When did you move out?
Posted by DrenAss@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 236 comments
I moved away for college at 18 and hated it, so I moved home after one semester. It did not go well, so I took two backpacks of clothes and left. By 19, I was living with roommates in our own place, which we all could afford on our service job wages. My boyfriend got a really fun janky apartment in a big old house for $600/mo with all the utilities included.
I'm on the young end here ('85) and a lot of my working class friends did what I did, but more of my middle and upper-middle class millennial friends leaned on their parents for another few years.
Are kids still moving out at 18? It seems like that's not financially possible anymore, but it also seems like younger people don't value that kind of independence.
GaspSpit@reddit
Moved out at 17 and only went back home for a couple of months at 21 when I had a broken ankle and needed my mom’s help. As soon as I was able to get around, went back to my apartment and never lived with parents again.
tomahawk66mtb@reddit
I left home (England) at 18 and moved to China. Came back for a summer before going to Uni in Wales. Then back to china for more study and started my career. I'm on my 4th country, married with 2 kids. Love my folks and try to see them at least once a year but yeah, I've lived at least 5000 miles away for 20 years now.
kevstev@reddit
TheConsoleGeek@reddit
1983
Went to an out of state college on the other side of the country at 18 and lived in the dorms. Got married at 21 and have lived with my wife ever since.
Interesting_Owl7041@reddit
I’m ‘85 as well, and I lived with my parents until I was 24. I dabbled with “living with my boyfriend” in my late teens, but my name was not on the lease and I wasn’t paying for anything. I was just essentially sleeping there every night. Once I truly moved out at 24 I never looked back.
I had a lot going on in my early adulthood and needed the support at the time.
Snaggletoots@reddit
(1981) I lived home until I was 28. It was just my single mom and I for most of my life. I commuted for my four years of college, and once I was working full time, we just split the rent and utilities. I put money away during my 20s and finally moved out when I bought my house in 2009.
MusicalTourettes@reddit
17 never moved back. Too much baggage.
GamerDadofAntiquity@reddit
18, then back at 20, back out before 21. Back home at 27 and back out at 28. My parents provided a failsafe, but didn’t make it comfortable or desirable. Many years later looking back I feel like that was best for them and for me and will do the same for my own kids if they need it.
InventionExchange@reddit
Born: 84 Graduated: 2002
Mom crushed my dreams of being a marine biologist, so no college after high school. I thought something new would come to me quick and I would launch from there. It did not.
I marched in a drum & bugle corps summer of 2002 and when I came back in August, I stayed home and worked at a movie theater until....
Feb 2003, mom says "Go to school or pay me rent" and I was like "Ew. No. I'm going to go live with my Dad in Maine so byeee"
July 2003, dad says "Go to school or pay me rent" and I was like "Ew. No. I'm going back to Michigan to live on my own so byeee"
My first apartment was pretty much the size of a large closet in a big old house in the student ghetto with two goth lesbians both named Anna for $200 a month.
I've be-bopped between and throughout Michigan, California, and Maine since. Currently considering a move back to Michigan.
I have a stellium in Sagittarius 😅 it's not my fault!
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
I don't know what that last sentence means, but hello fellow Michigander! 😆 I left for a few years and realized there are good people and shitty people everywhere, and I missed Lake Michigan, so I moved back.
InventionExchange@reddit
A stellium is a cluster of three+ planets in a sign. I have one in Sagittarius so my Sagittarian energy is big. Things like being adventurous, curious, direct, and big leans into learning and exploration.
I'm likely heading back once I'm through a divorce and sell my house. Still dreading it, but I am starting to get a little tingle of excitement thinking about lake days with a book and Jimmy Johns.
Lake Michigan is definitely the best lake.
TrixieBastard@reddit
Pffft, the best lake is obviously Superior. It's right there in the name!
Sincerely, a Minnesotan
InventionExchange@reddit
Me on the beach of Lake Superior with my book and Jimmy Johns 😂
Small_Climate_245@reddit
How’d you know my exact Lake Michigan beach day must haves 🤣
menunu@reddit
I moved away from my small rural town after graduating high school. (Whats left of) my family still lives there so I go back to visit regularly. I was ready to get out of that small town and be in the big city and travel. I sometimes miss that quiet life but I love where I live now.
PostTurtle84@reddit
I rented a room from a friend. But spouse and I have no expectations of our kid moving out early. We'd prefer if the kid stayed until he's done with his electricians apprenticeship and his associates degree towards electric engineering at least. But as long as he's working towards something, we'll cover his basic expenses.
MelpomeneAndCalliope@reddit
Lived in the dorms/crappy (but oh so fun) apartment with a roommate who is still one of my BFFs today for college, but I came home during summers (summer job near home). Moved to a different city on my own for grad school at 22 & never moved back in (I was lucky). Today most people I know who have kids in their early & mid-20s either have kids that live at home or the pay for their kids’ apartments/cars/etc and basically float them well into adulthood - they just pay for their kids to have that experience of living alone we did. But most people I know with kids that age say their kids can’t afford to live on their own. Those who have the money to do so, subsidize their kid so they’re out of the house. The others have their kids living with them well into their mid to late 20s.
anomalocaris_texmex@reddit
'80 here. Graduated class of 98, so moved out the next month. I would have been 17 (late year birth).
I just wanted to get to "the big city" and university as soon as possible.
nuskit@reddit
Exact same here! Graduated in 98, and then when my 18th birthday rolled around, I left one minute after midnight on my 18th. Never went back.
Sometimes I think on it and wonder if that was really painful for my dad. We were very close, and I'm not sure he realized that I really did have everything planned until I gave him a kiss, then grabbed my backpack, a suitcase, my cat and my bike and took off into the night.
IvenaDarcy@reddit
Yeah looking back I think it hurt my mom. She knew it was inevitable and didn’t discourage me or anything but looking back she got really lonely. Guess empty nest syndrome so started hoarding around that time. Just sad but I have no regrets. We all need to find our own way in life and independence is part of growing up.
notadamnprincess@reddit
Mom turned my bedroom into a bit of a shrine to my teenage years a couple months after I moved out. Took her a few more years to let it just be another guest room.
TrixieBastard@reddit
Huh. My mom also became a bit of a hoarder once I moved out. I attributed it to not having another pair of hands to help with cleaning and upkeep, but now I wonder 😞
sophrosyne_dreams@reddit
My mom too. It took a few years to become really apparent. I know some of it was likely empty nest syndrome. And after I graduated college, her MIL passed and she brought back a lot of furniture from the estate cleanup, and she was overwhelmed ever since.
anomalocaris_texmex@reddit
Moving out was one of the only times I saw my dad with a tear in his eye. That mix of sadness and pride and even vicarious excitement on my behalf. I was the oldest kid and the first to leave, so it was a milestone for him too.
notadamnprincess@reddit
Same here, but class of 97 since I skipped a grade so I was freshly 17. Moved across the country for school and never lived at home again since my summer job came with housing.
IdaDuck@reddit
I was 17 when I went to college too. Went back for a month or two the first summer and that was it, I wanted independence. Married at 21, still happily married to her.
Blackbird136@reddit
Was also 17. Class of 99.
ONROSREPUS@reddit
18 moved back home the summer between first and second year of school for 3 months then never went back again. Once I got a look at freedom I didn't want to go back.
That is what baffles me about younger people today. IMO freedom>mommy and daddies house.
BSnIA@reddit
17
natertheman1980@reddit
giraffemoo@reddit
I didn't go to college, my mom literally told me that I was "too dumb" to try, so I didn't. I met a guy on Livejournal in 2003 and moved 3,000 miles to go live with him in 2004, when I was 19.
My step daughter moved out just after she turned 18, our apartment was really cramped and there wasn't much to help that. She started working when she was 16, and she saved up to be able to move out when she turned 18.
wmubronco03@reddit
I fiddle farted around for 3 years after high school, going to a community college part time. Lived at home for that. Got my shit together and got into a university on the other side of the state. So I was around 21 when I moved out. After college I moved back home with my mom for a few months while I got an apartment and work lined up. A few years later I moved back in for a couple months as well, lease expired while I was looking for a new apartment with my girlfriend, now wife.
tesseractjane@reddit
Moved out of my parent's house at 15. Moved into my own place the week after I turned 18.
Crash217@reddit
Moved out 3 months after graduation, a couple weeks before I turned 19.
Went 5 hours away to start working in a factory building cars.
Did that for 6 years before taking a buy out and spent 15 years bouncing around the country for different jobs and education opportunities. “moved back home” 3 different times for about a month each time as an intermediate stop between different jobs or schools.
Lil_Elf81@reddit
Born in ‘81. Moved out at 18 and stayed out. Supported myself by bartending and waitressing. Also, racked up medical, credit card debt and student loan debt. Didn’t have health insurance until I was like 25. Spending most of my adult life fixing my credit.
JadedJared@reddit
I think it’s financially possible to move out and live with a roommate(s). That’s what I did but I don’t expect that of my kids and it wasn’t expected of me. It would have made more financial sense for me to stay at home and save up but I wanted to live a different lifestyle and while being independent. I don’t know if that is as common today which I guess is fine.
MechanicalGodzilla@reddit
Born in 1980. Was at college '98 - '02, then moved back home for about 6 months, got an apartment with roommates. Two years after that I bought a condo, traded that for a SFH after 3 years, and kept doing that until 2015 when we bought our current house.
browneyedgirl79@reddit
I was born in '79. My Mom kicked me out when I was 16. I went and lived with my then boyfriend and his parents.
Esoteric_Owl87@reddit
18 when I moved to college, home for breaks only but at that point my mother and step father had moved so I had no room of my own anymore. I stayed in the ‘guest room’ during breaks for 2 years then moved into a house with a bunch of roommates at 20. Never been back.
eroded_wolf@reddit
After I left for college I tried mighty hard not to return home. My parents were substance users and home life was not good. I had to go back for a little while after getting divorced at 25, but other than that, I gone.
C_est_la_vie9707@reddit
18, when I started college. I did come home that first summer but the other years I spent abroad, doing a summer research program that included housing and then moved in with my fiance after graduation.
Esternaefil@reddit
I moved from my dad's to my mom's at 18 for university.
I stayed at my mom's until 25 when I got an apartment with a girlfriend.
Fortunate never to have to move back, though now that I'm in my 40s, I do miss the simplicity.
jbt55@reddit
Went to college at 18, and lived in a dorm the first year. Went back home for the summer of that first year and worked. Would have been 19 then and back to the dorm for sophomore year. At some point I moved out of the dorm and lived with my girlfriend that year now wife.
Angelas-Merkin@reddit
I moved out the first time shortly after turning 18. Moved back in and out again several times along the way until I packed a couple of bags and hopped a greyhound from Alabama to NYC.
Euphoric-Pangolin-81@reddit
I moved out at 23, but close enough I would visit for Sunday dinner. Then got a job a few years later when I finished my degree and my wife and I moved out of state.
dl_mj12@reddit
Born in 82, moved out at 17
deanna6812@reddit
Moved out to go to uni when I was 17 (born later in the year). I went back home to work/live for a few summers during the stayed in my uni town where I still am today.
Late-External3249@reddit
Graduated in June, went to work at a summer camp like 2 days later. Came back for about 2 weeks at end of August and then out to college. Spent maybe one month at home after my first year.
Infamous_Tie5605@reddit
I think I was 26 almost 27.
Had zero debt, nice nest egg, plus I liked my parents.
As long as I wasn't dumb with my money, they said stay as long as I want.... Never understood why people are In such a rush to leave.
To each their own.
JDRL320@reddit
25, when I got married. I didn’t want to live with my husband before we were married.
I went to a local community college and started working locally after I graduated, got married and moved out.
cyclingfaction@reddit
I’m 43 and have never moved out through lots of different circumstances it never happened. No dad since I was 6, after High school we became live in apartment managers for 10 years. Mom was an alcoholic abusing muscle relaxers for a long time, she had multiple back and neck surgeries and retired disabled. Finally I helped her get clean and sober but now she’s older and disabled, not much family so I’m on my own with this. She never left my side through my own struggles, I will never leave hers. It’s hard envisioning a life on my own now since we’re in a very high col city and rents/houses have quadrupled in the last 15 years. Be grateful if you have parents can take care of each other or themselves with a support system.
GenevieveLeah@reddit
Born 83. Moved to a dorm for college at 28 and hated it. Moved back home to attend a commuter college- moved out at 24 to work and get married.
CurrentHair6381@reddit
Went to college at 17, had a very nice scholarship but not a very nice paying job. Bills were always hard to pay, my parents, for some reason, really didnt want to help (i was going to school for free with my brain) and told me to either quit school and join the army or quit school and move back home. Neither of those two fucking things was happening, so i just became really stressed out about money instead, bouncing around living situations with too many roommates for my mental health, because rent was cheaper than way. Mostly stopped talking to them for a few years because the ridiculous lack of support (not just financial) was making my transition to adulthood way harder than it needed to be. I didnt have much/any guidance on college, felt super aimless and floaty, developed a drinking problem, graduated but didnt know what to do, spent the mext 10 years drinking and being really broke. I truly think it didnt have to go like that, but the fucking grown-ups didnt want to help me
papercranium@reddit
Educational_Resist42@reddit
My parents moved out when I turned 21, they went to go live in Germany, and left my brother and I the house, mortgage and utilities covered.
Impossible-Leek-2830@reddit
The day I married my husband. I lived at home with my parents while going to college and working part-time. We were engaged for 2 years and married at 21.
sal101010@reddit
1978 Brit here. Took a gap year, where I spent a semester in the US, then went back home and went to uni that September at 19. Lost my mum to cancer a year later, staggered through the next two years, had no career interests so moved home again (22). Eventually moved out-out to live with my younger sister about a year later, when living with Dad was no longer tenable. We also went our separate ways a couple of years later, so my first non-family domicile was at about 25.
My first time living alone was in my mid-30s and I have stayed that way ever since!
FoppyRETURNS@reddit
22, was close to buying a 2 br but my stepmother had other plans.
UnderH20giraffe@reddit
I moved out the day after graduation. Had an internship set up at an immunology lab before college started. Did not want to stay an extra day. Never lived at home again.
elonmusktheturd22@reddit
Similar to the time Bart Simpson owned a factory kind of auction.
Sumbinimal wage is wages well below minimum wage, like $1.50 an hour when minimum wage is $6 an hour. Thing were really bad for me in my youth, now I'm a middle aged PTSD addled hermit hiding in a remote cabin avoiding people
Mike__O@reddit
I moved out at 18 when I left for college. I came back for the summers, but I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor of my old room. My bed was gone and my parents had re-purposed the room. It was very clear I was a guest in my parent's house, and I no longer lived there. Once I graduated college I was on my own and never came back aside from the occasional visit.
BidInteresting8923@reddit
‘82. Home for the summers/breaks during 4 years of undergrad. Then fully on my own from there. Seemed reasonable. Wish I would have gone fully independent earlier.
intentionallybad@reddit
Lived with my parents a few semesters during college depending on housing availability. My college only guaranteed housing Freshman year and was focused on co-op so I did a fair amount of moving around.
After college I moved in with my now husband. We lived with my parents 5 years later for 6 months with our kids to make moving cross country easier. That let us move and wait for our house to sell before buying here.
Academic_Run8947@reddit
Graduated and started college right before 18. Left and never lived with my parents again. Never even lived within 3 hours. Husband did the same, except he went to a different state entirely. Now we are the parents and our oldest is finishing up 11th grade. I'm honestly gutted at the idea that they might never even live near me again.
Shazza-americankiwi@reddit
Community college from home for two years - picked up a snowboard and left for my first snowboard instructor gig 2006 - I was 20 :)
TrixieBastard@reddit
Are you still a snowboarding instructor?
Multi_Purpose@reddit
19, got the boot after getting caught going on a date.
Got 2 warnings and the 3rd time I went on a date without a chaperone. Got kicked out of the congregation (which isn't a big deal now, but at the time ir was my whole world) and kicked out of the house.
We had a chance to turn things around if we got married. So that's what we did and it didn't work...
Caught on a Monday night, packed up stuff on Tuesday, Step dad got us rings on Wednesday (from Target), Thurs I had to get 90% of my stuff out of the house and into her apartment, and we were married at the Justice of peace on Friday. Saturday step dad changed the locks on their house. Following week we were disfellowshipped (excommunicated)
Its been 25 years and I still have almost nothing to do with my Jehovah's Witness Cult family.
TrixieBastard@reddit
I'm sure it must have been a painful experience at the time and I'm sorry you had to go through that, but I am so glad that you were able to escape the cult environment.
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
YIKES I have friends who got out when they were in their 20s and their stories are awful. I hope you're doing well now.
Multi_Purpose@reddit
Yeah, doing much better. Thank you
jackfaire@reddit
Too soon. I was going to community college so still living at home but met my ex-wife and moved in with her way too soon. I was so not ready to be living on my own.
SilverAsparagus2985@reddit
19-military (af).
marle217@reddit
I failed out of college at 20, and then I wasn't allowed to move back home. But it was a different time then, as I was able to get an apartment cheap enough I could afford on my own. Then 9/11 happened, and childhood was definitely over.
I had kids later in life, so they're still young now, but I don't think I'll kick them out at 18 or 20 or stop them from moving home when they need to. It's a different world now.
TrixieBastard@reddit
Not until was nearly 25. My mom and I got along really well and we actually had money for fun stuff with two incomes, so I had no reason to rush the process.
I moved out with two of my friends who had found the coolest place to live, but needed a third roommate. I figured the time was right for me to leave the nest, so I agreed to take the third room.
theluzah@reddit
15
viridiansoul@reddit
Moved out age 17 in early 1999, a couple months before my 18th birthday, for a guy. He turned out to be an abusive prick, and I suffered through him until the end of 2005, when I finally managed to get the courage to escape him.
Ok-Reflection-6207@reddit
As a parent now I’m not pushing my kids out, I think I would have done well not riding into adulthood the way I did..
NoMenuAtKarma@reddit
I turned 18 on a Thursday and I was on a plane to England on Friday night. My parents were abusive drunks and I honestly couldn't wait to GTFO.
Ok-Reflection-6207@reddit
I’m 45, I left house running to catch a flight across the country and didn’t come back until I was about 25 to live with my grandfather for few months when I moved back to my first coast before getting an apartment, never back home.
bullseye11b@reddit
18
aweedl@reddit
Moved out at 19. Got a job in my field before I graduated college and moved to a small town temporarily for work.
The whole ‘moved away for college’ thing has always seemed very American to me. It might be because I’m from a relatively large (Canadian) city with multiple universities and colleges, but most people I knew (myself included) just went to post-secondary school locally.
m1ke_tyz0n@reddit
15
Redonkulator@reddit
Got an apartment and grew up way too fast.
Prize_Ad6430@reddit
1977 here. Left home after I graduated in May of 95 didn't turn 18 until the end of July. Got together with my wife in 97, we're still here in our late 40's 😀
RoundTheBend6@reddit
I’m seeing it not possible for kids anymore because they don’t want to live with 4 other people. They already want their own place. At least that’s how I’ve heard it from my sister’s kids.
ariyahjade@reddit
😂 I stayed at home until I was 30. They had to kick me out. My mom had serious health issues in my 20s so I wasn’t comfortable leaving her during that even though my dad was there. Then he had health issues so I continued to stay until they were better and eventually told me to leave lol
walks_with_penis_out@reddit
I left home when I was 15. I moved in with my gf
IvenaDarcy@reddit
I think most of us wanted out and craved independence in a way the youth today don’t desire? Everyone claiming it’s too expensive to move out but these kids have no interest at all. They aren’t even living at home and saving to move out.
I know other cultures live this way until the kids marry so guess American culture is adopting a similar mentality? I truly don’t believe it’s just financial reasons. Kids just seem more arrested development and like late bloomers nowadays?
FormidableMistress@reddit
My mom called me while I was at my restaurant job during Friday night rush to ask if I wanted my stuff. They'd packed up my room that day and said they'd hold on to it for a few days, but if I didn't want anything they'd just go ahead and put everything on the curb. I was pretty shocked and my mom said "Well you're hardly ever home anymore and I want your room for an office."
I was a full time high school student and worked 50+ hours because my mom would come crying to me that her husband blew through their money and they couldn't pay the mortgage. Or the power was going to be turned off. I was 17.
GN29@reddit
27 😅
Stonetheflamincrows@reddit
I moved in with my sister in the big city at 17. Not quite the same as being completely on my own but I still had to pay rent, my share of the bills etc. We lived in a total shithole that had outside taps inside and the paint was peeling off my wall in sheets. Lived on a mattress for a long time until my dad bought me a bed base. It was fun
blackhawksq@reddit
The day after I graduated.
pogulup@reddit
As soon as I could which was the start of my college freshman year. I couldn't wait to leave and never went back.
My sister, two years behind me did spend some time at home until she graduated. But she was the favorite.
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
Like a boss.
blackhawksq@reddit
I had my a+ certification and had a temp agreeing to hire me as their primary contact. I would work 3 days a week making $20 an hour. I used it to pay my way through college. Most of my class wer eeither in Tuesday or Thursday or after five.
For an 18 year old, living with a roommate i felt like big money
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
My first real job was making $18/hr and I thought I was going to be rich. 😄
blackhawksq@reddit
Oh yeah it was awesome. And 20 an hour back then was like making 40 today. I would work 3 days and make more money then my roommate who was working full time at gamestop
Sometimes I did really cool shit. Like, I was the sole installer for a car washing computer system (they had detailed instructions and a help line) but I spent 3 days setting up this car washes computers.
Sometimes I did stupid shit. I was supposed to help rollout windows 2000 at an oil company. The supervisor was biased to my age and despite confirming my certification he refused to let me touch the desktops so I got paid $20 an hour to pack old desktops into boxes for 2 weeks (6 days). The dude got in serious trouble with his supervisor on the last day. They were 2 days late. The super walks in pissed demanding to speak with the temp tech they hired. He was not happy when he found out they were paying so much to pack boxes. But hey, with what they were paying I packed with a smile on my face
fairlyaveragetrader@reddit
15 , back off and on again, think I finally moved out at 18. My 19 year old girlfriend had a place, it was kind of ridiculous now that I think about it. I rode my BMX bike back and forth to school and work to her apartment on a daily basis
blueyedwineaux@reddit
Emannuelle-in-space@reddit
Same age here and I did the exact same thing. A lot of my friends have moved back with their parents in their late 30’s. I got really good at living on low income, but it wouldn’t take much misfortune to make it impossible.
Farty_mcSmarty@reddit
19 and made so many bad choices that I’ve lost count. Never went back home though. Finally got on the right track at 24 years old and have been killin it at “life” for the last few decades
SlightlyFadedGolf@reddit
Left for college at 17. Went home for the first summer break but after that taste of freedom and independence I couldn’t stand being at my parents house.
I loved them but needed to be on my own.
Have a couple little girls now. I never want them to leave home but also recognize that after the next 12-15 years of us telling them what they can and can’t do they will be dying to be on their own as well.
sevalle13@reddit
Moved out at 16, joined the military at 17 and never went back home again. My kids are going to live with me until they graduate college. We live 1/2 mile from the local community college so they can walk to school and save money. In my area there is no way they could afford an apartment even with a roommate on minimum wage so I’m here to let them stay with me until they are ready financially to be out on their own
ketamineburner@reddit
I left within a few weeks of my 18th birthday and never went back. I have no negative feelings about it.
dowut_ohghey@reddit
Wild, I didn't almost the same thing...lived in the dorm for a quarter (my university was on the quarter system back then), was miserable so moved back home and drove to school for the next 4 years. Had the whole downstairs of my parents house to myself, so it was pretty good. A lot nicer than the dorms, and the food was way better, too. I didn't have any interest in the Greek system, their devotion to binge drinking was workable for me, but their tendency to frown on all the other substances I wanted to take was a deal breaker for me 🤨😂...I spiraled into addiction but managed to graduate and get a good job, eventually. Extremely blessed to have the parents I had/have...their patience and compassion probably saved my life.
ineffable_my_dear@reddit
I promise you it’s not that kids don’t value independence. Wages are not commensurate with the cost of living. That’s it.
Our oldest is married now but he (and his then-girlfriend) stayed until they could find a place to rent, made tricker with having a dog. He was 22 at the time. They bought a house two years later. His wife, like me, had a down payment via a trust fund from deceased parents, otherwise they might still be living here, which would be fine by me.
I moved out at 18 and went home for a bit, out for good at 21 (when I got married, like a fucking idiot).
Coomstress@reddit
18 and I’m glad I did. It allowed me to grow up/become independent.
korar67@reddit
Moved out at 20, moved back in at 30, moved back out at 34 when I finished grad school.
Latter-Commission564@reddit
82 here. Moved out at 18 the day I left for basic, about 2 weeks before hs graduation.
Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit
I moved out at 17, back in at 19, out at 20, back in at 27. Bought the house from my mom for the low at 28. Rented it to my son starting when he was 18. Now he's 22 and buying it from me for the low.
Feralest_Baby@reddit
I lived at home for my first couple of years of college and moved in with some friends in a big ol' house near campus when I was 21.
AutomaticNovel2153@reddit
19, 27, 38, TBD
spookyhellkitten@reddit
I moved out at 18, lived with 4 guys. It was fun. Then I started dating one of the guys and eventually married one of them. We had a baby, then he joined the Army Oct 2001. We moved back in with my parents while he did basic and AIT. Then we moved across the country.
Our daughter is about to be 25. We still live together. But we split the costs of things and it is very much a roommate situation. She picks up my slack in some areas that maybe a normal roommate wouldn't and I take care of her when she's sick where a normal roommate wouldn't, but mostly normal stuff. [ I am disabled. Some days I can't do a lot so she will cook and care for the animals. When she's sick, I buy Sprite and make soup, get her new pajamas, and watch her favorite Scooby Doo movies with her haha mom stuff ]
Somethingisshadysir@reddit
I had no parents by the time I was 23. I did live with my Dad at the time, but it was actually partially to help him out financially. Mom dying unexpectedly so young screwed up their retirement plans in terms of having both pensions, so he was struggling with bills.
EffectiveCycle@reddit
First time 24, second time 41 (moved back just before my 30th birthday because I wasn’t doing well mentally, only got a new place after my mom died and my dad chose to sell the house)
stackpolio@reddit
Parents kicked me out just before I turned 17. Worked my way through college, met and married my wife, never lived within 1500 miles of them again. Blessed to have a large home on property now, so there is no space-related pressure to move my kids out when they’re 18 as long as they’re working toward a goal of some sort.
BornTry5923@reddit
24
LetWaltCook@reddit
17
DontYuckMyYum@reddit
I didn't move out until I was 28. went through a real bad depression from 16 to 26. Mom didn't really try to push me out because she could claim he as a dependent on taxes until I was 25 or 26. around 26 I got sick of still living at my mom's house so I forced myself to actually leave the house and find a job. towards the end of 2008 a friend of mine got divorced and offered me a place to stay when his ex-wife moved out of the apartment.
really wish I would have had that "awakening" moment and left years earlier. basically wasted all of my 20s literally doing nothing.
Brootaldeth918@reddit
16
nosleeptilbroccoli@reddit
17 technically (1999), since I started college before I turned 18. I did live with them for a few months in 2004 since they lived near a summer internship I was doing before I graduated college that winter.
Bubbly-Stretch8975@reddit
I left for college at 18 but didn’t officially move out until I was 23. I went away to school but lived at home every summer and spent a year there after graduation before deciding that was rock bottom ha! Life is funny. Ended up back home at 27 as a single mom 👌🏻but happy to say that was fairly short lived and I own my own home a comfortable 30 minutes away. Now that I’m in my 40s I pray that my kids will launch but always feel welcome and safe if they need to come home. I appreciate that I had a place to go when I needed it even if it wasn’t perfect.
seafox77@reddit
I paid my parents rent at 17, lived in a detached MIL suite and as soon as I graduated HS in 97, ran off with the Navy for the next 20 years.
Worth it. Absolutely no one in my friend group stayed at home past 18. We all had pretty good reasons too.
I think that's why I get fussy when people get TOO nostalgic for the 90s.
Individual-Schemes@reddit
bgva@reddit
Not counting for college, I was 28. Always fun having a shit-ton of student loans while working a journalism job.......... /s
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
I graduated with an English degree after the 2008 financial crisis. It was fun competing with thousands of downsized newspaper employees and publishing industry veterans who were all looking for work.../s
I hope things got easier for you! I'm doing well but still paying those loans.
bgva@reddit
Still got the student loans, but got fired from that job in 2012. Worked a couple other places and eventually got into photography. Getting fired was the best thing that could've happened to me, looking back. I hated that job.
phoenix0r@reddit
“84 here. I moved out basically the day I turned 18 because of my super toxic home life. I moved back home twice for about 1-2 months each time, when I was literally under extreme emergency (escaping domestic violence and healing from a nervous breakdown, respectively) and moved back out as soon as possible. I went into great college debt making sure I never had to return home again. It was extremely hard back then for me, as a somewhat naive young person, and I can only imagine how much harder it’s gotten today. In a world where housing costs have gone up 3x while wages have only gone up 1.5-2x. I am happy to help my kids a lot more than I ever had to ensure they have a leg up in the world. I was definitely hobbled for years trying to make it on my own.
nipslippinjizzsippin@reddit
19 moved into a share house. it was hell
TheLeathal13@reddit
Came back for a summer between years at college for a couple weeks but permanently at 20 with $8 and all my possessions in my truck.
AshDenver@reddit
GenX (71) and I followed your path. 3 semesters at room/board college with a 1.51 GPA (16 is too young to be on your own.) Home for like 6 mos. Out one day with garbage bags of stuff, into a roommate situation. Out of state a year later. Never looked back.
TheThrivingest@reddit
Flung out of the nest at 19 because my mom didn’t like the (inconsequential) choices I was making about my own body. Then a month later she told me she didn’t mean it and wanted me to come back and me being petty and stubborn, I did not.
ScrotusSpunkmeyer@reddit
15
Ravens-at-Dawn@reddit
Same :/
drewbaccaAWD@reddit
18 when I left for college, but, I ended up back at 20 when I dropped out of college before leaving for the military and then being away for another decade. Back again at 29-30 for a year, following a divorce, then out again. Back again at 38 and I've been home since (46 now)... mix of depression, then the pandemic, then finding a job that I'm not in love with so I don't want to settle in and buy a house unless I give up on ever escaping my rural area again. So, living with my parents in my 40s with one foot in the door and one foot out the door, because I think home ownership or having my own space is over-rated.
So, back and forth and back and forth. I'm sure things would have gone differently had I ever started a family and was responsible for someone other than myself but that wasn't in my cards (tried for six years while married).
FineIJoinedReddit@reddit
I moved out of state for college at 18. During my freshman year, my mom moved to another state and lived with her parents. I spent the summer I was 19 with my grandparents and it was awful. I lived on campus one more year, then lived off campus starting my junior year.
My coworkers who are currently in their early 20s live on their own but with multiple roommates and jobs. My heart hurts for them. Thinking about my one-bedroom apartment that was less than $600/mo, like......that's a fairy tale now.
shiftdown@reddit
I dropped out of running start at 17 and moved out. My mom technically could have forced me to move back by law but knew I hated my step dad so she never pushed the issue. I had her sign a work release so I could work 40 hrs a week and obtain my own insurance. I did move in with my grandparents around 25 for a year to help them out before my first marriage.
icanhaztuthless@reddit
JuneRhythm1985@reddit
Also ‘85. I moved into my first apartment at 20. I stayed home while working and going to community college in my hometown until I transferred. Only 2 very short stints with my mom between moves (once when we moved states and then again waiting for our house to close).
We’re planning on our daughter living at home, or having a home base, for longer. She’s only 13 so who knows what things will look like when she graduates college.
ContributionNo6042@reddit
Left home two days before I turned 18, abusive step dad's are dicks.
DirtyBirdDawg@reddit
I was at home until I graduated college at 23. I was still working the same job that I had always worked but I had enough of living at home, and I had the money to leave.
I've lived on my own ever since. My only regret is that I wish I had done it a few years sooner.
lazylazylemons@reddit
Got on a waiting list for an income-based apartment unit when I turned seventeen. By the time I turned eighteen, I was finally up for a unit. Stayed there and worked two jobs to send cash to my parents to help pay for my siblings for a few years. Eventually found a bigger place with roommates when I didn’t need to help my parents as much. Got married a few years later and my husband made just enough for me to knock it down to part-time work and start going to college.
StevieNickedMyself@reddit
I was 26 when I moved out. My brothers were 29 and 27,
ES_Legman@reddit
I moved at 23 as soon as I finished university and got a job
Automatic_Beat5808@reddit
5 days after I turned 18. I was still in high school. My parents were strict and I was rebellious.
the_frisbeetarian@reddit
1979, I moved out at 16, cause I was a juvenile delinquent and my parents believed in tough love. It worked.
My kids are nearing adulthood. I highly doubt they will ever move out. Half of it is the shit economy and job prospects for kids these days. The other half is I really don’t even want them to and I don’t think they do either.
Munchkin531@reddit
I stayed at home, went to college and had a full time job. I love my parents and as long as I kept my grades up they let me live at home rent free. I helped with groceries, paid a few bills and drove my siblings around. It honestly was great.
I moved out at age 25 (I know lame) when I traveled across the country to be with my fiance. We eloped and figured everything out on our own. 17 years later we're still together so I guess we did something right.
goater10@reddit
I was 23 when I moved away from home for the first time. Moved back and out a few times due to living overseas and other job opportunities but I moved out for the last time at the age of 30 into my apartment.
ascensionbodymod@reddit
Graduated at 16 then moved out a few days before my 18th birthday with a friend that had turned 18 a week or so before that.
Allureme@reddit
I moved out a couple times but it wasn’t permanent till I hit 30. Working class here but my mom’s Mexican. So it’s not like she was pushing me out and my dad and I worked opposite hours plus I worked weekends, so i rarely saw him
mackelnuts@reddit
I turned 18 at the beginning of summer. I saved up all that summer and moved out in the fall. I ran into a little trouble with a roommate and moved back in a few months later to save some money again. Then I moved out again for good the next spring. I was still 18.
Traditional_Entry183@reddit
I moved 500 miles to a different state for college a month before turning 18. While I did live at home for a few summers after that while still in college, I otherwise never lived in my hometown again, or within an hour's drive of my parents house. Don't get me wrong, I always did and do have a good relationship with my parents, but my hometown offered nothing and was dying a slow dead (now very dead).
Mocosa@reddit
Loose_Pie2982@reddit
Born in Dec 78. Moved out Jan 94. Barely 16. No regrets.
hedwaterboy@reddit
Mentally? The day I got my drivers license at 16 years old and a day… physically? 17, I needed independence.
H3lls_B3ll3@reddit
Emancipated. Left a few weeks after turning 17. Senior year was a nightmare. Having to work and pay bills and finish high school? Fuck that.
I'd still do it over again.
Immorpher@reddit
I did not move out until I was like 21. We could not afford university at the time. So using the FAFSA grant, I went to the local community college and stayed at home to save more money. Then I took out some college loans to transfer to a university and moved out.
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
I'm hoping my kids take advantage of the free community college nearby and live at home for free. I want them to be independent, but I also want them to have an easier start than I had.
Immorpher@reddit
I hope they do take advantage of it too! It worked out for me and interestingly enough I gave a tour of where I work to a handful of community college students last year.
SmotPoken@reddit
I got kicked out at 16 for throwing a party at the house. It was a awesome party, friends parents showed up. Nothing got destroyed and I even left over $200.00 in returnable cans for them(MI $.10 a can). Mom claimed a necklace was stolen but she found it later. It didnt really matter though, by then I couldnt stand her and only really came home for clothes.
Now that im a father I couldnt imagine kicking my son out. He is 19 and can stay forever.
hungrypotato0853@reddit
I was 17 when I graduated high school, so I moved out when I was 17. I come from a small town, so had to move to Edmonton to attend the UofA.
I rented a 2 bedroom townhouse with a buddy of mine (also 17), co-signed by our parents.
Fun4TheNight218@reddit
I got lucky. I was born in 80, graduated HS in 98 and had my oldest kid in December of 98. The lucky part was having super supportive parents, so we didn't move out until the end of '00. We stayed with my sister and her husband for like 8 or 9 months, then moved into an apartment with the boyfriend I knew I was going to marry. 2026, 3 grown kids, a home, multiple up and downs, car payments, credit cards, dogs, cats, and over all life later...I think it's worked out for me.
Street_Breadfruit382@reddit
littleseaotter@reddit
Left for college at 17 but lived in dorms all 4 years and came back home for summer and winter breaks. After I graduated I officially "moved out". I was lucky and had a job offer right out of school. Never lived with my parents again.
edfoldsred@reddit
Graduated in May of 2001, moved to the big city on September 1st, 2001. It was a great 9 days.
TheReverendMrBlack@reddit
17
TheGhostofChuckPyle@reddit
I moved out at 19 to go to college (I graduated high school at the same age), then moved back in when I graduated from college when I was 24. When I came back, I was an AmeriCorps member, which was really the only reason my mom allowed it.
Two days after my my AmeriCorps term ended, I moved to the big city. I was a bit aimless in the first few months after but my mom was adamant that I needed to figure things out on my own and stick it out. She was right. I never moved back in.
BelleMom@reddit
I moved out at 17, moved back during a divorce for a month or two in my mid-twenties. Hope my kids never feel that getting married at 18 is the only way out.
SubstanceNo1544@reddit
Was in and out of the house from 13 on, home for a couple weeks.. gone for a couple months. Not my parents fault totally, they sorta tried.
ScreenSensitive9148@reddit
Left for college and never looked back. Wanting to get away from my house was quietly one of my main motivations for doing well in school. I had to get out and college was my ticket.
ShowMeYourHappyTrail@reddit
Graduated in 97. Moved out for college and never went back. Had a kid in 99. It was real rough going there for about 10-15 years on our (hubby, kid, and me) own. Kid didn't move until they were almost 26.
Sensitive_Pianist777@reddit
I'm an immigrant from Korea. 30 years old.. paying rent to parents to help them. Married right after.
SweetCosmicPope@reddit
Moved away to college at 18, but I got my first apartment at 21.
pixeequeen84@reddit
Moved out at 18, moved back in to find my bed given to my younger sister, slept in the bunk bed with the youngest sister for a few months, moved in with some friends, crashed on my folks couch for a couple weeks, found a shitty apartment, got married at 19, moved all over the place, lived in a truck for a while, got divorced, got into a bad bad relationship, moved in with my mom for a bit at 32, got a place, got back with the ex husband, moved in with my dad for a bit after my stepmom died to be an emotional support child, moved again, was homeless for a bit, and now I have a trailer house and a garden finally.
frawgster@reddit
Moved out at 18. Fucked up in school, moved back at 20 for a summer. Reenrolled and moved out again. Did school for 3 years then “life” for 10 years. Failed at life at 33, moved back for a year. Got hitched and moved out at 34. Been rocking the whole “stable, boring adulthood” trope since (turning 48 in a month).
I truly think I’m one of the luckiest people I’ve ever known. My family kept me afloat thru every stupid, self-induced failure, without question. Even when they knew I was destined to fail, they let me, and they picked me up. ❤️
No-Championship-8677@reddit
KoRaZee@reddit
20, Wasn’t ready to move out but an opportunity to rent a room for $450/mo came up with all utilities paid. I actually said no to the person who offered it but then looked at comps and found out I was offered a great deal so I took it.
pick_up_a_brick@reddit
18 and I was still in high school. Had to get the fuck out of there.
AllTheStars07@reddit
I moved out in my sophomore year of college. I did stay with my dad for a couple of summers between semesters. It didn’t go well.
beautifulcheat@reddit
Went to college and moved home through the summers starting at 19... went back home for a yearish at 22, and didn't fully move out of my family's til 26. I kept bouncing back to their place to work a summer job, even while in grad school.
OgreBane99@reddit
18 years old. I was in such a rush to grow up and establish my own independence.
Man, I wish I could do that over again. 🤦♂️
Resident_Lion_@reddit
16 and never looked back
sidneyjoy@reddit
I moved out at 17 and never went back. I could have lived with my mom forever but the town I grew up in was suffocating. Now that I’m in my forties, I wish I could afford to live in that small, quiet town.
Skulls_of_Ink@reddit
14 My mother was bipolar and had thyroid removed. Said if I had time to sit around in the summer, I could get a job and contribute. Actually found job washing dishes under the table 2 towns away (30 min drive). I had no car and she refused to give me a ride. They shorted me half my pay so I quit. She told me to "Get the f*** out of my house!" Ended up couch surfing till I was 18 and a friend of mine saved me and let me move in with him. Saw I was getting into coke really bad and wasn't eating or drinking cuz I had no money. I will always be forever grateful to him and his family. 23-24 years clean thanks to them, and I have a wife and 2 kids my mother will never get to treat that way.
Anemones_In__Spades@reddit
The day I turned 17. I went back for a 6 month stint at 20 and never again.
WheelLeast1873@reddit
Technically moved out at 18 for college but lived at home summers. Moved out full time after graduation for my job.
flowbkwrds@reddit
YoghiThorn@reddit
13 technically but it was to boarding school then straight into residence at University
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
I don't know anyone who went to boarding school! Was it a good experience?
FrenchFine@reddit
18; got an apartment, a roommate, a FT job, a PT job and went to community college.
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
That's close to what I ended up doing, working multiple jobs and putting myself through school until I finished at a university.
Skittleavix@reddit
18 and never went back.
missgiddy@reddit
I left at age 17 the day after I graduated high school. I worked that summer at a residential summer camp. After that I went directly to college.
sarithe@reddit
Moved out at 18 into a house with my bandmates at the time. Moved back in at 21 after said band imploded. Stayed at home for a couple of years while I figured out my life. Moved out right after I turned 23 and been on my own ever since.
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
Hey, that's longer than any band I was ever in. 😆
sarithe@reddit
We were signed to a small label and it was my main source of income for the last 2 years before it ended. Despite how poorly it ended at the time, I have some great memories of seeing the majority of the continental US with my friends.
I did a couple of other bands afterwards, but neither of them came close to the same level of success. Recently started writing music again for the first time in over a decade. Forgot how much I missed it.
KRoadkil@reddit
At 18 when I was told I had to pay rent or move out to college.
Grumpy_Cheesehead@reddit
Couple months before I turned 18.
yespls@reddit
Picked a fight with my dad and got kicked out at 18.
pushdose@reddit
Left for college and never really came home except for breaks. Moved from NY to NV right after graduation. Never looked back.
she-dont-use-jellyyy@reddit
I was 18. I loved living in the dorms.
moarlo@reddit
19
Ok_Research6884@reddit
Moved out for college at 18, but I still returned home for holidays and at least parts of summer.
Returned home after graduating at 22 and lived at home for a little under a year to save up before moving out on my own.
wiggggg@reddit
RJRoyalRules@reddit
Moved out for college and that was it. Got extremely lucky that my first job out of school included housing so I was able to stack cash for a while.
Plumeria9798@reddit
Officially at 22 but I lived in some temporarily vacated places on my own (my dad had moved out of his condo but hadn’t sold it yet, and before that the same for my stepfather and his house) when I was 21.
I went to college locally and got along with my parents, so I lived at home for most of it( the dorms at my school were pretty disgusting at the time and I graduated at 17 and wasn’t quite ready to leave the nest.
roonilwonwonweasly@reddit
Unofficially, after graduation. We sort of moved in with my husband's (then bf) friend's family. I came home to grab clothes and sometimes stayed the night or a couple of days at my parents.
Officially, almost 19 once we got our own place.
tryingisbetter@reddit
Like 17ish
TraditionalTackle1@reddit
I was born in 81, didn’t move out until I was 26 because I stayed home to help take care of my sick grandmother. When she died I felt like it was time to live my life and my mom didn’t talk to me for months because she wanted me to stay home.
Busy_Raisin_6723@reddit
They never want us to leave. I miss my son but he’s 34, moved out after college age 22.
DananaBreadAtWork@reddit
17, shared a studio with one bathroom with three other dudes with a fridge and a microwave and three TVs
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
I can't imagine the smells.
DananaBreadAtWork@reddit
So believe it or not we cleaned it every Thursday and got it smelling too good. It was some of the best times of my life. Let me see if I can find a picture
59apache01@reddit
The weekend after high school graduation. Took a job about 80 miles away. I lived in a run-down house that had been divided up into apartments and the rent was $200 a month.
fermentedradical@reddit
'80 and went to grad school at 20 years old. Moved out then and never moved back.
viralust@reddit
Had too much drama at home. My mother was obsessed with my asshole step dad who cheated on her, also had an abusive mentally unstable older brother. Turned 17, met a girl, took a chance, and moved into a trailer on her dad's property. Went to college, got divorced, dropped out, kept fucking up but I made music along the way, made people laugh, tried to make people happy because feeling empty and alone in life sucks.
I now have a 4yr old son. My son is my entire life and his happiness and healthy upbringing means absolutely everything to me. If I could go back and change things, I wouldnt because the thought of not ending up with my son sounds devastating to me.
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
100% understand. You are who you are because you made it through it all. Enjoy the silly boy life!
ThisIsACompanyCar@reddit
17
Adventurous_Cloud_20@reddit
I enlisted in the Navy at 18, but didn't "officially" move out til after I was discharged and got my own place at 22.
My first apartment was a dumpy duplex that had been divided into 4 units. I was paying $425 a month, utilities included, when I moved in in 2004. That same apartment now is renting for $1950, no utilities, I have no idea how anyone as young as I was could afford to move out now.
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
I had an intern who told me her share of the rent was $1200/mo plus split utilities. That is unbelievable to me. $300 was less than 25% of my take-home pay. You'd have to make like $80k for $1200 to be a quarter of your take-home!
piscian19@reddit
I was largely living on my own at 14 sleeping on my dads couch sometimes. Got emancipated 16-17 so I could work full-time and left.
Opunaesala@reddit
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
I'm glad you're close with your family! I hope the same for my kids.
EmperorSkyTiger@reddit
18 but with a buddy and we were able to afford a kickass apartment downtown, so everything was accessible by foot. Old tobacco curing brick building. Smelled amazing. We both worked at a music store. The fact that we could afford that swanky joint then compared to today's economy is nuts to me.
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
I waited tables and worked at the mall. My boyfriend was a line cook. Our downstairs neighbor was an old biker guy with a tea-cup chihuahua he treated like a princess. 😄 We lived in a walkable little beach town and threw a lot of parties. It was a blast.
BaconIsGoodForMeh@reddit
18 for college (born in 81). Good relationship with parents at the time (separate households), never moved back in. My older brother moved back in several times.
whither_wander_you@reddit
left for college at 18. 2 years in the dorm, 3 years in apts with roommates. then back to mom and dad for like 2 years, cause I couldnt find a damn job. then moved in with my bf at 24 when he bought a house near where i was working finally. married a couple years later, 2 more houses and a couple kids later here we are.
-threefeetoffun@reddit
27 for a year then finally at 32 when I bought a house and got married.
TeekTheReddit@reddit
Step-dad kicked me out when I was 19. Slept on couches for a few months while before getting a place with a friend.
Moved back home a year or so later, then moved out for good a couple years after that.
PrncessVespa@reddit
Born in 81. Moved out in 99, moved in with my dad for like 5 months in 2000, been on my own otherwise.
macklin_sob@reddit
Mom allowed me to stay at home as long as I worked or went to school. Saved my money from work to get my car then moved into an apartment with my older sister at 21. I never had to move back. I appreciate I had it pretty easy.
GXP_2009@reddit
Moved out to go away to college the summer right after HS graduation. Came home (for a girl...blah) before the semester started. Stayed home and went to a local college for 4 years. Lived with my father and he was cool so it was no stress. Took a job out of state a few days after I graduated college.
Ok-Context-5538@reddit
(‘79) I left for college at 18. After graduation I got an apartment in my hometown with a roommate. Interestingly, the majority of my friend group had families that sold their homes and bought condos so their kids couldn’t come back. 😂
Texas_Kimchi@reddit
18 technically but my grandmother got extremely sick and I had to move back home to help take care of her for a few years. Was really rough.
DrenAss@reddit (OP)
Aww I'm sorry, that's a lot to take on so young.
AshDogBucket@reddit
I moved to my college dorm (20 minutes from my parents' house) at 17. I spent a few years in dorms with summers at my parents', then got an off campus apartment for the last few years. When I was 22, 2 days after college graduation, I moved 4,000 miles away.
No idea what kids are doing nowadays. My stepkids didn't move out right at 18... but one went away to college right away after high school and then his trajectory was similar to mine (dorm, then apartment).
No idea what's common among other kids.