Leaving the Nest

I lived in an apartment at 18... of course, I also got married a month after I turned 18, so I didn't live alone in an apartment.

But when I lived at home, I pretty much had to run the house, too. My father pretty well worked all the time and my step-mother would stay out shopping or going to Junior League meetings or whatever, so I usually had the house to myself and had to fix my own meals, etc. But I would sometimes go a couple of weeks without even seeing my Dad when I lived at home. He'd leave for work before I got up and come home after I was asleep.

So being out on my own (or with a wife in my case) just meant that I had less space.

My parents did help pay our way when we were living in the apartment. They paid the rent for us, and they paid my college tuition and books. And the brief time I lived in the dorm at Tech, they paid for that, too.

Since then, my parents have always been willing to help out financially if I need it, though I've not needed it in a while.

 

Well, I've lived in my own apartment / dorm room since I went to college at age 18. Of course, my parents paid for everything while i was in college (tuition, books, food, housing, EVERYTHING)

So officially, I didn't "live on my own" until the first day after I graduated college with a C.S. degree in my hand and began working as a software engineer, thus paying for everything myself.

Age = 22.

 

Haven't lived with my parents since I was 18. They lived in a town I didn't want to live in. They supported me until I was 21, since I was still in college. I got my first apartment at 19 - lived all alone for the first time at 20 - but they were still helping me.

When I was 21, I graduated and managed to fend for myself from there on out. It wasn't easy for a while, since I only had temporary jobs, but I did not want to have to go back and live in my parents' house, 600 miles from my boyfriend and other friends and what I considered to be my life. I managed to stay afloat and continue to support myself from that point on.

Seems like all my high school friends, though, lived at home at some point within those next few years. I guess it's OK if that's the town you want to live in and if you're trying to support yourself. I live a long way from my family now, and holidays like these make me wonder what my life would be like if I had family close by. I find myself a little envious of those who have large families right there in Texas. I like Texas, but to get that large family benefit, I'd have to go back to the deep South...

 

How does anyone get a woman if you live with your parents over 20. One nighter at the hotel might fly, maybe, but that would have to be it. I can't imagine a woman would look at a guy living with his parents and saying, OH Yeah, thats the guy for me.

 

Maybe some people's lives in their early 20's don't revolve around getting a girl but rather getting a stable source of income and educated so they can get a girl that can appreciate that. Not one that can't - like you just described.

 

It is not an easy task for me to move out.Leaving the nest and my parents will feel so lonely , I think I probably keep them company for a few years and bring them a lot of laughters...

 

I moved out of the house at 18, when I joined the military. After I got out of the military I was home for about 2 weeks, then I moved to Houston.

IMHO, you get the LAZY BUM tag if you're still living at home and over 25. Unless you are working on that doctorate degree or something... If you are still living at home AND going to college/university/higher education, IMO, you're not a lazy bum yet... but if you've graduated and don't have a job, etc... then you get the lazy bum tag.

 

I am 25 and still live with my parents. I get along great with them so why not? I graduated last year and help out my dad with his business. Plan on getting married and starting my own business in the next few months. Thats when I'll move out.

 

I moved out a few weeks after I turned 18, went to college, came back home for the summer, and left for good after that. But my parents still support me, so technically I haven't really left them yet and I'm 21. Though I see graduation here in the distant future, so maybe it won't be too much longer before I have to join this "real world" thing....

 

Please, don't anyone take my 'bum at 25' comments too seriously... everybody, every family has it's own special situations.

 

I'm 23 and will be graduating from UT in december (knock on wood). Then I will go home to Houston and live with my parents and I will try to find a job during this time. Hopefully I will and then find an apartment.

According to RH's logic, I have a year and five months to get a job or I am a lazy bum. My birthday is in early May.

 

I think there is also an interesting cultural aspect to this. In Europe, in the northern countries (Scandinavia, also Germany), younger people usually leave their parents' house as soon as they start working or studying. In the southern countries (Spain, Italy, Greece), it is much more frequent that people will live with their parents until they get married (girls and guys). Some of that is out of economic necessity, but I think a lot is cultural. It seems that families are traditionally "closer" in the south.

Perhaps there are also differences in the US, depending on the background of where your family originally came from.

I don't know. That's just the way I explain it to myself.

 

Didn't he just tell you to not take that seriously?