Is it more exciting or scary to move out of your parents’ house? Equal parts of both.

Looking for your first apartment can be an entire odyssey. Your budget is tight, you don’t know exactly what you want, rent prices sound insane, you have no idea where to start looking, and you have absolutely zero clue if you’re going to need a two-bedroom or single-bedroom place. It’s overwhelming, but it can also be really fun.

You start planning your whole new life around the fact that you’re moving all by yourself. Your Pinterest boards get packed with decoration photos, even if you don’t know what your new place is going to look like. It’s the perfect mix of worry and excitement, and a huge milestone to achieve. It means you’re finally independent, you’ve reached the peak of adulthood (kind of), and you no longer need mommy and daddy to look after you. 

Suddenly, we remember every movie and TV show we watched where a character was looking for an apartment in a big city. Remember Carrie Bradshaw? How much did she earn as a column writer for a newspaper to be able to pay for that loft? Beats me. And one of my favorites: Rachel and Kurt at the beginning of season four of Glee, moving to New York and finding that huge studio for themselves. Who can afford a place that big in NYC with a college student budget? It definitely raised our expectations for apartments in cities like New York. 

It’s necessary to manage our expectations when we start apartment hunting, especially if we plan to move to a big city like New York, L.A, or Chicago. I’m telling you, you’re not gonna move into a mansion. But if you’re patient, ask for help, and don’t let yourself get carried away easily, you’ll find the perfect place just for you. While you keep looking for options, here’s a bunch of memes to give you a preview of what apartment hunting looks like.