Everyone daydreams about one day moving out of their parent’s house. The idea of your own space that you can manage yourself and have privacy is just like gold for a teenager. The thing is, there are a lot of things that you need to learn before you move out of your parents’ house; whether you’re a teenager or not. There’s no shame in sticking around at home until you have that house deposit saved or you find the right house for you to move into.

However, what is shameful is moving out of your parent’s house and having little to no life skills! No laundry fairy or dishwashing fairy is going to magically clean your things for you, and by fairy, we mean your Mom. You have to stand on your own two feet, just as you do with your job. You go out every day and you collect your paycheck, and that responsibility is something you’ve taken ownership of. Before you move into your first home, there are some other lessons that you need to learn and here they are:

Basic Cooking. There’s nothing satisfying about living on microwave meals or Ramen with cold cuts. Learning to cook a few simple, healthy dishes that don’t take too many ingredients is something that you should learn before you venture out on your own. No one else is going to look after your health, so you have to.

Basic Budgeting. You’re in a job already and ideally you are paying for your phone bill and paying a little housekeeping at home. If you learn to budget your money, you can use services like debtconsolidation.co to keep your outgoings as low as possible while still paying creditors. The more money you free up, the more you have for fun things like travelling and shopping!

Basic Healthcare. Taking a first aid course and learning how to patch up a wound and which medications you should always have in your medicine cabinet is important. You need to know what to do to help yourself if you have migraine or any other illness that doesn’t require a doctor.

Basic Housekeeping. Living alone means learning how to clean up after yourself, iron and launder your own clothes and learn how to unclog a toilet. Moving out means gaining the ultimate independence, so you need to know how to do these things to be self-sufficient.

Basic DIY. Replacing a lightbulb or a fuse and fixing a broken appliance are beyond a lot of people, but if you teach yourself these skills before you leave home, you can save yourself some cash on hiring out the professionals to do it for you.

Moving away from your parent’s house – no matter how old you are – is a difficult prospect. Exciting, but difficult. There’s no way to know whether you are truly prepared until you actually move out. Spend time practicing at your parent’s house before you go so you can ask as many questions as you need before you go.