How to Get Started on Moving Out

Post Reply New Topic

I'm getting fed up with all the negativity in my guardians house and now I want to move out but both seem to want to do them for me but I want to do it myself. Do any of you have starter tips so I can have some clear goals in mind? Thanks and appreciated.

An income helps. Somewhere to move to helps. Unless you want to move offgrid and grow your own food, but it is harder than one would think.

Do you have a way to pay rent elsewhere? Do you need a guardian?

For the average person, provided their finances are not an issue, they would take the following steps, in the United States.

If you intend to live by yourself.

1. Look through rental listings.
2. Drive by the place to get a look at it.
3. Arrange to see the place in person.

Things you should probably find out before you decide to rent it:
A. How long is the lease?
B. Has it been fumigated recently, and if so, for what?
A "no" means there probably isn't a problem, and a "yes" or "it will be" means it might have been or be
infested with something. To that end, check under the sink for roaches.
C. When will it be available?
D. How much is the security deposit? (This covers cleaning after you vacate the residence, and will also be put towards any damage you caused).
E. What is due at the signing of the lease? (Typically the first month payment, last month payment, and security deposit).
F. What utilities, if any, are included with the rent?
G. Does it come with a refrigerator? (If not, you will have to get your own).
H. Are there laundry facilities on the premises?
I. Is there off street parking?

If you like the place...
4. Most, but not all, landlords require that you fill out an application and consent to a credit check, which they typically have you pay for (about $25, maybe $35).

This is where you might run in to some trouble being so young as you probably don't have an established credit history. Some landlords will care and some won't. Some of them will rent to you if you have a co-signer, someone willing to sign the lease for you. This person becomes legally bound to pay any rent or damages you owe should you default, disappear or damage anything.

5. If you want the place, have your finances in order, and the landlord decides to rent to you, you would arrange a time to sign the lease and pay whatever is owed at the time of the signing.

6. Start packing. You can actually do this first but most people seem to wait until they find a place unless they have to be out of their current place by a certain date. You can buy boxes but you can also typically find free boxes behind shops and markets that they have thrown out. You will need packing tape.

7. Find a way to move your stuff. Depending on how much stuff you have to move, and how big as it, you might be able to do the entire move with an SUV or pick up truck, or you might need a moving van or truck. You might be able to move everything yourself, or you might need people to help you move. If you need a moving van or truck, you can rent it and drive it yourself if you have a license and feel comfortable doing so, or you can hire a moving company complete with drivers and movers. My father used to rent a U Haul truck and then hire day laborers who would gather in certain areas for work, but I don't really recommend hiring strange guys off the street.

8. Have the utilities turned on/transferred in to your name. This typically just entails calling the utility company and setting up an account with them if you don't already have one and letting them know the address you want service at. With apartments, utilities are typically kept on between tenants. When the old tenant transfers their service to their new place, the billing defaults to the landlord, and when you call to start up your account, the billing is transferred to your name.

Houses are different. Sometimes the utilities are turned off between tenants. So if you are moving into a house, you may need to allow a few days for the utility companies to turn the utilities on. Gas usually takes the longest.

9. Put in a forwarding request at the post office to have your mail forwarded to your new address, and in the meantime, call every place that might mail you something important and tell them of your address change. Also be aware that the USPS will not forward everything.

10. Register to vote at your new address.


If you can't get a place by yourself, it's typically ideal to see if a family member you get along with or a friend will be your roommate. This might not be an option for you and you might have to move in with a stranger.

The good thing about this is, it often by passes the issue of little to no credit and lack of rental history. The bad thing about it is, you don't know the person. They could be crazy or difficult to get along with. They could skip out leaving you to pay all of the expenses on your own, and the legality of you occupancy may be questionable depending on the terms of the lease and the rental laws and tenant rights in your state.

In my state, landlords can designate the number of occupants they will allow per dwelling. Some will want all tenants explicitly named on the lease. This makes all of the named occupants legally responsible for rent and damages. Others just list the number of occupants they will allow and will only require one to sign the lease. In my state, regardless of how many occupants the landlord allows, anyone inhabiting a dwelling for more than 30 days, and who can prove it, is considered a legal occupant. This means formal eviction proceedings must take place to legally remove them from the dwelling. Your landlord or roommate can't just lock you out. In my state, if your name is on the lease, you are a tenant. If your name is not on the lease, you are a sub tenant. In my state,a tenant can evict a sub tenant if the sub tenant paid rent directly to the tenant. The danger of being a sub tenant is, a lot of people sub let to a roommate in violation of their lease, and if the landlord discovers this, they may evict both of you. A lot of times landlords don't actually care as long as they get their money and no one causes any problems, but you never really know if they will have a problem with that kind of lease violation or not....much like pets. Technically, all of the places my parents rented prohibited pets. One landlord flew into a rage and evicted us when he discovered we had a cat (fine, because my parents hated him and we found a better place anyway), but the rest just became temporarily irked when they found out.

If you are on SSI or some type of government assistance you might qualify for subsidized housing through HUD. That would be nice, as you would not have to live with a roommate.

First time living on your own, I recommend baby steps. Chronos's list of steps was pretty good, but few people on state aid can afford their own individual apartment unless it's subsidized housing, which often takes quite a while to get into. A more reasonable approach is to rent a room in a shared house or apartment. You can find listings on Craigslist or sometimes even on 3x5 cards at the local laundromat or grocery store. Colleges are also a good place to look for roommate openings. And finally, if you belong to a church, you might ask around there if anyone has a spare bedroom or mother-in-law apartment they are looking to rent.

If your guardians are open to the idea of you living on their own, I think it might make sense to accept their help, but if their attitude is "you're gonna fail, you neeeeeeeed us" then they are more toxic than it is worth.

Good luck. It will probably help you be a fulfilled adult to live on your own, most people find it to be that way.

Thanks for the advice. I'll take them to heart

Just thinking that you'll live by yourself, by your own rules and no one will control you, should be enough to motivate you. I have a small business and in the beginning, I was renting a small office in an old business building. The owner of that building was always finding a reason to argue. I didn't leave in the beginning because it was very cheap and I couldn't afford another office. Everything went on until one day when I argued with one client and the owner came to tell me that he was disturbed by the fact that the light was on for too long. I barely controlled myself to not punch his old and ugly face. After a fast Google search, I found (https:/) and until the evening all my stuff has been packed and I moved it to my parent's garage. A few days later I found another office for which I paid more but at least I could work in peace.

Last edited by B19 on 06 Jan 2020, 2:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.: spam