17 April 2020

10 Tips for Living Alone to Help You Enjoy Living Solo

The prospect of living alone long term can be a worrying one for everyone. UK-wide lockdown or otherwise, you may be feeling the pressure or starting to feel lonely. If you’re lucky, you may be able to spend time with family, friends or a partner but for those of you living alone, you may be really starting to feel the loneliness creep in. We have put together our 10 living alone tips that will help you enjoy living solo, and make your home feel more and more like a safe place.

Social distancing has been the lifestyle that most of us (if not all of us) have adjusted to overtime. However, it’s important to remember that this is not permanent. It is a temporary situation and will not last forever.

These living alone tips have been created to help you through self-isolation during the Coronavirus pandemic and are focused on keeping a positive mental attitude. If you are bored working from home, then we also have a blog where we share our top tips here.

Advice on Living Alone and Living Alone Tips

When it comes to living alone, regardless of whether or not the current situation of social distancing is in place, it can be tough. Especially if you are living alone for the first time. So, what can you do to help pass the time and what hacks can be learned to kick the loneliness out the window?

Decorate Your Apartment

Is there a more perfect time to do some DIY decorating to your home or apartment? Now is the time to go nuts! I assume that as we can’t blow our money on nights out or go to restaurants that some of us may have a bit of disposable income left over. Invest this in some nice accessories, living furniture or paint and spruce up your place.

You live alone, so you can do what you like, and decorate however you like, no matter how whacky it may be! Go ahead and paint that wall an absurd orange and hang that weird painting up. Heck, walk around naked! You’ll rarely get a chance to do this again.

Write a checklist of how you envision your home and dream big – you can even create a mood or pinboard. Think of some out of the box ideas and use websites like Pinterest to help with your imagination.

Top tip – you can get original and unique products from Etsy.

Learn How to Become Self-Reliant

With all the free time you now have on your hands, it is the perfect opportunity to learn some helpful skills. Get those YouTube tutorials up and learn how to fix a leaky sink, what washing machine setting you are actually supposed to use or how to set the heating on a self-timer!

Living alone tips aren’t all about how to preoccupy yourself but it is also about cultivating independence by becoming self-reliant. If you are living alone for the first time, then I’m sure there is a lot of simple tasks that you don’t even know about that need doing around the house.

Unclogging the sink for example or even just general tidying and cleaning can be a tough habit to get into. Becoming self-reliant is invigorating and will leave you feeling empowered however, some things will need a handy repairman, so it’s always good to have access to local plumbing, gas and electric workers who do emergency callouts, just in case! And installing a couple of security systems certainly wouldn’t hurt either!

Be Compassionate To Yourself

Sometimes finding the motivation to do all your household chores can be difficult. But the important thing to remember is to not beat yourself up about it. You may be thinking that with social distancing in place, your house should be spotless, cupboards should be cleared out and you should be the latest Mrs Hinch on social media. If this is not the case, then be easy on yourself.

We are after all in a global pandemic and whether you realise it or not, our stress levels will be significantly increased. So every once in a while, it’s OK to not put that wash on or to leave your house cleaning for an extra few days. One of the best living alone tips is to treat yourself how you would treat your best friend. Be kind, compassionate and understanding of your own mistakes.

Learn a New Hobby / Get a New Qualification

With all this fresh free time on your hands, it is the perfect opportunity to learn a new hobby or get a new qualification. Use this time to learn a new skill or propel in your career. With YouTube tutorials being and the end of a screen and online stores still delivering items, you can find helpful tips on almost anything.

So, if there is a new hobby you’ve always wanted to try, now is the time! Likewise, if there is a new qualification you have been wanting to gain, what better time to do this? With online courses easily accessible, it’s a great way to stay productive, learn new skills and get a new qualification at the end that could possibly help you step into that new career path you’ve always wanted.

This could be anything from learning a new language to signing up for a free online course on a subject that interests you.

Practice Wellbeing Living Alone

When looking for living alone tips, one of the most important ideas that will make a huge difference in both your attitude and mood is to practice wellbeing. Learning to enjoy your own company can be difficult and if you are just sat around watching TV because there is nothing else to do then you could find yourself sinking into a hole of loneliness.

Don’t get me wrong, Netflix is great, and we all love a good binge-worthy show! But during self-isolation, there is only so much TV you can watch. Now is the best opportunity to practice wellbeing, especially if you are finding the current situation a bit overwhelming. There are so many online videos for yoga for beginners and I suggest this is where you start.

If you have access to a garden then yoga outside on a hot summer’s day is relaxing, refreshing and will help you unwind. However, well-being doesn’t have to be stretching and yoga. If this is not for you then why not get stuck into a new book, test your drawing skills or tease your brain with a puzzle.

Don’t Isolate

You might be reading this living alone tip and thinking to yourself, ‘I’m in self-isolation, how can I not isolate?’. Well, just because social distancing is in place, doesn’t mean you have to completely isolate away from your family and friends. Living alone for the first time, it’s easy to completely isolate and let your negative thoughts run wild, so you need to make an extra effort to make sure you’re still in contact with people.

Conferencing apps have taken off with the likes of Zoom and House Party, which lets multiple people access a video chat at one time. Arrange a quiz night with your friends, crack open a drink and log on. It’s not quite the same as hanging out in person, but it will be a laugh and you will feel less alone afterwards.

Likewise, arrange a Sunday afternoon call with your family members to check in on them and keep up to date with how everyone is. Social interaction is still important and this will make you feel more secure. Remember, we are all in this together so we need to support each other and try to give each other the best experience possible.

Learn to Cook for One

Living alone tips are great and this one is actually one of the most important. Management of food portions is tricky, especially if you are living alone for the first time. So, head to your local supermarket and get grocery shopping! You never know what you might find.

Usually, your day to day life will probably be fairly busy, especially during the week and you might not have time on learning how to cook for one. But with your evenings relatively free, you should log onto your computer or order a cookbook that is devoted to giving tips on how to make delicious and dynamic meals for one.

If you do make a larger portion, then this doesn’t mean you have to be eating the same meal five days in a row. Put some in the freezer to save for another day and learn how to be creative with your leftovers that are in the fridge. It’s also important to make food that you will actually look forward to, otherwise the temptation to order takeout’s every night will be overwhelming!

Practice Self-Discipline

When living alone for the first time, then it’s probably exciting that you can walk around in nothing but your underwear all day! And, if you still have the option to work from home, then getting out of bed 5 minutes before you start work and sitting in your pyjamas all day is tempting, I mean, no more uncomfortable work suits – great!

But if you slip into a state of apathy and don’t’ appreciate self-care then this can be dangerous for your mental health and wellbeing. If you stop showering, exercising and getting dressed in the mornings, then your mood will take a drastic drop.

Living alone, it is up to you to find the motivation each day. Force yourself to get up each morning, get dressed and eat a healthy breakfast – just like you would if you were going to work. Living alone tips to help you combat loneliness, make your bed every morning! According to a recent survey, 74% of bed-makers feel accomplished at the end of the day, versus just half of the non-makers.

Appreciate Living Alone

Living alone is great and so many perks come with it. All of the above living alone tips are fantastic but before you can enjoy any of them, you will first need to appreciate the perks of living alone. This could be something as simple as being able to binge-watch your guilty pleasure TV show, without having to be interrupted by anyone.

Or maybe you can get away with skipping the dishes before bed and saving them until morning. Living alone means you can live exactly how you want!

You can be totally selfish, and this opportunity doesn’t come around often! You can live exactly how you like, without any outside judgement. So, take a moment to appreciate this and create a home that you absolutely love.

living alone tips appreciate living alone

Get Out and About

Take advantage of being able to leave your house for exercise once a day. And do it every day! A bit of fresh air and exercise will make you feel 100 times better and we cannot stress this enough. Take a walk in the sunshine, go for a jog or ride your bike.

Being locked in your house all day and night isn’t healthy, especially if you don’t have access to a garden. Leave your house once a day, even if it is just to go for a walk around the block. It will be extremely helpful in battling being lonely and can make a big difference in your attitude and happiness.

Summary of our Living Alone Tips

Decorate Your Apartment
Learn How To Become Self Reliant
Be Compassionate To Yourself
Learn a New Hobby / Get a New Qualification
Practice Wellbeing Living Alone
Don’t Isolate
Learn To Cook For One
Practice Self – Discipline
Appreciate Living Alone
Get Out and About

Tips for Living Alone Conclusion

We hope that these living alone tips have been helpful and will help power you through self-isolation. Living alone and working from home can be stressful but know that the situation isn’t permanent.

Yarnfield Park is a training and conference centre based in Staffordshire. For more information, give us a call.