Leaving the comfort of home cooked meals and your washing being done for you can seem terrifying to any young adult who’s making a big step towards independence, but what you don’t realise is that it's one of the best things you can do for yourself in the long run...

Eat what you want

Who eats a jar of Nutella for breakfast? You can when you move away from the prying eyes of your mammy making sure you ‘eat right’

Eating right is for suckers and you’ll find that early morning grease is the only way to cure a hangover, something that the bowl of muesli your mother always recommended would never do. Long live the constant stream of pasta and chicken rolls that is living away from home.

Drink what you want

For all of 6^th year, my parents were convinced I only ever brought out “one or two” drinks when we went predrinking because any more and I was subject to the classic ‘Know your limits’ talk all parents give they see their own children curled over a toilet puking their guts out.

Now you’re on your own, and you’re in college. You can drink however much you like whenever you like, although be sure not to overdo it or else you’ll risk losing your friends, your dignity, or more importantly your wallet.

After parties

You’ve all successfully staggered home from the club after a night out, chicken rolls in hand and then suddenly somebody discovers an almost full bottle of wine and suddenly the drinking starts all over again

Yeah you’ve a class at 9 in the morning but you managed to get the shift tonight and not gawk in her mouth, you deserve a few more cans tonight. It’s all fun and games until somebody breaks out the guitar for a singsong, that’s when the tears come.

College? Who cares?

It’s 11.55, your next class is starting in 5 minutes there’s a great episode of The Chase on TV3 and your parents aren’t there to make sure you’re actually wearing pants and a productive member of society. Surely it won’t matter if you miss another lecture right?

Creativity Out Of Necessity

Moving out of home creates a spark of creativity amongst people all over the country. Who needs plates when you can just eat out of the pots you cooked in? That saves on both effort AND washing up!

Throw in robbing toilet paper from college to save money, and getting your cutlery from Supermacs and with your creativity they should get you in to solve world hunger or global warming.

You Get To Live With Friends

You learn more about your friends when you live together than you ever will just spending time with them normally. Two weeks in to living with some of my best friends I learned that one was a fantastic musician, one had a previously unknown obsession with fairy lights, and one didn’t know how to turn on an oven.

Would I trade any of it to live with anybody else though? Hell no