Living a student life is a time of changes and discoveries. Then you enter the professional life and learn to do the papers, to live on your own, to manage your money… Your first home is an important step you have to overcome to become an adult. Either you rent it or you buy it, your habitation is always a huge part of your budget. You have to spend your money wisely : here are the 5 most important things to know when you’re moving out for the first time.
1. There are some good periods and bad periods to move
Most of people move between June and September. There is a massive amount of van renting and apartment selling in this period : beware of the obstructions. When the moving companies have lots of demand, they can delay the appointments and make your moving schedule harder. What’s more, if you move earlier, when there are no clients for the moving companies, you may have some preferential prices. You may have a 50% price increase at peak seasons. Prepare your move from January to April, even if people around you say it is early. The early bird catches the worm.
If you’re a student and you know that every other student will quit their habitation at the end of the academic year, try to anticipate. The smarter students will have rare opportunities if they start to look for an apartment in January.
2. You’re not the only one to move (and sometimes it’s better)
If you move in at the same time as some of your friends, you can gather your moving boxes and rent a truck together to save some money.
If you go in Erasmus or school exchange abroad for few months, ask your relatives if they know someone moving to the same place for similar periods. You can save money and time by looking for your new accommodation as much in advance as possible.
3. Social networks are your friends
Facebook had a genius idea when it created the ‘open groups’. If you write in the toolbar some words of the semantic field of housing such as “house rent, apartment rent, studios in London” etc.” you can easily find the apartment of your wish. One thing to remember : first-come, first served. If you wait for the perfect house falling down in your hands, you will wait for long. If you stay in alert and focus on the offers that appear in those groups, you will have chances to shotgun a good opportunity.
4. We live in wonderful times!
The human brain created the Internet, and there are thousands of wonderful websites and new services that appear everyday to help people and make their life (and move) easier and smarter. The online service Souscritoo subscribes all your contracts (Internet, energy, home insurance, postal address) in 20 minutes and for free, which allows you not to spend six hours contacting your providers and managing your contracts : you just have to call one number <span style="font-weight: 400;"((+33) 0973022503).
5. Go eco – save money!
Do you need to buy a massive amount of moving boxes, while all the supermarkets of your street can give you some empty boxes for free? Every week tons and tons of boxes are thrown away by supermarkets. You can ask them and they will surely give you a dozen of moving boxes. If you look for cheap (and sometimes beautiful) furniture to furnish you living room, why not going to the charity oganisations? Associations like Emmaüs or places like thrift shops offer huge amounts of beautiful things available for a nickel and a dime.
Are you ready for your move abroad?
We have a wide range of rooms, apartments, flatshares and studios available on our platform. Why not check out our properties to rent in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Lisbon, Berlin, London, Dublin, Rome, Milan and Brussels?