Moving Out Dilemia, I need some words of wisdom!

MissNoir - you miss 100% of the shots you never take.

Go for it, try it out. I agree with the other posters, worst case you end up back home.

The halls are a great way to transition out of living at home. I went to College here in the US and seriously everyone in the halls were broke. You will find a way to get your money to stretch and also to find side sources of income. I hire babysitters / tutors from the local college. There will be job boards and postings for you to check out.

I had an odd roomate one semester, but it was not the ene of the world. Halls also help you meet a lot of people and once you get on campus you will get a better feel for the other accomodations and met more people.

MissNoir wrote:

Thank you everyone ^_^

I had a cvhat with my friends last night & they think it'd be best for me to go, I'm going to the bank today to sort out the deposit for halls & send off my acceptance letter! ^_^ Here I come halls! xcx

YAY! I'm sure it will be a great adventure for you! ![](upload://lJMrTcqgi5lI1FOpb07OYOcv2YF.gif)

era wrote:

MissNoir wrote:

Thank you everyone ^_^

I had a cvhat with my friends last night & they think it'd be best for me to go, I'm going to the bank today to sort out the deposit for halls & send off my acceptance letter! ^_^ Here I come halls! xcx

YAY! I'm sure it will be a great adventure for you! ![](upload://lJMrTcqgi5lI1FOpb07OYOcv2YF.gif)

haha thanks! I'm sure it will, I'll be in a flat with 7 other people so I'm sure I'll make at least 1 friend then I can have my own friends over or go out more, best thing of all I can get up for lectures 5 minutes before they start! Helloooo long lie in! ^_^

I am so pleased for you enjoy your time at uni and your new found independance live life to the full (but be careful thats the dad in me LOL) keep us all informed Dxx

D.j wrote:

I am so pleased for you enjoy your time at uni and your new found independance live life to the full (but be careful thats the dad in me LOL) keep us all informed Dxx

heh I will thank you ^_^ I'm looking forwar to fun times ahead & as silly as it sounds doing things myself like doing my own washing! ^_^ x

On a practical level there are a few things that might help you. Most universities have a hardship fund. This is a pot of money that you can apply for to allow you to be able to afford to live. There is a load of paperwork and you need receipts for stuff like food and books ( photocopies are fine so you can always return the books if they are not the right one for your course) But it's worth it because the money is free, you don't have to pay it back. I got £500 per term free!

Also halls tend to have a laundrette onsite or close, buy laundry cards/ tokens at the start of term, enough to last the whole term if possible, so that you can still have clean clothes for the whole term. If you have tokens/vouchers you can't spend them on other things!

Get a box that fits under your bed, then fill it with tins of cheep stuff sweetcorn, peas, beans, and the expensive essentials like tampax, wash powder and deodorant. Get a big bag of dry past and a big pot of pepper ans sauces. This sounds mental I know but again if you don't have any money you can, and probably will live off the contents of the box. Bulk buy things like toothbrushes from cheep stores like homebargains or pound land.

The moral of the storey, convert your cash into goods and vouchers, and you can still live even when your broke. If you need help, ASK people will help.

As you have probably gathered I did uni from a recently broken family and I had no help no money and only my wits to keep me afloat, and I made it! Enjoy your time, and good luck with finishing your course.

I am older, but I lived off top ramen made in a hot pot at times in college. You can even mix in cinnamon and sugar packets with a bit of butter for a lovely dessert. I am not sure if your hall includes dining, but I often carried out a piece or fruit or extra food to help me through times with no meal service.

Having started to live alone relatively recently, I can assure you that it is 100% worth it. While it is a bit weird at first, you quickly get into a rhythm which is very liberating, yet gives a good impression of safety and comfort.

While I cannot speak about this in terms of finance, I can absolutely understand the happiness issue. As someone I know quite well told me once, "You can't put a price on happiness". You will never regret anything that you do to improve your happiness is my own personal motto.

Hope this helped and good luck! ![](upload://ez5kOkpKXRZOxjavAURYmQxVTau.gif)

Yeah there's a laundrette onsite it's something like £1.30 a wash & 20p a dry, thanks for the advice FunLouise, I was plnning on buying a ton of value cans of stuff and bags of pasta/rice, as I was shown all of that last year by people & the uni offer a fund later in the year for help. My family aren't well off, I'm the first who's attended university but unlike my parents I'm not reckless with money so I tried saving a bit before getting halls.

Thanks Armel, I think the first night is bothering me because I don't know what to expect, I know a lot of stress will be lifted when I go as I won't have my family around or the drama & I can focus on myself & my work, I'm just really excited to make new friends & live my own life for a change without someone critising every decision I make!

MissNoir wrote:

Yeah there's a laundrette onsite it's something like £1.30 a wash & 20p a dry, thanks for the advice FunLouise, I was plnning on buying a ton of value cans of stuff and bags of pasta/rice, as I was shown all of that last year by people & the uni offer a fund later in the year for help. My family aren't well off, I'm the first who's attended university but unlike my parents I'm not reckless with money so I tried saving a bit before getting halls.

Thanks Armel, I think the first night is bothering me because I don't know what to expect, I know a lot of stress will be lifted when I go as I won't have my family around or the drama & I can focus on myself & my work, I'm just really excited to make new friends & live my own life for a change without someone critising every decision I make!

Thrilled for you very good advice regarding food ect stockpile things don't lend either, now enjoy your life and never live at home again you've done the best thing ever, the only way I could leave home was get married, I wasn't wanted but not allowed to leave. My first marriage got me away from my helish family.

I'm happy for you MissNoir, wishing you all the best of luck on your new adventure :)!