4 Ways to Adjust to a New City
Moving to a new city can be stressful, both mentally and physically. It is even more stressful if you’re moving from a non-metropolitan city to a metropolitan city due to differences in cost and standard of living. So, here are 4 ways to adjust to a new city:
Be realistic with rent
If you’re moving to a city with a higher cost of living, you may not be able to afford the same rent you’re paying (if you currently live in a rented house) because you will have a lot more expenses to take care of that will cost more than what you’re paying now. For instance, if you’re moving to Bangalore from Kolkata, you will find that almost everything is more expensive in Bangalore.
To rent a flat in Bangalore similar to what you have in Kolkata will now cost you a lot more. So, either you should be ready to pay more for a similar house or you should consider downgrading your apartment, so you can divert your expenses to other needs as well.
Locate essentials immediately after moving in
Once you’ve moved into your place, it is necessary to locate places to buy your essentials such as water, groceries, toiletries, and so on. Cities today have supermarkets in every corner, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem but see if it is walkable, if they deliver, what are their working hours, etc.
Sort out your travel
You will have to figure out how to get to and from work. Depending on where you stay and what mode of transport you choose, it can be really cheap or expensive for you. If you choose public transport such as buses or the metro (if available in the city), it will be much cheaper compared to taking autos or cabs every day. However, now there are apps for shared travel including carpooling and bike pooling that you could consider such as Quick Ride. This can help you save on travel and use the money for other expenses.
Budget all expenses
When you move to a new city, you will initially be blindsided when it comes to how much your monthly expenses come up to. So, for the first few months consider tracking all expenses, categorising them if necessary, and determine how much it is costing you per month to live in the city. This will help you plan your future expenses much better. Also, you don’t have to manually track anything anymore. There are plenty of budget apps such as mTrakr and Mvelopes where you just enter your expenses and the app will tell you where your money is being spent and where you can save.
These are 4 important aspects of moving to a new city that will help you get adjusted to the day-to-day life. Once you sort out the basics, you came up with your new guide to living in the city!
