Having your own apartment can be both liberating and challenging. You can’t expect your roommates to pitch in when the chips are down, but you also don’t have to worry about dirty dishes in the sink, or clutter brought in by roommates. However, the most striking thing you begin to notice is the amount of f*cks you stop giving about your day to day life — here are a few I’ve noticed since I got my own place:
- Giving a f*ck about dealing with guys who don’t live on their own, too. I stopped caring about being called a gold digger for expecting a man to have a job and be capable of supporting himself, because let’s just face it, living at home with mom at 30 doesn’t have much of an excuse.
- Giving a f*ck about going out to eat. It’s a money drain, and Seamless is just a few clicks away.
- Giving a f*ck about going on shopping sprees for stupid stuff. I almost immediately stopped spending money on knickknacks and doodads that I used to collect. When you’re on your own, you need that money to save up for the next batch of laundry, the next week’s worth of food, and of course, rent.
- Giving a f*ck about someone seeing you walk around naked in your apartment. Freedom!
- Giving a f*ck about people who still live with their parents calling you a loser. Hey, at least you’re financially independent. What do they bring to the table?
- Giving a f*ck about staying up late and partying all night. Sure, living the party lifestyle is fun and all, but the fact is that it often doesn’t beat chilling out at home with a glass of vino in your hand. When you don’t have to worry about crash space, it’s a lot nicer.
- Giving a f*ck about making your bed every day. Who’s looking, anyway?
- Giving a f*ck about doing your laundry. It can wait a week. Or two. Or three.
- Giving a f*ck about dusting shelves. Does anyone actually do that? Sure, it seems to be piling up, but eh, oh well.
- Giving a f*ck about what others think of your weird food combinations. A personal favorite to try is cereal with water. It’s budget-friendly and delicious!
- Giving a f*ck about appearances, at least if you’re into hooking up. You’re having fun. You’re single. You don’t have to deal with roommates getting awkward over seeing a different guy every night.
- Giving a f*ck about throwing parties. It’s not so fun when you have to clean it up by yourself.
- Giving a f*ck about being so generous, especially when you know you can’t afford it. Hey, you have bills to pay. You can’t keep bailing people out of their own financial issues.
- Giving a f*ck about agreeing to do things you don’t want to do. For some reason, having a place of your own gets your mind into a different gear. It stops being about doing what others tell you to do, and it starts being about what you want to do.
- Giving a f*ck about seeming uncool. No one wants to have to be the person who has to tell people to leave your apartment, or the person who has to say they need to get up early to get their grocery shopping done. But, as uncool as it is, it has to be done. Living on your own makes you realize that.
- Giving a f*ck about who hears you having sex. It’s not like you have to deal with roommates or parents, right?
- Giving a f*ck about being that weirdo who watches cartoons at home. Cartoons rule, so this should have been happening a while ago anyway.
- Giving a f*ck about bonding with random strangers you’re forced to share surroundings with. The best thing about not having roommates is that you don’t have to pretend to like them. Or even meet them.
- Giving a f*ck about being the person who has 50 TV dinners in their fridge. When you work as long hours as you do, some nicely microwaved tacos can be a really nice treat. Just sayin.’
- Giving a f*ck about being called OCD about your home’s cleanliness. It’s your castle, not theirs.
