BLOG -- One Month "Trial" of Living with My Sister

My parents and my brother were away last month, so my sister and I were tasked with "watching the house". In a way, it was like a simulation of living on my own with a roommate (that I already know I would get along with).

Overall, the experience was interesting. While my behaviour / thoughts didn't change for the most part during that month, there were a ton of small things that I did that were different from my regular routine.

The Absolute Same Old
-Waking up at 6:30 AM every weekday for work.
-Playing video games almost everyday.

I am glad both those routines above didn't change. I would go nuts if I had to wake up earlier and didn't have time to myself to play video games.

The Minor / Subtle / Major Differences
-Doing a bit more chores
I think this goes without saying. I washed more dishes (though there was significantly less amount of dishes to wash each day. 'Cuz we don't go crazy making more dishes than we could eat). I checked the mail if I got home before my sister. I did the laundry. Etc., etc.

-Getting to work by myself
I've felt spoiled here for a long time -- my father driving me to the subway station so that I could go to work. My father is getting old and I don't want to push him in any way. Well, I think this is a positive change. And I'll try to stick to it so that he can get more rest. 

-Discussing / Deciding what to eat for breakfast / dinner
This was really different. My mother usually decides what I eat for breakfast and dinner. With her away, I always had to figure out what to eat in the morning, which were usually sandwiches. My sister and I would discuss what to eat for dinner if we're both eating at home.

This was something I wasn't really expecting: a lot of what we decided to eat for dinner were quick-fix options; stuff we can make quickly and easily. Of course, a lot of other people think the same way -- I just figured that since we didn't get much of a chance to cook at home, we would indulge. I could say (with relief) that we barely ate rice during that month. And we always enjoyed what we made.

-Going grocery-shopping for real
Before when my sister and I grocery-shopped, it was often for snacks. Now, we grocery-shopped for that and to replenish other stuff like bread, meats, whatever we decided to eat for the week. We also ended up shopping more frequently -- 3 times in the month. We spent around $120 for groceries.

-Watching what I eat
 I know if I just ate what I normally made for myself for the day (a sandwich and maybe something microwaveable and / or instant noodles), I wouldn't get all my nutrients (mainly my fiber). So I had to deliberately decide to buy some kind of greens or bananas when we grocery-shopped -- and eat them. This is embarrassing to say, but it was the first time I ever bought avocados (mmm... avocados...).

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 All and all, it was a really fun and enjoyable experience. It was also a little scary if I was ever the only one at home -- but that's because it's a pretty huge space for one person. If I could lessen the amount of stuff in my collections (anime, video game, manga, figures, DVDs), I could see myself out there somewhere, living on my own.


Thanks for reading! :)