How old were you when you moved out of your parents' home? (job transfer, more expensive)

[purehuman]

Originally Posted by TracySam

Or Dad put a lockout on the computer

That could do it allright!!

[Darkwolf131]

I know this is going to sound bitchy, but I can't stand it when my mom refers to her house as "home." Whenever I talk to her, it's always "are you coming home this weekend?" (I live about an hour and a half away) and I can't bring myself to get mad about it because I know it's petty and I know she considers it my home, but whenever she says that it just bugs me a bit inside because it's like "I pay my own rent, this is my home damnit." It feels like she's kinda undermining my independence and suggesting that my apartment isn't a legitimate home. And I know I sound like a spoiled brat saying that. (and no, my parents' house now isn't where I "grew up," we moved into it when I was 17. So 17-21, I was only there four years.)

[Tracysherm]

Tha reminds me of when I was in my 20s, and my roommates and I all rented a house together after college. If we were out somewhere, and referred to "going home" we meant to our house we shared. But if we were talking about going to visit our parents & families, we would say we were going "home-home."
So we'd be asking each other, "Do you mean you're going home, or going home-home?"

It was only when I got my own apt that I only referred to the apartment as "home" and my family home as "my parents' house." The shared rentals in college and two years after college were, I guess, transitional in my mind.

[PJSaturn]

Originally Posted by Darkwolf131

Just something I was thinking about at work today. I'm 22 and currently live in my first apartment. These two women I work with (ages 26 and 28) were discussing what they'd do with their homes once they have homes of their own. I felt weird throwing in my two cents about what it's actually like living on your own, because I was the youngest one there and kinda at the bottom of our company's totem pole. But that got me thinking--how old are most people when they move out? I figured about my age, 22-23 or so. In previous generations, maybe younger. How old were you?

I left for college at age 18, but lived at home with my dad during the summers. A few months after college graduation, at age 22, I rented my first apartment. I think it was a lot more common back then (mid-70s) for young adults to get out on their own. Even if it was in a dive apartment, at least we were on our own and making our own way in the world. I worked hard at two jobs, paid off my student loan and even saved enough money to move after one year to a nicer apartment.

.

[PJSaturn]

Originally Posted by Darkwolf131

I know this is going to sound bitchy, but I can't stand it when my mom refers to her house as "home." Whenever I talk to her, it's always "are you coming home this weekend?" (I live about an hour and a half away) and I can't bring myself to get mad about it because I know it's petty and I know she considers it my home, but whenever she says that it just bugs me a bit inside because it's like "I pay my own rent, this is my home damnit." It feels like she's kinda undermining my independence and suggesting that my apartment isn't a legitimate home. And I know I sound like a spoiled brat saying that. (and no, my parents' house now isn't where I "grew up," we moved into it when I was 17. So 17-21, I was only there four years.)

"Home is where the heart is." And to your mom, wherever she resides is home. Her reference to you "coming home" actually means coming home to her love and care, not a tangible place.

.

[Tracysherm]

And besides, look on the bright side. If Mom continues to tick you off like this, in a few years, you can have her put in a "home!"

[Escort Rider]

I left home at age 18 to go to college and never returned to live in the house of my parents except for brief stays of about two or three weeks maximum, and those stays were not very frequent, being like visits, not like "living" there.

I cannot help but feel something is wrong when people over the age of about 25 are still living with their parents, although I know that has become common since the economic meltdown of 2007/2008. If both parties are satisfied with the arrangement, then who am I to complain, but it wouldn't be for me even if one or both parents were still alive.

[Tracysherm]

I agree that something seems to be "wrong" when people stay with their parents after 25. But I get called a big judgmental meanie for thinking that way.

I know that financially times are tough, but in most time periods, times are tough financailly for 22 year olds right out of college. In the 90s, I may have had an easier time GETTING a job, but I still made very little money, so I also worked in retail in addition to the first full-time job in my field.

Also, it seems like young people want to go from living in their parents' comfortable home, to living in their own comfortable home, with no transitional living arrangements in between. They want the open-floor-plan, granite-countered, stainless steel appliances, two-full-baths, and two-car-garaged home, and they will stay in Mom & Dad's house until they can finally get all that.

They don't want to go through the stages we all went through, living in crappy apartments, or sharing a house with 3 roommates, and gradually working up to buying that nice home.

But even in today's economy, 22 year old college grads could still get a low-paying entry-level job, or pick up a retail or food service job, and share a house with a bunch of friends. They would learn a lot about becoming an adult, budgetting money, problem solving, by going through that transitional stage.

I didn't necessarily live comfortably during those years, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.

[High_Plains_Retired]

I left my mom and dad's home for the Air Force at age 18.

[leftmyheartintennessee]

18--I enlisted in the ARMY...
first time I'd ever been out of state and away from my parents for any length of time...