As a past resident of the dank and odorous Blanding Tower, I remember a time when moving into my own apartment with my best friends sounded so much better than the all-inclusive nature of campus housing.

However, now that I am off campus in a dank and odorous apartment with my name on the lease, all of my preconceived fantasies about living off campus have vanished.

Getting an apartment is not as easy as it is made to sound by the perky “I love cooking all my meals, and it’s so much cheaper” and “I can have anyone over at any time of the night and do anything I want” types who worship the idea of living by their own rules.

Here’s what they are not telling you:

Living on your own means bills. Electric, gas, water, sewage and cable to name a few. Then you have rent, which unless you want to split bedrooms or have more than three other roommates is generally between $300 and $700 a month per tenant, and between $350 and $3000 a month for the entire apartment/house, according to estimates from Zillow.com.

Since you probably won’t have a meal plan, you’ll have to buy groceries, on which I personally spend anywhere between $100 and $200 a month (and I eat out a couple of times a week).

In addition to that, unless you plan on eating instant noodles every night, a degree of culinary effort and basic utensils are required (pots and pans and cutlery rack up another couple hundred dollars).

In addition to the costs, where is the time all of these people have to spend cooking up these nice meals I see on Instagram?

Many of UK’s full-time students have jobs in addition to schoolwork, so spending a couple of hours a day making meals is not feasible, no matter how good it will look with that “Earlybird” filter.

Then there are the neighbors. How much fun is it to write a term paper on Waller Avenue during March Madness? Tons.

From the ear-piercing screeches of college-aged men to the constant drumming beats of their excitement on every wall, floor and door in sight – it is pure joy.

You can expect to hear the noise of parties – and smell their sometimes-less-than-legal paraphernalia – just about anywhere off campus that is within walking distance of campus.

Unless you want to spend more money to live away from the noise and commute to school, embrace the stench and invest in earplugs.

Last but not least, your landlord. Any work that needs to be done (i.e. paint the walls, replacing the carpet, fixing that gaping hole in your floor) are done on his or her schedule, not yours.

As long as it is “in a fit and habitable condition,” the landlord is not obligated to do any reparation not mentioned in the lease, according to the Kentucky Landlord Tenant Guide.

I spent the first two months of my lease with an inch-high gap between the door and the threshold that caused a nice little ant and stink bug problem ­– still considered fit and habitable.

Off-campus living can be better than the expensive, but all-inclusive, costs of living on campus if you know what to avoid, what to budget ahead of time and what to put in the lease when you meet with potential landlords.

Save yourself the tears and make a plan before you sign over your next 12 months and thousands of your dollars.

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