How old were you when you moved out of the house

[imatoolhed]

i was 17 when i got my first apartment with my girlfriend and a buddy of mine and his girl (he was 18 so the lease was in his name)

anyways it got me wondering bcuz my niece is 19 and still lives at home and as far as i know has no desire to leave (which i find strange). i believe her parents are not preparing her well for what will come in the real world once and if she does leave. she just had a "sleep over" over at one of her friends house (which i'm sure she also still lives at home) and having a sleep over at 19 seems odd to me as well. shes a good girl, has no college plans right now. doesn't drink or do drugs or party or has ever had a boyfriend yet... just lives for her horse and horse shows... along with her friends. does this seem normal or ok. i'm just worried for when she does hit the real world she either gonna fail hard or blow up to the extreme right? is it my place to say anything as well?

[zetsyuk]

doesn't drink or do drugs or party

That's a pretty big thing at that age. I'd count it as a win. My brother is 20 right now and still at home. He has a long term relationship going, a great full-time job with benefits and no kids. He could easily move out, but doesn't see the point at the moment. I say more power to him, save some money up shit.

[shawnp]

I'm still not out. I will be next week though as I get married next Thursday. I feel pretty dumb but it was tough for me to find a job after college. My fianc

[imatoolhed]

I will be next week though as I get married next Thursday.

oh yeah, thats right. congrats dude!! big time!! marriage is awesome imo.

so, now I'm jumpin' out of the nest.

fly high and don't get shot

get it? hunting and all. lol.

[-Jiggy-]

I'm with Zetsyuk. Save the bens as long as you can. If she's okay with it and the parents are okay with it, screw what other people think. There are some people now days that have professional careers and live with their parents into their 30's. Personally I think that is extreme but 19 into early to mid 20's I think is acceptable.

[0rz0ski]

22 and I haven't moved out yet either. What the hell is the point? I've got a small amount of money in the bank (not that it matters), a job that I'm probably not going to have come May, I'm a full time student. Moving out means that I'm throwing myself to the mercy of the economy.

I do pay rent to my parents, but its nowhere near what I'd be spending in an apartment, thank God. I don't have debt, no loans, thanks to working my ass off and spending literally every penny that I made in the current semester, on the college bill for the next semester.

I would say there's a difference between a college student who is living at home just to save up money, with the intent of moving out, rather than a 19 year old who is just leeching off Mommy and Daddy, who sound like the enablers in this case.

In my opinion, she's probably going to be in trouble, especially if she can't cook meals that aren't Ramen, or can't manage to stop dyeing her white shirts pink. You can try voicing your concern but seriously, the parents won't care. They just want their princess taken care of, and that isn't going to happen out in the scary world.


Jesus, I'm kind of a bitch. Maybe I shouldn't post on the boards after writing literary criticism essays.

[-Jiggy-]

One point I should have made is the reason our economy is screwed the way it is, is because of too much debt out there. Hopefully our generation is learning from our parents and waiting to move out and buy stuff when you actually have the money to do so.

My hat is off to you 0rz0ski.

[imatoolhed]

I would say there's a difference between a college student who is living at home just to save up money, with the intent of moving out, rather than a 19 year old who is just leeching off Mommy and Daddy, who sound like the enablers in this case.

In my opinion, she's probably going to be in trouble, especially if she can't cook meals that aren't Ramen, or can't manage to stop dyeing her white shirts pink. You can try voicing your concern but seriously, the parents won't care. They just want their princess taken care of, and that isn't going to happen out in the scary world.

agreed, and thats what i'm trying to say


i'm also getting between 18-22 is about the average age for moving out

so, i'll prolly hold off any judgement or opinions for a couple more years

[Rock Monster]

I was 23 when I moved out. Saved up some money and bought a house. If I could do it over again, I would have stayed a couple more years, and saved up a shit ton more money, and either bought a house and have no payment, or have a huge down payment, and small monthly payments.

To pass judgment on a 19 year old living at home is ridiculous. You can start thinking about it when she gets to her mid twenties, and still has no plan on moving out.

[dingdongyo]

i was 23 too. just felt it was time for a while, so eventually i got an apartment of my own. is she the youngest/last child to move? i think it makes a slight difference. i was the last to move out on a single parent, and there's always a slight twinge of guilt over leaving poor mom alone.

i understand the feeling. i have a 17 year old burnout nephew who can't commit to anything positive (job, gym, school, any kind of productive activity), and literally sits and plays xbox for as many hours a week as i work. he knows he's being lazy, but still rejects any kind of motivation.

i don't put your niece in the same boat, though... she seems to like animals and being active and social, and all those should help inspire her to explore the real world at her own pace. there's nothing wrong with having a good relationship with your parents. nor with being young at heart, especially since she's still only 19.

she'll stumble and struggle just like everyone does when they are finding their own legs. but she will find them.

[Allyson]

I vowed not to move back home after college, so I got my first place at 21 with my boyfriend.

Unless you count moving to college as moving out (I don't) in which case it would be 18.

I don't know why but I look down on those who move back home after college.

Maybe it's different in different parts of the country, but I am the only one I know that has their own apartment. I have friends ranging from 20 - 26 and they all still live at home.

[Rock Monster]

Maybe it's different in different parts of the country, but I am the only one I know that has their own apartment. I have friends ranging from 20 - 26 and they all still live at home.

I think that I was one of the oldest at 23 to move out. All of my other friends/family was early 20's.

[krystal]

I moved out at 18, moved back in for 6 months, then got the hell out again. My sister is 26 and moved back in with my parents after she and her husband split up, so now they support her and her kids, and my younger brother, who's almost 23, had to move back with my parents again when he lost his job.

I like having my own space (even though the entirety of my apartment is about the size of my parent's living room) and I can't have pets, which makes me sad, but I can't handle living with other people. I think even if I marry and have kids I will need to maintain a separate residence. I'm too much of a loner and the idea of having to share a bathroom and/or a kitchen with someone kinda creeps me out.

[potthole]

Technically I was 18, because of moving away to college, but I lived in dorms, so that doesn't really count to me.

I was 23 when I moved out for real, after I got married.

[sunshyne]

I officially moved out when I was 23. I not only moved out but moved 3 states away from my folks. I was done with college, my boyfriend (now husband) got a job in TN, so we moved in together. Kinda freaked my parents out. My sister lived at home until she was 25, I thought she was weird, but she's always clung to my mom. It worried me for awhile. But now she is living with her boyfriend and they are talking about moving to huntsville sometime in the next year.

[professorpinasheep]

I moved out just after I turned 20. I went to school for a semester and a half and left (which I regret) and picked up a full time job. My parents told me I'd have to pay them rent to help pay for groceries and such, but it was FAR less than what I'd have paid to get an apartment of my own. They also knew I was saving to buy a house, which I did after about a year and a half of devoting large chunks of my paychecks towards savings, so they weren't worried it was going to be a long-term thing. Back a few years ago, I would've looked down on someone in their early or mid twenties who still lived with their parents.. but the way things are now with a crappy economy and school tuitions skyrocketing, I don't think it's as big an issue anymore. It all has to do with intent and motivation as far as I'm concerned.

[potthole]

You have to get worried about somebody living at home when they're like the older brother of a high school friend of mine; pushing 35, no real friends to speak of, and spending hours each day searching e-bay for coins to add to his collection.

[egowx]

18.....brief stint (weeks) in college...then off to the military

[linzi]

17...two months shy of my eighteenth birthday, got a shoe box sized appartment... I graduated high school, went to work full time and moved in with my now hubby at 20...never went back to live with my mom. Now I live right down the road from her and my sister... who is 35 and back at home...with a new baby. Nice.

[boizalynne]

18, moved in with husband/boyfriend at the time.

[hotzester]

Moved out at 18 when I shipped to boot camp.

[Biff]

Moved out at 18 when I shipped to boot camp.

Ditto

[residentialevil]

I didn't technically move out until 24 when I got married, but I for the most part moved out when I went to college. I lived in the dorms 2 years then had an apartment there for 2 years. I lived at the apartment for another half year (because of the lease) for another 6 months after graduation and then moved back home because I got my first "real" job closer to home (college was only about 2 hours away from home anyway).

I got said job about 3 months before I turned 23, and then not long after that I got engaged, with the wedding about a year later. Before I got engaged I was planning on getting a place with my college roommate but after I got engaged I decided to just live at home one more year and save up for the marriage. Which was sweet, I got to pay off my car, a few student debts, and save a lot, and I even paid a small rent and kept doing all my old chores like mowing the yard and such.

[plumpenut]

I was out at 21