Nearly three years ago, Vanessa moved out of the condo she shared with her boyfriend at the time and went on the hunt for an apartment where she could land in solo mode. Already taken with the neighbourhood life offered by Rosemont, she jumped at the chance to live there by choosing an apartment in our first phase of Yimby Rosemont. We chatted with her about adult life.

“When you live in a new development and you’re able to welcome guests to your home, I think you can say you’re an adult.”

At 30, Vanessa says she is happy to have developed a bond of trust with the owners, a balcony full of herbs, and a new apartment – furnished, soundproofed and just the right size for her. What’s more, she lives right in the heart of the complex where one of the biggest attractions is the community spirit evident there. Her days may be full but that doesn’t stop her from inviting family members or friends to her place to share a good meal.

“When you live alone it’s rare to have enough space to invite 10 people over for dinner, and that’s often what you miss the most when you live alone in a small apartment. Common spaces open to everyone let us do it, all while keeping our own little nest, our apartment.”

A place to go a little slower

A nursing advisor in mental health at the West Island Territory CIUSSS, she tells us that she has a packed schedule in which her work occupies a prominent place. But also, that she wouldn’t trade it for the world. Working in mental healthcare pushed her to get interested in people, to try to understand them and, above all, to listen to them and to offer a bit of comfort.

“My professional life takes up a big chunk of my day-to-day, but it also allows me to have a certain openness of mind that I try to bring to all the other parts of my life.” However, she admits that to be able to fully engage in her work, she needs little moments for herself to “do nothing.”

A day-by-day life, or nearly

She admits to being, despite her super-structured work life, still a little disorganized in her thinking and in her space. She approaches life day by day, without too much advance planning, except when it comes to meals. 

“It’s often difficult to cook for only one person. My subscription to Cook It lets me cook the right amounts for myself, meaning that I don’t get tired of a meal and, above all, I can avoid buying way too much of a product when I only need a little bit to make a recipe. Also, the sustainable kit lets me reduce my environmental impact.”

This is also one of the actions that forms part of what she does on a daily basis to avoid buying overpackaged food or wasting food.

Her adult thing: reducing her environmental footprint by going zero-waste!

For Vanessa, to be a real adult means reducing her environmental impact. For her, adopting a lifestyle that follows zero-waste principles is simply to practice conscious consumption. In her daily life, she favours bulk foods and grows her own herbs and some veggies on her balcony. This lets her avoid buying overpackaged food, which is often the case with herbs, and to eat fresh food.

“You can find bulk food more easily than you think, and our neighbourhood is no exception! Businesses like Mega Vrac, Melon Miel, Citron que c’est bon!, le Frigo de Bacchus and les Co’Pains d’abord all have wonderful selections of zero-waste products.”

If she doesn’t always resist eating something she likes because it’s a packaged food or product, she tries to compensate elsewhere by, for example, keeping some of her herbs for use throughout the year. 

Discover the Yimby experience and have your own apartment while having the chance to invite the gang over for dinner in one of our common areas.