What It’s Like Living At Home With Your Parents

This may or may not come as a shock to you but…I’m almost 26 years old, and I currently live at home with my parents. YUP.

Yeah, you read that right. I’m still living at home with my parents. You know, I never thought about the fact that I’d be an “adult” (whatever that means), and live at home with my mom and dad until I starting working in a corporate environment. Of course when you’re new, you talk to your coworkers and get to know them. Most of my coworkers aren’t from the New York area, so they really don’t have a choice but to live on their own. For the most part, they always tell me how jealous they are that I’m still at home. And they also definitely tease me for still living at home (but it’s out of love, I promise).

I actually had the idea to write this post when Alissa reached out to me to chat about how I could afford designer pieces. I straight up told her it’s because I still live at home with my parents. I’m not ashamed of this AT ALL. In fact, there are so many reasons why I’m #blessed to live at home with my parents.

Why I’m lucky to live at home

To be honest, it’s pretty normal to live at home where I’m from. Most of my friends and other people I know still live with their parents. My sister lived at home until she was married, and even after that Chris (my brother-in-law) moved in with us until they found the perfect first home as newlyweds.

So let’s just cut to the chase: The real reason why I’m so lucky to live with my parents is the fact that it’s rent free. That’s obvious. My parents are actual saints, and allow me to live at home with zero expenses. Their main reasoning for this (okay, fine and the fact that they love me so much) is so that I can start saving for my future home. While it took me until I was 25 to realize that I need to really hunker down and start aggressively saving, I’m still not throwing my money away towards rent. Although I wish I could just move into the city (it would be SO much easier), it’s not financially smart for me.

Why I still want to live at home

I love living at home with my mom and dad. I mentioned this above but I need to reiterate that my parents are LITERALLY saints. Listen, I know how to live on my own. I did it for four years when I was in college. So I’m definitely taking advantage of living back home with my mom and dad. My laundry is done when I’m home, I get home cooked meals every night, and I have rides to and from the bus during my commute to work. You can say I’m living the dream. Why would I ever want to leave?! I know people might be thinking that’s childish, but I’m actually very independent and mature (LOL, I swear). But I’m staying with my parents as long as they’ll have me. I also love the time I spend with my mom and dad. The older I get, the more important time with them becomes. If you know anything about me, you know how much I love my mom and dad. It’s to the point that my boss thinks it’s so weird just how much I love my family;)

What it’s like living at home when you’re in a relationship

I have a feeling this is definitely on people’s minds. What’s it like being in a relationship and living with your parents? In my case, it’s totally normal. My parents love having Matt around. Also fun fact, Matt also lives at home. After living in the city for two years, he moved back home to start saving more money (he’s olddddd – almost 28 – sooo there’s that). At first, I didn’t understand why we weren’t thinking about taking the next step forward and moving into together in the city. But after talking it through, it just doesn’t make sense for us financially to throw our money away when there are other things we can be saving for. Plus, when we’re at my house, we’re usually with my sister and brother-in-law. And when we’re at Matt’s house, we ALWAYS watch Dateline on Friday night — it’s definitely become our thing!

So there’s that: My feelings on being almost 26 years old and living at home with my parents. It’s not for everyone (obv), but for me this is my ideal situation for where I’m at in life. What’s your home situation currently look like, and are you happy with it?

photos by allie provost