What's it like living alone?
- arctic_viper
- Oct 23, 2020
- 8 min read
-O_/
This is a good question and a long read, so put your seat belts on, because we're in for a crazy intergalactic space battle with this one! There are a lot of factors that determine whether living alone is going to be an amazing experience or a terrible one. These factors include the type of person you are, do you (or can you) have pets? and your financial situation. The list goes on and on, and of course, all of this is based on my experience so far so I may miss many things or even get something wrong, hey, this is a thought :p. Anyhow, let's get to it now that we crossed that weird part (if it was actually weird).
First, let's look at how each of these factors can affect how your lone wolf life will be, will the factor make your experience living alone better, or worse?
How does your personality affect your experience?
Your personality can affect how you experience living alone in multiple ways! Are you a person who loves being around other people? Are you a person who likes to be alone most of the time and do their own thing? Do you like to be around people and be alone at the same time? Or are you none of those, and in fact, you're not even human like me?
If you do like being around people, like, all the time, then you may find it difficult to live alone. I mean, after all, you're alone! At first, it will be difficult, which is true for any personality type, but it will probably be a little more difficult to start off. If you think about it, going from being around people constantly, or almost constantly, to not being around anyone is a big change. Of course, you can visit your friends and family, or they can visit you, but there is an extent to which you can visit or have visitors. If you see your family every day, maybe you shouldn't have moved out in the first place? Or if you visit your friends all the time, maybe they'd want space? Of course, that last one really depends on how your friend is too. The point is when living alone, you have to get used to not being around people, which may be more difficult for those who love the company. But a good way to solve this issue is to get a roomie :). Yay, now you aren't living alone :D. Just keep in mind that roommates can bring lots of other problems, so if you do opt for that solution, then it would be good to do some research!
Do you like to be alone and do your own thing? If so, then living alone is basically calling you aha. Of course, it will be weird, I mean, there is nobody to talk to (in person that is) every single day. Even someone who doesn't like to be around others will find that a little challenging. But, in the end, if you like being alone, then living alone won't be too difficult to do, so for this factor, I don't think it has as big of a role as compared to someone who loves being around people! But of course, maybe you'll hate living alone just because you know you can't really talk face-to-face with someone. One's viewpoints can always change!
Are you both types? Hmm, a well-balanced person, you are! If you're this type of person, then living alone is really a hit or miss situation. I feel that people who like being around others and being alone are quite adaptable to many situations (obviously not to say that the others aren't, they, of course, can be!) but, in other words, being in the middle of the spectrum usually means that you can adapt well to different situations, leaning further to one side or the other if needed! So, how will you fare living alone?
Are you neither, and in fact, not even human?
In this case, you may already be on your own! Depending on your species and your home planet, or realm, you could have been alone for a while now. So, if you're very far from your home planet or realm and can't get back, well, then you've been alone for quite some time already. Of course, that's just in relation to being separated from your own species! In the other sense, of living alone without anyone's presence, then again, it would depend on your personality type within the personality types. #Personalitytypeseption?
Well, that was longer than I thought it would be, but anyways, shall we continue along this journey of living alone? Yes, let's do that!
Can you, or do you, have pets?
Living alone can be way better with a little buddy by your side (or a large one aha). Having a pet by your side makes your home much busier, and... Well, much louder as well, depending on the type of pet of course. They also give you something to do and most of the time, they're always there when you need them. To make things even better, they're adorable and fun to play with. Making your overall mental health much better!! Take Ash for example, isn't she adorable?
Anyhow, the only limitation to this is if you are renting an apartment, many landlords don't want large dogs, or any dogs, within the apartment because they are too loud! Some landlords only accept cats, and probably fish or other terrarium type pets such as lizards and maybe snakes? So, if you are planning on living alone, and you do have a pet with you, keep in mind that it may be more difficult to find a place! But if you don't like animals, then this really isn't an issue!
Also, if you don't have a pet and are planning to move and live alone, then maybe getting a pet is a great idea, just to be less lonely :). But if you hate noise, then forget the idea of a pet, unless they're quiet aha.
How does your financial situation break or make living alone?
*This section is an in-depth breakdown of the yearly and monthly costs of living alone. If you don't want to read all of this, you can skip to the next section of how important coffee is because coffee is love, coffee is life!*
Also, this is a touchy subject for some, maybe! Mainly because it involves, well, how much you make, or if you make money at all! After all, if you're living alone, then you have to pay for your internet, heating, electricity, and food.
Let's start with the costs of heating and electricity, in Quebec, luckily, we have hydro which is fairly cheap! However, depending on your location which plays a major role, your hydro bill can cost between 50 - 75$ per 2 months in the summer without the use of air conditioning. With the use of air conditioning, you should expect a higher cost. In the winter, the hydro cost will increase a lot depending on your heating type. If in your apartment, there is central heating, meaning that the building provides the heat during the winter, then your hydro bill won't really take a hit, but it may still be a little higher, maybe about 75 - 80$ per 2 months? Again, it depends on the location!
But let's say that you don't have central heating and that you must pay for your heating. This is a little trickier since there are two types of heating, gas and electrical heating! But for simplicity's sake, we'll assume it's electrical. That being the case, it means that you'd be paying for heat through your hydro. This is where it gets expensive during the winter!! In the winter, it can cost probably 100 - 110$ per two months!! Which is expensive, but compared to other places (as in provinces or electricity costs elsewhere of Quebec) it actually isn't too bad.
On a monthly basis, in the summer it could cost between 25 - 37.5$ and in the winter, assuming you have to pay for heating, it could cost between 50 - 60$. How much would this be yearly? Assuming the summer months are April, May, June, July, August, and September and the winter months are October, November, December, January, and February (lumping in spring months and autumn months for simplicity of calculations) then you would be paying around 525$ yearly (using the upper range value for the monthly payment terms). Of course, this is just receiving electricity and heat, and these numbers are based on my current hydro estimates so expect some variations.
What about the internet? Internet costs can be a little expensive depending on the provider and the plans they have. Some plans can be 60$ a month, offering unlimited internet data and they have up to 60mb/s speeds (which means that you'd have ok internet speeds, especially since you'd be living alone). The "up to" is fairly important because you won't always have 60mb/s, sometimes, depending on the internet traffic, you may have less than that! Other plans can cost 70 - 75$ a month but they offer unlimited data, more device connections, and much higher speeds of up to 100 or 400mb/s, respectively. Which is really fast! So even if you didn't have 100 or 400mb/s all day every day, it wouldn't matter too much. Of course, these costs depend on the provider, and the ones mentioned are from Videotron's current internet plans (which can change in the future!).
Therefore, assuming you don't care about slow internet connections, and opt for the 60$/month plan, your total yearly cost is now 1245$. However, if you'd rather not worry about internet speed, and go for the 70$ plan, then the annual cost would be 1365$.
Did I mention rent? Well, there is another expense that you'd have to worry about assuming you're in an apartment. Apartment rent costs can range depending on the location, type of apartment (as in the number of rooms), and quality of the apartment (how damaged/worn it is). Let's not get too deep into this aspect. Let's just assume that you're in a 1 1/2 (meaning a bedroom and a bathroom) which can be around 600 - 800$ a month. For this situation, let's say that your apartment costs 700$ and you're renting the apartment for 6 months (half-term), this makes your total yearly cost 5445$ assuming you have the cheaper internet plan and you have to pay for heating. If renting for 12 months (so a full term) your cost is now 9645$.
Now, this is quite expensive, and if you don't have the funds for it, then living alone isn't going to work out. You'd be stressing about paying all your expenses rather than living your life. However, an easy solution is to get a job if you don't already have one! If, however, you aren't stressed about costs, then this financial factor shouldn't affect your experience.
Adding the cost of food, if managed closely, can cost 100 - 200 per month. So, 2400$ yearly, making your new yearly cost 7845$ assuming half-term (6 months).
Did you forget about coffee?
No, I did not forget about one of the most important things in this blog (other than Ash), coffee is an absolute necessity! Being able to wake up in the morning with that nice cup of coffee is a blessing in itself! It's also very comforting to take a sip of your cup of hot coffee and just relax and forget about the external world for the moment, just purely relax.
But of course, not everybody drinks coffee!! And that's totally fine, I mean a glass of water in the morning can do the same thing right? I wouldn't know because I'm 100% a coffee addict so this last section is super biased!
Well, there you have it, what it's like living alone! This a very big decision to make and knowing what you'd be getting into may help with making your decision clearer. So, with that said. I do hope you enjoyed reading. Feel free to make your own opinions, and/or suggestions in the comments. :)
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