Don’t just do it, it’s a big decision and you’ll need to think it through first -

• Can you afford it?
• Will you be able to look after yourself?
• You’ll be doing all your own cooking, cleaning, laundry and you’ll need the tools to do it too.

If you’re a student at university or college you’ll have the chance to live in student accommodation, and will possibly share or be with other students.

But if you’re leaving home for other reasons you’ll most likely get rented accommodation – a room in a shared house, a bed sit or perhaps a shared flat. It might be furnished or you might have to provide basic furnishings. You’ll need to pay rent, and unless it’s included in the rent there could be other charges too like council tax, electricity, gas, water and telephone. In addition you’ll have your travel and food and clothing costs to think of too.

So, to make leaving home a success, you need to plan for it, and have some savings put by to make it easier. Once you’ve found a place to live there’s still the chance that things can go wrong, so here are some sources of help:

Childline also has information on leaving home.

Salford Housing Department  may be able to give you advice too.

You can use the library in your Connexions Centre too as it has information for you to read or take away. You could also go to Weblinx for more useful websites