What You Need To Know Before Moving Out

Let’s get this out of the way first, I’m grateful enough and privileged enough to have loving, welcoming parents who don’t mind me living in their home with little to no contribution to the household. Now, you might think I’m spoiled, and to some extent, you’re right. I am. I was raised in a once-wealthy family who, when I was growing up, spoiled me with everything I’ve ever wanted and ever needed, and I’ll always be eternally grateful for that. But it’s time for me to move on and find a path for myself, as I’m sure most of you reading this would relate with.

I’m moving out.

I live in Indonesia, where rent prices are quite low when compared to other countries surrounding it, and though I was born and raised here, I have never actually been anywhere outside of my hometown of Batam. So what have I been doing to make sure that I can cover everything and take care of myself?

Well, for one thing, I overestimate everything.

And by that I mean I overestimate the cost of things and the cost of rent and utilities and whatnot. To be honest, I’m only doing this because I’m just really bad at math. I couldn’t count to save my life and the constant back and forth with a calculator just frustrates me to no end. So I just take what I know and add 20% to it and make that my estimate. In the best case scenario, I overestimate everything and I can save a bit of cash, and worst case scenario, I underestimated everything and I have to add a little bit of money on spending which isn’t as bad as adding almost half of it to the estimated amount. Weird POV, I know, but it’s something that worked for me.

Next up is finding somewhere to live.

Personally, this is one of the most enjoyable parts of the whole experience for me. As someone who grew up in a place that has no IKEA, this is as close as I can get to the whole window shopping experience, and honestly, I quite enjoyed it. My go-to website for this is definitely Jendela 360. Not only because they show you a breakdown of the prices and has more details overall, but also because they have this 360 virtual tour thing that you can check out in some units (generally, the more expensive the rent is, the more likely it is for them to have this feature, but don’t quote me on that). But let’s be honest, if you’re looking for cheap accommodation, OLX is definitely your best bet.

Once that’s settled, I’ll look into flight requirements.

Since Indonesia’s quickly becoming one of the world’s most Covid infected countries in the world, flights are going to be a little tricky and will cost a little more. Not in the fares themselves, of course, I’m talking more about the tests and possible vaccination that you’ll have to get before you’re eligible for a domestic flight. So go to the government’s website or read up on the news and get your information because every region is going to have different requirements. Once that’s done, you can go ahead and get yourself tested (fingers crossed it’s negative). Once that’s over and done with, you’re set to go on to the hardest part of it all.

Saying goodbye.

This is definitely the hardest part of the whole process. Not only do you have to say goodbye to everything you know, every single comfort that you’ve had all these years knowing that you can just come home to a warm meal with people who love you, but you will also have to say goodbye to the familiarity, to all of the people and places that you’ve fallen in love with all these years. In my case, I now have to say goodbye to my parents, my dogs, and my significant other who will hopefully be joining me in my new home in the next few months. At this point, it’s easy to start questioning your decision to leave everything behind, but the one thing I found that helped me personally was that if this works out, and for the love of God, I will make this work, then it’ll be better for everyone. I can start sending mom some money and they can start paying off the debts that they had to take to raise me and my siblings. I can finally give my parents the “better” life that I’ve always wanted.

Moving out is not an easy process. It’s not as easy or as poignant as it seemed in movies and TV shows, and at times, it might be more painful than you would let yourself admit, but sometimes, it’s something that you simply have to do. You may think I’m an overgrown manchild after reading this, and to a certain extent, I am. But I’d like to think of it more as the crossroad that I have to take if I really wanna put my money where my mouth is.

There’s no rush for us to get anywhere, and it’s best to not force yourself to go move out if you’re not ready for it. But before you say you’re not ready yet, ask yourself this, are you really not ready, or is it simply a case of separation anxiety. That’s something only you can answer, so take your time and think about it.