Choosing to live at home during your first year at university, doesn’t mean you have to have a different experience to anyone else. And we’ve got some great tips for living at home during freshers week to make sure you feel part of it all. Things that normally happen at Freshers’ Week include getting to know other people, partying and learning about uni. All of these things can be done even if you live at home, so you have to get FOMO. Take a look at our tips below to ensure you make the most of it.

1. Join social student groups

Tips for living at home during freshers

There are numerous Whatsapp groups and Facebook groups you can join which will be in the know for freshers week. They will share the best events to go to and it will give you a chance to chat to other freshers. Joining groups will allow you to discover whats going on at your university. This can include social events, social club nights and any other events taking place during freshers and beyond.

if you are finding it difficult to find any groups then why don’t you start a group yourself on facebook. You’ll soon have people joining. Just make sure the group is titled something relevant that’s going to attract the right people. For instance you could start a group for people on your course.

2. Join a society 

Societies are a great way to make friends and also have some fun in your spare time. There are societies for everything ranging from academic to sports to media to politics societies. With this range you will definitely find something that suits you. Most societies are held on campus so this will definitely allow you to get into the know about what is going on at university. Get out of your comfort zone and get yourself down for a meeting.

Joining a society also means you’ll meet people in halls who will most definitely invite you down to their parties and to hang out with people they have met there. If you become close friends you might even become their honorary roommate. You can make the most of university even if you do live at home. You just need to put yourself out there.

3. Join your student unions

Tips for living at home during freshers

Student unions exist to represent students at your university, being the go to place for everything events, club and society based. So this is a great way to integrate yourself into uni life and meet new people at the same time, as well as being in the know for the biggest and best events which you may not know about not being on-campus.

As well as the social side, joining a student union allows you to shape the way the university deals with students, for example you could change the way the university gets people involved who choose to live at home.

4. Take advantage of the university services

You are paying a lot to be at university so you should utilise all the services the university has to offer. These services includes the university library which will be stacked with useful information and books for your course. You will probably spend a lot of time in here during your time at university so it’s good to familiarise yourself with how things work here. Make sure to take advantage of cafes and union bars which not only will have students you can meet but are also priced better than the standard place in town.

5. Go to freshers’ parties

5 tips for freshers week if you live at home
Source: Calluna Facebook

Just because you live at home doesn’t mean you can’t make the most of all the club nights specifically designed for freshers on offer. You might have to tailor the drinking towards the end of the night, but then again there’s always after parties to head to til you sober up enough to face the fam.

Remember living at home means…

You will save heaps of money

Unlike your fellow students you don’t have to dish out loads on student accommodation each month. This means you’ll have some extra cash to spend on yourself. Why not go on a little shopping trip to treat yourself once in a while, better yet save it for later on down the line. You’ll be able to move out and buy your first home a lot quicker.

You are still very much independent

It is common for students who have chosen to live at home to have unhelpful thoughts of feeling they aren’t independent enough. Especially during freshers week where you might meet excited people who are talking about living in halls and moving away from home for the first time. Remember you shouldn’t invalidate your independence and should take the right steps to feel independent. Remember just making the choice to go to university makes you independent.

Remember you can always invite your friends back to your house. They might appreciate a home cooked meal!

You really aren’t missing out on much

You really aren’t missing out as much as you think. Living in a flat or house share means you would need to protect your things at all costs, especially your items in the fridge. You most definitely would live in a mess and your housemates would probably wake you up after a night out and people would most definitely invade your personal space. Living at home means you avoid all of this but get to enjoy the social side of university through attending events, club nights and other things.

Remember if living at home isn’t for you then you can always change things up in second or third year. You really aren’t stuck there forever!