Before and while you take your gap year, you need to spend some time reflecting on your goals. This could be your goals in life or your goals for your gap year. Ultimately, determining your goals will help you better conceptualize, articulate, and experience your gap year. Consider:  Whether you want to grow as a person. What your long term goals are. Do you want to devote your life to business, to family, or to philanthropy? What are your short term goals. Where do you want to be in one, three, or five years? Think about this in terms of career or family life. Whether you want to see and experience things you may not be able to do at any other time. For instance, after you enroll and then graduate from college, you may never be able to hike the entire Appalachian trail from Georgia to Maine. Perhaps the most important element of finding yourself during your gap year is to spend it doing things and visiting places that interest you.  If you're fascinated with nature and the environment, find an internship or a job in which you can spend your time exploring that interest. Don’t feel pressured to spend your gap year doing something that your parents, guardians, or others think will be good for you. However, make sure to listen attentively to anyone who does give you advice – especially others who have taken gap years. Avoid giving in to peer pressure. You may be tempted to spend your gap year with friends doing something that your social group thinks is hip and trendy. When it comes to evaluating this, you need to listen to your inner voice and let it guide you. If you think your friends' idea of a cool gap year is a bad idea, let them know that you support them but will do something else. For instance, say something like "I think I will be more fulfilled doing something different." An important part of finding yourself during your gap year is to experience a wide variety of things that are dramatically different than what you’ve already experienced. By visiting far-flung places, meeting new people, and seeing new sights, you’ll widen your perspective and gain a broader understanding of your place in the world.  Consider a place you’ve never been but that fascinates you. For example, you may choose to spend your gap year in the Australian outback, China, or the desert Southwest of the United States. Think about a place you’ve visited and might want to attend college or live. For instance, if you’re from New England, the Mountain West might fascinate you. Reflect on spending your gap year traveling nonstop from region to region and form country to country. You may be able to expand your worldview – and better find yourself – after experiencing places vastly different than ones you know.
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One-sentence summary -- Reflect on your goals. Focus on your interests. Travel to different places to broaden your perspective.


Just because you’re eager to move out, don’t just sign off on the first place that catches your eye.  Do some research, view several options, and consider details beyond just the rent payment.  Use real estate listings to get a feel for prevailing rental rates in your area, and how they fluctuate based on details such as location. Focus only on prospective apartments that fit within the maximum rent you can afford; don’t give yourself the chance to fall for a place you can’t have. Weigh factors beyond just dollars and cents as well.  For instance, if one apartment costs $50 more per month than another but is right on the bus line to work, it may be the superior choice. Just because you don't want to live with Mom and Dad anymore doesn't mean you shouldn't take advantage of their experience with apartment / house hunting.  A trusted friend or older sibling is also a good bet.  Make it clear that the decision is ultimately yours, but rely on one or more extra sets of eyes to help identify sketchy landlords, rodent problems, potential noise problems, and so on. Your parents are almost certainly going to want to help, so this is a good way to help them feel involved and helpful. This relates to the previous advice regarding selling your non-essentials, but it is worth reiterating that taking a bare-bones approach to furnishing and stocking your first apartment is usually your best bet.  Once you’ve sold / donated / discarded what you don’t need, think about what else you can do without, at least for the time being, and see if you can leave it behind at your parents' house.  That way it can be accessible in the future or if your needs change, but not take up space (or moving expense) in your apartment. For items you need but don’t have — perhaps furniture, dishes, or bedding — visit thrift stores or yard sales, or just see if you have any family or friends looking to unload some stuff.  Your first apartment doesn’t need to look like it belongs in a magazine.  A beat-up couch and mismatched dinner plates will not ruin your first taste of independent living. It may be easier to let the pros load up all your things at your current place and carry them into your new digs, but it comes at a cost.  Local movers typically charge $100 or more per hour, so a total cost of $300-$600 is not uncommon.  Long-distance moves will cost even more.  See if you can round up some family members or friends who are willing to work up a sweat for a few hours on a Saturday in return for some pizza and soda (or other beverage).  Promise to return the favor someday. If you don’t have access to a pickup truck — or that just won’t do for your larger items —  look into renting a truck and doing the moving yourself (with help). If the prospect of moving your couch, bed, and other heavy items is too daunting, let movers take care of that and move as much as possible yourself.  Local movers typically charge by the hour, so the less they need to move, the less you pay. You may want to depart your parents’ house so you can have a place all your own, but sharing the cost with one or more roommates can make moving out more feasible.  Whether you’re planning on sharing a place with an old friend or (hopefully) making a new one when moving into an occupied apartment, the prospect of splitting the rent, utilities, etc., by two, three, or even more ways can be quite appealing.  However, even if your odds of a horror movie-worthy roommate situation are remote, establishing some clear ground rules is always wise.  Be clear on things like how bill payments will be divided up, whether food will be bought communally or individually, and any responsibilities should someone decide to move out, to name some potential pitfalls.  Even — or maybe especially — if rooming with an existing friend, be sure to spell out expectations and responsibilities so you don’t end up holding the bag for overdue rent and utility payments. You may want to draw up a roommate agreement on your own, which details the expectations and responsibilities of each flatmate. Also decide whether you want to have all the roommates' names on the lease and bills.  If it's only your name on the lease agreement, you alone are legally responsible for unpaid debts.  It is, however, easier to kick someone out if they're on the lease.
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One-sentence summary --
Be a savvy apartment hunter. Bring in an apartment-hunting veteran for assistance. Take only what you need. Utilize professional movers judiciously. Round up some roommates.