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Guide 1: Living Independently

Starting Author: Tnology

Contributors: Tnology

Open to Editing: With Permission

Whether you're moving into a dorm on campus, an apartment near campus, or a house 30 minutes away by drive, making the transition to living independently is a significant life change for many. This guide aims to give practical, real-world advice for living based on the author's experience, whether on your own or with roommate.

Section 1: What do I bring?

Whether you're living on-campus or off-campus, I'd highly suggest checking out the Comprehensive "What to Bring" Checklists in Part I: Living on Campus of the Student Guide for ideas. Notably though, don't bring more than you need. Especially if you were living with family and/or in a bigger space before, it's so easy to bring a bunch of stuff you don't need it's almost unfair. The best practice is to choose what to bring not based on what not to bring, but rather on what to bring at all.

Ask yourself two questions when determining whether you will bring something: 1) Have I actively used this in the past 6 months? | 2) What value does this really add to my space, compared to everything else, an alternative, or nothing at all? That doesn't mean you should only bring essentials, but rather to not bring a bunch of "just-in-case" items that "maybe" you'll need (a common trap that I fell into).

Section 2: Living in a Space

Look just a little bit into how to make your space yours. You don't need to become anything close to a design expert, but I used to be someone who always thought "function over form," and in reality I just used that to justify my space not looking super nice and to cope with the fact it didn't look great. There are several benefits to having a nice space, including low stress and better mood and a greater sense of restoration. I'd suggest watching this short 5 minute video since I think it generally covers the basic ideas of how to improve your space: Kaelen_ - How to Make Any Room Actually Cool.

I'd also suggest not being opposed to warm lighting, since cool lighting, in my opinion, isn't good for a space that you need to wind down in. Cool lighting works for places where you're getting work done during the daytime - like a workplace - but in the late afternoon / evening / night, warm lighting is essential. My strong recommendation is a 2700K light bulb or even 2400K, but ideally not 3000K or higher. Try to find a light bulb with a CRI of 90 or higher if you can, though as long as it's CRI 80+ it'll work.

Regardless of where you live, try to create general zones. This is even more important if you live in a more centralized space such as a dorm room or studio apartment where there's not separate physical walls, but is helpful to do regardless. Use furniture to create zones or even "fake walls" in a way that makes your brain register different areas of the room as different rooms with a different purpose - this helps a lot in reducing overstimulation in your room which can (and often does) increase stress/anxiety and lead to the room becoming a mess over time.

Section 3: Preventing a Mess / Disaster

It's super easy to let a space become a mess. Fortunately, it's not too difficult to stop it if you put in a small amount of effort every day. From my experience living in an apartment, I would wait to do all my cleaning until Sunday, but it'd take hours and I'd avoid it since I simply didn't have the time. This led to it becoming such a mess I don't even want to admit how bad it was - the whole place was trashed beyond recognition.

The solution is to commit just 15-20 minutes every night (or otherwise your preferred time of day, I prefer evening before bed) to do a "cleaning shift," for which you clean up messes, vacuum, mop, etc.

Section 4: Keeping Your Place Temperature-Controlled

Section 4.1: Temperature Control in a Dorm

If you'll be living in a dorm, be advised that they get really got, especially for the first and last month of the academic year. While air conditioners are unfortunately not allowed in the dorms, I'd suggest a linen sheet set, breathable blankets (e.g. percale-weave cotton or bamboo), and avoiding synthetic fibers like polyester, microfiber, or satin at night. Definitely be careful with silk fabrics because most of the time it's actually satin, anything labeled "silky" is not silk. Silk is super expensive and degrades in daylight if you want to go with that, just something to be aware of. Also bring at least one large box fan to crack open a window, letting air blow inwards from outside at night and outwards to outside during the day or heat control. A second box fan for air circulation certainly helps.

Section 4.2: Temperature Control in an Apartment/House

If you'll be living in an apartment, congrats, you probably have air conditioning! I'd suggest setting your air conditioner to whatever you're comfortable with at the day - generally, 65°F - 68°F is a good day-round temperature. Additionally, keeping the temperature between 60°F - 65°F at night significantly improves sleep quality. If you are a warm to hot sleeper, having at least one box fan blowing over you / your bed can help in addition to temperature control, as well as using breathable fabrics for bedding like percale-weave cotton, linen, and bamboo. If you are a cold sleeper and your place is moderately cool, you may want to look into synthetic fabrics like microfiber and polyester.

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