share some life advice, moving out...

I am currently 16, will be 17 by the time I move out. for reasons not important here I HAVE to get away from family for a while and an apartment/flat seems to be the only way to go.

it might only be for a month, might be longer.. but what advice can you give to someone lacking in life experience? :)

points to note: i wont be independant completely, just not living at home... getting food/food money of parents, already have clothes/transport etc etc... also, i will be staying with a friend of the same age with similar circumstance.

#1 and is probably the most important...do NOT get a credit card.
#2 make sure you trust your roommates and you're comfortable with their lifestyle
#3 DO NOT Get a credit card.

Yeah. If you want plastic, get a free checking account and debit card. That way, you won't put yourself into debt.

Touche on the credit card... and also don't get an overdraft, once you're in it, you'll start treating it like real money...

It depends how 'anal' you are but also get yourself a small fridge for your room...

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Originally Posted by lefteyewilly

#2 make sure you trust your roommates and you're comfortable with their lifestyle

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you should be aware of your surroundings too :)

enjoy it while you can.
at 18 i moved across the country to see what life was all about... no help from family just me and my wits, good looks, and undeniable likeablity... i came back broke with tons of memories;)

Sounds good Squidlips. You seem mature enough to handle it. I am sure you will enjoy doing your thing on your own for a while.

Tips I can think of are to go to the grocery store and buy easy to prepare meal items such as peanut butter and bread, baking potatoes, Smack Ramen Noodles, cold cuts, beverages of choice, milk, taco stuff, etc... in otherwords avoid eating out.

As far as the credit card thing goes. I don't think it is a bad idea to have one if you promise yourself to use it only in a real emergency and keep your promise. I have never had a problem keeping one.

Pay your bills on time.

If you feel someone is taking advantage of you they probably are.

Good luck and enjoy!

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Don't jump into it if you can.
Stay at home for as long as you can and save save save.

Develop a budget and stick to it. Sock away emergency cash. Pick
up a full time and a part time job.

and yeah as mentioned above STAY AWAY FROM CREDIT CARDS

no credit cards for me, i will still be semi financially dependant on my parents.. and they are cool with that, i just wont be living with them.

they are paying for food and partial utilities. already got a roomy, my best mate... so trust is no issue.

how does the whole bond thing work? do i get it back if i throw house parties and stuff gets trashsed? lol. also, are rental agreements always long term(ish)?

if you don't have cash, you don't have money to spend - period.
very simple rule, but very important.

never move BACK home. once you're gone, stay gone.

respect your neighbors. when i was your age, i lived in a dorm. it was loud.
chances are your building won't be loud. respect others, and live in harmony.

find a system that works for you (money/work/play/social).
the lifestyle and path you choose over the next couple years will stick longer than you think.
be careful.

wear a jimmy hat :)

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Originally Posted by admedia

As far as the credit card thing goes. I don't think it is a bad idea to have one if you promise yourself to use it only in a real emergency and keep your promise. I have never had a problem keeping one.

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I agree...i have one credit card and the limit on it is $500.00, and i refuse to go up to a $1000 or more with it. Just make sure you stick to the 'emergency' use. I manage my money best by writing checks...i know exactly what my bank account has, and it keeps me from overspending with a debit card.


Just a note about living with friends though. I know it all depends on your personality, however, i lived with my best friend in college (apartment, not dorm), and after 2 years, i vowed i would never live with him again. Our friendship was strainded by different ways of keeping up with the apartment. Make sure if you are a very clean person, your roommate is too (or vice versa).

As far as a security deposit/bond, you pretty much have to make sure that when you leave the apartment, that it looks exactly how it did when you moved in (if not better). No holes in the walls, stains on the floor, dirty stove/refrigerator...etc. If it is not clean, it is more than likely that the landlord will charge you up to $75 per hour (plus material) to clean/repair whatever needs to be done in order for the next person to move in. When you move, it's a good idea to enlist the help of other friends/family/women to help you clean the house. If you do this, and there are no charges, you will get your full security deposit back when the landlord inspects the empty apartment (or more likely when someone moves in).

OH, and make sure you buy a good vaccuum and stain remover spray.

Good advice here. I've nothing to add, other than to learn from your mistakes.

Screw up once, that's just life. Same thing twice, you're an idiot.

I speak from much experience.

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Originally Posted by nordberg

wear a jimmy hat :)

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That was the guidence I got when I moved out :p

Don't go out to eat a lot. Money dissapears that way. Go shopping for the week, cook, stay in. Saves tons of money that you will need for drinks and dru-I mean emergencies

I just had to get out and away at about your age. I joined the Marines.

Best way to get life experience I know about. Never been sorry.

my take on credit cards: get one for sure! BUT, never, ever go a month without paying it off in full. it is highly advantageous to begin building good credit early. only avoid getting one if you can't trust yourself not to abuse it. it should be simple math to figure how much cash you have, use the card for that amount and pay it off to $0 each month. this way you will have great credit built up by the time you will need it for things like starting a business, financing a house, boat, getting married, etc.

second. stay on the right side of the law! don't drink and drive. and if you do get tickets of any kind, DO NOT disregard them, show up, read the fine print and do everything they ask. getting a DUII throws you into a maelstrom of political agendas and bs that you will suffer for for a long time. not to mention you could hurt yourself or others. not complying to tickets, etc. will cost you many many times more than dealing with it right away. get away from them quick and clean like they are mafioso.

choose a roommate with your brain and not your heart. females and older people generally make the best roommates. even if you are a party animal yourself, other party animals occasional make noise, stains, vomit puddles etc. that will not be on your schedule. it also helps drastically if they have a realistic source of income. go with the most quiet, responsible nerd you can find (unless they are ted bundy).

also, make friends with people that work at fast food resteraunts in case you get hungry. ;)

with the credit card thing (indivisions's point about credit) i trust myself to pay it off monthly to the full extent.. what is the interest usually like if done like that? and how exactly does 'good credit' and 'bad credit' work.

If you pay it off, in full, you don't pay any interest. That's the idea of them (well sort of).. In theory you save or even make money that way (depending on how you look at it)

If you earn £100 a month (for example) and you spend £100 on your credit card and then use that £100 from your bank account to pay off your credit card, you don't pay interest on your card becasue you pay it all off straight away and you earn a (very small in this case) amount of interest on your bank account becasue you have £100 in there for most of the month..

That's how you SHOULD use them..

Bad/Good credit? Not sure about the US but in the UK, if you're late with a payment - credit card, loan, house bills, mortgage etc that will show up on your financial history. Companies will use this information when deciding whether to give you credit in the future.

When you're born, a bar-code type chip is implanted in your head and it contains all your credit information. In the UK women have scanners that they hold against your head and are able to view your financial history. If they see that you have a bad credit history, you don't stand a chance of ending up in bed with them.

Seriously though.. Bad credit to one comany is good credit to another so there's no definate rule as to whether you have good or bad credit.

A friend of mine in his mid 20's had trouble getting a mobile phone becasue he had never taken out a credit card or loan so he didn't have a financial history.. He decided to get a credit card and not use it just to build up a good credit history.. "This guy has a credit card but has no late payments on his financial history.."

Bottom line is, if you don't earn much money, don't get one. If you earn alright money, get one - they can be useful if you use them properly..

great advice about the law indivision. that goes for DUI, drug posession, or anything else. once you get on the wrong side of the law, the probation, court appearences, lawyer fees, etc will sidetrack your life progress like you can't even imagine. i've seen a few friends get derailed like this, and none of them were ever able to recover.

building credit is good, if you can handle it. if you can't, and most people can't, get rid of the card.

Use bank debit cards instead. The credit habit is bad. A bad habit, bad for the economy and bad for you. Don't believe it? Then look around, there are hundreds of credit institutions, some who own skyscraper buildings. Guess who pays for all that? ;)

Why not wait another year and just go to college?


But I guess i would do the same if my parents would help me pay a little of everything. I am still at home(in collegr but home in the summer) and they don't help me out at all. And haven't for a long time...that is why i am poor.

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Originally Posted by iaskwhy

Use bank debit cards instead. The credit habit is bad. A bad habit, bad for the economy and bad for you. Don't believe it? Then look around, there are hundreds of credit institutions, some who own skyscraper buildings. Guess who pays for all that? ;)

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Agreed. More people abuse credit than take advantage of it. Everything about credit companies is designed to get you to become in debt. At the same time, as you get older, credit becomes more and more important for financial options. Going in debt can be very costly, but usually not nearly as expensive as having to pay a high interest rate on a home for 30 years.

Squid, you have to be honest with yourself about how disciplined you can be about money. If you can't resist telling yourself "I'll extend myself just this one time" then you shouldn't get a card. But, if you can be responsible about it, it will pay you later.

In regard to how credit works. It's very complicated. Your credit is rated on all kinds of factors. One of the major ones is how long you have had credit. Simply having the card and not using it will rack up points for you. Also, every amount of credit you pay off gets added to a total. The more you've paid off, the more points you get. You lose points when you pay bills late, go bankrupt, get convicted for fraud, etc. As mentioned, it costs you nothing extra (no interest) if you pay it off entirely each month. It's the same as cash but also improves your credit.

If you do want to get one. Do a little comparison shopping to get the best rate possible and absolutely no monthly charges (other than interest). There are a lot of scam cards out there. You're probably best off going through your bank or even better a credit union if your parents are in the military or other such organization that extends a credit union to you.

i strongly doubt you will be eligible for a credit card.
first, you are not 18, and second i presume (since you are getting money from your parents) you dont have a job.
why is everyone going on about credit cards anyway? that wasnt the question.
heres my advice.
1)private leases are evil-somehow the landlords always turn out to be money-hungry, never-fixing-shower-leak kind of people. make sure you go through a real estate agent. if something goes wrong they will be mediator.
2)make sure you dont sign a long lease if you are not sure how long you want to stay. if you sign a twelve month lease and pull out one month into it the landlord is legally allowed to make you pay the whole twelve months rent. someone tried to do that to me once (again, private landlords...)
3)never walk into your housemates room without knocking. trust me on this one.
4)dont buy groceries together. it never works unless you have exactly the same eating habits. i moved into a place with friends and we went shopping together for the first time (and the only time). one of the housemates bought heaps of packets of pez and lots of expensive cheese. and we all paid equally for it. i have an issue with paying for other peoples luxuries. maybe you dont. something to think about though.
5)sharehouses are awesome. they are filthy dirty lairs but they are really fun if you have the right attitude. as long as you know and accept that its going to be dirty and you are going to eat toast most of the time and probably see your housmate naked at least once and he/she will undoubtedly wake you up sometimes in the middle of the night after a big night, youll have a great time.

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Originally Posted by babyjeebus

2)make sure you dont sign a long lease if you are not sure how long you want to stay. if you sign a twelve month lease and pull out one month into it the landlord is legally allowed to make you pay the whole twelve months rent. someone tried to do that to me once (again, private landlords...)

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Completely disagree...it's the corporate landlords that will do this to you...it's a hell of alot easier to getout of a lease if it's a Duplex (owned by one person)...especially if you leave it in good shape and you get to know them...it's the Corporate leasers that will F*** you. They don't care unless they get the money.........honestly think about it.

(i rent from a Corporate company...they have an iron clad lease that i signed....although, i knew i wasnt going anywhere, so i didn't have a problem with it)

Otherwise, i completely agree with you.

yeah, i guess ive just personally always had bad experiences with private landlords.
i guess anyone can **** you over if youre not careful.

And to agree with BabyJeebus...there are many private landlords who won't even make you sign a lease. My parents own an apartment and they don't make anyone sign a lease, i've rented an apartment and didn't sign a lease (i only stayed 5-6 months, and they didn't care)...

the best thing as a landlord, is to screen your tenants. If you get a bad feeling about them, don't rent to them, and it's completely legal to not rent to someone if you don't want to (of course, you'd probably have to come up with a good excuse if someone argued with you)...

Now my point being here, is that, as a 17 year old, you probably will be either turned down to rent an apartment (privately owned), or you will absolutely have to sign a structured lease (private or corporate), that's just because you're not technically 'responsible' by stereotypical standards.

You probably won't even be able to sign a lease, chances are one of your parents will have to co-sign for you... shouldn't be a problem, since it seems like they are willing to help.