My entire family spent the past week on vacation in Cape Cod...without me. Because of my summer job schedule I was unable/unwilling to miss a whole week of work, so I decided to stay behind (along with my dog). This was my first time ever being home alone and it was for an entire week! The first couple days were hard, but I quickly learned where my strengths and weaknesses laid when it came to taking care of a house and a dog.
1. I rarely remembered to get the mail.
You'd think that out of all the things that need to be done around the house, this is the easiest chore to complete on a daily basis; however, it wasn't until my parents sent me a frantic message reminding me to get the mail that I actually completed the arduous task of walking to the end of the driveway and collecting the hefty stack of bills and junk mail.
2. Towels are in limited supply.
I do my own laundry on a regular basis, but when I'm living at home my mom takes care of washing towels and linens. Halfway through the week I realized that all the soiled towels and bathmats I'd gone through weren't going to wash themselves, and if I wanted a fresh towel I'd have to do some extra loads of laundry.
3. I checked to make sure each door was locked about 30 times a day...and it was totally unnecessary.
When you're staying home alone, it's definitely important to make sure the house is secure and locked up. However, I took every available moment of mine to run to each door and double check that I had snapped the lock shut all the way. This slowly drove me crazy, and probably added to my overall anxiety about being home alone.
4. I'm guilty of leaving the key in the lock after coming home.
You'd figure that if I was so keen on checking that each door was locked, I'd probably also notice if I had done something as stupid and dangerous as leaving the house key hanging out of the outside lock of the door. Yep. After coming home one day, I had a lot on my mind and a lot of chores to take care of, so after unlocking the door, I simply walked inside and shut it without retrieving the key. You can imagine my horror at coming downstairs the next morning, opening the door, and finding my key dangling out of the lock.
5. Cooking every day is hella exhausting.
Wow. How do my parents do it? I cooked a couple good meals here and there, but I also resigned to eating out or making Kraft Mac & Cheese.
6. I've got to remember to grocery shop *before* the eggs, milk and bread run out.
Otherwise my breakfast and lunch will be nonexistent. This happened one morning, but I was lucky enough to have some egg whites stored in the refrigerator from when a recipe earlier that week had called for egg yokes only. This, and a depressing-looking PB&J got me through my day until I could go food shopping after work.
7. Dogs need food, water and bathroom breaks too.
In addition to having to take care of myself and the house for a week, I also had to look after my dog. Usually, my mom is the primary caregiver (since she works from home every day), but for a week I had to remember to feed her, keep her water bowl full, and let her outside plenty of times a day.
8. The sheer number of times I frantically texted my mom asking her where to find things in the house or how to do certain chores = 1,000,000 probably.
Where in the kitchen do we keep the malt vinegar? How long do I roast something in the oven so that it's crispy but not burnt? What do I do when a swarm of flies invades the garage?
9. I suddenly became very imaginative when thinking up an elaborate escape plan in the case of an intruder.
Staying home alone is scary when your only protection is this:
Therefore, I decided my best bet was to make sure I had a solid, detailed get-away plan.
10. Getting to work on time is much harder when you have to do everything on your own.
On top of the all the things I did for myself in the morning (i.e. showering, doing my hair, packing my lunch) I also had to do the tasks that my parents usually take care of. These included doing the dishes, cleaning up the kitchen, letting the dog out, feeding the dog, and doing any necessary meal prep for dinner that day. Since both of their work schedules are synced up with mine (roughly 9-5 days), they're always up and making breakfast/coffee for themselves, so they make it for me, too. When I was on my own, I realized that most of these jobs needed to be done and I had to do them all. This added a significant block of time to my mornings and most days I found myself physically out of breath in the midst of running around and doing chores.
11. I had to either sacrifice my social life or my resolve to take care of the house/dog.
After returning from work, I really only had enough time left in the day to either get laundry/cooking/cleaning done, or go and hang out with my friends. There honestly just didn't seem to be enough hours in the day to accomplish both, so it had to be one over the other.
12. My regular exercise routine swiftly crumbled to bits.
My mornings were comprised of me frantically running around doing chores, making food, and taking care of the dog. I then spent all day at work, returning home to a kitchen full of dirty dishes from the morning, and a dog that needed to be taken care of some more. I had to make dinner, clean the kitchen again, take care of the dog again, and take care of myself. My will to exercise on top of everything else I had done that day quickly disappeared.
13. Every time I took a shower, I was 98 percent certain a Psycho-esque scenario was going to happen.
Because showering at night when you're home alone is literally asking to be stabbed to death.
14. I have a newfound appreciate for everything my parents do.
On top of working full-time jobs, my parents take care of all of the daily chores, cook family dinners every single night, and somehow find the time to exercise regularly. It's true that over the years, these tasks turn into a daily routine, but they definitely don't become any less tiring. So, I'd like to give a huge thank you to my mom and dad for everything they do.
Being an adult is tough. I've learned that it takes a lot of practice and a few friends/family willing to help you out when life becomes overwhelming. However, my week alone was good practice for what's to come in the future. I was surprised to discover all of the tasks that I was able to do successfully, albeit never having done them before, but more importantly I figured out the things I'm not so good at. Luckily I have a couple more years left until I'm expected to be a real life Adult™.
