I'm getting ready to move out for the millionth time (life, what a *****), and I'm trying to decide if I really want to toss my money in the garbage by renting an apt, or if I should just be a bum at home (parents) and use my debt free income to fund school and fun. But living with the parents has major drawbacks.... naturally.

Seriously.. leave and never go back

Live at home. Save money. Graduate. Get job. Buy house. Never go back. Be set for life.

Move back at home, work ridiculously hard and then try to get a condo/small house soon after?

Living at home sucks, but throwing money away sucks more. If it's between throwing money at an apartment or saving it for a true investment you can get a return on, I'd go the latter.

Yes.. please by all means have a nice steaming slice of the American Dream®.

Don't listen to Freelancer. He's ignorant.

Well I make decent money for a college kid (more than 30k/yr) so I can probably afford to go either way, but staying at home would keep my wallet fat, while moving out would better my social variety.

There's no shame in living at home while you're still in college at the very least. And it's very nice to have a good chunk of change to use as a downpayment when you finally get out.

Of soulless, domesticated living? I try to be.

For me, it wasn't throwing money away to be out of my folks house... in fact, it seemed like a sweet deal. 600 bucks a month to be free of them... I got the better half of the deal.

For all you reuters out there, stop freezing up!

My only issues with staying at home are I can't really have people over, and there's no broadband there, I have to use my cell phone, which isn't bad... and its free (the internet, not the service, I pay for that).

At the moment I'd say move out.

If you're like most young adults you're probably going to blow all of the money that you could've potentially saved while living at home. That extra money will be too much of a temptation for a lot of people. Those same people can often save a decent amount of money when they have a lot of bills & are forced to budget more efficiently. In the end you're the only person that can answer this question. Only you know yourself. I know a ****-load of people that moved back home when they went to school & every last mother-****ing one of them is worse off than me & I've been living on my own since I was 17 (I had to pay my parents bills when I was a ****ing teenager).

I would rather be homeless than live with my parents again (yeah, I'm being dead ****ing serious) but then again maybe your parents are angels. I almost moved in to a $200/month crack-house once which would've been paradise compared to dealing with my parents. I ended up getting lucky & ran in to some friends that were living in a house in the country with no electricity while this guys parents were teaching in South Africa. I spent 2-4 hours each day chopping wood. It was ****ing awesome.

Hah! You sound like someone I would have a drink with. I can't say I've had it as rough as you, but I like to think I've held my own in life for the most part, dispite having to move back in with my parents once or twice. (Actually grandparents, not my actual parents who are *******... but thats another story).

Anyway, I think I will end up saving a couple grand for a safety cushion, then get and apt for a year... see how it pans out.

Wait. So I'm guessing leaving home to you would be some sort of an idealized lifestyle as well, very similar in ways to the "American Dream®"? If you are suggesting moving out not because of any real reasons besides escaping the evil "soulless, domesticated living" that every person at home so obviously sheltering under, I have a hard time believing that idea alone has any more merit than the "American Dream®" disillusion that was being targeted in the first place.

Secondly, in certain other cultures, it is perfectly fine for the offspring to stay at home to even the late 20's in order to get married and move out. So it boils down to the what works best for the person and KOP_AoEJedi.

I couldn't agree with CM more. If living at home poses nothing more than a few inconveniences, the money saved should be worth the inconvenience. If you are merely going to blow the money you will save anyways, then it would seem to me that you aren't mature enough to be on your own regardless of how Mentat phrases it. My daughter couldn't wait to get her own cell phone, own place, own car (that I didn't give her), etc. Now she's probably $20K in debt as she starts her "temporary" career.

It's worth staying at home to save money, if you actually save your money. Blah blah, it's lame, whatever.

I lived at home until I was 23. It was weak, sure, but now I have an MBA, a wife with a Bachelor's, two cars (paid cash for both) a motorcycle (paid cash), a ****load of firearms, over $60,000 in the bank, and zero debt (I think I have like $100 on my Target card, bleh). I work, my wife doesn't, and we're completely OK. We would have a house, too, but Wife lost her job and we don't want to jump into anything just yet. If we did,it wouldn't be unwise, but we thinking it would be better if we wait for a spell.

My goal is not to brag. I am convinced that if I had tried to move out early, I would be piss broke right now and probably have no degree. I am grateful my folks let me stay with them for so long. They charged me rent and internet, but nothing close to what my own place would cost.

Wow a success story. Hurrah. Staying with your parents too long can end up making you damaged goods. There's _major_ tradeoffs to either decision, not always just minor ones.

Wow, I wish I was married to you.

Take Freelancer's word for it,...

For me, living @ home was actually a detriment to me. I was supporting my mother who works in the car industry. She didn't lose her job but the income dried up real quick. She's in finance which means 100% commission. In all purposes, she did lose her job just she had to show up to a dealership every day and prayed to God that someone would buy a Dodge. Yeah that didn't happen much. What turned out to be a means to save dough turned into me being practically head of household. I was dropping $800 - $2,000 a month to keep a roof over our heads. It damn near bankrupted me. I was living paycheck-to-paycheck and I was making $50K then. Yeah, we could have moved into an apartment or something like that but the rent would not have been much cheaper and the dwelling size would have been cut in half. It was better in the long run for us to stay in house.

Pushing the fast-forward button some. Mom finds a better job and is making decent money. I still had to dish out $500 for my room, though. Mom was my landlord. Then an opportunity arose for this current place. Seeing as I never really lived on my own, I took the offer. $150 more, a crib a block from the ocean, what could go wrong! Weeellll...that's another thread.

So as you can see, living @ home might not always turn out for the best. To me, the life experiences away from the parents is worth the longer delays in saving. I think living away from home teaches the value in saving and fiscal responsibility. You are throwing away your $$ by renting, yes. But think of that is this is what it is going to be like paying a mortgage. Only instead of a 1 year lease, it's a 30-year loan.

Get in line

Really though, she wants to work. The plumbing company she worked for since high school had to close down in November, so she's been out of work since. Not a super big deal in terms of our financial security, though an extra $45K a year would be nice. When we found out she lost her job, we looked at our financial obligations (which were based on mu income alone anyway) and realized it would affect nothing but our long-term savings and our discretionary money. I told her if she wanted to work she should, but if she didn't want to work then she didn't have to.

I know that if I didn't have to work or worry about paying bills, I would do all sorts of things - learn how to read music, learn to play a few instruments, work out like a madman, learn foreign languages, learn a martial art or two, go back to school, learn to draw/sketch - so I figured she should be able to do those things if she wants, now that she has the opportunity.

Same here. College was such a nice reprieve.

Well, Steven has a very compelling argument... Though he is probably the exception to the rule..

*sigh* oh well, I still have at least a month to decide. We shall see what happens.

I totally agree with Steven. I've even gone back to school, and I still don't have to move into a dorm or my mom's basement.

Which rule?

Buy a house the way I'm doing it;

Find a lease to own house
Move a bunch of friends and or college kids in
Pay almost nothing while earning money on the house
Wait for first time home buyers to be at it's sweetest
Buy house with money you saved paying almost nothing to live at house + money you earned towards it by paying rent
Keep room mates, charge same rent, they now pay your mortgage

rent. seriously.

Oh there are added benefits to renting a house before you buy it.

Such as making the landlord fix everything you think might be broken before you buy it.

And that you typically fix the price when you sign your first lease, but value on the home continues to go up.

My house is already worth about 15% more because of work I've done when I started renting it.

Hah, that's genius. I don't think I'd have much luck finding a lease/rent to own around here however.

They're all the **** over craigslist.

You just need to read up on your local laws to know your rights.

Make it please?