Comments on: The Boomerang Kids Are All Right

By: AnneBonney

AnneBonney — Wed, 09 May 2012 00:44:54 +0000

I’m a perennial boomerang kid. I work in a cyclical industry that has me traveling across the country to a new place ever year or 18 months, and I always come home in the unemployment seasons. While it sucks that all my friends are in the big city an hour away with real people lives and seem to be having way more fun than I am, I’m glad to have living at home as the only safety net my parents can provide (I’ve had to send money home every month while working for the past year.)

The last few times I’ve tried to stall out and live apart on unemployment and savings, but in the end, it makes more sense to be at home: I need to live rent-free, and they need my help. My mom is single and working 60+ hours a week, and neither of my siblings can drive yet; when they were younger, I was the chauffeur, cook and daycare, which was a huge help to our mom. This time around, I’m staying with my dad, in a house that needs tons of renovation that I’m spearheading. Yeah, being in that weird adult-but-still-talked-down-to-sometimes place sucks, it’s really not so bad. And I always have an answer for “So what have you been doing since you worked last?”

By: Brunhilde

Brunhilde — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:26:17 +0000

@Brunhilde (I graduated in 2002, and fully realize that things are different now.)

By: Brunhilde

Brunhilde — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:20:53 +0000

Hell to the no. Getting my degree didn’t make me any less willing to barista/ bartend/ wash dishes/ wait tables/ mow lawns/ nannie/ wait tables than I had been the previous 5 years supporting myself through college. Moving back to my middle of the forest middle of nowhere town in a county without stoplights would have afforded me even less opportunity than living in my car/ couch surfing/ sharing a house with 5 frat boys in San Diego

By: BreezyK

BreezyK — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:21:59 +0000

I lived with my parents in Fairfield County for two stints. The first time was in 2006 when I relocated from DC to NYC for a job and needed to save up all that money for an NYC apartment. I was at home for 10 months because I ended up waiting for my college roommate to relocate from LA. I didn’t save up a ton of money (enough for the security and first and last month’s rent, but not much more than that), so when I moved home again for a job in CT, my mom charged me “rent money” which she put into an account and then gave back to me when I moved in with my boyfriend (again in NYC). That was a great plan, as I couldn’t spend the money and I ended up with a nice nest egg and no credit card debt.

I also have a much younger sister, like many of the commenters and both times that I lived at home, I really loved getting to spend so much time with her and get to know her as an awesome teenager, as opposed to the awesome 10 year old she was when I left for college.

By: Marissa

Marissa — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:06:50 +0000

I moved home for a couple of months after college while I looked for a job in the wine industry in California. My mom lives in Sonoma County but I had gone to school down south. It was nice to only have to worry about my job hunt at first. I had no money saved and couldn’t even think about finding my own place. It took me about a month to get a job, but I stayed with my mom for another couple of months until I moved in with a friend. Once I started working, she charged me $250 per month in rent which I hated at the time, but am kind of glad she did in retrospect because it prepared me for paying higher rent once I moved out.
Then I moved home for one week between leases from the Sonoma County place and relocating to San Francisco. She kindly did not charge me rent that week ;)

By: Liz F

Liz F — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:41:29 +0000

I moved home after college because my dad was sick and I only had an unpaid internship across the country- instead of paying rent until I got a job 3 months after moving in, I did chores and anything else they needed help with. Then when I got my job I paid rent until I moved out, after 10 months of living at home.

A lot of times the arrangement of an adult child moving back in can be advantageous to both parties. My parents needed the help and I needed a cheap place to live.

By: probs

probs — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:41:29 +0000

@Holden Cauliflower that’s awesome, congrats!

By: probs

probs — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:37:07 +0000

I graduated college in ’09, and lived at home for almost a full year while trying to find work. I was totally unemployed for a lot of it, then did an unpaid internship (why), the census, and worked at a grocery store. Finally I was called up to the big leagues for a consulting job that I got from, guess what, interpersonal connections/referral. Moved to DC.

While I was at home, my parents didn’t ask me for rent, and we go along swimmingly. I like my family a lot and it was nice being around them so much. I started to be crippingly depressed from being rejected from so
many jobs, feeling like a failure, not being able to move out, etc. I never got anything but love and support from them, though.

By: shamburgesa

shamburgesa — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:07:20 +0000

@Holden Cauliflower Do they make Hallmark cards for this occasion? If they did, I would send you a giant musical card that shoots confetti when you open it. Congrats!

By: jane lane

jane lane — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:33:45 +0000

I’ve been at home for about 8 months and I think I’m going to lose it if I’m here for over a full year. I’m working and not paying rent, since I’m not exactly making a lot of money, and my mom agrees that it would be counter-productive for me to be giving her money when the goal is save enough that I never have to move back once I move out. I’m grateful that I had somewhere to go when I didn’t have a job, but very unhappy to be living in the suburbs with no friends less than an hour away.