Leaving the Nest: How to Make it On Your Own

Moving out is scary, weird, and the most adult step you will take after graduating college or high school. I moved out of my parents' house just over a month ago. So far time has been absolutely flying by so it's really only felt like a couple weeks. I've been teetering in the surreal "I'm not going home" phase for the better part of the month, but I'm okay with that because for me I think it's making the separation easier. It might also be easier for me because I moved in with my boyfriend, so I'm not completely on my own, but I am still seven hours away from my parents. In this post I'm going to detail on the things I've done to make the transition to independence a simpler, less scary one.

Making the big jump to moving out was a little tough at the beginning. My parents were nervous because I was choosing to move seven hours and a different state away without having a full-time job. They were also nervous about the fact that I was moving in with my boyfriend, which, for parents, is understandable. To help quell their fears, I had to make sure my boyfriend and I had everything about our living situation planned out before making any steps. I had to prove to them and to myself that I could make it on my own. My boyfriend and I sat down and made a budget of expenses to outline exactly what I would have to be paying for. Regardless of whether or not you are moving in with someone, you should make a budget before you make any moves. That way you will know what you're going to be responsible for and when, and what kind of lifestyle you'll be able to afford on your own.  Your budget should include, but won't be limited to:

• monthly rent
• loan payments (student loans, car loans, etc.)
• credit card payments
• weekly groceries
• gas or other transportation funds
• utilities (electric, gas, trash, cable/internet, etc)
• social life
• emergency funds

Creating a budget will really help you start understanding where your money is going and how you'll be able to live.  It can also determine whether or not you can live on your own versus if you need a roommate.  After I was able to show my parents that I would be able to stick to my budget on my substitute teacher's salary (for a while, at least), they agreed to let me go and see what I could make of myself on my own.

When you do get out on your own, don't forget about the budget!  Money is probably the single most important thing you'll have to worry about when you move out, and you're going to want to keep a close eye on every bit of your spending.  Record everything, save receipts, and if you're like me and have trouble remembering to balance your checkbook, check your online bank statement at least once a day.  That way you know exactly where your money is going, and if you see you need to have more of it to make your monthly expenses, you have a visual of what you can cut back on.

Another perk of moving in with my boyfriend was that I really saved a lot of money on having to find an apartment and furnishing it.  He already had done that since he's been in his place over a year.  But that's something you'll need to consider, too: how will you make your own place liveable?  If your family or friends don't have old furniture to give you, there are lots of other outlets to check!  There is no shame in turning to Craigslist or newspaper ads to find cheap furniture.  Also, discount furniture warehouses offer good options, too.  Moving sales or garage sales are a guarantee for cheap furniture.  My boyfriend got a beautiful coffee table, bar stools, desk, and some great appliances (like a Keurig) for FREE when someone in his apartment complex was moving out.  You can't beat that!  I know everyone wants to have that adorably decorated first apartment/house, but for most of us on a budget that's not the case.  Ikea might be cheap, but it's not that cheap.  Unless you absolutely know you have the funds to invest in more expensive pieces, I absolutely recommend hitting Craigslist and finding some pieces you can put some DIY into! We all know you have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to fixing up furniture, so now is the time to do it!

Another thing I want to touch on is moving in with someone.  Whether that person is your S.O. or just a friend, as college taught us, roommates aren't always the easiest.  If you're moving in with someone who already has an established environment, like I did with my boyfriend, it's very important to come in respecting that.  When you're moving out of your parents' house, it's very easy to get decorating and re-organzing fever, but understand that your roommate already has things in his or her own system.  This is especially true if you're moving in with a boyfriend or girlfriend.  Cohabitation can be a difficult transition to make, so take it easy.  Bring your stuff and ask them where you can put it.  Ask where an ideal spot for your own little corner would be.   In our apartment, it's the desk space, because I spend a lot of time there with school stuff.  So that's where I keep my brightly colored prints and tchotchkes and girly things that he wouldn't necessarily want scattered everywhere.  He's let me rearrange some stuff, add some more decorations, and make the place more organized, but for the most part, I really wanted to respect the fact that he was here first and was the one to invite me to move in.   People, and men in particular, I think, can be scared when someone swoops in and changes everything about their environment, even for a happy ocassion like moving in together.  In a situation where things are already a little delicate as you both adjust, it's better to be conservative and think of the other person first.  I know for us there will be lots of opportunities in our future to have a perfectly decorated, adorably "coupley" habitat, but this first living situation won't be it.  I'm okay with that.

Living on your own (or with a roommate) doesn't have to be all terrifying.  It actually is a lot of fun, once you start getting the hang of things.  Cooking dinner most nights, creating a nice little space for yourself, and managing your life on your own is thrilling in a way that you can't really do while still living with your parents.  It's like moving away to college but on steroids.  A final thing that really helped my transition were words of support from my parents: You can always come back.  Knowing that, if by some horrible chance things on my own don't work out, I can go home has been comforting and some of the biggest words of support they could have given me.  And you should know that, too.  You can always go back.  Or somewhere else.  Living situations are never permanent, and if you're not ready to be on your own yet, take your time!  We all get there at different points in our lives.  I know I'm only a month-ish deep so far and things can change, but that's how I've been doing my thing.  If you have any questions or comments about living on your own, please leave me some love!


So fear not fellow fledglings!  We'll get through this together!

Interview Style

I know in my last post I said I would be making my next post about leaving home, but I just had a callback interview this morning, so I figured a post about proper interview attire would be more appropriate! 

In my ten months out of school and on the job market, I have been fortunate enough to have been invited on six interviews.  With the job market the way it is for teachers, I consider this to be fairly lucky.  During most of those interviews I have been able to see my peers before or after their interviews, and thus been able to observe what today's educators seem to be wearing on interviews.  I'm sad to say that I can only remember one or two of those job candidates wearing an actual suit.  One woman I encountered wore a flared dress that hit her at thigh level.  Another woman at another location was wearing dress pants about six inches too long covering open-toed sandals.  I've even seen several men without ties, just a dress shirt and chinos.  Since when has such casual attire been okay for an interview?  Especially in the field of education, where teachers often struggle to be considered a professional.

So why aren't young educators, and maybe other young professionals too, wearing suits?  In my opinion, it's essential to wear one to an interview unless you are specifically told not to.  Obviously what you're wearing won't get you the job, but it will help and will make your first impression better.  You have to look the part, especially if you're young.

Recommiting to Blogging

I abandoned this blog.  I didn't want to do that.  I had HUGE hopes for this blog, but then, as it always does, life happened.  For the last six months,  big, big changes have been happening!  I moved from southeast Pennsylvania to northeast Ohio so my boyfriend and me could really start our lives together.  I also have been applying to full time jobs like a madwoman, got re-certified to teach in Ohio, and have been subbing to keep an income.  Everything has been exciting and scary and has taken a lot of adjustment, but here I am now, ready to recommit to this blog.  I still have HUGE hopes for it and am really going to work on giving it the love it deserves.

If you look around, you'll see I've done a little redesigning.  I hope to continue upgrading the blog's design to make it reflect me the most.  In the meantime, though, I will be making more posts and sharing much more about my recent lifestyle changes!

Coming up next:  A detailed post about moving out and starting life as an adult!

Thanks for visiting Classroom Classy and remembering me while I was on hiatus!

Things I Love: Stylebook

The Stylebook app is my first Thing I Love!  I'm hoping to post many more (there are a lot of things I love), but this thing is one that I have been totally loving lately!

Stylebook is an app that helps you organize your closet, plan outfits, and even shop for and sell clothes.  It's a lot like Polyvore except with your own clothing.  Stylebook allows you enter your wardrobe by uploading pictures of clothing, and from there you can go on to put together different looks.  It's really cool!

In your closet, you can separate your clothing accordingly in both categories and subcategories.  There's places for your tops, bottoms, dresses, shoes, accessories, outerwear, bags, and even an "I wish" category.

Once you organize your closet by uploading pictures, Stylebook allows you to delete the background of the picture so you just see the article of clothing.  This makes it much easier to plan outfits.  You can create outfits for basically any occasion, and putting them together is a lot like Polyvore, as I said before.  This is the most fun part of the app, for me, anyway.

 When your outfits are planned, Stylebook includes a calendar that you can add your outfits to, making getting dressed for the week or weeks ahead super easy!

Stylebook's ability to put together outfits and plan them out for later wear is my favorite feature of the app and really the entire reason I bought it.  For me, there's nothing worse than waking up in the morning and not knowing what I'm going to wear.  Now that I've started subbing, I never know exactly what time of the morning I could get a job, how much time I'll have to get ready, or when I have to leave my house; it varies almost every morning, which is the nature of substitute teaching.  Because of this, I don't have the luxury of pondering in front of my closet in the morning for fifteen minutes (I'd much rather use that for sleep!).  With Stylebook, I have outfits put together ahead of time and even planned out for the week.  The calendar is also a great thing for me; in high school my peers would always poke fun of me for my "two week rotation" rule of when I could wear an outfit again.  Stylebook helps me keep track of that (which I still like to utilize), and also what outfit I've worn at what school (which lets me cheat on the two week rule if one school saw it one week but another did not--hello less laundry!).

Basically, Stylebook has helped me to get more put-together on work mornings, which is a thing of beauty for me.  I've been very happy with the purchase and it was definitely worth it for me!

Before you get Stylebook, here's some pros and cons you might want to consider:

Pros:

• Plan outfits in advance
• Create outfits you might not have thought of before
• Browse other users' closets
• Use fashion inspiration to create new looks
• Organize your real life closet while organizing your Stylebook closet (I ended up clearing out and donating a bag of unworn clothes to Plato's when I first started uploading pictures!)

Cons:

• It is not a free app; the cost is $3.99
• It can be tricky to remove the backgrounds of your pictures
• Uploading pictures/removing backgrounds is time consuming (you need to plan for this to be a project; I still haven't completely finished uploading and organizing yet)
• You might not find use for all the features

If you decide to purchase Stylebook, have fun organizing and planning so many new looks!  Leave your ideas and opinions in the comments!

DIY Chevron Canvas with Monogram

I'm really excited because I just finished making a chevron canvas and I'm so happy with the results!  I got my inspiration from this lovely creation over at Southeast/Northeast.  I thought I would share the finished product with you all, as well as some steps if you want to recreate it, or something like it! The steps are under the jump!

Happy Crafting!

Welcome!

My first post!  How exciting!  Welcome to my blog, Classroom Classy!  I'm Rachel, and you can find out more about me and what will be featured on my blog on the About this Blog page.  This post won't be super long, and I really just wanted to get my first post out of the way so I can get to real entries!

A short preview of what will be coming up soon:

-Professional/Casual outfits of the day
-Book review of The Fault in Our Stars
-How it feels to be a substitute teacher
-DIY Chevron Monogram Canvas

Thank you for checking out my blog, and I hope you'll be back to see what's next!