I’m writing this after getting locked out of my own apartment last night on the stairs for almost two straight hours really scared.
It all started when I decided to take my mini arm bag and a bottle of water and go for a one-hour walk!
After the fruitful and refreshing walk, with my headphones on, I reach out for my key in my arm bag, and it’s gone!!! I freak out of course! I think maybe I just left it in the door before I went for the walk, I call the guard, but he hasn’t seen it. This ends up with the guard who luckily happens to find a copy of the key and sends it to me, I open the door, get into the apartment, and cry my eyes out for 15 minutes straight. Yeah, for me it was a traumatic experience! What if that key didn’t open my house, what if I had to sleep outside my apartment, what if they had to break the door for me to get in? I don’t want to pay for the repairs!
I ended up renting a locker for my extra key to avoid getting myself into a pickle, again!
Look, by living alone-especially if you’ve moved out of your parents’ house for good-you’ll be learning something new every single day, however, you don’t have to put yourself through tough and risky experiences like those to learn!
I’m gonna mention some tips and pointers so that you can avoid stupid mistakes like those, and remember: your SAFETY comes first lady:
- Make sure the landlord gives you all key copies once you rent out the place. Even better, ask them to change the lock before you move in, or change it yourself (costs between 4-12 JDs)
- Keep one/two copies of the key with you and secure the rest in a safety deposit box in the bank! In Jordan, it costs almost 75 JDs to rent one for a whole year! Extremely cheap. While you’re at it, why not put all of your expensive belongings (and docs) in the deposit box as well.
- When you’re out for a walk/run, make sure you purchase a bag that has more than 1 pocket just for your phone (which’s why I lost my key: I put it, my money, some tissues, and my phone all in one pocket). You can get something like this:
- Take enough money for a one-night hotel room stay when you’re out for a walk (just in case)!
- Plan for a worst-case scenario, do you have a friend that would have you over? Is there anyone you can call if shit goes south and you didn’t have a place to stay for a few nights? I’m definitely not implying in any way that you should be pessimistic and run around expecting the worst, on the contrary, be happy and hopeful, always, but we both know that bad things do happen, so why not plan for them ahead of time?
Update: I’m still going to walk every night and I will learn from this bad experience. It was actually eye-opening!
Someone once said: life is 20% of the things that happen to you and 80% how you react to them!
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