Leaving home: use this checklist for best results

Your first own apartment

I’m off! Leaving home is a major event. After all, besides the rent, there are other costs to take into account – and administrative things like registering at a new municipality or taking out household contents insurance. This checklist will help ensure that nothing gets forgotten and everything works out.

Leaving home checklist

From admin to ziplock bags: the ABC of moving out is complex. There’s lots to plan and organise before you can settle into your first own apartment. A good checklist and useful tips will help.

1. Costs

Before looking for an apartment, you first need to draw up your budget: how much money do you have per month, which fixed costs do you have and what's left over at the end?

2. Administration

Once the right apartment has been found, there’s lots of paperwork to do. After all, you want your internet to work and post to be forwarded from day one.

3. Furnishings

Would you like everything new or do you prefer vintage style? Your budget will determine what furniture and equipment you can afford. Maybe you can rustle up a dining table and chairs, a shoe cupboard or old crockery from relatives – or trawl the second-hand shops and use the money you save for a nice sofa.

Tip: there’s nothing to be lost by taking your time. When leaving home, all you need to start with are a few important things like lamps, a bed, a table and chair, bathroom items and food. You can then gradually buy or organise what’s still missing.

4. The move

It’s almost done! If you’ve noted everything up to now, you’ll still find yourself in a sweat, as the boxes don’t move themselves. As soon as the moving date is fixed, put together a team of friends, family and helpers – it's quicker together and cheaper too.

Living happily in a shared apartment

For many young people, sharing an apartment with others is all part of the adventure. To ensure that everyone gets along, a few things should be noted.

• Contracting partner: in the rental contract, one person is recorded as the main tenant who is liable to the person letting the property. Be sure to also record the conditions between each other in a sub-letting contract. Changes in personal details must always be reported to the landlord.
• Rules and schedules: it sounds tedious but it’s important when sharing an apartment. The clearer the rules are on subjects like shopping, cleaning, washing up, visitors and night-time quiet hours, the more fun living together will be.
• Sharing costs: who pays how much for what? The fixed costs for shared subscriptions and appliances can be divided equally. The rent for a room in a shared apartment can either be roughly guessed or accurately calculated.
  

Financial support after leaving home

Maybe your university is in another canton or you’re doing your apprenticeship in the nearest large town. Leaving home is – not only, but especially for minors – a major step that needs to be well thought through and prepared.

From the age of 18 you can make your own decisions

If you’re still under 18 and wish to or have to move into a new home, you need your parents’ permission. This step should be well planned – either with the help of your parents or, in the case of family conflict, ideally with the youth counselling service or social services of your municipality.

Parents are obliged to financially support their children until completion of their first education, at the latest until the age of 25. However, this doesn’t mean that they have to finance a new apartment for their child. Financial support in the form of scholarships or education loans can be applied for.