Transition Trends: INAPSE Winter Issue
Transition Trends: Indiana APSE, Winter issue
This Transition Trends issue features important information for any graduating or recently graduated high school student. Thinking about where you will live now or in the near future is both an exciting and daunting task. Many of you have lived in your family home since birth, like most people still in or just completing high school. Deciding where you will live requires you to think about your preferences and your budget. We all have different ideas about what an ideal living situation will look like. Your first step towards living independently should be to figure out what is most important to you.
“Your first step towards living independently should be to figure out what is most important to you.”
Do you want to live by yourself or with a roommate?
Do you want to live near downtown or further away?
Do you need to live close to where you work?
The Center on Community Living and Careers has developed an independent living series to assist you with all these decisions. Finding the Perfect Fit: Accessible Housing (Part 1) guides you through critical questions about your preferred living arrangement. Answering these questions can help you home in on the perfect housing goals. Better yet, complete these questions with a group of people who support you and know you well. Those people might include your parents, neighbors, friends, teachers, a case manager, or others.
Once you have gained a better understanding of your ideal living situation, don’t forget the part about budgets and finances. The cost of living seems to be ever increasing. Apartments and homes, even those that are shared, can be expensive. Affording a place to live is about more than just the monthly rent or mortgage. There are other basic needs such as food, clothing, utilities, and gas to name a few. All of this needs to be taken into account. Finding the Perfect Fit: Accessible Housing (Part 2) guides you through budgeting for your home and provides you with state resources that can help. Indiana-APSE encourages you to read these issues and use them as a starting point in planning independent living.