<p>Not that I don’t want her to- but D is determined not to move back home after graduation.
I realize that right now she is consumed with her thesis and hasn’t been able to give much time to planning what she is going to do come fall ( she has a job and a house at least through summer)
Her wardrobe consists of jeans and tshirts that I swear she wore in high school & costumes she wears while “going out”. ( she did have a really nice box of clothes that had more conservative yet stylish things but it disapeared in storage)
She has at least been living in a shared flat, so she has cooking and cleaning pretty much down.
But I have been looking for books or websites that can guide students who are now being launched into the “real world”.</p>
<p>any ideas or tips from when you left college?</p>
<p>Great book “The Rat Real-World Aptitude Test” by Homer E. Moyer, Jr. Chapters about credit cards and how long it takes to pay them off, electricity, employment, wages, medications, saving and investing, carpentry, basic cooking skills, plunging a toilet, basic etiquette, and some trivia on music, opera, museums, etc. I like some of the sections on geography, and world political facts, etc., so the person will at least know what the journalist referenced. Lots of basic life skills.</p>
<p>Do you really need this much feedback to understand the world? Should you really read books? The capability to make decisions is one of the few you have. It’s up to you to set your own course.</p>
<p>Ture, jakpot, but there are things that we learned along the way that wouldn’t hurt for kids to know - what do do when the sink gets clogged without calling the plumber, how to hang a picture correctly without killing the wall or having the picture fall down. Why are corporations giving etiquette lessons to their young hires? A lot of this is common sense, but common sense, based on life experience, and the book inlcudes all that. Just basic living tips, not charting your course for life. It’s either the book or a lot of phone calls home for help.</p>
<p>I think we all can benefit from the advice of others who have been there- from advice on investing- to cookbooks to learning how to dress ready for work instead of a night on the town, there are a lot of areas where trial and error wastes time and money and possibly could even be harmful.</p>
<p>Obviously people like being able to read about others experiences and learn from them- have you ever * seen* how many * parenting* books there are?
Perhaps parents should just throw them all out and make their own decisions? ( Armed with a thermometer perhaps?)</p>
<p>What I remember from living totally on my own for the first time:</p>
<p>*utilities cost a fortune! Electricity, gas, water and sewer, phone, internet, cable all cost… and the bills come EVERY SINGLE MONTH!
*no one else cleans the sink or the toilet or washes the dishes–if you left it in the sink, it’ll be there when you get home.
*clothes last a lot longer if you actually do the mending when it first needs doing.
*a kitchen timer saves money because you burn less.</p>
<p>I don’t think you need to teach what to do when the sink clogs until the sink clogs; the lesson is easier to learn with the sink full of dirty water. But I think a look at family utility bills can help with planning those.</p>
<p>and the bills come EVERY SINGLE MONTH!
:rolleyes: Not only that, but people just keep wanting to eat EVERYDAY! I don’t think you need to teach what to do when the sink clogs until the sink clogs; the lesson is easier to learn with the sink full of dirty water. But I think a look at family utility bills can help with planning those.</p>
<p>Well shes already been living in the townhouses, so they have had to deal with cooking and cleaning themselves, but for instance their linoleum had a big rip in the seam, and they didn’t fix it so you kept tripping on it.
They haven’t had to pay bills though- that is a huge thing- and have no idea how many people are going to live in the house- I admit the first place I moved out to was with my boyfriend when I was 17- and I didn’t pay for anything except food once in a while ;)</p>