It’s that time of the year again when many college students are packing up their lives and preparing to move back home with their parents. If you’re one of these students getting ready to move back, chances are you’re excited to be finished school, but may be a bit overwhelmed with the thought of moving home.
Here are 5 tips to make the transition back to your parent’s house a little bit smoother.
De-clutter
A lot of stuff can accumulate over the course of your time in college. From that exercise equipment you bought off of Craig’s List, to stacks of unneeded papers, de-cluttering is a must before moving back in with your parents. It will make packing and the actual move so much easier if you have less stuff to take, plus how much fun would a giant bonfire be to get rid of your old test papers!?
Make A Storage Plan
If you’re moving out of a dorm room, chances are you don’t have too many items to worry about, and you won’t need to store anything. If you’re moving out of an apartment, you may have furniture, dishes and decor that won’t fit into your bedroom at your parent’s house. Storage space could be a corner in your parent’s basement or garage, or you may need to rent an actual storage unit. If there is no room, and you don’t want to rent a storage space, you may need to consider selling some of your furniture and saving up to repurchase things for your next apartment.
Make A Plan For The Future
Before moving home, try to create some short and long term goals for job searching and for how long you want to live at home. Communicate these plans with your parents so everyone is on the same page. Also, remember that even if you made a time frame for yourself, circumstances change and anything can happen. Every few months, try to have a discussion with your parents on where you’re at and what your plans are.
Discuss Expectations
Sitting down and discussing what you expect of each other will save any future arguments from happening. Ask questions like, do they want you to pay rent, do they expect you to follow a curfew, will they respect your privacy, and can you have guests over. Understand that it’s still your parent’s house and some rules will still be in place, but also help them understand that you’re an adult now and require boundaries.
Contribute
Your parents may or may not ask you to pay rent for living at home again, but either way you should be contributing to things around the house. If they are letting you live home for free, consider paying for your own groceries, picking up household supplies when they get low, or paying for gas if you’re driving their vehicles. Also make sure to keep up with your share of the everyday chores. You may be living back home, but remember that it’s their house and it’s important to keep things tidy – your parent’s do not want to be cleaning up after their adult kid.
Tell us your best tips for moving back home in the comments below!
