Do you live on your own or with your family?

[Eliandal]

TL;DR:

1. At what age did you/do you plan to move out from your families home?
2. Was it hard to get settled into independent life?
3. Were you earning minimum wage or more when you moved out?
4. How many roommates did you/do you plan to have?
5. How did you find these roommates?
6. If none of these apply to you, what are your reasons for living with your family still?

I'm at a point in my life where moving out is becoming my greatest desire, unfortunately I can't argue with the money I am saving while returning to school to do this. So I'll have to put this goal of mine on the back burner for now. As it stands today this house is more of a place to rest my head. I am still curious of a few things though (because I love planning ridiculously far ahead.) I've added my questions in the TL;DR along the top!

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences and stories

Well, my life is, and was...complicated...especially compared to many here

I was a competitive athlete, and so lived away from home from the age of 12-24. Until I was 17, that was boarding, but from 18-24 my sister and I lived together in an apartment . Both of us also held down part time jobs (to assist our parents - it was quite expensive for them) I bar tended for 6 years and my sister worked retail as soon as it was legal for her to do so.

When I retired, I moved back home and went to University and then college (with the full support of my parents). Finally finished school at 29, and bought my first house that year. My partner moved in with me that year, and we've been together here ever since. 6 years ago, my father was diagnosed with bone and lung cancer and given 6-8 months. There was NO way my mother could handle this on her own (she has her own medical concerns, copd, aneurism and congestive HF) so they both moved in with us (he did not want to die in a hospital - and I can't blame him)

During his sickness we began converting the basement to an in-law suite - which is where my mother now lives. While it's not really funny, we laugh about it now as my sister and I argued about where she was going to live - she chose me only because I have a large garden she can putter around in, and am backed on a river so she can fish at 6AM if she feels like it!

Pffff... I'm italian. Of course I live with my family.

Truer words were never spoken! It's funny, both my father and my uncle lived at home with my Noni and Nono until they married (27 and 29) While my uncle ended up moving to Montreal for work, my father and mother lived with them after marriage until their house was built (and since my nono was typical Italian - bricklayer - it was built WELL )

My parents have always said, to both my sister and I, that home was always open to us, no matter what. My sister and her husband actually lived with my parents for a while as their first house was being built. I find it sad to hear about so many people trying to actively get away from their parents, and count myself as very lucky to have had the parents I did have. While I'm a proud first generation Canuck, I'm also VERY proud of my Italian heritage, and the sense of family that seems prevalent - especially with Italian families (I have a number of friends - Italian - who remained at home into their 20's and some into their 30's)

[drwelfare]

Stay with a relative taking care of them part time.

Want to move, have the money, last place I wanted took an offer before I got my certification of funds letter

[Spl4sh3r]

TL;DR:

1. At what age did you/do you plan to move out from your families home?
2. Was it hard to get settled into independent life?
3. Were you earning minimum wage or more when you moved out?
4. How many roommates did you/do you plan to have?
5. How did you find these roommates?
6. If none of these apply to you, what are your reasons for living with your family still?

1. I don't think age is a factor for me. I did live alone at age 20-21 I think it was.
2. For me it was hard to live alone, so I won't really try again. At least not at this time.
3. I had no income other than student grant + student loans, which we get in Sweden each month.
4. When I do plan to move again I will only do it with at least one roommate, or partner.
5. Got none yet.
6. I live with them because I don't do living alone

[chazus]

[*]At what age did you/do you plan to move out from your families home?

When I was about 19, about a year after I started college. Mainly due to the fact that I was moving from IL to CA, and had nothing to bring with me but some clothing and a computer.

[*]Was it hard to get settled into independent life?

Definitely. Living in an expensive area, no financial aid, and working 40-50 hours on top of full school schedule.

[*]Were you earning minimum wage or more when you moved out?

No, I was earning about 10-13/hr as a computer tech, depending on commission.

[*]How many roommates did you/do you plan to have?

I moved from several places, usually every year, if not more. 3, 2, 1, 2, respectively. When I say 'roomates' I mean 'house mates'. I never 'lived' with anyone in the same room as me. I moved out to Vegas on my own, and then bought a house which I now have alone.

[*]How did you find these roommates?

I moved in with them, not the other way around. Most of it was craigslist.

[Grimbold21]

Dunno about you guys, but here in periferal Europe or P.I.G.S, ever since the 08 crisis, we've had this growing phenomenon where young adults or people that you'd expect to be out on their own, aren't. Instead they're moving back - or never left in the 1st place - in with their parents.

Why? Cause life is shit and jobs aren't easy to get.

It's either that or migrate to another country.

[xStevooo]

• At what age did you/do you plan to move out from your families home? I was 17 when I moved out
• Was it hard to get settled into independent life? No it was quite easy, but i'm clued up on the real world and what I had to do when I moved out.
• Were you earning minimum wage or more when you moved out? A good wage in comparison to the average in my area.
• How many roommates did you/do you plan to have? No room mates then, me and my fiancee now.
• How did you find these roommates? Pick people that you want to live with, I don't do lazy people so that would be a no no for me, if you have to ask/tell people to clean up after themself, or arrange a cleaning rota then quite simply you weren't brought up properly xD
• If none of these apply to you, what are your reasons for living with your family still? I am 26 now, moved out at 17 - and wouldn't change anything. I live in a city mind and it's considerably more expensive here, nearly double the rent for the same property compared to 5+ miles further out. All depends what you're after in life, if you got a good education and/or job then living at home while you save for a mortgage/good amount of money to begin indepenant life might be a great choice.

[dixincide]

Some interesting responses on here so far,
I'm curious of those who used craigslist or some other website when finding roommates. Wasn't it a little sketchy to move in with strangers? I've only ever heard bad things about craigslist so I'd hope to avoid it. But its interesting to know that it worked out (sort of) for some of you.

It's also very interesting to hear about people moving out at such a young age, I've told myself that its impossible to do if I don't have an income of XX but most of you would be earning considerably less than that and doing okay. So my question for those of you would be, how much did living alone cut into your fun money or hurt your over all social life? (I'd imagine managing school and work would turn the home as just a place to sleep in those situations).

[wheresmywoft]

-Moved out when I bought my place when I was 20.
-Not too bad, I was doing almost all of the chores in the house when living with my parents. But they covered my rent and living expenses until the end of university.
-Was earning more than minimum wage.
-Had 6 roommates in my place. Only ever 1 at a time.
-Found roommates through adverts like craigslist or some sites like roomrenter.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

At what age did you/do you plan to move out from your families home?

19 years old. They let me graduate from high school, find a job, and save up a little bread before I moved on.

Was it hard to get settled into independent life?

It was for me. My life went pretty much totally to shit. Shit enough to where I joined the military out of "zero options" because I wasn't moving back home.

Were you earning minimum wage or more when you moved out?

A little better. I worked in a warehouse and was the forklift guy. Was about 12 bucks an hour, cash/under the table (no tax, FICA, etc), and got a steady 40-50 hours a week. which wasn't rancid 20 years ago for a 19 year old. Where I lived at the time it was enough for me to have a really cheap apartment on the not so good side of town, eat, pay for power and basic cable/internet.. and have next to nothing else. Maybe a sack of weed or some beers on the weekend if I got a little OT (that is where trouble came in!). I had a decent car that was paid off, but most importantly could walk to work in 10 minutes.

How many roommates did you/do you plan to have?

None.

How did you find these roommates?

IF I had had one it likely would have been a friend from the past. Like high school for example.

If none of these apply to you, what are your reasons for living with your family still?

Above sums that up.

[I Push Buttons]

If you count moving to college, then at 18. Lived in an apartment on campus for 4 years. I don't really count that though since the responsibility wasn't really on me. I had student loans paying for it, and everything I could need was located on campus.

6. I live with my parents because I am crippled, I have no money, we live in the middle of nowhere, I don't have a car, and there is no public transportation in my county.

Tried to move right after I finished college because I was offered a job in another city. I visited about fifteen different apartment complexes over one weekend, most had almost no wheelchair accessibility at all. Of the three that did, the accessibility of two of them was maintenance laying a piece of wood over the front steps, and inside had like 2 foot wide doorways to bathrooms and two feet of clearance in the kitchen, not accessible at all. The third one was really nice... Brand new apartments, no steps, wide doors (literally built to be accessible), nice area, nice looking buildings, etc... Called them up and asked about it. Turns out they were apartments built by some charity that only rented to people on welfare and told me no.

This was all made worse by the fact that I couldn't apply for or set up the public transportation handicap shuttle service in the city because I didn't live there and had no address, and the application process took months and was no guarantee... So it was a catch 22... I couldn't set up transportation because I wasn't a resident of the city and I didn't want to sign a six month lease without having a guaranteed way to get to work (that is, if I could find a place that was accessible in the first place, which I couldn't).

After that I ended up needing to withdraw from my acceptance of the job. And I have been in the same situation since. I could apply to twenty jobs right now, but it wouldn't matter because, like I said, I have no means of getting there and no money to change that fact. No marketable skills that could be done online either, can't program, not an artist, etc.

Basically just biding time at this point.

[theostrichsays]

TL;DR:

1. At what age did you/do you plan to move out from your families home?
2. Was it hard to get settled into independent life?
3. Were you earning minimum wage or more when you moved out?
4. How many roommates did you/do you plan to have?
5. How did you find these roommates?
6. If none of these apply to you, what are your reasons for living with your family still?

Just a quick honest thought about moving out, if I didn't have my son, I would live with my family, without a second thought. The money I could/would save if I did live with them, would trump any of the bullshit reasons most my friends who moved out without a family/need to, always say.
1. 16. I dropped out of school before hand, and was working to help my family stay afloat, and things were just going from bad to worse, and a local trailer park had a rundown trailer the guy said if I wanted to do the work on it, he would forgo the deposit and lease and I could stay there.
2. No not really. I was long since used to getting up early on my own, and taking care of myself.
3. More. I worked construction during the day, and at a restaurant at night, until I was 17, then got hired on at a steel factory. During the winter I worked at a saw mill if we had no construction work, when I could.
4. 0. I did get a dog though if that counts.

[Xirrohon]

At what age did you/do you plan to move out from your families home?
17, Father signed me off to join the Army

Was it hard to get settled into independent life?
No, but Ive always been sort of a loner and never spent much time at home

Were you earning minimum wage or more when you moved out?
More, plus military provided food, housing, clothing (sort of)

How many roommates did you/do you plan to have?
One roommate, sometimes none

How did you find these roommates?
Assigned, Lol

If none of these apply to you, what are your reasons for living with your family still?
I wouldnt do it any other way but the males in my family have all traditionally left and made their own way once hitting 18.

Really cool responses in this thread!

[-aiko-]

Just realized I never actually answered the questions.


1. At what age did you/do you plan to move out from your families home?

18

2. Was it hard to get settled into independent life?

Not really. It was a financial strain but I easily found ways to manage.

3. Were you earning minimum wage or more when you moved out?

Slightly above minimum wage.

4. How many roommates did you/do you plan to have?

2 roommates at the start. From then I've had as many as 4 while also being completely on my own.

5. How did you find these roommates?

Friends. I would never live with a stranger.

[Gandrake]

1. At what age did you/do you plan to move out from your families home? After I dropped out of high school I was battling depression and drug addiction until I was about 22. Getting high and playing video games every day was the only plan. Eventually I came up with my own recovery plan, but living with my mother was an enormous obstacle to the path I had set so I ended up just moving out with a bunch of friends.
2. Was it hard to get settled into independent life? not at all. i think i may have initially been late paying some of my bills, but that's about it.
3. Were you earning minimum wage or more when you moved out? no. minimum wage is for people who can't apply themselves.
4. How many roommates did you/do you plan to have? zero. ended up with 7. But I live by myself now and everything is just great.

[Feral Camel]

I'm going to get a bit of shit about mine. So here goes.

At what age did you/do you plan to move out from your families home?
I left at 26. I have a pretty good relationship with my parents and the house was big enough (standard Australian home) so that we all had privacy.
I did a bit of travelling in my early 20s then they let me stay there until I could save for a deposit for an apartment. Our housing market can but fairly hard to get into, so I'd still be renting if that wasn't the case.

Was it hard to get settled into independent life?
I didn't think so. Just a little lonely at times. Some of my bills can be overwhelming, but I'm about 2 months off being debt free (except the mortgage).

Were you earning minimum wage or more when you moved out?
I'd been working full time when I bought. I'm on a less then average wage but I live within it. I don't know many single people (from my city) that have been able to afford buying in Melbourne while single. I do now feel a tad sorry for the next generation.

How many roommates did you/do you plan to have?
One bedroom apartment. A room mate would be awkward, unless I was sleeping with them.


How did you find these roommates?
Didn't need to. My friends had good luck with advertising on Facebook through word of mouth.

If none of these apply to you, what are your reasons for living with your family still?
I may move back into home and convert my apartment into an investment, and save for another property. As an investment, a renter will easily pay back my repayments, I'd lose money if I was to sell it though (seriously, I'm like the only fucking person in Melbourne to lose money out of property). I need to get some advice soon and plan from there.

[Bushtuckrman]

At what age did you/do you plan to move out from your families home?
Was it hard to get settled into independent life?
Were you earning minimum wage or more when you moved out?
How many roommates did you/do you plan to have?
How did you find these roommates?
If none of these apply to you, what are your reasons for living with your family still?

1. I was 18 when I moved from rural queensland Australia to brisbane on my own - our states capital city

2. Amazingly easy. I just worked and budgeted appropriately. Paid my bills, bought and cooked my food, saved money and used some of it to splurge on nice items. Just lived life no differently to now that I am 33 (except now I have wife and child).

3. Just me but I had an extra room mate a few times in the first few years of being on my own. I was renting a house for just $80 a week privately in inner city northside, that is insanely cheap and unheard of even back then. Though the first place I rented was a 2bedroom unit just down the road from there that was $130 a week, I quickly moved in to that other place when I met the guy who was looking for somebody to rent it under the table.

4. Work mates who needed a place to stay for a while

[Kanadei]

1. At what age did you/do you plan to move out from your families home? I first moved out when I was like 21 years old
2. Was it hard to get settled into independent life? Easy to pay the bills, harder to save cash. This trend has continued since.
3. Were you earning minimum wage or more when you moved out? I'm not sure if I have ever earned minimum wage. I wasn't earning a huge amount though.
4. How many roommates did you/do you plan to have? At the time I had 4 room mates, if you count my girlfriend who shared a room/bed.
5. How did you find these roommates? Me, my girlfriend, my brother, his friend, his friends girlfriend.

I should probably add that I moved back home, then out, then back home again several times. Have lived in my current place about 14 months, now 26.

[anveena]

6. Getting a job seems boring as fuck. Why leave when i can play video games all day.