for themselves over time. Cheap tools just become garbage (mostly). It’s much cheaper to grocery shop than to eat out. Cherish the time you have with your loved ones. Bad times can happen in an instant. Try to love instead of hate.

And once in great while, try to enjoy yourself :)

Fresh fruit and vegetables will spoil way faster now that you're paying for them.

Learn where the stopcock and fuse box is way before you need to use them!

Theres a lot of other people that would like take advantage and crash your place A lot of times Just one day becomes months Good luck

not all neighbors are neighborly

Expect to find things that need fixing or aren't perfect once the previous owners furniture has gone. Ours had a wardrobe strategically hiding a damp problem, also the kitchen units were wrapped and once peeled off you could see they'd had it, had to have a new kitchen. Learn DIY, YouTube is your friend and you'll save a lot of money, it's also very satisfying when done right. Have a fund for emergency repairs too, boiler going, needing an electrican, that kinda stuff. You'll suddenly become aware how expensive boring stuff like fridges /washers/vacuums are too. Best of luck!

Your money is your best safety net! Save as much as possible live like a poor person grow into a rich one. Veggies rice and beans are cheap at Aldi and you’ll be healthier, thinner, and your pockets will be fatter if you skip the meat and cheese. Lift Weights!! And Seriously a social life is over rated work more than you play stack your cheddar and study how to make it work for you. This all might sound lame but When you are 30 you’ll be in a better place than most people your age. 👍🏾

Never eat yellow snow.

Check every room and closet every day, every time you return home from wherever you. Make sure an axe murderer isn’t waiting till you go to sleep.

Council tax, no one warned me about council tax, and how much it is!

Don't even think about what money you've got until you've paid bills. Rent, Council tax, water, energy etc

Once you start falling behind with your bills it's tough to get back in your feet.

Introduce yourself to your neighbours so the first time you meet is on good terms. It makes resolving any issues so much easier but also maybe you’ll make a local friend.

Consider your neighbours in what you do. If you have a party, let them know in advance. Give them your number so if things are getting out of hand then they can let you know.

You might get incredibly home sick and over whelmed with the big change. Don’t be surprised if after a few weeks you run home crying. That feeling is normal. You’ll be fine.

You’re not going to get nearly as much pussy as you thought.

Get some budget software and use it regularly. Stick all your regular bills in there and a realistic amount for food but have separate categories for takeaways and food you buy on the go like coffee, Greggs etc. Spending money ie:treats, cinema tickets etc. Clothing, and household items also put as separate categories. Add a category for savings and aim to stick in as much as you can each month. Ideally you eventually want 3 to 6 months worth to cover bills if you lose your job (yes you would get Job Seekers allowance, no it's not enough to live on despite what the Daily Mail would have you believe) and after that save for long term goals like a house deposit, car etc. You might not be thinking about it now but you'll be a lot closer to that goal when you do.

See where your money goes each month and where you could cut back. Takeaways for instance are nice at the end of the week but when you add it up over a month it can be a lot. We dropped back to once a month and now just special occassions. It's saved us a lot of money.

Get a rough idea of your meals for the week to avoid the trap of not knowing what to eat and ordering take away when you are hungry. Give yourself a couple of easy things that you can just cook in the oven for days that you are too tired. Cooking wedges in the oven that you make yourself are cheaper than buying ready made and only take 5mins to prepare.

Aldi is one of the cheaper supermarkets. Buy no label brands unless you honestly don't like a particular thing then try the next one up. No brand spaghetti is cheap.

Open your windows regularly, even in winter for a short time or you can get a build up of moisture/damp. Ideally at least one at the front of the property and one at the back to encourage air flow through.

It sucks

Get a plunger. Your toilet will only clog if you don’t have one.

Don’t wash walls with those sponges that are yellow on the bottom and green on top, both sides will stain the wall and the rough side will peel paint.

Putting bins out and parking are the most emotive issues known to man within neighbourhoods.

I live near a school and the parking drama is severe.

I meant this one a week ago. Water bills, at least in the south come in 2 parts. So don't be surprised when you land two bills! Luckily for us it's every 6 months (:

Life is harder

Start getting good habits right away, like cleaning or making supper or else it’s hard if you’re used to doing nothing

Have a torch somewhere handy. Then you won't be in the dark if the fuse box trips.

spend a day every weekend cooking two or three meals at once in large quantity (3-4 servings each) and break them up to eat during the week for lunch and dinner. will also save you money from eating out all the time.

You should clean a lot more often than you think.

Use a strong cleaning product on your bathroom once per week. Flash Bleach is perfect. It stops black mould growing in your nice white mastic and keeps your bathroom clean.

Also pour bleach down your toilet at least once a week.

Groceries are fucking expensive

At some point they’ll ask you to move all of your stuff, even the stuff you think should live at your parents house.

Groceries are important, eat you vegtables

Wash your sheets and other bed stuff weekly.

Nothing’s ever straight forward.

Check all appliances before moving. No crazy wirings that may start a fire

Clean the toilet often and for that matter the bathroom.

Wash your bedding often.

If you are renting and have a landlord they will enter your accommodation. Just do with that what you will.

Save time pack for the inevitable move back in with your parents, by never unpacking. Helped me immensely.

Clean behind radiators

Pay your rent first before anything else.

Damp always expect it

You’re gonna wonder how your parents kept everything so clean

Being negative and complaining about shit makes your life worse. Being positive and laughing makes your life better. I promise

Bills suck.

Don't buy things you can't pay for at the moment.

And pay for insurance. I think they are as important in the UK as they are in Germany. :D

Don’t expect tradesmen to turn up. It’s their thing.

Clean the shower when you are using it, you're wet anyway and can get into all the corners without getting clothes wet. Also, get a squeegee for the shower door and use it everytime you shower, stops the build up of soap scum etc on the door.

Find where the water stopcock is. It's usually under the kitchen sink.

Don’t do it. Go back, turn around and go back, it’s not too late. Save yourself

Don’t blindly trust your landlord. They do not have your best interests in mind.

Don't worry about phoning up a friend or relative with a quick question. A lot of people feel flattered when you defer to their expertise (as long as you're not asking them to stick up that panel fencing). Your mum in particular may be pleased that you're phoning for her to say hi and to ask how to cook an apple crumble. Hving said that, You Tube, Google and a bit of casual UK will answer all kinds of questions you may have. House warming is best done before buying that white carpet.

If you're not into cooking already a cook book pitched at students could prove useful. If you're competent cooking potatoes, rice and pasta you're half way there! You can get plastic microwave rice cookers and they're very useful. Stick your house number on garden rubbish bags as well as bins as these can blow down the street and get nicked. Have a spare house key at your mums and don't accidentally lock yourself out of the house. Buy more plastic bottles of milk than you think you need and put one in the freezer.

Unpaid council tax will effect your credit rating.

That take away pizza menu from the dodgy place across town may seem like it’s going to be amazing but it won’t live up to expectations

You can never have enough toilet paper, always stock up. Better having excess rather than being caught short.

Don't know if this relevant outside of the U.S, but before you move into a place make sure you check 1.) Weather proofing around all entries (doors, windows, etc 2.)If renting document all minor and major damages (cracks, chipped floors, broken anything that you didn't bring into the place) 3.) Make sure you make a list before going grocery shopping, and always buy yourself at least one easy heat up meal. (Its hard to take care of yourself if your exhausted) 4.) Also make sure you set aside 30 min everyday to tidy and clean, that way you only have an hour( if that) to clean clean your home on the weekends

FIND THE STOPCOCK.

Finally 38 moving out my man 💪, buy a bidet moved and finally have a clean ass

If your renting, take photos of any damage to the property the day you move in from the previous tenant. So you don't loose your deposit.

Also check all the dates of any white good for when they where last serviced. If they need doing tell your landlord ASAP and get it sorted.

Cheese is expensive

Clean as you go

In the US at least, your electricity contract doesn’t auto renew to a new contract. They’ll put you at a ridiculous rate. I had a bill near $800 for electricity due to that and the typical bill was less than $200. I had to make payments on that one.

That you should create an excel spreadsheet to track expenses.. then make a budget, and stick to it, because you’ll be surprised how quickly money becomes an issue… And it’s easier to handle if you go into it with a plan

Don't forget you have to lock up and take the bins out

Always be your future friend and tidy up as you go. Your future self will hate you if you don't. This is especially true when it comes to washing the pots.

Invest in a good radiator key instead of those crappy plastic ones.

Set your heating on a timer in the winter months so you don't wake up freezing every morning.

Put a blind in the bathroom. Despite the frosted and patterned glass people can still see shapes through the window which can make for an awkward conversation or funny looks with neighbours.

Buy an organiser for your important letters and paperwork.

Really go all out on making your home as "you" as possible. Because theres no place like home and its much more enjoyable and relaxing when you walk in the door and like what you see.

Clothes don't magically clean themselves

Get airtight containers for dry goods like flour, rice etc. Otherwise infestation that will occur sooner or later will spread through your whole kitchen and be a real pain to get rid of.

Keeping your fridge and kitchen cupboards stocked costs a fortune.

Don't let your friends eat your food. It's not your responsibility to feed anybody but yourself. Don't ever spend your rent money.

Don’t forget to change the filter in your furnace.

Cheese is absurdly expensive for what it is.

Debt. Lots and lots of debt. Trick for resolving it: Apply for a grant

Good to hear you're moving out, Hope your parents support you. Good Luck bruh

That they will immediately down size to stop you moving back in

Renters insurance

Pay your bills on time

No matter what you do, your kitchen will always need cleaning. Made toast? The kitchen needs cleaning. Not been home for a week? The kitchen needs cleaning. Just cleaned the kitchen? Surprise, the kitchen needs cleaning.

Groceries are expensive. Never realized how easily you can rack up 100 dollars in a cart. Shop smart

Make sure you have somewhere to move into before you move out!

Buy a shower curtain immediately

A fair amount of Landlords are lazy wankers... Not all of them mind

Electrical appliances that give you instant heat cost a fuck load of money. Be weary of your usage of electric fan heaters, electric showers, electric underfloor heating etc. I'm guessing you're new to paying bills and it can really shock you if you're not careful.

Also right now standard variable tarrifs are currently the best tarrifs to be on.

I’m an American who saw this on all. One thing that was pointed out to me when I first moved out is that work is the only place where you can take a free shit. At home you’ve got to pay for the toilet paper, the water, and depending on where you live you have to pay for the sewage too. Just shit at work, it’s free there. I think that could be considered fairly universal advice.

That you should stay at home and save your money haha

People start sending you bills for gas, lectric, water and community charges, the cheek of it!

Always make your bed in the morning and keep a clean house. These two things will bring you peace of mind

Gumtree, olio, Facebook market place and nextdoor are perfect for finding cheap and free things for around the house ! If you have a car you can basically get everything you need for free ! I've done this as I move fairly frequently and it means you dont feel bad leaving stuff behind and also give old stuff a new lease of life !

If you call yourself a “big boy”, you’re probably not ready to move out of your parent’s house.

Edit: If people at your parent’s house call you a big boy, you should definitely move out!

Buy a chest freezer. Learn to cook for four people. That way can freeze three portions everytime you cook a meal. Like spagbol, curry, stews and soups keep really well. Soon builds up.

If your power goes out do not open your fridge or freezer. Also, get a realtor box to house a spare key outside.

Set up a separate bank account for bills and another for savings. On payday, you pay your bills plus an extra little bit, we usually round everything up to the next £5. At the end of the month transfer all that's left from both your other accounts to the savings account.

Also it's easier to save money if you move it on pay day.

Plan your meals, spag bowl, casseroles, fajita mix can all be cooked in large quantities and frozen which will help reduce your shopping bill. It's cheaper to make your own sauces and spice mix in bulk than it is to buy prepared, also a lot healthier.

Finally routine is key to happiness, build a good routine and stick to it, bed around the same time, awake around the same time, set days to tidy a room, eat at the same time.

O have fun and good luck

Chores are now a hobby. Deal with it.

Adult life sucks! Abort mission, I repeat abort mission! Go back to childhood life for as long as humanly possible.

Try actually listening and applying the advice from others to your life.. don’t just hear them and take it with a grain of salt. Apply the advice to your life

Fruit goes bad faster when you’re the one buying it

Cloths washing never end nor dose the washing up

Every Sunday morning the landlords daughter will let herself into your new apartment and suck your dick

Where is your fuse box/stop cock /gas supply cutoff

Yes, don’t leave your parents house…

Organise your computer so that you have separate folders for EVERYTHING. Pictures of moving into house, plus garden. Folders for bills/repairs and a Doc with all phone address and email addresses too. Folder for ALL emails, sub divided with folders for council tax etc. Keeping emails in LOCAL storage is a good move in case of internet outage. A well organised computer will save you a LOT of grief in the future.

Scan important/big receipts.

When cooking and using various ingredients, once you’ve used it, don’t put it down, put it away. Before you know it herbs/ spices/ butter/ oil/ milk/ cream/ onions/ pasta/ empty tins/ rice/ salad/ salt/ pepper/ knife/ chopping board/ onion skins is all out in the side. Don’t put it down. Put it AWAY!

Know where your fuse box is and how to turn off your water.

Find out where smoke alarms are and what battery (if they’re battery operated) they take and also practice taking it off the ceiling,yourself at 5am on a Sunday and you’re neighbours will thank you when they inevitably start running low and make the annoying random beeps

Your never going to financially recover from this

Living alone sucks.

Spare keys, you’re gonna lose your keys, have spares preferably with someone or somewhere accessible.

If you rent a place, take pictures on your phone and inspect it thoroughly for damage and issues so that when you move out, the landlord doesn’t keep your deposit.

And never be afraid to turn on the dishwasher. It’s seldom too empty. It’s a lot easier to empty it of clean dishes when it’s only half full then when it’s completely full.

And non stick pots are a godsend. The good Lord gave someone the brains to make them for a reason

Council tax is fucked up and they can take you to court quick time!

Instead of putting the heating on you can save money by wanking all the time to raise your body temperature

Stay home with your parents. You’ll save thousands

Shop around for internet, gas and electricity providers. You can save quite a bit by making sure you get the best deal available, especially with the energy companies; don’t just stick with the one that’s already servicing the house.

Theres no one to give you the heimlich manoeuvre when you live alone, So chew carefully.

You will feel lonely from time to time. A simple phone call can remedy this, equally taking up a hobby will probably be more beneficial now than ever (feeling productive, meeting new people, getting out of the house)

Save many years of depression and just kill yourself now

Learn about bills. Power, council tax, internet, water. Especially power. Just because they quote you a monthly amount doesn’t mean that will be what you pay if you use more

Vegetables if you buy them, go bad about 8x’s quicker then when you lived with parents

You will be looked at with suspicion by your immediate next door neighbours when you move in if you don’t go over and offer a bowl/container of sugar or flour within about 24-48 hours of moving in. Even in blocks of flats.

That no one gives a shit.

You'll realise the convenience of your parents decades of accumulation has given you. Like for example, you'll make a really nice soup, and then think "Fuck, I haven't got a ladle". This will go on for ten years with different things but eventually, you'll just about have everything. "Fuck, wish I had a cast iron skillet right about now"

Don't buy cheap pans! Invest in some decent ones if possible they will last much longer and cheap pans are usually not non-stick so you will burn less food too.

You will need a broom and dustpan.

If you live alone you're entitled to a 25% council tax discount

Establish and stick to a budget quickly. Adjust the budget as life changes.

Curtains are fucking expensive

Make a savings fund (isa or something that grows money) and aim to save a certain amount each pay, look at investing.

Saucepans are so expensive. Oh and curtains

Buy some slipper socks and a nice cozy jumper and save a fortune on heating.

Monitor power bills from the start. Good way to forecast how much money you'll need month to month moving forward. Same with any repeating expenditures like groceries. We set up an excel sheet with all of it total life saver.

Don't waste money on cheap pots and pans...buy something that might be a little expensive because you will end up spending the money anyway. Get yourself something nice to cook with for your birthday or ask as Christmas presents. I have a pot I got for my birthday 20 years ago that I treat like my own kid and is worth the effort.

That jus because you’re moving out doesn’t make you a “big boy” like society deems.

The stovetop actually lifts up, there’s little metal arms in it, pull the stovetop up and clean underneath.

Get a carbon monoxide detector

Before you move in, remember to buy a pair of scissors. You wouldn’t believe how important they are.

Always check your doors are locked before bedtime and before heading to work.

The advice I give to anyone still at their parents house is: if it's still viable , stay there as long as you can and save up your money, get yourself a decent job etc before moving out. I moved out at 18 and didn't realise just how much bills alone would cost, let alone things like an oven, washing machine, fridge, repairs etc and you also realise you took things like your mum's (or dad's) cooking for granted. Not to say that moving out is a negative experience because I managed to get my shit together but when you're young you only really think about the freedom etc and don't focus so much on the negatives that may not have been as bad had you waited a couple of years.

Eventually you get tired of living alone.

This ones probs a bit too late, but for other folks (or my future self) even if the new place looks amazing.... always, ALWAYS check who the actual F lives upstairs to you. Mistakes were made and I have a fucking zoo living upstairs with non stop stomping until 4am in the morn.

"Kids will be kids" they say.

White vinegar, lemon juice, and water in a spray bottle will clean just about anything and costs far less than spray cleaners that claim to be for x surface or y issue.

Stock up on those magic eraser things. You can buy them in bulk on Amazon (generic ones). Those are great for scuffs or the fingerprints that accumulate around doorknobs and cabinet handles.

Invest in a decent vacuum cleaner if you have carpets anywhere. Don't get a Dyson - they're overrated. Shark makes a good, affordable version. Miele makes the Rolls Royce version and will last a very long time.

The cleaning. You will realise just how hard your parents worked to keep your house clean.

Simple DIY repair as tightening screws is simple, quick fix that saves a lot of head ache and annoyance. And if you hace *any* IKEA furniture, some good hand tools will make your life much easier :)

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Just keep a set of good hand tools, and know which tool to use. The statement that "right tool is half the job" is an understatement. I would not reccomend buing a "all in one" kit as those looks impressive, but the quality is usually pretty ropey

Know that there are similar screw heads / bit types that looks similar, but are very little compatible. Here is a simple web page that shows you some common screw head types

You should have a simple tool box that contains

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There are loads more that can be added. But these are basic tools that you really should have available for small fixes on furniture, bikes or anything other.

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If you are into computers or small electronics I highly recommend a iFixit tool kit. Those are just fantastic

Get Renters or Home Owners insurance. If you can afford, a decent security system with cameras.

Renting? Photograph every room, every wall, every carpet. Some letting agents will try to screw you out of every penny of your deposit otherwise.

Always know where your towel is.

You had it really good at mum and dads.

Wilko is your best friend for good but cheap staring home stuff. Some you will replace some you never will need to We still have things from there from 7 years ago that beat more expensive versions.

Cleaning never ends

Always budget more for your bills than you think you’re gonna need. That gas and electricity bill comes at you outta no where sometimes

Adulting sucks and the bills never stop coming.

You will think you have everything but will probably be missing random things for a few years just until the need for them arises. E.g. oh I didn't bring a can opener! Or oh I don't have a tape measure! Mostly random stuff which is different for every person.

All the little things, if you don’t do them there’s nobody else going to do them for you. Oh, and being a responsible adult sucks.

Roommates always suck, even if they start out as friends

Level of time masturbating will quadruple.

If you drive, register your car to your address. I got a £800 fine because of that mistake.

Got two bus lane fines in December. Bailiff at my door in June. Didn't know I had the bus lane violations cos I never registered my car when I moved into my new flat.

The first few weeks are the hardest, but once you've worked out the shortcut to the local shops/train/bus stops/pub then you'll feel better about it all

Also: Live with guys=Messy house but everyone gets along fine
Live with girls=clean house but they'll all fall out at some point and you'll be dragged into picking sides

At least, in my experience.

Don't forget toilet paper

Energy bills will always be more expensive than you expect.

Life is a never-ending battle against mould.

If you have even the slightest idea there may be a water leak get it sorted ASAP, even a drip can cause a lot of expensive damage. Source: previous people tried to bond plastic to metal in toilet piping, it didn't work.

Be sure to send your meter readings for gas and electric if you’ve not got a smart meter! In my house at uni, someone came to read it often enough that I didn’t need to but in my first proper flat no one came and I ignored the emails and got hit with a £500 bill when I moved out!

A lot of things might be in place by your landlord if you’re renting, but there’s a lot of little things you never really think about. A <£10 carbon monoxide detector can save your life.

Single persons discount on council tax! Save yourself I think 25% on it if you live alone.

Buy yourself a plunger BEFORE you need a plunger

The cost of food will bend you over and slide right on in

Buy a plunger, before you need it.

Don't drop soap in the shower

Vegetables go off quicker than you think and cheese is expensive

Haha you’re better off paying the parental units rent

Get a separate current account and route all your 'house' bills through that - rent, energy bill, water, council tax, Internet, your mobile I guess if you live alone, and so on. Calculate how much all these things cost into one figure and set up a standing order from your main 'personal' account to your bills account to cover it all.

You then know that your household costs are always covered without having to do much about it, and you don't accidentally spend your rent money.

IMPORTANT NB1 - Round. Everything. Up. You will end up with a nice little surplus for emergencies and you will be grateful for it.

IMPORTANT NB2 - average the amount for your energy across a whole year so you overpay in summer to cover the increase in the winter. Your account may look healthy af in September but it will soon drop when you need central heating, and being cold in your own home sucks. (In the current climate, it also means you hold your winter credit, not the energy company, which is nice.)

IMPORTANT NB3 - keep an eye on it in the first few months/year as your bills may change. You will settle into a routine after a while where it all works with minimal fuss.

I've used this method for a lot of years now, but always in the context of shared houses where there is a separate bills account that everyone pays into - no missed bills, no arguments about who pays what, no effort keeping it all on track, and at the end of a tenancy you split any remaining surplus. Me and my partner still do this. So if you start doing this straight away it has the added bonus of being really simple to split if you do decide to share your home with someone.

Utilities take weeks to sort out - switching over from the previous supplier, getting the landlord / previous tenants to pay any utility bills. Take the time to get it sorted before you’ve moved in so you don’t end up paying final bills from utility companies.

Cold walls, warm air, poor airflow = condensation damp.

Put lids on pots, use extractor fans, open windows, close doors when cooking/showering etc.

Life will never be as easy again

Don't assume council tax will be in contact with you, or be competent. Don't assume that their incompetence/slowness will not backfire on you. Contact them, give them all of the details they need when you do (full address and/or council tax reference) and keep any correspondence with them.

Don't email them after 3 months asking why they haven't been in contact because you'll still owe them 3 months worth of council tax which nobody wants. Also don't trust your landlord or estate agent to inform council tax of your move in.

C. Tax and Water rates. Even if your a good payer, if something happens and you miss payment they will give out CCJs like Halloween Candy. Have a small back up fund set up to make sure you never miss those payments, cause that shit will ruin your credit for 6 years.

Buy a bucket, a plunger, and a torch before you need them. Usually by the time you need them it’s too late to have the time/option to go buy one.

Good neighbours are worth their weight in gold. So try to not be an areshole neighbour.

• Keep! Your! Kitchen! Clean! It will prevent bugs from nestling there and it does really make a difference in how your food tastes. A cleaner kitchen also makes it more welcoming to prepare a meal.

• Pick the cheapest supermarket chain.

• Keep an eye on your finances. Little purchases can quickly become a lot. Might wanna make a plan.

• If your new home looks empty, led lights, rugs and posters/paintings make a big difference in the ambience.

Coming from an 18 year old female pre-student :)

Don't move out

The first time you officially move out of your parent’s house, it is NEVER the same if you ever move back in or come and stay a few days. Never ever ever the same. It feels different, it is different.

Don’t forget to include council tax in your budgeting! I forgot it was a thing until I got the first bill after I moved into my own place with my boyfriend

Unless you're lucky.... Your neighbours don't give a shit about your rights or whether you live or die. This may be me just speaking from bitter experience of the fat waster and his useless family I am cursed with.

It takes a roughly $600 USD purchase to buy all of the little things you'll need to maintain a household. Everything from a plunger and toilet scrubber, to a $25 tool kit, so you can fix trivial stuff. Also you probably won't have a washer or dryer, so you'll need to budget for the laundry mat.

You should avoid living paycheck to paycheck if you can avoid it. Put as much money as reasonably possible into savings, so if something comes up you'll be prepared. A couple of months worth of living expenses at least.

Get to know your neighbors a bit. It's always good to have a few extra sets of friendly eyes and ears. It's also good to know who belongs and who doesn't.

Lastly, it can be lonely living alone. Try to find a hobby or interest that'll give you social interaction. Even introverts need someone sometimes.

Don’t buy cheap bad quality cookware, furniture etc. it’s better to invest in something which will last than waste your money on something which will have fallen apart in 2 years. A fashion savvy partner is also somewhat of a godsend when it comes to having a house that doesn’t look like the clearance page of an IKEA catalogue.

Take a picture of the reading on the gas and electric meters when you move in. Contact who ever you have chosen as the supplier and report tbe readings and the day you moved in so you don't end up paying the last person's bill. Do the same with the water meter if there is one. If they are pre payment meters contact a supplier to get your own card/key for the meters and have any previous debt cleared.

Learn where your water mains is and how to turn it off in a hurry.

Buy a plunger before you need it.

If you expect lady guests, get a bathroom trash can.

Easier to tidy up everyday. Just a little

Clean the toilet regularly.

Without a doubt nobody tells you how much of a full time job having a nice lawn is. If you see someone with a nice lawn, make no mistake it is not by accident, that lawn owner is grafting to make it like that.

Buy a plunger before you need one...

You can eat cereal any time of day

Tenants Insurance. It's surprisingly cheap, and absolutely something every renter should have.

If you’re an adult and still call yourself a “big boy”, please seek therapy before you start breeding or even trying to associate with other people.

Deep clean your new house or apartment yourself! Even if management or the landlord says they had cleaners come in, in my experience they miss A LOT (especially if it's an apartment complex and they want to cut corners). I'm sure a lot of cleaners do great jobs but there's something extremely calming/reassuring about going over it yourself.

Develop a taste for furniture and how you want your living space to look, don't just sit around with the same hand-me-downs and furniture you bought for 10 years because it filled a gap you needed. It's worth it to invest in your nest.

dont move until you have 3 months of rent ! 3 months for deposit & 3 months of rent ! 🤷🏽‍♀️

Learn a few recipes that are cheap and easy. All my younger friends who move out come over and learn fettuccine, enchilada soup, and how to make a legit sandwich. This will save your life and your budget. Soups can be frozen in smaller containers and defrosted for 20 min meals.

All recipes above cost less than 20$ to feed you for 3-5 days if you use all the ingredients

Given the young people that work at my place, somebody didn't tell them that you have to wash your own pots. They just leave them in the sink.

Living with friends can ruin friendships. Beware.

Don’t dump things by the door, make a habit of putting things away whe you get in. Soon will become second nature and save so much time I the future

Congrats. Did it just after my 30th birthday about five years ago then Covid came about, parents needed someone here to look after them, landlord wouldn't allow the flat to be empty (even though I was still offering to pay the full rent on time every month) so said I could leave if I wanted without paying any extra to leave early, I decided to leave and move back home, lost my job, thank you Covid and once again living back at home.

I appreciate my parents having me home but being back under their roof, living by their rules, it is a pain in the arse. Oh the landlord said that in his area empty places have been known to be taken over by squatters and homeless people and he didn't want that to happen to his property. I loved living in the flat (it was great, cheap enough, had a post office, an Sainsbury's and most importantly a chip shop close by but the parents come first).

Edit: Just want to clarify this isn't a negative comment towards anyone moving out or back home. I have respect for both sides. If you live at home with your parents that's fine too and if you don't that's fine too).

Change your sheets often. If you’re thinking, hmmm it might be okay. No. Change them.

Also clean every day. Once again, if you think you can get away with it. No. Clean anyways.

It will take you years to accumulate proper cooking and eating utensils. Pizzas cutter, lids that fit the pot, etc

If you’re cooking with oil and for some reason it catches fire. Do not put water on it! Smother it with a lid or use baking soda.

I read this whilst deciding what to have for Dinner. You’re all right. I have food at home :(

Clean every mess you make up before making another mess.

Meet your new neighbors! I can’t stress enough how just being friendly and cordial with your neighbors is either going to save you down the road by having another ally looking out for you or at the worse it’s going to identify who to avoid.

Always have a bin and soap in the bathroom. Don't cockblock yourself by forgetting.

  • Find at least one 24hr shop within walking distance. If no 24hr shops, locate a few of the latest-open shops and make a quick trip there to see what they have. You never know what you’ll need and when you’ll need it.

  • get an air fryer if you’re not very adept in the kitchen. If you are, still get an air fryer.

  • Keep one back-up roll of toilet paper away from the rest and save it for an emergency.

  • get at least 2 sets of bed sheets to have a good clean rotation. Keep the other set neatly folded inside one of the set’s pillowcases for convenient storage.

  • learn how to properly do laundry to make your clothes fresher and last longer. Do you put fabric softener in with jeans? How do you not lose that new fuzzy feeling on towels and throws after the first wash? How can you keep your black jeans and shirts blacker for longer? Mommas always make that shit look easy.

  • with your new freedom it can be tempting to invite all the nice people you meet in bars back to your place for drinks when the gaff’s shut. Don’t. Be careful of who you invite into your home.

  • try and make nice with the neighbours. They can make your like pleasant or a living hell. Even if they are neutral, you’re still lucky.

  • always keep a back up pair of fresh clothes that you won’t touch until you need to. I’ve got a three pack of CK undies, 6 pair of wool socks, a pair of superdry jeans, and two work shirts still brand new in their packaging in my wardrobe. There are a dozen times where having that stash would’ve come in supreme handy. Obvs doesn’t have to be name brand, I’m just a big of a snob.

  • learn basic diy repairs like emptying the u-bends under your sinks or resetting the water heater. So many expensive pro call outs can be avoided with a little knowledge. Remember, safety first, though.

  • get a toolbox with basic tools (hammer, nails, duct tape, screwdrivers, pliers, etc.) even if you aren’t a handyman. They’re good to have around.

  • get a decent first aid kit and check it periodically to make sure it has everything you need and all supplies are in date.

Buy a carbon monoxide detector if there isn't already one there. Same goes with a smoke detector.

Get yourself some decent cookware, it's worth it in the long run.

Make sure you know how to change a bulb/plug and keep spare fuses/bulbs somewhere easy to find.

Make sure you know when the bin day is.

Check where the stopcock is. Make sure it can be turned off.

If you don't know how to cook - use YouTube. There are loads of videos to help.

Diffusers are the shit.

Forget air fresheners, candles, incense etc. Want your home to smell amazing? Get yourself some reed diffusers.

When you cook meals, make extra and put them in meal sized containers or freeze them so you can just make a quick meal after work. Get yourself a good toaster oven, easy to heat up something quickly. Better for you than eating out when you are fried from work and don't want to cook.

A chest freezer is your friend

Everything is expensive as fuck

Mh

start drinking alcohol daily

Budgeting / Finances - have them under control early on! Have the money? Buy it. Don’t have it? Don’t buy it. Fuck credit card and installments. Financing only for the house if needed be (most likely to be the case).

Money problems can take a tool on your health and can literally kill you.

Clothing has different washing instructions based on the type of fabric. Not everything can/should be washed in hot/cold, and not everything Can go in the dryer …. Also….. don’t wash towels with clothes — the lint from the towels stick to your clothes

You mean besides continually kicking yourself for giving up free room and board?

Don't keep readily edible snacks or booze in the house. Get them in for a particular occasion sure, and feel free to enjoy them while you're out and about, but keeping them in the house can get you into bad habits unless you're really disciplined.

Get some candles, low-maintenance house plants and some art for the walls. The ladies will assume you have a personality/life and that will stand you in good stead.

Also, stock up on like 30 vacuum cleaner bags for your make and model, just in case they're hard to come by in a few years.

Your first grocery shop will be a killer.

You need all the little shit that everyone has in their kitchen. It’s all cheap, but adds up.

Spices, salt, sugar, sauces, ketchup, vinegar, plastic wrap, aluminum foil, garbage bags, laundry detergent, dish soap, hand soap.

Get as much of this stuff from your parents as possible.

When to cook pasta and rice the heat shouldn't be at max, down to about 75%, less even.

I spent years eating sludge before anyone pointed out out

Also save some of the water you boiled the pasta in as your staining it. Para water revives your leftovers to taste better then fresh cooked and your Mac and cheese wings be lumpy like it is with milk. I'm fact you can even use the pasta water if you can't afford milk or butter for Mac.

Deciding what to eat every day is horrible. Plan your meals, it’s a ball ache but the structure is really helpful and saves Asda trips every day.

It’s also very lonely, I split up with my partner had to live by myself at 19. It’s horribly lonely. Find close knit friends, always try and keep active and I promise you that cleaning up small and often is better than saving it for a day off.

Also find a cool hobby to fill the evenings, I personally recommend chess because it keeps your brain active as well as a new skill and the community is pretty friendly.

On a crude side as well, if you ever think about inviting an ex over because you want some fuck, do your thing alone and then ask. Post nut clarity. I promise you’ll thank me later instead of having some big regrets…

Feel free to build your organization system. Put your pots, pans, and plates where you want, not just where they’ve always been!

Don’t wait until your hamper is overflowing to do your laundry

Invite people over every week or two to force you to clean up. Assume one of them is going to stay the night...

Whenever you tell someone your new address, bank, utilities, driving license, home delivery etc make a note in a list on your phone that you told them, makes updating everyone that needs it for the next time you move so much easier.

Pay for enough insurance, just in case the neighbor starts their kitchen on fire. You might think you don't need that much but really look at what you have and think about having to replace it all. Also always have a pack of bandaids, and extra toilet paper (not hoarding but a four or six-pack extra). It sucks to run out in the middle of the night for either of those things.

Move back, save money.

You will feel lonely and you have to stay alone, then you will learn to live happy with your loneliness

Set aside money for bills and rent BEFORE entertainment budget

Humidity control and ventilation is something you should really be aware of. Opening windows after showers, windows on the latch for ventilation.

Mold can creep up, and in certain houses it can become a real problem if you're not aware [being a first time moving outer].

Our first flat had no central heating and we didn't really know mold as a concept because well...you just live in your parents house innit.

People treat gardens as though they’re a life objective and a value add for a house. They are not.

They are an unmitigated pain in the arse. A massive time sink. And any lapse in maintenance leads to them immediately looking scruffy.

Unless you love gardening, avoid properties with green gardens. Either go for paved yards or nothing. Also saves you a fair bit on the overall cost of the property.

Do something little everyday to keep the place clean. Dust on Monday’s, vacuum on Tuesday’s, clean bathroom on Wednesday’s, etc. Doing little things take up no time but save tons of time doing a “big” clean on the weekend.

Subscription services will fuck you in the wallet .get rid of all of them.

Buy a 5kg bag of rice that way you will always have something to eat even if you totally stuff up your finances.

Never.ever.ever gamble . This is directed at all forms of speculative self ruin up to and including kidding yourself you are investing in crypto currency.

Buy quality not quantity. No one needs more than three saucepans and one frying pan. Realistically, if you are single make do with one.

Do laundry every day, it stops the horror.

Do an hour of cleaning a day. It stops the horror. If everything is done then do something else outside your usual .

Go easy on the porn, drugs and booze. No one likes a fat, strung out wanker.

Save some money each month, set goals ,make a five year plan and work towards it.

Don't get into tattoos. They're passe.

Change your bedclothes at least once a month, if not for you then for any guests you might have unexpectedly.

Teach yourself one new meal to cook from scratch each month until you never need to get a just eat ever again.

Buy a massive box of condoms ,get comfortable with them BEFORE. You need them. Have them at hand all the time.

Always have a clean towel stored. Perhaps a brand new toothbrush too if you have a bathroom of your own to store it 'for guests'

Buy a newspaper the day you move in to put in every photo you take of every single part of your new abode when you move in.

If there is an itinerary of items check through it before you move in to check the accuracy of it.

Ask where your damage deposit is being kept.

Get a copy of your key cut and leave it somewhere safe in case you lock yourself out.

Figure out who the weird neighbor is so you can shun them.

Great list!

Don't know your gender, but if you're a guy, just know that a woman will take over and redecorate every square millimeter of your place.

No objection will suffice. No force in the universe can counter a woman's will to take a space and make it "look cute".

And she'll change her mind and redo it all five years later.

And you'll be doing the heavy lifting.

It's worth it, but be aware.

Maybe date blind women.

The small appliances and towels and ect can be expensive, tables and chairs especially.

Have a small trash can next to your toilet. You'll impress the ladies.

Track your expenses. All of them. For at least a year, better for two.

That way you’ll know exactly “where your money went”.

Landlords take ages to fix anything and somehow always find an excuse to delay it

You get along with your parents better when u move out

Check all the lightbulbs and replace any which are not LED bulbs. If you have filament bulbs this will save a ton of money.

Cannot recommend doing a meal plan enough. Plan for the week, do your shopping in 1 go, and enjoy more free time to yourself.

Wash dishes as you go

Clean at least once a week. No one likes doing it, but spend an hour on a Saturday morning, get the tunes on and just blast it out.

Be polite to your neighbours if you can. It'll come in handy sometime if you need a favour

Do whatever you have to do to avoid getting bedbugs. I cannot emphasize this enough.

Affording a place in the uk? You must be a doctor or something

Buy a small wet/dry shop-vac. It makes cleaning MUCH easier.

Google what it is, if you’re not sure.

You will always be cleaning the kitchen. Whether you make dinner or get takeout, you will always, somehow, have dishes to do and a counter to wipe. It took me a while to get used to but isn't so bad anymore :)

Food goes off quicker when you’ve bought it.

Set a routine and follow it - meal times, sleep time, washing and so on… or you might find yourself playing play station at 2 am eating frozen pizza

Housing insurance

Renters insurance

Get whatever is applicable

TAKE PHOTOS OF EVERYTHING AS IT IS NORMALLY

Lightning hit my house once Destroyed all my electronics

Couldn’t prove they worked before hand Insurance didn’t pay out

When it works it works amazing

When it it doesn’t it fucking sucks

Make it work for you

Number 1: Don't call yourself a big boy

Get about 4 or 5 of those motion sensing plug in night lights.

So if and when you get up at night you don't need to switch anything on you can just go about your business and go back to sleep

Find a trusty neighbour to keep an emergency key for you in case you lock yourself out. (Happens more often than you think)

you have to clean your stovetop & dust shelves and surfaces or else shit, pardon my language, accumulates slowly & your place will eventually look messy

No matter how simply you live or how broke you are, there will always be people who want to take advantage and leech off you. There will be the “friend” you just met who wants to sleep on your sofa “for a few nights,” or who shows up for every meal. Also, you may run into landlords who think it’s ok to go into your apartment when you’re not there to “drop off a package” or “inspect a pipe” or something - they have to give notice - as a renter you have to protect your privacy and security.

If you can afford it hire a cleaner for a couple of hours a week to do all the jobs you can't be bothered to makes life a hell of a lot easier.

Get rental/tenant insurance. It’s cheap.

Have a separate account for bills. Find out exactly how much you need to put in there and make sure all direct debits for bills go from there. Anything left over is yours to do what you want with. Do not fuck this up because it’s a very slippery slope into getting stung by fines etc.

Pay your bills/rent earlier than the required date.

Council Tax is bullshit. Dont pay for a TV licence if you don't watch live tv or BBC Iplayer. Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, 4od etc are totally fine no matter how much the BBC try to make you think it's illegal.

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Keeping your place clean is a lot more work than you’d think. Also the best roommate is someone who is clean and you rarely see.

Learn to make your bed, task one for the day done 2/ learn to cook. Microwaves are great but once in a while a home cooked meal will make you feel awesome. Clean up after yourself. Nothing says “ I’m not coping better than a dirty house/flat”

The kitchen sink fills up way faster than you think

You can Masterbate even more.

Buy a plunger before you need a plunger.

when you going to buy your first washingmachine make sure you get the "safetybolts" out !🤣

Always buy an extra bit of non perishable food like tins or rice just incase you need to buy a expensive item like replacing a appliance or if you just running short of money that month so you don't go hungry

Women notice if single guys keep the place clean. It makes you seem more independent and increasing the chance of a repeat date. I have also found I'll ascribe emotional maturity and intelligence to guys who clean, but I'm probably fooling myself.

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No matter how well you budget, you’ll need to add $200 a month to what you think it’ll all cost. Something always comes up! Entertainment is more expensive than people realize.

Are you getting your own spot or are you going to rent?

Do things faster.

For example, cleaning isn’t just cleaning. It’s a skill. Don’t just go through the motions and exist while doing it. Actually put effort in to get it done faster and you will save so so much time and make it much easier for yourself.

Start early organising all you official paper work and collect every fucking bill/ note that might be important

If you have adhd which is untreated then you will find it incredibly difficult to complete basic household chores. That’s what I learned anyway 😭

Save some money for things you'll need to buy that you don't really think about such as light bulbs, power cords/strips, cleaning products + sponges, rags, bucket, broom, mop wtv you need to clean, shower head, plunger.

Sink strainer or bathtub. Cutlery organizer/divider to stuck in your cutlery drawer, dish rack

Trash cans and bags, recycling bin

First weeks you will probably end up buying stuff like that you didn't think about as you need it.

Buy a couple of those dishmatic things, you know those sponges on a tube you fill with fairy liquid. Get one and fill it with flash or bleach and keep it in the bathroom Trust me it's ten times easier to use that and scrub down the whole room and rinse off than traditional cleaning methods.

Also antibacterial wipes are a huge time saver when cleaning counter tops and surfaces

Also always be mindfull of damp and mold.

Have candles with matches that you know how to reach in the dark (or have a torch you know how to reach to lead to the candles).

I know this might seem really obvious but:

do not miss a council tax payment

They do not fuck around

You need far less stuff than you think you do. Don’t buy a bunch of stuff you don’t need

On the assumption you will be working full-time to support such a move; you no longer have any time off. Any days off will be spent tidying, cleaning and washing.

That yellow mould under your new fridge,………DONT LICK IT!

Just buy less shit. Seriously the amount of crap that builds up in a house over the years is insane and all it does it take up space and gather dust. So much easier to do a quick dust around the room if you don't have to move 4,673 different ornaments and nicknacks out of the way first.

We have drawers full of useless junk that we've kept "just in case" stuff has been in them for over 5 years and never been used. The only time they've even come out of the drawer is when we took them out of the drawer in our old place to move to our current place and put back in the fucking drawer.

I have a bowl of keys near the door, I don't know what any of them open but I've kept them in a bowl on the side. You know just in case.

We have at least 30 different candle around the house none of them have ever been lit, they're only for decoration. Got to say they don't look very decorative covered in a think layer of dust because no one can be arsed to clean them.

We have an Alexa speaker in the spare room. No one goes in that room. The only person that uses it is my son when he comes home from Uni once every few months, and all he does is unplug it so he can plug his phone charger in. It's nothing but a paper weight that doesn't even have any paper to weigh down. But we can't get rid of it because "it was expensive, i'm not just giving it away". It hasn't been used. ever.. It's just more pointless shit lying around the house

The list could go on, literally it would take me a week to write a list of all the pointless crap we've collected over the years that's just scattered around the house. And the kicker is that any thing that is sentimental or remotely meaningful is packed away safely in the loft (attic) where it won't get damaged, and also coincidentally won't get seen ever again.

If you notice water where it shouldn’t be, investigate asap. It can save you lots of money in repairs.

You’re fucked lol

Keep a schedule and make sure you make grocery trips ahead of time and KEEP INVENTORY. At home we take things like milk butter and toast/eggs for granted because they will always be there. If you don't take care of it, no one will. Same with lunch for work. Don't get into the trap of buying take out after work because you are tired, get groceries. Make friends and don't isolate yourself, go out, get a gym membership or volunteer, you will have more responsibilities than you think. Now it's not all bad, make sure you make time for fun and recreation. Keep things clean throughout the week and it will save you hours on the precious weekends. House plants are very expensive but that's random. Don't buy more food than you can eat before it spoils because your siblings or parents won't eat it, you will.

Try and shop for ingredients for actual meals, not just whatever grabs your fancy

100% buy a plunger. U wont think about it till ur in a shitty situation

buy a plunger and one made for a toilet not the sink.

Just quickly spot clean your stove whenever you spill something on it. Believe me it adds up quicker than you think if you don’t. I always used to think my mom was nuts for doing that and now that I live with my wife, She thinks I’m nuts for obsessively doing it!

The 2 happiest words you will ever find while looking for a place: Bills Included

Cooking, cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping take a long time to do. You will be tired after a day's work, travelling and doing all of those chores when you get home.

If you are renting, your landlord will keep increasing your rent, even if they don't need the extra money and you are a good tenant. They won't go above and beyond to help you because it probably isn't in their interest and they can easily replace you with another tenant if you do anything remotely to upset them. The letting agent (if you have one) might seem nice, but they are working for the landlord, not you, so they will not have your back when bad things happen (rent increases, unreported damages, serving you with notices etc.)

If you own/mortgage, it costs hundreds to do DIY, and thousands to get professionals in. You'll spend a lot of time procrastinating about and carrying out DIY jobs, even if it seems mundane at first.

Bills are more expensive than you realise, so you'll have less disposable income for things like socialising and holidays. I advise setting yourself a budget for the first six months until you've settled in.

If you want to keep your friends dont move in with them

College buddy will be on your couch longer than "a couple of nights"

Get a squeegee and use it to clean all the water off the hard surfaces in the shower. It dramatically decreases the frequency you need to clean the shower properly.

Something I wish I had known....If you have a yard bad sprinklers blow out your sprinklers before the first freeze or you'll have thousands of dollars in damage.

If you have a basement invest in pest spray at least twice a year.

Flush and run any water sources in your house you don't use regulary at least once a month/scab rooms for damage etc.

Schedule checks and maintenance in your Google calendar so you don't get surprised by maintenance preventable damage and huge costs.

Keep a large binder that says HOUSE in a fireproof safe and in it you put your home owners insurance stuff and all the important stuff...but ALSO

Things like the instruction manuals, rebates and warranty paper copies for personal record for anything you have or install i.e. garbage disposal,new sink or shower head, that fancy new gaming chair etc. So that companies can't pull one over on it and it's quick reference. This can also include a section like yard work pest, roof, items kitchen cable box manual, etc.

Nobody is going to clean up after you.

Buy a plunger right away

I find making a schedule for dinners helps when I’m trying to think of what to cook and what to shop for. Ie: Monday-chicken, veggies Tuesday-soup and sandwiches Wednesday- pasta Thursday-fish, rice, veggies Friday-pizza/takeout Saturday-stir fry Sunday-roast

Buy a plunger now. By the time you realize you need one, it'll already be too late. Also, get a brush for your dishes. It's a million times easier than using a sponge to wash dishes.

You’re going to spend a fortune on things like spices and condiments.

Not everybody you think is a friend is actually a friend. Don’t let people flop on your couch in the name of “friendship”

It’s literally the same as living w parents but you pay rent and utilities now. Other than that there’s nothing really new it’s the same shit different day. Suppose it depends how independent you were at parents though like I already was doing everything for myself at home minus rent and utilities

Buy a plunger before you need a plunger.

That you don't have to move out of your parent's house to "be a big boy".

Pack the kettle, coffee, tea and milk last, un pack first.

Take some long life milk if you've no fridge.

Just clean ur dishes straight after you eat

1) Only get what you need, or significantly improves your quality of life. Don’t buy stuff just to fill empty space. 2) If you plan to have it for a while, don’t go cheap. If it is disposable/ perishable go cheap. 3) Splurge on good toilet paper. 4) Get into a habit of keeping it clean and organized. See number 1. 5) Independence is getting to establish your own order, not living with no order.

Pants are totally optional at home now

I recently moved out too, so I can definitely give u some insider shit I wish someone told me. No one prepares you to go from being spoiled in a sense by our mothers cooking every meal for us everyday, to having to legit find recipients and specific food to get at the grocery store and u gotta use it before it goes bad and learn how to actually cook meals, for yourself, all meals everyday for the rest of your life. That’s why everyone’s like “oh gotta love mommas cooking” when they are older and visiting. Try your best, like actually your best not college frat boy “trying”, to keep your kitchen and home clean. The more you don’t do tasks or put them off bc your tired after work, the more it will just accumulate. And no hate to frat guys they’re homes are just vulgar typically bc of the low effort😂 *recipes not recipients

Make sure to buy a plunger

When the tube of toothpaste is empty , it's time to get more , same with T.P. soap and deodorant .Just think of EVERYTHING your mother did for you ,YouNow HAVE to do for yourself .

Congrats OP and best of luck to you. I moved out of home to live on my own way to early (17) and it was a harsh learning curve. I wish I'd learned how to budget early on. I'm only just getting rid of debt now from my teenage years and I'm 49yo. So I'd say that this is massively important, as it's too easy to fall into debt. There are always companies trying to tempt you with credit cards and the like, and its so convenient but try and resist. If you need something, save for it. Also, if you can't already, then learn how to cook. It's very rewarding to sit down and eat something you've worked hard at making.

So many useful hints here. Can basically be summarised thusly:

  • Plan your meals in advance
  • Clean more often and it's easier
  • Keep spares fuses, smoke alarm batteries and stuff like screwdrivers to hand
  • I'll add keep a spare key in case you break one
  • Oh and if your neighbours are noisy always try knocking on the door and saying hi, be friendly, explain why you need quiet during the usual hours, please, thanks. It works surprisingly well. If you just hit the wall or ceiling you're just a faceless dickhead banging things when they enjoy themselves.
  • If your internet has issues a router reset doesn't fix, switch out the cable, microfilter and router then plug into the master test socket if you have those things to hand and know where the test socket is (and they work). Do a quiet line test. THEN call them. They have to go through these tests before escalating so if you can confirm you did these things or what the results were and skip straight to the "call back after you've done them".

Whenever you move into an apartment, document every little thing thats broken, damaged, or not in the expected condition. Check for holes in the ceiling, scratches on the kitchentable, cupboards, stains in the paint, floor and bathroom conditions (mold etc). Send the pictures to your landlord and have Them reply that theyve seen it. This can possibly save you thousands in deposits.

Your first few days/nights there may seem lonely. Turn on the radio or tv to break the silence.

Costco toilet paper. Trust me.

All your meal preparation, shopping, washing, ironing, cleaning, satellite TV, gas, electric, water and bills have just taken a dump on your lap! But, you can watch TV balls out like a king😁

Washing clothes is expensively. If you don’t have a washing machine in your house, laundromats are expensive. If you have a washing machine in your house, your electricity and water bill is expensive.

Always do washing up immediately after eating. 1) It's easier before everything hardens up and 2) It's incredible what a psychic burden a sink full of washing up can be, and that's before you consider flatmate disputes and creating strange and possibly fatal civilisations in your sink.

It took me way too long to learn this.

You got a pay for everything yourself

Be careful about who you invite to your place, go hangout at their places or in public before you go to your house. You cant take back giving out your address

Can openers are important, make sure you have one.

Cleaning the dishes never ends. Breakfast ? Do the dishes. Meal for the dog? Dishes. Come back from work and keep your lunch box? Dishes! These damn dishes- it never ends. I live alone at the moment and end up cleaning dishes at least 4 times a day. Oh and where I live the concept of a dishwasher is very rare, so yeah we don’t have a dishwasher because I am the dishwasher.

Buy the best quality cookware you can. A £5 pan might seem like a good deal but won't last and will warp quickly compared to something slightly more expensive.

If you're accident prone, make sure you get a plain coloured dinner set so you can just add bits when you break them.

Get a lamp. Some places don't have recessed lighting

Try as best you can to save 20% of every paycheck

You don't officially move out until you've moved back in and move out... Also, like there's a lint Catcher in a dryer, there's something even more gross in a washing maschine that serves a similar purpose. Clean that shit first before using it, especially if you're a renter. My mom told me it's full of other people's pubes 👍

Thanks ma.

The walls are not as thick as you’d think…

Toilet paper, washing up liquid and laundry detergent are fucking expensive

It's expensive.

  1. Stainless steel pans are amazing and will last you forever if done right. Do the Mercury ball test everytime when cooking. Don't scrub the pan, it'll break the polished seal. Instead boil water with baking soda for 15minutes and clean with your regular kitchen sponge - good as new. IKEA Sensuell pans are a very good budget buy.

  2. Please have a budget. Sinking funds and a 6months Emergency fund are life savers.

  3. IKEA is great for a lot of things but avoid MDF and opt for wood. It'll be a few bucks more, but you won't have a sagging bed in a year.

Life’s not fair 😊

Buy a mechanics tool set. Your going to need it for your car and house. Guaranteed.

Hello there! That is really exciting! A few pointers for you…A very important one is spending a half hour each day cleaning. That’s all it will take to keep your new place spotless and in impressive shape for company. If you start missing days cleaning, the clutter, grime and dust will accumulate into a much bigger and time consuming project that will feel really stressful. So definitely keep up with the cleaning and dishes everyday. A clean and organized space will help you decompress after a long day and feel relaxing. Another pointer is save as much as you can for unexpected expenses. They can be expensive and you’ll feel relief knowing you have a safety reserve fund for those unedited expenses. I recommend having a reserve account with at least $2,500 that you prioritize replenishing if you need to borrow against it. Another tip, always keep a bottle of wine and a six pack of quality beer (if you’re of age) for when you have unexpected guests. It’s always nice being able to offer a drink and it will up your hospitality game a notch. Another tip is buy quality plastic bins for things you want to store and you can even color code the handles for an easy identifier (holiday decorations, seasonal clothing, items that just don’t have a home yet, etc.). Another tip is make time for grocery shopping. Going out to eat is absurdly expensive. I used to eat out at least once a day, sometimes twice. I stopped when the pandemic hit and I will never eat out as regularly again. I was able to save thousands very quickly just by limiting the amount that I eat out. Remember, you are now the one who will be telling yourself to live clean, tidy and responsibly so be disciplined and consistent. I wish you all the best and enjoy the experience of freedom!

That whole looking after yourself thing. Tidying up clothes buying your own groceries. You will need a routine to adapt to

Everyone wants money. Budget and monitor your direct debits.

If you have the space get a dishwasher. 100% worth it.

Learn to use apostrophes - there's one after parents. The rest is much easier once you grow up and found a proper family.

If you have never written out a budget I would start. It doesn’t need to mean you are even looking toward financial goals. Just write out where your money is currently going. My dad made me do this when I was about 26. I had never given it a second of thought before. It will likely blow your mind.

Grab extra toothpaste, brush, blanket for when the unexpected guest arrives

Cleaning the house is easy, cleaning the kitchen is daily

Always keep an emergency role of toilet paper, you can thank me later

You need toilet paper on hand before you need it. Bring some with you your first time going into the new place, whether that is getting your keys, your first moving load, whatever.

Buy a plunger before you need one

The house is never clean. Never. As soon as you finish cleaning/tidying one thing, the other thing is dirty again.

Buy a plunger before you need a plunger.

Treat yourself to fast Internet

Don’t bother paying your TV license, just phone them up and say you don’t use it, they’ll stop sending you stupid letters. You can ignore it with no problem, I just found the spam annoying.

Try to be at least somewhat knowledgeable about things in your home/apartment like water heater, air conditioner, water softener, etc.

Not saying you need to be able to fix it yourself if something goes wrong, but you should know enough about it to be able to tell when something is wrong.

Start saving money now.

That post box is actually just a bill box

Don’t stop working if you wanna stay independent

Measure your windows and buy curtains two to three times the width unless you want to look like a serial killer.

Budget and invest you responsible adult you, congratulations!

  1. Build a finance plan, with different accounts/pots for different things. Monzo is great for this, main account, spending money, subscriptions, etc.

  2. Build a grocery shopping list for cleaning, food, household. Compare, subscribe, save.

  3. Build a cleaning plan.

  4. Get everything in order and make sure it's up to date. It's easier to get everything done once correctly v's constantly reacting.

Adulting sucks

You’ll need to buy toilet paper more frequently then you think sometimes. So always find a nice stash at a nearby bar/pub, school, work, ect. For that chance you forgot to buy.

If you'll be living alone, don't forget to plan to spend time with friends outside your new place. It can get lonely and is easy to just "stay in" when living on your own.

If you're renting then move back with your parents ASAP and save for a deposit. If you've bought, then stretch the term of the mortgage out for as long as possible to reduce the monthly payment and learn how to invest the savings intelligently. Learning how to manage wealth properly wasn't until my late 30s and I regret it massively. Oh, and repairing kitchen appliances for common issues is easier than you might think.

Prepare to be poor turns out moving out and paying all the bills makes you skint

Say goodbye to having spare cash

Dab dick with toilet paper don’t shake. You’ll be cleaning piss off everything in your bathroom. You don’t realize this happens as mom always most likely cleaned up

You will miss their company but love your freedom, enjoy!!

Getting a knife block will make you feel like an adult. Well, it did for me anyway lol

Buy a plunger before you need a plunger

Don’t get credit cards. If you want to build credit, buy a car. Or take out a personal loan.

Deciding on what to cook for dinner will be one of your new most stressful daily occurrences.

Do not over commit with a rental. You’ll eventually have to move out, pay for moving furniture etc. Have a balance of essentials. A recommendation from your first landlord will be important

If you have the funds auto-parts is your friend. Set up auto-pay for your rent, utilities, car payments, insurance, everything you can. It makes you it so you cant forget a payment and at least in the US it does great things for your credit score. Also get renters/home owners ins. It's not expensive and could save your bacon.

Buy a plunger before you need it.

You have to be simple on the stuff you buy to eat unless it's a durable product, otherwise you won't eat everything and it will go bad, I've wasted so much it's embarrassing.

I was told that It costs more electricity to run an empty fridge- so buy bags of ice to fill it to keep costs down, if you can’t afford to fill the fridge with food. Also buy a drying rack for your clothes, clothes left in the washing machine or left damp around a room wont dry and will go mouldy and smell like sweat and you won’t be able to salvage them.

It’s a trap! Don’t do it!

Satan will try to distract you from Jesus until your in hell

Minimalism is your friend, less things = less clutter and things to dust/tidy etc.

There is actually a comic series called "things they wont tell you", but i cant find it :<

Groceries cost a lot more then you’d expect

Just moved out as well back in September! One thing I learned (from The Simpsons) recently, is that most mortgages may be due on the first of the month, however they will let you go till the 16th actually. After I saw that episode, I looked at my last bill, and sure enough it was true.

Stay at your parents and save money don't rent.

Don’t worry about maintenance issues just be prepared for them. Roof, heating and cooling, refrigerator, oven, water heater. These things eventually give out and you’ll have to replace them. If something goes wrong just call your dad and he’ll tell you what to do. I’m 36 years old and can’t imagine what my my life will be like without him

Life sucks sometimes.

Change the filter on your HVAC every time your electric bill posts.

A fan, clock radio or white noise machine is a wise buy if you’re in an apartment complex. Until you know how quiet your building is.

Make sure you always have toilet paper

Just want to say congrats and well done.

You'll be fine :) Good luck!!

bills are a bitch!

You get 25% off council tax for living alone

Learn to meal plan and have recipes that are easy for one. Make sure you pick up as you go.

Don't use anything abrasive to clean stainless steel. It will turn dull and scratched.

There is always something. You fix one thing and something else will take it’s place that needs your time, attention, and money. Don’t stress about it. It will get done eventually. Also, if you don’t know how, YouTube. If you don’t know how, don’t have to tools or time. Hire someone. It’s cheaper the first time to hire than it is to try it yourself and screw it up only to have to hire it out to clean up your mess and fix the problem. Good luck. Congratulations!

Say goodbye to your free time. Counterintuitive, but everything takes so much time

Keeping your house & possessions tidy and organised will bring you so much joy. Also, learning to cook healthy and tasty vegetarian foods in small bulk quantities will make your life easier.

Know where the gas meter is

Meal plan for the week. I spent loads of money on take out. Once I figured out the fridge is a place to put food yet to be prepared it blew my mind.

Buy a plunger before you need a plunger

Cheese is really expensive

Keep an emergency role of toilet paper stashed away in a closet somewhere. You WILL need it one day.

When you work out your monthly income/outgoings you will always have way more on paper than you have left in the bank!

If you pee in the sink it’ll begin to smell even if you rinse afterwards.

Buy a toilet plunger asap. You don’t want to wait until you need one to buy one.

Step one: Go to Wilko's Step two: enter home department Step three: anything you look at that your brain goes 'i won't need that:, ignore it and put it in the trolly.

You will run out of food faster than you think you will, no matter how much you start with.

Make sure you have a first aid kit and basic medical stuff like painkillers etc. Nothing worse than needing some paracetamol the morning after your house warming party only to realise you don't have any.

When you put your kitchen together, IE, cutlery drawer, those cupboards and drawers will never change purpose. Your forks will always go in the same drawer, plates in the same etc etc.

I was taught a very smart thing by one of the wisest professors I ever had: there is a grand triangle to every project in the universe in which the three sides are time effort and cost you can short any one side of the triangle you want but the other two will get longer.

Kroger at 10pm is OK

Your neighbour will be constantly round trying to fuck you! But that neighbour is a 60 year old man

There's nothing wrong with living with your parents! If you aren't buying a house, don waste money on rent! If you love paying rent, just pay your parents! Move back in now!

Buy toilet paper before you move in.

Learn the basics of cooking. They go a very long way.

Invest in some essential cooking equipment. Examples:

  • Nonstick pan with lid
  • sauce pan with lid
  • spatulas (silicone, wooden, and a fish spatula)
  • tongs
  • immersion blender (a lot more versatile and compact than a full-sized blender)
  • small stackable bowls for prep
  • cutting board(s)
  • knives
  • measuring cups, or transparent containers with measurement markings
  • containers for leftover food

More:

  • dutch oven with lid
  • a cast iron pan (30cm) - great for many things (avoid acids)
  • a stainless steel pan (30cm) - great for searing, roasting, deglazing, acidic sauces, etc. Tri-ply expensive but worth.

Then, try to plan your meals in advance. I use whisk.com at the moment to combine recipe bookmarks, meal planning, and shopping list, and it's free. They combine the ingredients from different recipes into one entry in the shopping list, which helps a lot.

Do some easy stuff in batch that you can eat over several days, but also plan to do a "nicer" meal for yourself once a week if possible. Doesn't have to be fancy, some of the best meals you can do are surprisingly simple.

Keep a clean and tidy house. It's all too easy to let things slide: "Oh, I'll do that tomorrow". Which becomes next week, and then another week and it can spiral out of control quicker than you'd expect.

Get into a routine for all the cleaning and other household tasks and stick to it.

It's gonna get lonely

don't buy a lot of food shit expires fast

Council tax is a bitch

Buy a plunger right away.

Nobody is talking about the mental situation you are about to endure.

You will become lonely, very lonely. Especially if you live on your own. This happens to everyone that first ventures out on their own and has nothing to do with you or the type of person you are. Its perfectly normal. In fact, recognize it and embrace it. Try not to distract or deflect down time. Learning to face it, recognizing and dealing with your emotions is a life skill that many people miss or skip. Explore yourself and use these moments for mental clarity.

Having said that, its up to you to keep yourself busy. Make the effort to reach out and call your friends or family to make plans, you will realize that most of your life you are distracted by your family when you are at home and events out are few and far between. Try new things, persue your interests, think about your world views, reevaluate who you want to be and who you want to hang with.

Good luck, OP.

Clean your toilet (buy some bleach).

Buy a bin for the bathroom in case any lady friends visit.

https://t.me/joinchat/2nd8i2Z3kUgyYjVk

Don't underestimate how much toilet paper you use. It sucks sitting on the toilet, taking a huge warm dump just to realize you're out of toilet paper.

Always buy more than you think you'll need.

Parking is the biggest, most contentious issue you will ever deal with for the rest of your life. Nothing else will come close to the severity of insult caused by an inconsiderately parked neighbour

If you're renting make sure you read the paper work before signing.

Buy a plunger before you need it.

Cheese is really fucking expensive

You're going to need so many random things and only realise just as you need them (various kitchenware, cleaning products, things for the bathroom).

also do your washing BEFORE the basket is full to the brim

Build your credit and not your debt.

Pay your rent and bills first. Always. Cook meals at home to save going out $ for the weekend. Bring your own coffee to work, don’t buy it. Boring, but then you’ll be able to save some money for fun times and savings, too.

You've gotta buy tp, it doesn't just appear

Cutting the grass stops being a chore and starts being a hobby when you’re 4 beers deep on a Saturday morning and have a riding lawnmower.

Contrary to popular belief, it is okay to eat out once or twice a week as long as the price and portions are reasonable. That way you don't get burned out on cooking and doing dishes.

get a dishwasher if you can, and don't let your laundry accumulate for too long

You probably won’t see this given so many comments but r/Bogleheads

I really wish someone had told me about how pensions worked years ago!

Also spend money on life experiences and memories.

If you are living alone loneliness can very quickly overwhelm you. Make good social support through friends and family. Don't just meet friends at pubs and bars that's a quick road to potential alcohol problems.

For the love of God pay your council tax. No one even told me about goddam council tax. Also, use comparison websites like uswitch to shop around for energy deals and broadband deals. If you do commit to a contract put a renewal reminder in your calendar for future because that shit renews automatically and they won't tell you!!! It's very common to hop providers every year or 2 to get the best deal. It's all the same anyway.

If you don't have a toilet plunger, get one. (Not a sink plunger, a toilet plunger adapts for both purposes.)

If you don't have a fire extinguisher, get a couple, large and small (grease). The large one goes by your bed, you use it if there's a fire to clear your escape route. The other goes in the kitchen. Hopefully you never need either.

The ol' adage, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" applies to so many aspects.

Bin day. When?

Everything is more expensive when you have to provide for yourself

The absolute cheapest energy provider isn't always a solid bet, same with insurance, other utilities. But energy is the big one where thinking you've found some life hack bargain can bite you square in the balls. See: the last 6 months.

You don't use as much milk as you'd think.

Stop calling yourself "a big boy"

Everything is expensive

Pay your bills

Learn to cook from ingredients, and don’t buy packaged, processed shit.

Fire extinguishers. Have at least 1 (ideally, 1 near your kitchen, and 1 in your bedroom) and know where they are. Make sure they're charged, and service or replace them if not.

Wash your sheets!

Single person council tax discount if your living alone. I don’t know if they automatically sort this out so make sure to check if so.

You may get lonely living alone.

Change your air filters before turning the heat on or it might catch fire

You will never have time nor money. Welcome to adult life. Well, at least if you live in London :P.

Ask for help when you need it.

Remember to take your bins out. Even if it’s cold and raining and completely ass outside. Don’t just keep shoving stuff in and hoping for the best.

Random advice my dad gave me when I asked this question (his only advice as well!).

In the mornings if you like a hot drink to wake up, instant coffee is easier than tea. No tea bag or anything, coffee in, water in, milk /sugar if needed, off you go.

No waiting for it to brew or any of that stuff. Weirdly useful advice.

You can make your meals in advance in case your job is taking all of your energy like make and freeze meals in your days off; that will determine you'll have healthy meals instead of fastfoods. another thing would be quietness and silence. You're gonna have time to think, to read, to meditate and in my opinion, you not being with your parents all the time, strengthen the relationship between you and them, therefore there's gonna be more respect and whenever you visit each other, you people are gonna make the most out of it. Eventually just enjoy it cause this situation makes you a more responsible and independent person.

Currently your mum or dad probably feeds you fresh vegetables. If you stop eating vegetables you will stop shitting.

“I” is spelled “I”, not “i”

Pack a specific box with everything you might want for your first night in case you don’t want to unpack everything immediately. Bottle of wine, blankets, chargers, toothbrush etc

Get a tin. Put in the tin - - a radiator key - loose change - the contact details for your plumber / gas man etc - spare keys, ideally labelled - tube of new superglue - marker pen - wind up torch / torch radio

This is your embryo stage ‘tin of useful shit’ and you’ll be very glad of it one day. It will grow, of course. Might even become a drawer of shit. But they all start somewhere and this is a serious responsibility.

Buy a basic tool set.

Cook in batches, and eat over a period. I usually do a big cook and eat it over a week. I’m a busy guy, so cooking every night is a no go

You only need 1 plate, 1 fork, spoon , and sharp knife to eat. You can reuse a can to drink out of just don’t cut up your mouth with it (if using a soup can).

Try to get a cheap hobby, like reading/drawing.

Don’t drink or do drugs to escape the mental pain from living day to day. Only do them for fun, but don’t have too much unscheduled fun.

Learn to cook, but not fancy cooking. Get a crock pot or something to make it easy to make good food. Try to get used to eating the same food over and over, but not too much as you can have problems later in life (kidney stones, etc) if you overeat certain things too much.

Not sure about the UK, but After working awhile at a “real job” (say a few years), if they’re not giving you cost of living raises or benefits or anything and you’re stagnating, when you look for another job, add 15% (or more!) when asking for how much money you’ll work for. I’d you don’t get it, no big deal, but you might be surprised how underpaid you were or just how much someone will pay you who doesn’t know your current employer/job. A lot of places use the “position/title” to determine a pay range…. So if you’re hard up you might just lie on your qualifications just a bit to bump up your title. Odds might be in your favor and they believe you.

I see a lot of “diy” projects can cost a lot more than paying someone…. And that’s true UNLESS you do it enough (or enjoy it), then eventually you’ll start saving money. The solution might possibly be: don’t DIY anything. Until you have some extra money to try, and only pay people for absolute necessity repairs. Most of the time you can just leave something broken/ugly and live with it.

Try not to want for anything, and simply Let people know you’re poor. Don’t try to put up a facade of having more than you have. If someone cares about that, drop them.

If you get a pet/animal, plan to take care of it for its entire life. If you cannot due to hardship, find it a good home with someone you trust (if you can), don’t just leave it outside to fend for itself, even if it was a stray to begin with. It’s easy to get pets, and a lot of people seem to think you can just treat them like disposable property. Don’t do that. I’m basically saying: pets are great, but watch out it’s easy to get too many or want to “move up and away” and not take them with you if you are offered too good a deal elsewhere.

Live below your means for as long as you can. If you “move up” to the best housing/transportation/clothing/food you can afford, you can save up a lot of money, so you don’t have to work forever. It might buy you a lot of leisure time in the future, and may also be a nice buffer for emergencies and just overall mental health knowing you won’t go broke in a heartbeat.

Try to never go into debt. Society will (and has) normalized that “some things you just have to go into debt to buy” and so you’ll probably have to go into “some” debt, but if you do try to get away from it as fast as possible. Housing/cars/using credit cards to buy stuff/payday loans/home renovation loans. Just be careful as it’s way too easy to slip into debt and “pay the minimum payments”. If you do the math on what you’re paying them you’ll realize why those offering debt are multi-quattro-mega-forever-brazillionaires and you’re not. I mention this because people generally don’t tell you how much of a scam going into “normal debt” is.

Watch out for anything that promises to make you money quickly or with low effort (scams). Some may make sense, but try not to participate even if they seem innocuous. It can be hard to tell sometimes, but don’t let friends bully you into anything in general involving money or a business with them when money is involved unless you feel everyone involved is putting in equal work and “Investments” for tangible results that benefit everyone involved. And don’t scam other people. This may seem like normal advice but when you’re just starting out a lot of “friends” may not turn out to be your friends.

Don’t try too hard to fall in love or be in a relationship. It’s ok to be alone.

If you find yourself working too hard, ask yourself if you’re happy enough doing it.

Walk and sit with proper posture. This will pay out in about 40 years. Of course, get exercise or something like taking breaks and walking around. You don’t have to hulk out to be reasonably flexible and heathy.

Don’t take too much shit from an employer, but don’t just quit immediately unless you have to. Always find another stable (hopefully) job before walking out on another one.

Try to read everything you are required to sign, even if it’s after the fact. Ask for copies of documents you have to sign if you’re not given them. Even if it’s “standard forms”, you might be surprised what’s in there.

If you are having water issues with a home you own, do not let that go in for long. Water bad. Water very bad.

Own a small fire extinguisher. Have a plan on what to do if everything you own catches on fire (make online copies or put papers in a safe place, etc).

Don’t get into fights if you can avoid them. Adult fights are pointless and painful.

Try to let go of the past. This can be difficult. Remember: People (including yourself) change. Odds are at some point in your life (maybe decades from now) you will realize you don’t recognize your past self at all.

Little kids are assholes, but they don’t know it. Don’t be too hard on them, as they can be super annoying especially if you’re not yours.

You’ll accumulate regrets over time. Don’t beat yourself up too much over them, as what you did/said likely made the most sense at that moment in time with the knowledge you had. Some things may never go away though, and if you can make amends (eventually) with yourself you might be better for it.

If your “old” family constantly gives you trouble , you don’t have to put up with them. You’re allowed to leave and never speak to someone who’s just a relative.

You can use a screwdriver to drill a hole in some things. Just push and spin.

Wear proper safety equipment when using power tools.

Always pour acid/base into water, never the other way around

If you have to smell something, waft it towards your face with your hand. Don’t stick your face or nose into something unfamiliar to smell it.

If you see something that resembles a turd on the ground/clothes and you must move it (it’s in your home/ on you) assume it’s a turd first and foremost. Pick it up with a paper towel or something to examine it. No taste tests because it looks like food you just ate

Try to keep your work life and home life separate. You don’t want an issue at home or work to bleed over to the other. Work people are “acquaintances” and not “friends” almost all of the time.

The entirety of everything you do and have done in your life is likely to be completely inconsequential and pointless and forgotten after you’re gone. That’s ok. Try not to be an asshole to get ahead or be famous or known for something as it might work but is it really going to be worth it in the end? Strive to be free and happy over being an asshole. There is no shame in being a tiny speck in the universe.

Laundry builds up fast.

Also, do dusting/sweeping/mopping days often. Give the place less time to get nasty, makes your job much easier.

Pick up after yourself a little bit at a time everytime you get up, that way you dont have piles of "I'll get to that later" laying around.

It takes time to make a home. Don't stress yourself out or go broke because you don't have everything all at once! Buy second hand/ get free where you can, and as you figure out what you use frequently you'll know what is worth investing your money in!

Never ever ever withhold rent if you have an issue with your landlord, it will never end well for you. Always pay your rent in time and any complaints keep a journal and log all communication.

You'll suddenly become obsessed with the heating and what's been left on...

But a tin opener. Everyone forgets the tin opener

The washing actually doesn’t do itself. They were telling the truth. Wankers.

Stay at your parents home rent and food free as long as you can.

-Get real cook ware, utensils... they pay for themselves. -Stay tidy, you won't lose things as often. -Bills come first, budget and build off that.

Good Luck!

Don’t kill the spiders they eat the roaches

Edit: when you find a centipede in your bed start sleeping on the couch

Learn how to do laundry so you don't ruin cherished clothing (like I did). it isn't as easy as dump everything together all at once in the machine set on "regular".

Delicates and woolens (such as cashmere, silk and merino) need to be washed separately. Delicate setting, cold water, low agitation. also don't put your woolens in the drier or they'll shrink! Lay them flat to dry, or run them once on drier with no heat (air only) if they are wrinkled. You can do this even if the tag says dry clean only.

Bring to dry cleaner/specialist anything that's leather or fur, and anything with interfacing/glued on lining to stiffen (such as suiting jackets). No exception - washing will destroy them.

For clothing, dry only on low to medium heat. High heat will age and damage your fabrics.

Wash your linens every week (pillowcase especially) with hot water. Your towels too.

Wash jeans and other tough fabrics separately on cold water. they have the potential to rough up and damage more fragile garments so that is why you wash them separately.

Whites need washing by themselves on hot water. If you wash darker colors with them, they may bleed so do not do that.

Wash dark colors on colder water so they do not fade

Each appliance does things slightly differently so learn yours.

You have to pay your bills EVERY month!

Figure out how to manage your affairs before you take on the responsibility of having a pet. Have some disposable money you can use to buy food and have the bandwidth to spend quality time with your buddy as well as a living situation where they won't go batshit crazy and cause you problems with the neighbors. Oh, and spay or neuter.

Get on the electoral register as soon as you move in. Length of time on the electoral register will affect your credit rating - the longer the better.

I’m sure it’s been said, but the importance of deep cleaning every season or so! Things like cleaning the baseboards, cleaning the oven, dishwasher filter, etc. It makes a huge difference to do it regularly than when you’re moving out have really stubborn messes. If you google house deep cleaning checklist lots of good ones come up.

Take pictures of everything with the time and date of said pictures being clearly known. Also take a video of everything as well. Walls, corners, carpet, appliances inside and out. Everything.

Don't leave your clothes in the washer for too long, otherwise you'll have to re-wash them.

Keep spare smoke alarm batteries handy. Thank me at 02:00 in a couple of months.

Utilities companies are regularly incompetent and wrong. They will refuse to back down on unfair and exorbitant charges. They will quickly pass on assumed unpaid debts to debt collection agencies. Choose your battles carefully. If you are 100% sure you are in the right take it to the ombudsman/small claims court. If it’s a grey area it might be worth paying up just to avoid endless increasing costs and stress. Shit but true.

When you move in, buy the ingredients for a spag bol, a curry, a chilli and something Chinese and tour cupboards will be stocked with most of the herbs and dried spices you need.

One of the most important things is to stay on top of your finances! Nothing worse than being skint and having weeks until pay day!

I have 3 bank accounts. One is a standard savings account, the second is an account for all of my direct debits (household bills, internet, mobile, car insurance and tax) and the last account is where my wages get paid. That one also has a debit card for shopping and anything else I need.

Pay day comes, I transfer the exact amount for all of my bills into the second account. A portion of my wages goes into savings and the rest is there to spend if I need it. When payday comes back around, I’ll transfer any remaining money to my savings and start again. A really healthy way to save and stay on top of finances.

Also, look into getting a credit card to build your credit score for when you decide to buy a house. Interest rates don’t really matter if you use it properly. I will do my weekly shop and fuel on my credit card and when the statement comes through, pay it all off instantly so I don’t pay any interest.

Be careful not to fall into the trap though, if you don’t £0 your balance within the statement dates, you pay interest on what you’ve borrowed.

I’m 30 now and wish I knew all of this 10 years ago when I moved out 🙄

I cannot stress this enough. Buy groceries, cook at home 80-90% and reward yourself with eating out every other weekend

Renters Insurance can save your ass. Some places do not require it, but if you're renting, do yourself a favor and take a hard look at picking some renters insurance up!

Don't mix cleaning products, some combinations produce deadly chemical weapon gas.

Spray bug spray(ex: round up) around and in your house/apartment once a month

Save money for unexpected emergencies. Have money set aside in an account if possible and NEVER touch it for anything other than a true emergency. Keep adding to that account every month.

In addition, have a supply of cash in a safe spot only you know about for the same reason. There may be times that you need money but can't use electronic currency. Having cash on hand for an emergency (and again, a REAL emergency) is always a smart move.

Also, don't tell anyone about these emergency funds. Especially people who don't live on their own and/or think that any available money should be spent immediately.

Proud of you for moving out on your own. It's scary but also fantastic. I wish you all the best.

You have to PAY for WiFI!

Get organised and get a routine.

Wake up and take food out of freezer to defrost. Sweep floors. Mop floors - boiling water does the job better and in half the time. Adding a few drops of a scent eg hot chocolate chip cookie to the mop bucket will make your house smell great.

Then clean surfaces- put anything that needs putting away, away and your house will immediately look and smell neater and cleaner.

Plan one “big job” a week, vacuuming behind sofas/beds; cleaning out the fridge; cleaning skirting boards etc.

It’s easier to wash a tablecloth than replace the table. If you are renting a part furnished you will have to pay for the pleasure too- so use tablecloths/rugs/covers whenever possible.

Buy a dehumidifier for the bathroom and use mould spray. You can get dehumidifiers from the pound shop- they are worth the money.

Do “life admin” once a week and keep a box folder/concertina folder for your documents. Put your documents in plastic wallets to keep them dry. So stay on top of bills/tax/appointments etc and put them in your diary.

1: Only fill the kettle with the amount of water needed, respecting the minimum fill-limit.

Filling it up is a common folly that leads to doubling or tripling+ one's energy consumption and therefore needlessly increasing one's energy bill.

2: Switch energy suppliers when it will save you money, and consider the annual and five year costs of gas and energy consumption over the single-use cost of, such as leaving lights on.

I found this article for you that shows some of the costs of things.

https://www.switchenergysupplier.co.uk/how-much-electricity-do-your-appliances-and-gadgets-use/

I don't know what date that, but this next link is from this year:

https://www.ovoenergy.com/guides/energy-guides/how-much-electricity-does-a-home-use

However it's worth considering that inflation has shot up rapidly and quietly, meaning those figures are lower than the current costs will be.

Best wishes and congratulations.

Buy a plunger ASAP!!!! It's something people always forget about until it's too late!!!!

Take photos of your gas, electricity and water meter readings. That way when the utility company send you an estimated bill, you have evidence of how much you've actually used.

First if you don't know how, learn to cook, save your self a tonne of money.

Recipes are easy way. Using a recipe 1st read the complete recipe, don't be like my wife and read the first section and start cooking only to find out later she made a major error.

Getting recipes? Google is you friend i.e.

Google search line: recipe ingredient1, ingredient2, spice, ingredient 3 (enter)

Look through the recipes presented and pick one you think you might like , follow instructions, if you do like it save recipe for future use.

pick your roommates wisely if you’re not living alone 😋

Clean. Your. HVAC. 2-4 Times a year.

I just got done cleaning a mini split I didn't know needed to be cleaned. Whole family was sick from mold and mildew.

Think you have allergies you never had before? Check your HVAC coils. If the coils, blower, or drip pan have black spots (or completely black), have some one come over and show you how to treat it.

We've all had a cough for over a month now and JUST identified the source.

Pay your taxes and rent on time.

Bills are expensive!!

It sucks it’s stressful and you are only going to get a few damn moments of peace before some asshole living next to you fucks it all up.

sorry I hope you don't mind me asking, how old are you?

Buy a plunger immediately. You don’t want to have to suddenly go get one because you didn’t plan accordingly

Fold and hang your laundry instead of leaving in the basket, that way your things won’t wrinkle.

Rent is due on the 1st…every month. The Man doesn’t care that you paid it last month, it’s due.

Don’t let your house become the first point of call for your ‘mates’ who have nowhere else to go. Set boundaries re your private space and stick to them. More of a teenage early twenties thing but fuck I got sick of early years shared houses being constantly full of people who didn’t live there. Unless obviously I got me decks out and we had a banging all nighter.

Don’t leave anything unpacked. Move in all at once, or those boxes will never go away

Check your gas, electric and water meter accounts regularly, sometimes you build debit and that may come as surprise when you decide to move. Submit meter readings regularly to avoid over and under paying.

When looking for a place. Find one that has good water pressure in the shower.

Letting agents are the dumbest cunts on earth.

Set up all your bills using a preloaded debt card. Set up utilities and internet before you move in. Sometimes it can take a couple days to get things completed

Make sure you get all the kitchen stuff you need - utensils, cookware, storage, appliances, gadgets. I was not prepared for all the stuff I would need that I was so used to just magically being there. I’m still working on my collection and I’ve been on my own for close to five years now.

Buy a rice cooker, they’re amazing! You can quickly pop on your rice, while you get to work making your sauce/cook your meat or veg etc.

Your best friends without intending too just do not care if your house is wrecked. They only care that they have somewhere to do whatever they want. Don’t let them

Look into team TOMM. Its 30 minutes of work a day to keep on top of most of the household chores. Highly recommended

The world sucks trust no one. I was continually robbed by my apartment managers who in my face said what the fuck you gonna do about it bitch, trust the people you live by the least and hide you’re valuables

There’s 5 things you never fail to pay or have money for

Mortgage/Rent Council Tax Leccy Gas Food

Everything else is a luxury item

Wear condoms. Don’t drink and drive. Believe in yourself.

"There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse." -Quentin Crisp

Learn about compound interest before you make life long purchases

Keep your bedroom clean… wash those sheets weekly!

No one’s there to do your dishes so now you gotta do them. Also laundry. Also clean the floors and the bathroom, buy toothpaste when it runs out. Cooking…

Fixed rate energy tariffs and compare rates every year!

Drugs aren’t bad if the cops don’t know about it

i live with my parents but I have some advice: CLEAN YOUR WINDOWS! Especially between end of summer-winter. That’s when the flies like to hide in them. Whack some fly spray in there and they gone. Then if you feel like it you can feed a spider the dead flies.

Put a bin in your bathroom by the toilet if you ever ever ever plan on having female visitors.

Think about everyday items more since you’ve never had to before. I remember being really bad for being low on things like toilet paper, tomato sauce, kitchen roll, washing up liquid, washing machine capsules (damn the powder to hell), kitchen foil etc.

Measure your window before you buy curtains

Take the time to try and fix things yourself. You’ll potentially save a fortune. My mum paid for a washing machine repairman to come out three years running to replace a part. And it was the same guy and the machine was under warranty the first two times. He said to me that replacing parts is simpler than it looks and if I tried it myself I’d save my mum a few quid. The next year the same part broke and I tried. It took two hours but I spent £53 on the part instead of £150 for labour and it worked fine. It’s been five years and it’s still working.

If something is broken, take the time to try and fix it yourself.

Also, invest in good quality tools and equipment. Buy cheap, buy twice exists for a reason

If you can afford it, buy a dehumidifier. It’s a godsend in British houses, it basically means you don’t get mould, and mine has a ‘laundry’ setting that dries a load on a wire in a few hours. I swear it’s the best thing ever. Less moisture in the air keeps your home warmer too. We got one a month ago and the heating is already on half as much, and it’s taken literal buckets of water out of my old Victorian flat.

Also get one of those instant pot slash air fryers you’ll basically only ever use your oven for big roasts. So fast, so clean, so tasty, the food keeps its moisture.

So moisture in Food, not in home is the lesson here.

If it’s an apartment, be sure to rent the top floor! I learned this in a very hard way for one loooong fucking year.

Veggies go bad so fast when you pay for them

Make your bed, every morning.

Hang your clothes up, every night.

Clean the bathroom once a week, every week.

Boil wash your (empty) washing machine once a fortnight.

Clean your windows once a month.

Polish every room once a week.

Wash out your kitchen/bathroom bin once a fortnight.

Make your lunch the night before, it saves you so much time/money in the morning.

Budget accordingly but make sure you treat yourself a little when you can.

Get some cook books and try new things, it's fun.

Do a meal plan for the week ahead, makes shopping easier and damn sight less expensive than takeaways.

Enjoy the independence.

Don't drink alcohol every time you fancy one.

Don't be a slob, sort your shit out as no-one sets out to live in a dive but Ahh fuck it attitude sets in like a virus.

Get plants, they are great for focusing the routine and look nice.

Good luck and keep the faith.

Socks don't wash themselves.

Clothes don't iron themselves 😖

From now on you'll have to tuck yourself into bed and tell yourself a bedtime story.

Take down your water, gas and electric readings the day you move in. Don’t want to get charged for other peoples use of the utilities

Clean the lint trap on your dryer before you burn to death.

Go back, save more don't rush things, or you will end up back or on the streets.

Buy nice pillows

Everything takes longer than you think it will. And it’s not necessarily because you’ve underestimated how long it will take, in theory — rather, it’s because you’ve overestimated your motivation to do it. When planning your day and trying to figure out how long it will take to get everything done and what you can fit into a day, bear this in mind. A good estimate is that things will take twice as long as you think it would take if you were to do it consistently and when you should. It may sound at first like this will really drain your productivity in terms of keeping your life together, but you will be WAY more productive as a whole if you keep your expectations low and consistently meet them, as compared with having some idea of how long things should take or how much you should be able to fit into a day, then occasionally (or regularly) failing to meet that standard, suffering the demotivating consequences of failure, which will further reduce your productivity and increase your future risk of failure.

In other words: know yourself, accept it, plan accordingly.

Be sure to:

  1. Insure your things.
  2. Pay your bills.
  3. Pay for routine maintenance.

The amount of time, money, and energy saved by living within your means, and insuring, caring for, and paying things off is often lost. As an example, if you forget to pay your car insurance bill, and get into an accident, you're going to have a hell of a time getting coverage. etc.

Just because you can eat all the biscuits, doesn't mean you should!

Bathrooms don't clean themselves.

Use cast iron and greese it to make it non sticky. Cast iron is healthy option over non stick cookwares.

Money? It's gone. Fin.

Make sure you purchase a plunger before you need one

Get a carbon monoxide alarm

Bills can be very confusing to figure out, and the tenants before you won't have left anything to help. On day one, find your gas and electricity meter and take photos of the readings, ideally with that day's newspaper in the shot to verify the day. You'll need these for switching everything over to your name so they can calculate from where to charge you.

Also, if you're renting, photograph everything. And I mean everything. Landlord's will go after your deposit for the slightest scruff on the wall. Take clear photos of every room, especially marks or stains that are already there. Put them in a Google drive folder so the upload time is retained. Use the newspaper trick here too.

Facebook marketplace is a gold mine for generic furniture and most people are willing to deliver unless they say otherwise

Don’t kill your kid with a fork

And don’t fuck your grandma when she’s plugged into the wall

And don’t give blowjobs for a dollar in a high school bathroom

That’s not cool

Single persons council tax discount

Don't own to many more dishes, if you have a six person set you'll let the dishes accumulate for at least 6 days making your kitchen look gross. Having less of any items makes it so much easier to keep the place clean.

Cook (certain) foods in a big isb batch, maybe 3 meals from it. Eat 1 now, 2nd in the fridge as leftovers and 1 in tupperware in the freezer. You will accumulate delicious healthy meals for those lazy days, and you could have that instead of microwave food or takeout.

Make your bed in the morning. Achievements can be small. Start with your bed and move on to the next. I usually try to do the the tasks that I don’t want to do first. That way my day definitely gets easier as it goes.

Gotta watch out for human parasites trying to turn your new place into a party house

Apparently murder is illegal now....

If you’re in the dating scene, have condoms stashed away in every crevice, cushion, drawer, etc in your home. When you and your date end up back at your place, you never know when/where the flame of passion might ignite.

In relative terms, electricity is cheap, gas is spenny! You'll save more cutting your heating down then turning off your lights.

Curtains cost more than you'd think. Some places it's as cheap as £6 PER curtain others £12 per curtain but I've seen it as wild as £30 per curtain.

Also hoovering, even not hoovering for a few days it can get worse than imagined. No matter joe tidy you think you eat, there's always crumbs and they build up faster than expected

If moving into a new place make sure smoke alarms / carbon monoxide detectors are working. Better to know before you need them.

You can get things that remind you but man, don’t forget to pay your bills.

Don't. Life is better in the nest.

that white box on the back of your toilet is actually a table for your sammiches and apple juice.

Don't buy new clothes/shoes/jewelry/whatever other bullshit you don't really need. Learn how to cook

Buy a plunger and drain unblocker BEFORE you need them

Take pictures of the place before you move in so they can't claim damages that were already there once you move.

Always have some emergency money in case somethings brake etc

Clean up as you go, at worst, tidy up before going to bed every night. It’s nice to wake up to a clean home, and it makes the weekly deep cleaning a lot easier and faster than having to put everything away from the previous week while also having to vacuum mop dust etc

Shampoo is like 5 freaking dollars.

Do not put dish soap in your dishwasher! Or your laundry for that matter. (You can put it on dishes or clothes just not in the soap compartment)

Sort any blockages in drains/ pipes ASAP especially the toilet

Food seems to go off quicker when it’s you that buys it.

This may already have been said but buy a plunger before you need a plunger

Cheese is VERY expensive

Don't spend more money than you make. Housing should not be more than 1/3 of your income, I've heard. But I think that's high. Once you figure out the money part, you should be good. Welcome to freedom!

Water isn't free. I found this out the hard way, I'm older and wiser now but I felt like a right idiot.

No-one mentioned I had to pay for fucking water.

Cheese is fucking expensive mate, sorry to break it to you. But when me and my other half moved nearly knocked me for six mate…. Cheese… of all things, honest to christ, if you like an extra strong cheddar, try get that shit on offer because you will have to remortgage!

Buy lots of TP

Get into a habit of cleaning regularly, or at least on a schedule. Vacuuming, dusting, wiping down counters, cleaning the toilet out, laundry (Including bed sheets once, or every other week.

Leave crumbs NO WHERE.

I thought I had been cleaning up “good enough” but given my financials, I wasn’t exactly at the Hilton, and my neighbors didn’t exactly prefer cleaning either.

Long story short, I ended up with a bed bug problem which haunts me to this day. All of my furniture was clean, and I had no problems after the U-haul. It’s just more important to clean when surrounded by people you are not sure clean regularly. I goddamn hate bugs.

Always keep all doors locked always

If you set aside 1-2 hours per week to clean, you can keep it pretty well managed. It won’t be spotless, but it will be good enough to host a romantic interest without much warning. This is only true if you do dishes as you make them.

The habits you build now will stick for a while, so make sure you choose to build ones that you will still want to have in 10 years.

Don’t go grocery shopping when you’re hungry. You make bad decisions.

If you have roommates, be considerate. Not everyone was raised the same as you as far as habits, manners, and a multitude of other things so don’t assume your common sense is everyone else’s stance as well. Also don’t let unsaid things build up with people, best to clear the air as soon as things happen so that they don’t fester and compound.

Toilets don’t clean themselves

Soap and detergents are fucking expensive. Don't clean.

The more often you go to the grocery store the more money you’ll spend. Try to go once or twice instead of every couple days and you’ll limit a lot of impulse buying. Each shopping trip will be more expensive but overall you’ll save a lot.

Don't forget to get a TV licence

Get a cat if you want to travel for extensive time periods, never ever get two dogs if you want to travel for extensive time periods, and pay off your debts on existing non-essential renovations before you invest in more non-essential renovations (you never get a full return on them unless you were lucky enough to do them just before 2018 and sold in 2020-2021)

Also if they have a toothbrush in the house, your partner lives with you…they just haven’t told you yet 😂

Each payday pay rent, bills and FOOD. It took awhile for me to learn when the bills came and how expensive everything was.

Don’t buy cheap bin liners.

Your parents cleaned surfaces you never even realized existed. The top of the fridge is a great example. Letting surfaces collect dust for too long can flare up allergies and they’ll get really gross after too long. Clean all the surfaces!! Just a quick wipe down once every couple weeks makes a big difference.

Don't take in furniture from side of road and even some used furniture (bed bugs), have a rainy day fund, set home life boundaries, maintenance and cleaning is super important for comfort and upkeep.

Save a percentage of your pay...even if it's just 2%. Building that discipline and having some savings will help prevent a lot of "emergencies".

Deep clean once a week. Throw on some music (I like power metal) and clean ever flat surface you can find. Air conditioning vents, the tops of door frames, window ledges, etc. The room will look, feel, and smell better. Plus, if you have a guest, it's a simple way to impress.

No one can stop you buying a birthday cake and eating it all

Don't leave

You'll always either be cooking or cleaning the kitchen.

Gas electric council tax etc cost loads of money

You’re fucked

Fusebox. Need to know where it is and how to reset it when things trip

Don’t cut around mold on food to try and save money, just bin it.

Only tell people that you can trust that you have your own place. You don't want people to Broadcasting were you live. They may want to use your place as a hangout. If you don't want people taking advantage of that you have got your own place keep it to a minimum of people who know that you have moved out.

Now you have moved out can I move back in? It’s bloody expensive for starters! Good luck OP!!

Rice cooker is my best investment

It’s a trap. Don’t leave!!

Learn to clean and tidy very efficiently. You will enjoy your time and your space much more for it!

Your parents probably don’t dislike you, they are just tired of living with you.

Buy oven gloves. Made dinner once and realised I don’t have tea towels or oven gloves…. Had to use a jumper to take it out of the oven

Check for damages before moving in and take note of them. Check all Windows and doors work properly. Run the sinks and showers to look for leaks or drainage problems. If there’s a dishwasher or fridge with water connection be sure they are connected correctly and not leaking.

You going to be broke

Yer maw and paw are finally at it again!

Know how to put your electricity box back on incase of a surge.

Know where your water on/off switch is. Know how to balance the pressure on your Rads, especially at winter time!

Know your rubbish days and what bin goes out when. Know how to pay them too!

Choosing and cooking your own food is now going to be both a blessing and a curse.

Budget appropriately. When I first moved out I would blow my first two weeks of wages and then panic to pay my rent and other bills the last two weeks. Be better than me and allocate a set amount every week for this alone so you’re not stuck come bill time!

Finance..find churches n hotpots for food

Buy cleaning supplies, if every kind that you will need, bleach, disinfectants, window cleaner, etc, because it’s the worst when you don’t have the one you need.

Change the locks when you move in - you never know how many copies are floating around out there.

Ventilate your bathroom after showers to avoid mould.

Don’t rush to buy all your furniture and gadgets at once.

Not sure if this has been mentioned already, but if you’re renting, take photos of everything as soon as you move in. Damage to the walls/flooring? Photo. Initial meter readings? Photo. Furniture (if included) in poor condition? Photo. Hopefully you won’t have to deal with arsehole landlords/companies but it sure makes your life easier if problems do arise down the line. Most of all, don’t be afraid to reach out to friends and family if you find yourself struggling. This is a big step and you can be living independently for years yet still encounter problems that catch you off-guard. It’s okay to ask for advice at any point! Best of luck and enjoy the adventure :)

Be ready to spend

Buy an electric drill/screwdriver. Even if you only ever assemble one TV cabinet with it it will pay for itself in time 10x over.

Set up a new gmail address for your house.

Have all your utilities, bills and food shopping etc go into that. You can set up filters for each of them and it's so much easier to manage than having them interleaved with your personal gmail. Also it'll stay clean and safe as you only use this address for formal house stuff. We found it very helpful.

Furniture is fucking expensive. Even like basic IKEA stuff is way more than you’ll think it is. Facebook marketplace etc. is your friend and then replace stuff with new as and when you can afford to if you need to.

Also if you’re renovating, do your bedroom first so that you always have something finished to go to at the end of your day.

Avoid debt like the plague. if something is going to put you in debt focus on getting rid of that debt, dont become endebted to anyone or anything and youll be free.

Learn how to hide when relatives stop by to borrow money.

I am going to assume you are getting an apartment. You are going to have to deal with noises at all hours, stompers above you, smokers and weed stench coming though cracks in the wall, bugs, bad tenants, it’s all part of the experience. Don’t let it stress you out. Use it as motivation to work hard and be able to afford your own home one day. Be a good Neighbor but don’t put up with bullshit. Be diplomatic and use measured responses when dealing with building issues. Best of luck.

In cold weather if you cook in the oven leave the door open when your done. Adds heat to your home that you have paid for👍

Priorities (rent, bills, food) first! And what I've told myself everytime I want something, If I can't afford, I will not buy it.

Got a few.

Make use of a Santander 1 2 3 account. You are able to get 1%, 2% and 3% back on your bills. So long as you set up a standing order from another bank account to transfer at least £500 a month into the account and set all of your direct debits up on the Santander account, you'll get paid for paying your bills.

Change all of your bulbs to LED. Not only will you change them less frequently, they really do cost a fraction to run over the long term. Save the pennies everywhere!

Invest in a decent hoover - I highly recommend the George from Numatic. Wet and dry vac and it appears that it will never die!

When setting up bills, be as clever as you can to save a fortune. uSwitch is fantastic for prompting you to change providers (current climate excluded) and make use of TopCashBack and similar sites for great deals on broadband. We managed to get our broadband/TV/phone with virgin for effectively £20 a month for 18 months with 200mbps by using cashback.

Good luck!

Having an upstairs neighbor typically sucks

You shouldn’t have moved out

Buy a plunger before it’s needed.

Keep flour in an airtight container or the refrigerator -- it will prevent a pantry moth infestation & once those suckers get in you'll never get rid of them

You have to pay for shit now

Make sure to buy a toilet plunger before you actually need it

Hand soap everywhere there is a sink. Your future lady friends will thank you.

Also candles!!!

Everything gets worse forever.

You will never have disposable income again

Your neighbours are assholes you have to be friends with to keep the peace

Basically by the sounds of it, you fucked up, move back in quick!!

Instant Pot is the bomb. You can cook so many things in that single appliance it’s not even funny. And, if you get the bigger ones, you can make meals for the entire week in one go. Really good Mac and cheese is super easy to make and is the gourmet kind, not the box kind. Same with Chicken byriani, stew, soups, roast beef&vegis, pulled pork, chicken Al pastor, etc. if you want low time, low maintenance, easy cooking in more or less a single appliance (ribbs still need to be crisped on the bbq or oven).

Fruit and vegetables. Make damned sure you eat them.

You'll be back in your parents house before you know it

Pay your council tax on time. Pay your water bill on time.

Neither of them fuck around.

Buy a plunger before you need it.

The hot water from the tap is not safe to drink.

Nothing cleans itself. You should schedule regular maintenance of your place, whether that includes replacing common parts or just dusting.

Don't buy something if you don't know where you're going to put it, thousands of boomers live in squalor rat nests of consumer garbage.

If it doesn't serve two functions, don't buy it.

If you must have it, have a backup.

Have a plan for fire, including fire extinguishers and what you plan to grab if you have 30 seconds to evacuate.

Learn to cook for yourself healthy meals which are easy to make even when you're having a bad day.

Don't ever smoke indoors.

If you need a tool for a one-time job, buy the cheap version. If you use it so often it breaks, by the value version. If it's making you money, by the best version that speeds up the job and prevents effort and injury.

Credit is a tool and not a toy. Pay your bills on time, including your housing payments. Do not carry a balance unless the money you've borrowed is an investment producing a profit in excess of the interest to finance the loan and the effort required to obtain that profit.

Start your bank accounts, credit accounts, voting registration, retirement accounts, licenses, and everything else under your new address so that your mail comes to you. Remember each of the things you've registered under your new address so that when you move you know to change them.

Get renters insurance if you rent, it's cheap and can often cover things that happen outside your home like spilled tea on your laptop.

Know your local housing authority to arbitrate disputes between neighbors without confronting them directly. There was a time when it was a good idea to knock on your neighbor's door and ask for sugar or to tell them to keep it down but that hasn't been my experience. Find your trusted third party to do that for you. There's too many crazy people out there.

On the flip side of that, if you do anything which would upset the neighbors, try to get that information from them before they go to the third party. If you have to park in the same spot, or you're planning to have a party with loud music, just let people know and have it settled down by 10:00 p.m. unless it's New Year's.

If you go shopping for things that you can afford and fill the need for someone with a new home, don't go to the big box stores. Check online first because you'll usually find something cheaper for better quality. If you can afford the local shops and handmade stuff that will serve you far better even if it costs twice as much. Don't be afraid to mix and match according to how useful it is to you. I have a $10 blanket on the couch and $400 blankets on the bed.

Don't be afraid to buy things used. You're getting the hand me downs, that's okay.

Sign as few contracts as possible. You want to stay nimble and under the radar so that you can move on a moment's notice if the local area job market changes or you find opportunity elsewhere. The last thing you want to do is get locked into a local cellular network and a lease If you can help it. That quickly becomes a ball and chain.

If you're dating, don't let them leave a toothbrush and don't let them stay for 3 nights. Relationships are great but living alone is great. You can have both, but if you live together you'll have neither. Just ask 87% of folks who've been married for more than 8 years. If you're still inclined, try your luck. I've heard that 13% is worth it.

Did I mention retirement accounts? The sooner you start, the better it is for you. If you can give up $25 a month you're off to a really good start.

This post is too long and if I wanted to make a point I would have made it by now so these are just a collection things I wish I knew and I was 18. Your mileage may vary. Also figure out your shit in case you have some kind of undiagnosed illness because that will become apparent when you're not a dependent.

never leave the house without your keys ever

Vacuum clean and declutter before you have company over. Parents or friends, this will give the illusion that you have your life together.

Your electric bill will always be too high

Get a plunger and a fire extinguisher on your first day.

CREDIT CARDS ARE EVIL! Dont bury yourself in debt at 18.

Don’t move out of your parents house.

COOKING EVERY FUCKING DAY IS AWFUL AND THE ALTERNATIVE IS EXPENSIVE

When you first get your paycheck, pay all of your bills first, starting with your rent, and working your way down to the least important one. What I did was open up two bank accounts, one for leisure, the other for business (my bills). I am paid by-weekly so I set up my direct deposit to send my bill money to the one account, 20% is the remainder to my savings, and the rest to my leisure account.

just take things slow and be easy on yourself and always reach out for help.

Things are about to get real expensive. Real fast.

You will miss your parents so much.

Get used to washing up my dude. It's relentless and it never.. Ever.. Finishes. But, its a fair price for having freedom

Also, being a big boy is overrated. Move back in.

Bitches be crazy

​

/s

Live within your means. Simplicity is bliss.

It is amazing how quickly the place will turn into a shithole if you don’t clear up after yourself and hoover/dust etc.

Start by being very strict with yourself and get the hang of it, or you’ll be facing a mammoth several day task later.

This might seem obvious but it can be easily forgotten. Make it a habit to check if you have enough toilet paper before you go shopping. One bad case of indigestion and forgetting toilet paper will make you hate everything if you're on your own and have no other house member to grab you some. I was too comfortable in forgetting about this one thing my parents always did until I realised how important one item can be.

Cook your own breakfast and do your own laundry "big boy"

Set up a separate current account for your bills, pay a little more than is needed every month and you'll build up a nice wee savings pot for when you need to replace a broken down washing machine or need to do upgrades

Brush your teeth!

Go through your parents kitchen. I you see a utensil, you'll probably want to buy that.

'There's no going back'

Pay your monthly expenses first and include cash for food into that amount.

Do not touch it.

The rest is yours for you to do as you see fit.

Also going for groceries on a weekly basis is good.

Just don’t do what I did and carry a shitton of bags and end up cursing yourself for your stupidity.

You are allowed to run around the house naked.

Have fun.

Buy a plunger. It sounds stupid but you wanna get a good one now instead of when you actually need one later.

Living with your parents is much better than living on your own. I moved out as soon as I turned 18 and wish life wasn’t so rough. I’m currently 20 about to turn 21 and wish I spent all that rent money to own a better car rather than it going to a landlord. I have spent over 30k on living expenses and work full time for Amazon.

Council tax is a bitch

Buy the best tools you can afford* you’ll be using them a lot more than you think and probably when you least expect it.

You may not have a ton of money at first so whatever you buy something avoid stuff that comes with ‘extras’ e.g. a drill that includes a 50 piece bit set, or kitchen knives that come with a set of steak knives. Those things aren’t free and it just means that less of your money is going into the thing you actually want/need.

*don’t let people buy them for you as moving-in presents either, they will likely cheap out on them.

Just a short list..

the cost of toilet roll is stupid

plan meals ahead and make use for multi buy deals like 3 for £10 on meats in Morrisons kinda deal

freeze what you won’t use (this goes for meat, veggies, etc)

know where all the stopcocks, guess etc are in your home

have a medical cupboard with essentials

Cheese is expensive as fuck bro

No one will ever care about you as much as your parents do.

I need karma

If you meet your neighbors, be prepared for how potentially annoying they might be. You can't escape them sometimes without being a dick.

Give it a few years and you’ll miss living with your parents

Salt, pepper and other spices don't come with the house your parents were actually going out and buying them.

Anything that breaks is now your fault end you're going to have to fix it

Aldi is your best friend when it comes to shopping, if you’re living alone you do a monthly shop for less £50, have done so myself

You will start having less time for your hobbies, unless you're rich.

Don’t move the first woman in that shows an interest in doing so.

Buy stuff second half for your house. Fb Marketplace or local selling groups are your friend

Keep it ventilated, especially if you’re drying laundry indoors. It’s really easy to get mould.

Clean up your own jizz

One day I decided I wanted to make a cake mixture and just eat the mixture (who doesn’t love licking out the bowl?!).

Don’t do this.

This thread is a future lifesaver for me; I’m looking at, and dreading moving out but as I had no concept of money I need to save and clear some bills at the same time before I can, gonna keep all these tips in mind

If you can afford it hire a cleaner, gardener and window cleaner. All 3 used to cost me £130 for the month.

Budget. Lock in a nice budget and stick to it

Also, if you’re living by yourself get ready to throw away at least 75% of any bread you buy.

Get a key and lock for your bed room

Monsters do exist

Stay on top of your chores and cleaning.

The kitchen and laundry are never “done” so don’t kill yourself over it, just set days of the week where you run a few loads of both.

Always shoot for “what is the minimum I need to be functional tomorrow” versus “I must have everything perfect”

My mom tile me this when I moved out. Wrote down all your expenses as the bills come in. After the first few months you can put together an annual budget and estimate when the bills are going to come in. Set aside the money for it. Also set aside money for birthdays Christmas etc. have some money for fun and be strict with yourself. You may think you have a lot of expenses now but they tend to pile on as you get older.

I’ve personally found Working on an annual baisis, I’ve personally found, is much more effective than a week to week or pay check to pay check mentality. You can see where you are and where you are going, especially if you see how much you could save over the year it looks sooooo much nicer when it’s x 52 rather than one week and it’s more encouraging.

Ps avoid direct debits and subscriptions. I’ll often cancel an annual subscription a few mins after paying for a new one one. This way it doesn’t auto renew…. And if I genuinely aren’t using it then I’ve forgotten about it and won’t sign up again. If it is good and useful I’ll sign up for a longer time then cancel it so it doesn’t auto renew again. My needs change so there’s no point letting subscriptions keep auto renewing over and over; you loose a heap of money on things you’re not genuinely using

Spend a lot of money on a good pot and a frying pan. 200-400$. They will last you a lifetime and you can make almost any meal with them. Bedrooms without a window are illegal, never risk renting one or you might wake up one night dying horribly. Invest 30-60% of your income into voo, spxl or etherium, and once you reach about 20k buy a house and rent out every unused room. Once you have a 20% down-payment in equity, take out a heloc and get a second property and rent it. Before you pay any bills each month it will force you to be accurate with your spending and you will find ways to spend or make more money. Unless it puts money in your pocket it's not an asset, don't beleive what sales people tell you. Get a credit card, put a netflix subscription or some kind of recurring bill on it, set up auto payments on it, never touch it after that ever, never use more than 5 or 10% of its total amount. If you are close to committing suicide take a mushroom trip golden teacher is fairly good, it will help you deal with a lot of your problems. Never use any kind of drug other than cannabis or alcohol recreationaly. Cars are a waste of money unless you really really need one its better to invest that money. Life is a pay to win game that is about setting up systems that put other people in debt to you. Don't get caught in somone else's debt trap because they dangled something shiny infront of you.

Literally nobody cares at all about your situation, if things are happening in your life or you need to get things done you need to be upfront straightforward about it.

Nobody tells you how expensive toilet roll is

don’t forget to turn down the heat when you leave the house

Take pics of your apartment when you move in. In case there is any damage that was there when you moved in they didnt repair and try to hold your deposot to make you responsible.

Run your washing machine on an empty hot wash every couple of dozen washes. Add some traditional cleaning solutions like vinegar, bicarb or lemon juice to clean out as much of the yucky residue. Also leave the door and drawer open fully as much as you can.

Always make sure you have toilet roll in the bathroom.

Coupons are amazing

Enjoy every minute of it and don't rush into more responsibilities if they don't sound good to you.

If you're renting, find where the fire extinguisher is, or buy one for yourself. I've randomly needed to know where one is twice just this year, so be prepared!

Be kind to your neighbors. Don't disregard having a respectable image. You never know the types of connections you'll be able to build, or when you'll need to rely on a neighbor for a favor or in the case of an emergency.

get a trash can with a lid in the bathroom for your lady friends. We hate having our tampons just like, advertising to the world.

How expensive your first grocery trip will be!

Salt,pepper and other spices add up quick, not to mention toilet paper, paper towels and toiletries.

It's going to be expensive, resist moving back home. Give it about 6 months to find your groove and money management. I wish you all the luck.

If you are buying a bed the price in the showroom doesn’t include the mattress - it is just for the frame. Learned that one the hard way

that there british

Do you know how to be self sufficient? Doing laundry. Cooking, things like that? You should also learn how to budget if you haven't already. Good life skills to have. Good luck

When I moved I didn't realize that tp doesn't magically appear in bathrooms. A lot of shameful showers.

Dude Take care of all utilities before moving in. Make sure they are in your name and working. You cant imagine how much suffering it causes to go through a whole day of moving furniture, driving uhaul, shit takes all day.

Then you finally get everything settled and you want to lay down and watch a movie and boom - power goes out. Some idiot at comed misunderstood your move in date, the landlord or previous tenant cancelled their service.. and since its the weekend you gotta wait til Monday.

Rice and beans is the best cheap food imo and it lasts for a very long time without going bad.

Cheese is damm expensive

Buy a toilet plunger before you need a toilet plunger!

Stopcock the old wanker with me bird innit

Get yourself some chickens now

Do laundry every week, make sure you have enough space for drying if not find a launderette and use the dryers, find out what supermarkets, bus and train stations are close, don't lend money to people, try and cook once a week because takeout is expensive, get tesco club card it's a good thing to have.

Radiators work by circulating air across them from the floor upwards. If you block them in, you’ll be cold. To go in front of them, look for furniture that has a gap underneath/legs and leave a good few inches in front.

pay rent on time and always.

The first people to come introduce themselves to you as the new neighbor are the losers that everyone else in the neighborhood/building avoid, and they are desperate for a new friend.

Pay your bills on time. Open all the letters. Save some cash for unexpected emergencies. Say hello to your neighbours. Work out bin day.

When it comes time to move again put in the effort to be 100% sure utilities in your name are canceled or transferred and mail is forwarded

Change your locks, if you are allowed.

Locate a small hidden area in your new place where you can put the illigal stuff.

I don’t know how they do banking in the UK, but I have two checking accounts. When my paycheck is deposited, I know exactly how much money I need to have in my account for automatic payments: rent, utilities, phone, subscription services, etc. I always have that amount of money in that account at the beginning of a new pay period. I then transfer the remaining money into my other checking account. That is the amount of money I can spend on food, entertainment, dates, etc. It helps me keep my finances in order and keeps me from worrying about overdraft fees.

If you have the option, you were way better off suffering at your parents house for a few years as you saved up enough money to buy your own house. Renting for the rest of your life sucks.

Get white sheets and towels. You can bleach them and if you steal hotel towels they will match.

30 is the new 20

Expiration dates on food are just a suggestion and you will learn to turn off lights whenever you leave a room.

Toilet rolls seems to run out all the time. Be prepared to swear often and to avoid the pain bulk order online.

Always crack the window open a jar for a few hours over the course of a day. You’ll get rid of excess moisture and prevent mould on the windows. That’s what I found out too late.

Take a picture of your electric meter on the day you move in. I had 18months of arguing with Scottish Power because they tried to charge me for the previous owners electric

buy a plunger asap

also, salt doesn't materialize out of thin air, you need to buy that too

That you never go back.,not really..

  1. Pay your bills. On time. Every time. No one will make you and it’s super tedious and depressing, and feels much easier just to delete the emails/ fling the letters in the bin. However, it all becomes MUCH more tedious and depressing very quickly when you don’t.

  2. You will need to learn how to do stuff. How to wire a plug. How to change a fuse. How to hang a shelf. How to bleed a radiator. Fortunately for you millennials, all of this stuff is now on YouTube - which is a huge help.

  3. Eat a vegetable once in a while, even though you are cooking for yourself. Your body will thank you.

Keep up with your hobbies.

The price of dairy products.

You have to change your own bedsheets, no one will do it for you. Set a reminder on your phone because you WILL forget.

Wash your towels (bathroom and kitchen) weekly!

*Both of these are things i had to tell my younger brother when he moved out for the first time.

Toilet paper goes way faster than you think it does

Don’t skimp on anything that goes between you and the ground. So that’s chiefly shoes, chairs, beds / mattresses and tyres.

Keep a note somewhere of dates of important events. For example, there seem to be loads of times you get asked for dates and places you lived at for the last 5 years, dates of employment etc.

Get yourself a cordless drill.

Useful for loads of little jobs and putting up shelves etc, but an absolute game changer when using the screwdriver mode for putting together furniture.

I spent yeeeaaars without one, using a manual screwdriver until my hands were sore!

Now I've got one, I feel like a... erm... complete tool for holding off for so long.

Command strips. I use em for everything.

Take your budget and then double it

Make sure you take a picture of every room when you move in and just before you move out. Every corner, every cabinet inside and out.This creates a docu history of the unit in case something happens and you have a record of how you entered and left the apartment.

The worst part is feeding yourself tbh

Check your gas meter immediately and make a note of the mileage,If you get multiple bills from the gas company (they are chancing bastards so watch out) I once had 3 different sets of bills arriving arriving to homeowner or occupier! If your not on it they will bum you (strong and deep)

Stock some of the things you would find in Mum and Dad’s medicine cabinet - savlon, plasters etc!

Takeaways will skint you right out so shop cheap and cook!

Buy things in bulk from Costco/Sam's club that won't expire. Toilet paper, paper towel, etc. You save a ton of money

Roommates suck at doing dishes there’s a lot of fights about dishes one person usually picks up a lot of slack. If you live alone idk- keep ur door locked

Buy a plunger before you need one

Enjoy it! Whilst moving out and living alone or with others has loads of challenges its also incredibly freeing.

It's shit.

My advice would be unless you're in absolute dire need to get out or living with them isn't feasible for work don't rent. Save up so you can buy somewhere. Don't waste money paying someone else mortgage

Everything costs MONEY. Toothpaste, deodorant, garbage bags….money. Even when you think you can eat cheap so you can take yourself out….money. Keep up on things like dishes and cleaning. Find a routine, open your curtains. Sometimes depression can sneak up on you. Go outside everyday. Breath fresh air. Walking is free exercise. Best of luck! And congrats on your new adventure.

Credit cards aren't free money. However, if you are financially responsible, I recommend finding a good credit card with good rewards (as good as you can find with your non-existent credit) and use it for everything, then pay it off at the due date, every month.

You can get nice sturdy furniture, especially dining sets and dressers, second hand. Always check local listings before getting new stuff.

The best cleaning device I’ve ever owned is the vacmop. It keep my house cleaner than anything else (I have 2 dogs, 3 cats and 3 snakes and 4 kids).

Also you are allowed to clean hard floors with a vacuum! No broom needed!

Do not cheap out on a vacuum. You pay for what you get! I spent $60 on a vacuum and it died within 6 months. I got another vacuum for $250 it’s going strong two years later.

Invest in a steam cleaner. Deep cleaning carpets is a must. They hold smells. Even if you don’t smell it others will.

Get blackout curtains they help your electric bill.

If you live in a cold climate, look into weather proofing your windows. It’s about $10-20 for a box that’ll cover all your windows, it lowers you electric/ gas bill. (And works in the summer too.)

Check under your sinks to make sure there isn’t a leak ruining the bottom of the cabinet your sink shares.

Get good light bulbs! You pay for what you get. Try to stay away from yellow bulbs, they tend to make homes look a little more depressing.

If you are living alone for the first time, look into some sort of personal safety device. (Taser, gun, knife, sword) anything that’ll make you feel safe. Make sure that you get is legal for your area. Make yourself feel comfortable with it. Take an owners safety course. You won’t need a personal safety device until you need it and if you don’t have one you’ll wish you had.

Remember to do self care! You matter and being alone for the first time is hard. Remember to make you feel good!

Set a day to do laundry. No matter what do your laundry that day. It sucks. But you will feel better.

Fold your laundry. Just do it.

If you plan on having a significant other over. (Specifically of the opposite sex) have a drawer that is dedicated to personal care supplies that they may need a box of tampons, shampoos, lotion, conditioner, a hair brush. This isn’t necessary right away. But it makes you look extremely considerate and aware of others needs. You don’t need to break the bank getting these supplies either a store brand is fine.

Good luck!

You will have to buy boring things, I had to buy a fucking mop from wilkos... its the worst.

Tidy as you go no matter how large or small the mess.

You don't want anything piling up even for just a day. This ensures you onyl have to do a quick clean over the weekend.

Choose your neighbourhood wisely you live with them for a few years. Also ask your neighbours about any problems they know about.

Live within walking distance of a grocery store.

View is nice, walking stairs because the elevator does't work, is not. Don't live to high up. But if possible have someone living below you, it will lower your heating costs immensely.

Don't accept mold, ever. Pick another place.

Change the locks. Doesn't matter if its been replaced, you don't want anyone you don't trust to have copies of your keys. Hide a key outside away from your apparent, oil it, put it in plastic, ducktape it, Bury it somewhere within walking distance, you will lock yourself out at some point. Giving it to another person is okay, but life sucks and they are rarely available when you have locked yourself out.

Have the least amount of dishes in the shelves, the more you have available the more you are going to use before having to clean them.

Buy a good cooking book.

Water, vinegar (10l, 60% accid) and soda = universal cleaning supplies for the next few years for under 30 bucks

Heating and electricity is getting ridiculously expensive. Buy a comfy blanket and get very low wattage lights for evening use and lower the brightness on your tv/monitor. Also check your energy consumption every month and write it down. Air out regularly not constantly, aka fix every constant airflow.

You will clog up your toilet, get a plunger.

Get a fire blanket in your kitchen, and a extinguisher for the rest of the place. Have an escape plan in case of fire.

Don't forget to check your mail.

Have something living in your place. Plants will do. A Cactus might survive the longest.

Buy plenty of batteries and pens. Never enough batteries or pens.

Put your monthly bills money aside at pay day in a separate account to your spending account.

I like to give myself a monthly “spend on whatever” budget. I don’t always stick to it but it helps guide my spending so I don’t go silly.

Don’t buy cheap bin bags, they’re so useless

Bonus for enjoyment: get a cat

Not everything goes in the dishwasher, same goes for the microwave. Get a laundry bag or two.

You’ll need laundry detergent, dish soap, dishwashing tablets, hand soap, and body soap.

Wash towels and sheets regularly.

Socks can somehow end up everywhere, learn to pair them up or put them in the hamper.

Vacuum regularly, especially if you have a dog or cat.

Trash bags, you’ll need them. Ideally the ones that don’t leak and tear easily.

A good pillow and bed make a huge difference as far as sleep quality. Sofas can be expensive but if you’re always at home they can be a great investment.

Get yourself a proper set of knives, dull knives cause accidents.

Don’t leave any valuables around anyone you don’t know if you share your space with others.

Cook for leftovers Separate laundry colors

Congratulations!

PLEASE do not let stuff go outdated or turn into science experiments in your fridge or eat stuff that's been left out too long.

Science experiments can kill you. lol

You dont have to pay your water bill they cant cut you off

I do not know if it was already mentioned above, but if you are renting and you are viewing the house (when you get the key) take pictures of all damages you see before you move in, mail it to your landlord, this can save you a load of money when you eventually move out.

Nobody cooks tea for you🤷‍♂️

Remember to always remember bin day

Be smart

Buy a plumber before you need a plumber (or whatever the sucking thing on a stick is called in the UK)

Women are expensive don’t do it.

When you're moving in, the FIRST thing you move in is toilet paper. Then a chair. Then something to clean up with. Then something to eat off of. Actually, just pack a bag like you're going camping, and that's the first thing you move in.

Houses don't clean themselves.

I’ve seen others post about mattresses…don’t neglect a headboard on a bed, a tall one. Our last bed had a short one and I was forever cleaning hair grease marks off the wall.

Rent is due on the first, but it doesnt hurt to pay early.

Cheese is expensive

Leave something out to defrost whilst you're out at work. There's nothing more annoying than working all day and then realising that everything will take twice as long to cook.

Do a walk through and take pics when it's still empty. Note anything that's chipped/scratched in a big way, or obvious damages. At the end if they try to charge you for something you didn't do, you have proof it wasn't you!

If your heat goes out don't use your stove as replacement heat.

Find out where your fuses are and how to reset a breaker.

Get a fire extinguisher.

Buy back up batteries, light bulbs, etc on consumables bc they will break/stop working/go out at inconvenient times.

Approach your new domicile like a thief. Where’s the easiest place to break in?

Don’t advertise your life in your trash can.

Bogo is your friend

Storage lockers are a rip off

Crockpots & freezers are the tits

Remember, vegetables and fruits you buy yourself get bad earlier.

Clean your dryer’s lint trap before every load

Put a small trash can in the bathroom

If you have an outside faucet with a hose attached, detach the hose prior to cold weather (attached hoses in freezing weather cause water pipes to freeze and break)

Make sure you know where your fire extinguisher is and that the smoke detectors work

give your gas and electric company meter readings !!!

council tax is a lot a more expensive than youd realise...(or maybe its bc i live in oxfordshire)

food is more expensive than you realise and doesnt last as long as you would think it is

living alone is bloody scary and stressful but its so fucking cool having your independence

If you buy cheap things you'll end up wasting more money then if you buy normal priced/expensive things. Ex: towels. Cheap ones will leave fabric strands all over you when you dry off or on your plates when you dry them. Pots and pans. Buy the cheap ones and they break and don't cook properly way sooner then the ones that cost $150 more but would've lasted you 10+years.

Also buy in bulk for things you'll forget to buy until it's too late. Toilet paper/ paper towels/soap/laundry detergent. Stuff that you'll always use but might forget to buy at the store. Invest in a nice water filter at the get go and just get that out of the way.

And big thing. Make sure to add some color in your place. You don't want to be living in a bland colorless un decorated white walled place. Throw some posters up. Grab a paint brush and go crazy. Make it yours. (23 and also living alone for the first time, but it's been 6 months).

Life sucks!

The more you own, the more you have to pack and move

You can eat cake whenever you like not just for birthdays

You should have done it years ago. 😃

If you aren't fond of spiders, get a cat. I have two and very rarely see any of our 8 legged pals, if I do they're most likely already being hunted by my clever girls

😼👉🕷👈😼

If you’re renting, which I assume you will be, take pictures of everything before you move in. Especially take close ups of any damage

You won’t have going out money anymore.

Get a plug hole strainer for your shower. You'd be surprised at how much fluff and hair it traps even if you have very short hair. You can just clear it out easily after each shower rather than clogging up your drains.

clothes dont wash an fold themselves

I always pay attention to the per price. Per pound, per ounce, per item. In the US retailers are very shifty and is tough calculating but sometimes the bulk item isn’t the best buy.

If this is your own home that you are mortgaging yourself you will need buildings insurance typically. Even though you won't have much of your own then consider contents insurance for what you DO own. Usually the policy includes certain items that you take out of the home like smartphones, laptops & cash. If you are not a careless person you can skip "Accidental damage" cover and cut the cost of the premium. Remember that most things are cheaper when paid in full as opposed to monthly.

Don't heat your home when you are not there. Sounds obvious but you will save a fortune on your monthly bills just by doing that.

If your new place has underground irrigation make sure you have it blown out by a landscaping company in the fall to prevent freezing and damage to the system

Most councils have a bin day calendar sync on their website. A few clicks and boom. The whole year in your reminders so you're never caught out by bank holidays etc.

A slow cooker will save you from starving. You can use really cheap cuts of meat and bulk out with pulses and / or veggies and a whole pot can do you for main meals for a week. It also doesn't require any real cooking skill as you just bung everything in the pot and switch it on to low for 5-6 hours.

You can even get bags that go inside the pot which means you don't have to wash it up - bonus!

It’s more expensive than you think it will be

  • Make sure that you have at least one spare bulb for each type in the house.
  • Food costs tends to be more than you'd think each month - have a look at the 'cheap' supermarkets, they have some decent stuff at better prices.
  • Check if there is a meter key. If not, buy one (they don't cost much) and make sure that you take a photo of the meters when you move in for your starting meter readings. Also make sure that you are looking at the right meter if not attached to the house - you should have that information supplied with the details of the house.

Do your laundry a day before the you run out of anything - especially if you live in a flat without any outside space.

Cheese is expensive.

Make at least an attempt to befriend your neighbors. This can pay off big time if you ever need a favor, they tend to be less noisy and more considerate. Yes it means you have to come out of your shell to do this, but it's much better than not doing this.

The first 3 months are the most expensive since literally everything is needed to be purchased, all the stupid little things you don't really think of, spoons, plates, salt shakers, tables, pillows, etc. Also security deposits on shit since you are a new person with no credit history on utilities.

Also, if you can, be as practical as possible, don't try to make your place fancy, just get the basics, don't worry about putting up pictures and things unless that'ss reallly really important.

Make a move-in list so you can check off all the things you need to get done.

Also, keep a torch/flashlight around until you know your way around the home in the dark. Your shins and face will thank you.

You will never have the right tool to fix that one thing that needs fixing, so get used to a trip to the hardware store for every repair, so get used to that, at least for a while.

Cheese is really bloody expensive

Lurpak spreadable IS NOT spreadable

You need a triangular key to read the gas meter. Also, you laughed at your dad but Allen keys ARE God’s own gadget, you will need them for everything.

Pillows are ridiculously expensive… but but decent ones and buy once!

your landlord will do everything possible to keep your deposit and will prbably be successful. if even so much as a window blind louvre is bent he will charge you the deposit for it. take pictures of every room before you move in. that way you can document what you did if he pulls some shot

Your mum will still do your ironing if you take the time to go see her (with your shirts etc). I know mine did. Don't forget to bring her flowers or small gift to show your appreciation.

Your mum or dad probably did a shit load of cleaning that you didn’t realise. Stay on top of it or you’ll find yourself living in a hole pretty quickly.

Take outs good but a aldi £2 pizza is better

Fruit and Vegetables go out of date in about 2 hours and cost around £5 each

Get a tin opener, potato peeler, masher and bottle opener.

You don't know you need them until... you need them. It's an arsehole when you're stuck trying to open a tin of beans with a spoon!

Take photos of the meters and keep a spreadsheet for bills

People who visit will judge you on the cleanliness of your toilet. KEEP. IT. CLEAN.

Take lunch to work, dont spend money needlessly , start an isa and keep your neighbours at a respectful distance.

L

Be prepared to be in a permanent state of needing to wash the dishes and do laundry. It never... ever... ends.

Get 2 plungers: a cheap one for the loo (to be used nowhere else) and a better one for sink drains like this one

If you don't already, ask your parents for a few recipes from scratch. They don't have to be super complex, just some simple recipes that will remind you of home.

It's a great way to get into cooking for yourself.

Buy yourself a wok like this

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/295155797

Stir fry the fuck out of everything

It's the easiest type of cooking with very little prep/cleanup needed

Council tax is expensive !

Heating and power costs more than you think......you will.understand why your parents complain when you leave lights on, or take 3 baths a day.

If sharing, take the time to pick the right roommate. Make sure cleaning and bill details spoken about and agreed to before moving in.

It’s fucking hard work; you’ll wish you never moved out.

Pay your council tax on time every time, they can give you an almost unlimited amount of headaches

Thames Water is gonna be a fucking royal pain in the ass. I hope you like elevator music!

Your neighbours are probably cunts.

Big boys can still cry when they feel overwhelmed

Learn carpentry and any other handyman thing you can master. Better yet, stay with your parents and milk that sht for as long as you can and save every dime you make. Then buy your ass a piece of land and learn to live off grid. Fck the system. Raise bees and worms and grow your own food. Be a real man and get the girl the old fashioned way and avoid having kids at all costs, you’ll just spend the rest of your life worrying about them cuz the world is a fcked up place. That’s all assuming you’re a dude. If you’re a girl, same applies but get a guy to do the heavy lifting while you do the gardening, bread baking and sandwich making. Fck feminism, the family unit is being destroyed intentionally. Men and women should have individual roles to support each other. Yeah this went on a tangent lol. You asked😂

Use a comparison site to save money on all your household bills

Fuck me it's expensive LOL 🤔🤭😁👍

Light sockets often have a live cable in them - don’t assume just because you’ve switched off the light that it’s safe to start fiddling with the socket. Always switch the light circuit off at the consumer unit / circuit breaker.

Hi

Change all your bank accounts to your new address. Having multiple active addresses can affect your credit score.

Being a big boy and moving out is great, until you realise how expensive everything is and it’s a hell of a lot harder to save any money!

Then you go back to stay with parents for a couple of nights and realise you can now only stand being with them for one day before it gets a bit too much.

A slow cooker is the best kitchen utensil you can get

Never go on token meter for gas/electric. Its a rip off.

watch out for hobosexuals. these are people that will try go out with you just to use you for a place to stay. their are quite a few out there guys watch out especially when its cold out.

Dont get things on finance or buy now pay later. You will be richer for life if you be patient and save.

Learn to cook! I ate a diet of pizza and biscuits for the first two months of moving out! Finally had vegetables again after visiting my mum, and I could feel the scurvy creeping out of me.

Always buy bulk for things that you will inevitably need, especially things like loo roll and dish soap. Even if it takes up half the space in your closet, it’s better to have 15 rolls just hanging out than realize you’ve run out midway through. Also, buying in bulk means that you can buy nicer stuff for a better price.

Cook things that freeze well and store in single serving containers or bags. Stews, soups, sauces and curries freeze quite well. Don’t be afraid of making a 10 serving batch of things like that. It uses up older veg like carrots and celery that are often sold for the best price in huge family size bags and means you always have something ready to go when you don’t feel like cooking. Things like cookie dough and pie crusts can also be frozen and those are handy to have for when you’re inviting guests over.

In regards to being sick, make sure you have medicine BEFORE you get sick. The basics like pain killers and cough meds are important but it is essential you have anti-diarrhoea medicine always in your cabinet. That is the absolute worst time to have to leave your house.

Editing in one last thing. If you have saved up a fair amount of money and can afford to buy a fire-proof safe, buy one. If you can’t afford one, save up for one. They are expensive, but it’s a lot cheaper than the hassle of replacing all of your important documents and valuables.

That toilet roll is surprisingly expensive. Also make sure to find a good energy and internet provider because it can get shit if you cheap out on those things.

Take photos of the gas and electricity meter readings when you move in or out of a property.

Toilet paper doesn't replenish itself

Clean your toilet, drains and shower super regularly, and it will never be a huge issue!

Being alive is so bloody EXPENSIVE

You will never stop doing washing. Or cleaning your kitchen. They never end. But doing your own washing is surprisingly fun! Buy as many extension leads as you can afford. You will ALWAYS need another one. I don't know why. But you always will.

Check what batteries your smoke and gas detector takes and have a spare. They're wired into the ceiling but if the backup battery dies the fujer chirps every minute endlessly until you replace it or take it out. Some chirp even without the battery in too.

Oh and get a screwdriver set to remove the damned thing. Also good for flat packs and not that expensive.

The price of freedom is eternal housekeeping!

Cheese is way more expensive than you think it is

Council tax

If you’re not vegetarian, plan to have alternate vegetarian days, learn some recipes to make them on par with meat dishes. Unless you’re only eating stuff like fries/chips and truffles, then it would be better for your wallet, your general health and the environment mid to long term.

Buy a whole pack of toilet paper when you have about 3-4 rolls left. You really don't wanna run out at the crucial time.

Only bit of advise. Do the boring stuff of sorting out a budget. So you know where you are each week / month. Always expect the unexpected when doing it e.g washer suddenly breaks what are going to do etc. if own house suggest budget for doing all the house related stuff first, as before you know it life catches up with you and you don’t have any free time / money for the various home Improvememts you had planned. Also enjoy it, it’s really nice have the independence and freedom it gives you even though it comes with more responsibilities. As I was told the more keys you have on your key ring the harder it is.

Batch cooking is your friend - a gallon of bolognese sauce can be served in different ways and frozen until needed.

Vegetables which are on the turn, can be cut up and boiled into soup - you need a stock cube to give it a bit of extra taste

You need insurance

You will need more teaspoons that you can imagine

Get into the habit of planning a weeks evening meal ahead of time at first. Then once you have a general idea of what type of meals you're making and eating and what your food budget is you can try to get in the habit of roughly planning a month ahead. This helps you do a big shop once a month and you can take advantage of the multi-buy offers to get discounts as it's for a whole month. Then you only need to be going to local shops for last-minute things or speciality items throughout the month. This way you save on offers don't have to scramble to decide your meal when you're tired and you save on the petrol/parking of multiple shopping trips and you always have something in the home to eat.

Buy multi/family pack meat and £10 for three packs type deals for every day/none special occasion meals. Save the brothers steaks and joints for dates, dinner parties and funds lunches depending on your budget.

If you're living alone or as a child-free couple then this tip helps. Buy your meat (for example 5 chicken thighs in a pack) then when you get home/it's delivered open ALL the packs and put one portion or single thigh/breast/wing/sausages/chop in its own freezer bag each. Seal and write the date with a sharpie on each bag (the sharpie won't wipe off from freezer condensation). That way you always know which ones to eat first (oldest to newest) and when to throw it out.

This way you save money, don't waste food by defrosting too much, let's you eat a varied diet (not have to eat the same meat for three days to use up the whole pack you defrosted) and helps you get more in your freezer without excess packaging getting in your way.

Just remember to get tomorrow's meat out the night before or that morning depending on the weather.

When I first moved into my first house, the thought of cooking and cleaning killed me inside. But to make it seem like less of a chore, and pass the time quicker, I find listening to music makes these tasks seem a lot easier and less of a hassle. Or if you prefer find a banging podcast on Spotify. Something funny or engaging where you can paint the picture in your head of the story being told. 👍

Avoid all unnecessary debt especially credit card debt.

Banks have a calculation of how much of a debt obligation they can saddle you with before you go bankrupt. That is 36%.

They’ll happily give you credit up to and including that amount. So if you make 1000 dollars a week, they want a third. And they want that debt to last as long as possible. And you’ll end up paying for any items bought on credit many times over.

In the long run you’ll have way more wealth and can afford way more stuff if you never lose that 33% to interest on things you already own

You'll go through more Kleenex !!

Airing out, try and open your windows for a little while each day even in winter, it'll help prevent mold, a real problem in many older properties, and reduce household smells. Also invest in good light reducing curtains (ikea have some great ones), it'll only take one blinking street light to make you regret cheaping out.

Good set of screwdrivers

Good set of spammers

Good drill - if you have brick walls you may want to grab a small SDS to make drilling holes easier, our 80s build laughs at hammer drills but my SDS has the last laugh. FYI Ryobi have a cracking deal on right now where buying a starter kit worth over £99 will net you a free gift ranging from another battery to another tool entirely.

Find out where your condensate pipe is for your boiler and where it runs to, especially with another cold snap coming up if that freezes up your boiler will shut down when you need it most

You will always have one bulb in the house that needs replacing.

Wash up all your dishes every night so that you have a clear kitchen to greet you in the morning. Pizza boxes etc mount up quickly.

Unless you live near a shop, keep a carton of uht milk in the cupboard for emergencies.

If you're going to have a party, warn your neighbours. Make friends with your neighbours - during lockdown we started a WhatsApp neighbour group that is still brilliant - it's been great for getting a door mended, emergency cat food for an injured neighbour's cat who was away, to find out WiFi recommendations, food spares and for borrowing ladders or tools. Join a local FB group for similar benefits.

Keep a spare front door key somewhere safe or at your parents/nearby friend's.

Always have a spare set of clean bed sheets. You might need them unexpectedly :o)

Pay rent on time.

Have a dentist check up every 6 months.

Frozen chopped onion saves loads of time.

You will be surprised how many things you aren’t supposed to do to your home without getting building control involved.

Watch when the old people put their bins out. Those fuckers know when bin day is and never get it wrong. Recycling day - they know. Garden waste day - they’re on it.

If you have to ask this question i suggest moving straight back home

this thread is honestly full of the most useful information i have ever seen in my life

Learn what you can afford to save money on, tinned veg yes, bin bags no etc

Your parents will be having sex within 10 minutes of you out the door.

Clothes don't magically wash themselves

Your life will become an endless cycle of work, waste management, bathroom cleaning and washing up. Welcome to hell.

Also,

When you first move in you'll have lofty ideas about how you want everything decorated. 5 years later you'll still only be a quarter of the way through the list of DIY jobs you set yourself.

Fires hot

Don't think you have to buy everything new, look on gumtree or local notice boards. You'll get better quality than you could afford buying new.

Test your heating in September. Leave it on for a while, make sure all radiators heat up all over. Look for leaks on the valves at each end. Get a key to bleed radiators with.

You want to do this before you hit a cold snap and every boiler engineer in town is booked up.

Source: Am a gas safety and maintenance contract manager.

You can watch porn with the sound up, until you get a partner then its sound down again.

Watch your spending.

CARTI 10000%

Bought a white board that I attached to my wall. Mapped out a calendar with important dates and a to do list, really help with organising yourself with all your new added responsibilities

cheese is fucking expensive.... but oh damn so worth it

Make sure you have extra toilet roll in your toilet room (or religiously replace each roll as they end) as you won’t have anyone to bring you any if you get ‘stuck’ 🤭

Do laundry and do it by colour on the right setting. Don't forget to hang it up/dry it and fold it into an allocated space.

Buy an air fryer. For a person living alone there is 0 reason to ever use the oven when an AF gets you better results in 60% of the time.

Don't trust anyone and everyone is a c*nt.

I've seen a lot of people saying to find your stop cock and consumer unit (fuse board) but you should also learn the prescribed cable zones. I won't type it out because a diagram will explain it best. It's nothing complex but can save lots of hassle to know.

I'm a sparky and I find that 9/10 people have never heard of them so never taken them into consideration when drilling or hammering into a wall.

Do not make the mistake of allowing a constant stream of mates to turn your home into party central...basically, if your mum would say no then so should you.

If it's your own property, get the locks changed. You dont know how many keys the previous owner may have handed out.

Keep the place clean. Its alot easier to do a smaller cleanup daily than having to dedicate a weekend to doing a deep clean. Also air it out frequently, if you dont, it will most likely develop a smell due to food and farts lool you wont be able to smell it as you live in it but your friends will when they come over.

If you're renting, take pictures of everything and make an inventory. Some landlords will try to pull a fast one and say you damaged stuff that was already damaged upon arrival.

Take a picture of your gas and elec meter reads each month. Helps as proof if you need to raise a dispute, or see if there's a fault.

Nobody ever regretted buying their first dishwasher.

Sexiest thing you can own is a dishwasher

The bills arriving with YOUR NAME on them was a…rite of passage for me…

"It's just a fiver" is something you won't be saying a lot. Do a load of laundry when you can. Basically you can break down living in your own space to one general rule: keep on top of chores. Don't stress, you'll figure it out eventually. Took me a year.

Your biggest expenses aren't just rent. The toilet paper, shampoo, laundry detergent, trash bags, etc that you use every day will drain your bank account fast.... Budget well.

Pay your telly license otherwise TV license will be sniffing at your door

I'm sure a few of these have been mentioned as there's a trillion comments but I cba to read them all SOOOO....

  1. Don't stick up poster with blue tack, it has an oily residue inside it that (if left long enough) will either stain the wall or pull the paint off. It's lost me a few deposits over the years.
  2. Buy more toilet roll. You're gonna be pooping for the rest of your life, so having an extra pack in the cupboard is not a waste.
  3. Don't buy the shitty black £15 pots and pans set from as the black paint crap will absolutely come off over time and end up in your food. Plus the handles will break.
  4. Don't buy cheap knives and general kitchen stuff; they go blunt, handles break, things melt... you don't have to spend loads but buy mid-range and your kitchen life gets 10x easier a few times per day AND you don't have to keep re-buying.
  5. Repeat point 2, but for all the things you will be using forever; shampoo, washing up liquid, soap, rice, pasta... the basics that aren't a phase but a necessity.
  6. Buy one or two USB chargers that have 4+ slots on them, to place in the lounge or beside your bed. Moving your USB plugs around your house all the time is a pain.
  7. Clean your windows! You often don't realise how dirty they are as it happens gradually and you can still see through them, but keeping clean windows (including the edges and sills) makes a world of difference to your living space!
  8. Buy an extension cable or two. You'll need one and it'll be behind the TV... so have a spare.
  9. Basic tools come in stupidly handy; screwdrivers, a drill, adjustable wrench... even a clamp of some kind!
  10. Don't go buying loads of random little trinkets for decor; you already own things that you love/use which double up as decor and express YOU. Things will be acquired over time, there's no need to purchase pointless objects to fill space.
  11. Don't push your lounge furniture up against walls. It's a general interior design principle that creates the illusion of space if you keep things off the wall, but also when you sit on the sofa or bang your knee on a cabinet, you're slowly marking the walls. That's another deposit-loser right there!
  12. Before buying spare bulbs, check the light. Weirdly, different rooms often require different bulb types.
  13. Take photos of your electric meter occasionally, to make sure you're not getting overcharged.
  14. The "quick wash" or "60 minute wash" on the coldest temperature is definitely enough. Help the environment, lower your bills, put less strain on both your clothes and washing machine.
  15. Wash up straight after eating, don't "let it soak" as it will just become a regrettable pile of hard grossness.
  16. Stop eating in bed, you have your own space now! Even if it's just eating on the sofa, your bed doesn't need more crumbs and stains than your body will fill it with.
  17. Tighten up that furniture. I've built beds and tables and such thinking it was "all done" only to find the wood splits and snaps after a few months. It was often because I didn't actually tighten it properly when building it, so that little bit of "give" it had slowly wore away at it and broke it.
  18. Wash your whites and colours separately - duh.
  19. Get a basic little grooming kit for the essentials. It should contain toenail and fingernail clippers separately, as well as tweezers, a file and those tiny little scissors.
  20. Get a Tesco club card, a Nectar card... and whatever other loyalty systems exist. You'll be spending a lot for the rest of your life!
  21. Don't keep your shoes in the same wardrobe or cabinet as other clothes. The bacteria in those shoes travels and it WILL make your clothes smell. You might not notice it but others will.
  22. Clean your shower curtain. Clean your toilet. Clean your sink. Anything that exists where water exists, will become gross. Just like the windows in point 7; you may not notice the grub, but it will make your place feel gross.
  23. Have designated spaces for certain common items, such as keeping your plastic bags under the sink (easiest place once you've unloaded your shopping) or your umbrella/masks/coats/gloves by the front door. I used to put everything away neatly and organised but then it was a pain in the buttonhole to grab things when the occasion called for it!
  24. Don't crush your cans when you recycle. I did this to fit more in my recycling bins, but have since learned they're often "un-recyclable" in this state.
  25. Have a tiny designated food bin. Your main kitchen bin will stink after a day or two if you're putting food in it, but might not get filled for a week or two. A small and separate food bin makes the smell an easy fix.
  26. Have a few "party basics" like playing cards and board games. Your friends wanna see your wonderful new place!
  27. Steal more glasses from the pub (probably gonna get some downvotes for this one).
  28. Stash an air bed and some spare bedding somewhere. Okay these last three are all for the sake of having your mates round so could probably have been one point.
  29. No you don't need that .

I have a trillion more points but they're more about furniture and interior design... which as this is your first place, probably doesn't apply. I'm sure you'll just be grabbing whatever is on Facebook marketplace or in any random shop and it will look dreadful, but you'll be proud of it and it'll make you happy - which is all that matters!

EDIT: Reddit doesn't seem to like lists going into the tens - my numbers aren't displaying correctly.

Food cost. All those little things your parents probably don’t mind you pinching, like milk, bread, snacks (crisps/biscuits/fruit/etc) add up a surprising amount sometimes! Get a Lidl and Tesco card to save some money and get coupons :)

When possible buy quality

Council tax.

Now that you’re on your own, nothing gets done if you don’t do it. Simple as. It helps to keep that at the back of your mind.

Invest in a slow cooker. It’s not even an investment, they cost less than £20 now.

Keep a whole chicken in the fridge/freezer and then put the whole thing in the slow cooker.

Your meal options with chicken are endless. Chicken on its own if you just like snacking on it, can have it with roast potatoes, chicken and chips, chicken sandwich, chicken salad. Pasta and chicken. You name it

Go back and see your parents often.

Always fight the cable bill! Always.

It's fucking spenny mate. I moved out in July; utility bills, broadband, council tax, food shopping, car insurance. It all adds up.

If you don’t watch live tv or catch-up then you don’t need a tv license

When you think of something you need (run out) add it to the shopping list (make a list on your phone)

If you don’t like it, move on

You can meal prep during the weekend or any day ur off from work. You can do 3 or 4 dishes with big servings and store them in the fridge.

Buy cool shit now and a again, but spend a few hours on a weekend doing batch cooks. Big bolognese, chilli, curry. Freeze it in quart ziplocs. 30m home cooked meal when you’re struggling for time/motivation, stops your eating total crap. Eggs, beans and chips the rest of the time.

Check to see if you are entitled to tax refunds and/or if you have a student loan a below threshold refund.

Sometimes it may surprise you how much is owed back to you at the end of the tax year. Just be patient in receiving them as it takes time to process.

Cook enough for two meals, portion one of the meals out and freeze it. That way when you don’t want to cook you can throw it in the microwave.

There are knobs under the sink that turn off the water. Same at toilet. If you have a leak you can shut off the plumbing at the fixture rather than turning off all the water. Also, great to know if you live in an apartment.

ALWAYS have double the rent at least before moving into a new place...they will get you with that. Do dishes as you use them, and for the love of God...DONT leave your air on all the time. You will be paying loads of money for electricity. One last thing...TAKE PICTURES OF EVERY ISSUE YOU SEE AS YOU MOVE IN, they WILL fuck you over if you don't. You'll be paying basically double rent to move out because you didn't put down a tiny hole in the wall. They charge you for a whole wall, they WILL charge you for ALL the carpets, even if they say they won't. They will, they are not your friend and will try to bleed you dry of money, don't let them. Good luck man!

You have to pay for EVERYTHING.

Some people have odors, that will smell like nothing you have ever experienced. Try to spend a night hanging out with prospective roommates in the summer. You have been warned.

Never wrap a potato in foil, and put it in the microwave. Foil is extremely addictive to microwaves.

Don’t get 15 years in and regret anything #4Cs Compromise Compassion Commitment Care

Thank me later

michaelsarney

diariesofabrokenman

love

heal

Do laundry regularly. Don't wait for it to pile up otherwise you'll put off doing it and have a giant ass pile to fold AND put away. I used to use a large laundry basket but I found if I do smaller loads, I can keep up on laundry much easier. Change your towels often (bath, hand and kitchen towel). Also keep an extra towel in the bathroom so you change your towels often and don't put off switching your towels.

If your garbage is full, tie it and put it by the door so the next time you leave you can bring it right out. I use to keep forgetting to take my garbage out and would have an over pile.

Do dishes as you cook so you don't have a big pile to do after dinner while you're in a food coma/put off doing dishes at all. Rinse your dishes asap. Don't let food sit on the plates, pots n pans etc otherwise its take much longer to clean and feels very annoying.

Change your dish rags/sponges. Nothing is more gross than dirty, musty cloths/sponges.

Clean often. If your cleaned your bathroom on Monday try to keep doing it by the next Monday/Tuesday or latest Wednesday but throughout the week, wipe down the counters, sweep etc... I also keep a spray bottle in the bathroom so I can wipe surfaces down as I get ready for the day or for bed.

Sweep daily or at least every other day. Dust, dirt, food collects often. Best time to do it is after a meal (after you let your stomach settle). Its best to pick a time of day when you're usually home to do it and stick to it. I'm a stahm so I usually do day and night but if you work days, I would sweep regularly in the evening if I were you.

Turn lights off when you exit a room to save electricity.

Check mail often, putting it off may make you miss a bill payment (thats if your bills are viewed on your phone)

Make a grocery list/meal plan..don't buy whatever you feel like at the moment otherwise you'll get home and realize you need something else and spend even more money or you rely on takeout too much. Or you could end up buying too much junk food so try to write down some treats you know you'll want to snack on.

Keep a mat by the front door for your shoes. Try not to walk in your house with dirty shoes. It gets everywhere and all under your feet/socks which gets in your bed.

Keep a cleaning spray bottle near every few rooms. Like if you have multi level, have 1 upstairs and 1 downstairs. Or if your layout is long have 1 near the kitchen, another in the bathroom etc...

Vinegar, dish soap and water in a spray bottle works great. You can even put scented oils inside as I find vinegar and dish soap mixed have a slightly unpleasant smell. Vinegar works amazing on glass and mirrors.

Get the good toilet paper. Cheap thin toilet paper I find you use so much of and go through alot more.

Nothing wrong with no name brand food but some brand names are worth purchasing. Its all on preference. So until you know what brands you like ,buy the smaller bottles.

If you have the room and money buy in bulk. Lasts longer and is cheaper in the long run.

Have at least 2 mop heads. 1 for floors and 1 for your walls and 1 for your shower. Makes cleaning your shower a breeze.

Don't move out!

You can now unmute your porn!

Being an adult sucks.

If you live somewhere where the temperature gets below freezing do not turn your heat completely off before you leave on vacation during the winter months as your pipes can freeze and burst. Just turn your heat down so it is warm enough your pipes don’t freeze.

You can do anything you want to. Don’t let society hold you back. Life is beautiful and shit everyday. Adults are actually faking it. We’re all just faking it. Enjoy yourself :)

Take a roll out of the pack. This is your emergency roll. You start this roll, you immediately go to the shops .. Well after you start it

You'll be always broke. You're welcome

Don't muck around with utility companies. Report your readings on time. They are all crooks and will bend you over if you aren't on the ball. Take meter reads (AND photographs) the moment you walk through the door and immediately set up your new account. Then upload the photos to google drive so that when you get your first ridiculously inflated bill you can head them off right away.

Also never pay by direct debit. You'll end up hundreds in credit. Just ask to pay on receipt of your quarterly bill. Note the date because another scam they do is to not notify you the bills due then nuke your credit report with missed payments.

If renting, take the move-in inventory seriously. If anything is broken, scratched, worn, make a note and take a photo so you don't get charged at the end of tenancy if the landlord turns out to be a jerk. Read the small print in your tenancy agreement. Make sure you HAVE a tenancy agreement.

If you have any plans to buy a place over the next few years, learn how building credit score works. You'd want to have a credit card or two that you barely use and always pay back. Utilities and phone contracts (but not pre-paid stuff) also help with that.

Always make sure the bills are paid as a matter of priority before anything else. Once the rent, gas, electric and water have gone out, you're off the hook for another month. And try to develop a sense of economy with your remaining money; going without the odd luxury or two may suck, but it's nowhere near as bad as getting to the end of the month and being forced to tighten your belt just in order to survive. If you don't control your spending, it'll control you.

Some neighbours are awful to younger ppl. Know your rights in regards to noise etc. be a nice neighbour but always respectfully stick up for yourself

I must say this is one of my main concerns. The house ive bought is Semi detached, but both bedrooms are on the adjoining wall.

Ive grown up in a detached house all my life so i can shout and ball on the PC as much as i want, i can play music and watch movies as loud as i want.

I just need to try not to piss people off.

Although me firing up a motorycle at 5am might just do that

We’ll be respectful and work out what you can do more respectfully. Here in the U.K. you are legally allowed to make notice until 23:00. But most folks don’t. If they have a kid or a baby you should take that into account. Buy some good headphones for your gaming/music and try not to fire up motorbikes at 5:00 if you can help it 😂

Yeah. I might push it to the end of the street before i start it. 😅😅

Pay your utility bills on time.

A bit late to the thread, but from someone who is terrible at starting house work.

As soon as you get home after work, set a timer for 10 minitues. During this time clean and tidy around the house.

Doing 10-15 minutes for 5 days goes a long way to keeping any weekend cleaning dread away.

Just dont sit or lay down or its game over.

We all know you will be back at mum and dads hotel when you miss/have to do it yourself, the cleaner, the cook, the laundry maid etc etc.

If you are renting - take half an hour to learn your rights as a tenant. A lot of young people get taken for a ride just cus they don’t know.

A lot of agents are crooks and will do anything to save money - shoddy dangerous repairs by unlicensed tradespeople, delaying urgent repairs, simply refusing to repair etc. I have extensive experience with these b*ds and a quick formal email informing them you know the law and your rights suddenly changes their attitude real quick. You might feel like an ass but it’s better than having electrical wires hanging down into the shower. Also, they can’t just turn up without notice. You have every right to turn them away if they do. Oh and take pictures of the condition of everything before you move in, email it to the agent and ask for confirmation they received it so you don’t get f**d on the deposit for damage that was already there when you move out. Good luck.

people mentioned basic tools a lot, if you have the room.

but in general, the most i've needed to do is tighten the odd screw, and a good multi-tool / swiss champ (swiss army knife model) is great for this.

dont underestimate how often just having one at hand is good, from opening packages, to screwing, bottle opening, even magnifying etc. i use mine about 10x a day, and keep one in office, and then one in my day to day bag, plus a small one on keys (a friend always asks to use this to open packets of individual sauces when out for food, or to cut a loose thread).

Also,learn where all your stop cocks are.You dont wanna be running around looking in cupboards all over the place when you've sprung a leak somewhere.

Check your tennants rights and use them. You will probably need to defend them as a young male renting a property.

Make sure you know where the fusebox, stop cock, (and if applicable gas main) are.

Take your bins out regularly, You might notice the smell but visitors will.

one thing I've learned reading this thread is .. holy fuck people dont budget and spend way too much money. £100 a week on electric? £150 a week on food! fuck me. "If you get an unexpectedly large bil..." .. how does that happen? Pay attention to this shit peole, you are throwing money away.