15 January 2014

Moving away from Home

When I was 18 years old I moved away from home so that I could finally live in the same state as my boyfriend (now husband).  I had met him when I was 15 going on 16 and almost immediately we knew that we wanted to spend forever together.  So after 2 and a half years of having a long distance relationship I moved to a different state roughly 750kms from home.

From this:


To this:



It wasn't easy to move to a completely different place away from most of my family and friends but I made it and 2 and a half years later I am completely settled in.  I thought I'd write this post to give you a few tips on moving out of home at a young age because this sort of thing would have been really helpful when I did it.  This post is mainly aimed at people that are in a similar situation as I was in:  moving away to be nearer to a loved one.  However I will try to make it general for all :)

1.  Make sure you are ready to move out.
In my mind I was ready the minute I left high school but my parents had the sense to tell me to do a six month TAFE course that would give me the skills that would allow me to find a job easily.  This six months gave me experience outside my high school's walls, showing me a bit more about the world than what I had known before.

2.  Make sure you have a strong support network both at home and where you are going.
 My family saw that moving was something I had to do and supported me every step of the way.  Even though I was 8 hours drive away they visited me as much as they could and also were only ever a phone call away when I was homesick.
I was extremely lucky that one of my best friends lived in Adelaide only about 5 minutes drive from where I was staying.  Her family were my family for the 9 months before I was married.  They opened their home for me most nights and I wouldn't have gotten through those 9 months without them.  They were amazing!

3.  Make sure you have a source of income.
I begun applying before I moved out of home and continued like mad once I was over here.  I was told to apply for every single job that matched what I was looking for and that's exactly what I did.  I was lucky that I got a job within the first few weeks of being there.  If you are struggling with getting a job I found that the best way was asking people I knew if they knew anyone looking for a new employee.  This is actually how I got my current job.

4.  If you are not happy you can go home.
Never let yourself think that because you have moved out of home that you can't go back.  If you are really not happy you can leave if you want to.  It might be good to make a trial period that you can test the water and see if it's all ok.  If it's not then you CAN leave.

5.  Research where you are going.
 This point is a bit of a random one but still important as it's good to know what you are getting yourself into.  Research job availability, weather, house prices, etc.  If you are moving to be with a loved one then it's good to know whether you'll both get jobs and a house you can afford.  Also for some people weather can be a huge issue.  This point sort of joins with the one before because if you know more about the place you are going then you can prepare yourself for it and not be disappointed.

And that's all the points I've got for now :)  I hope these have helped you in some way and if you have any other questions I'd love to answer them so please leave them in the comments below!  Moving out of home is a big thing but it's do-able :)  Talk Soon!




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