The Hardest Part Of Living Alone

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I'm a 33 yr old woman (diagnosed with ASD as a child) who has been living on my own since I was 21. I've found that the hardest part of living alone (after having experienced homelessness before) is the fear of never having enough money, home essentials (soap, ect) & not being able to keep my apartment tidy (meaning organized, everything in its place.) I'm not a hoarder (no disrespect or ill intent to anyone who is), & I am capable of cleaning my apartment (I over clean due to my fears of roaches, rats, and most insects that can make their way inside a home.)
The disorganization can lead me to get depressed, which leads to dirty dishes left in the sink, ect.
I'm not sure if this is in the correct forum, but I wanted to place it here as I'm seeking advice from women. )

Have any of you ever dealt with being unable to keep your apartment or house organized? What helped you with this issue? What advice would you give someone who has these fears?

When I was living alone I was a minimalist. I just didn't buy stuff. Before I wanted to buy anything, I asked myself a few questions like where do I put it? Can I move this thing when I relocate? Do I want to clean and dust it regularly? Does it actually serve a practical function or make me happier? If any of the answers was no I put it back. Most stuff couldn't pass the "cleaning" bit, I hated cleaning.

So I guess my advice is to keep fewer things to keep life simple. I'm not sure if you asked regarding your fear of running out of essentials. That seems to be a money fear. I think reading some frugal tips would help.

I deal with some of the same concerns, it's this year that I've actually fully moved out on my own for the first time (save for an apartment when I was attending university for a couple of years. In context, that was only one hour away from my parents. I am now 1500 miles away from my parents).

I've never really experienced adulting this much and it's a lot of pressure... Even if the whole living on my own thing is also great for me because I don't feel overwhelmed with being around people and not having my space all of the time.

With dishes, well, I always use plastic utensils and plates/bowls. That is an added expense, but I have never been able to handle anything else. Washing dishes grosses me out and makes me think "How could I ever eat off of that ever again?! !!" and don't even get me started on sharing utensils with other people... Nope!

I eat canned food, Easy Mac, or baked potatoes which don't require anything like pots or pans which would need to be cleaned.

I don't recommend that, BTW. It works for me, barely. It's not great, but I know that I would struggle if I started trying to do anything else. Maybe someday... But that day is not today. lol

The hardest part about being alone is that when I get sick, even with a minor illness, it gets even more difficult to do chores like washing dishes. I remember when I was sick in October and the dishes were piling up and it made me feel more miserable. Doing my laundry was hard, too. But I only have to do that once a week, usually. Doing the dishes is one chore that never feels done. I'm so tired of it, if only I had a decent dishwasher. But I'm lucky I have a washer and dryer so I don't have to drag my clothes to the laundromat like I did in my old apartment.

I was sick with "coldfluenza" or whatever again last month and again, doing my chores was worse than usual. But at least I wasn't sick for as long as I was in October.

I've gotten help from my next door neighbors.
I had a flat tire and was able to use his "friend and family" discount to get an entire set of four for just $300!

Don't you guys have dishwasher? Every house and apartment here seem to have one. I never liked washing dishes. If something is not ok to go into the dishwasher I just won't use it.

The hardest part of living alone for me was social. I'm one of those unfortunate aspies who are extroverted and craved human interactions. I was constantly going out for walks, going to school or public library just to get a dose of people. Meeting some friends on weekends were not enough for me. I know most people on the spectrum don't have this problem.

My favorite way to do dishes is to wash all dishes in the sink when I start cooking something and wash the cooking utensils as I finish with them. The idea is that the only dishes that are dirty are those that I ate out of and I rinse those off pretty good.

One issue I have always had is wanting to cook something where I have lots of leftovers. For most of one year in the late 1990s, I kept a running Indian buffet. I always cooked enough of one Indian food dish to last me three to four days. My meals consisted of a little of each leftover dish plus some steamed Basmati rice and some naan which I bought at an Indian grocery.

For example, one day I might make curried chicken. Another day, spicy chickpeas (channa masala). Another day, curried mushrooms. Another day, aloo ghobi.

This approach worked real well for me. I ate real well that year.