I think if there had been an "all of the above" that would've been my answer. Instead I went with the 16-19 category. I intially moved out of Mom and Dad's when I was 19. I moved into a pretty good sized apartment with my husband (then boyfriend) and his best friend and bff's girlfriend. We were all really good friends and we thought this was a great way to save money and live on our own. Well, it ended up ruining our friendship. We should have learned from that mistake, but oh no, we had to try again...
So, we moved back home to both of our parents seperate abodes. That works fine for awhile until we decide we want to get married. After the wedding, my uncle comes to us and tells us that he just bought a house and he'll rent it to us for $400 a month. We were elated. The price was cheap and the house was in the country, which we both loved! What he didn't tell us was that the house was like 100 years old and he wasn't going to keep up maintenance on it. We lived there for 6 months, but when winter hit, it was simply to cold to stay there anymore. During this time, my dad had been converting his garage into an apartment for us.
When we moved from the old, decrepit house to the new apartment, it was fantastic. Everything was great, we were on our own, but with the support of my mom and dad very close by. That went on well for a year, until my husband got tired of driving an hour and a half to work everyday. So, we decide to move to Nashville and room with one of his friends, again...
That was a complete disaster. In the 9 months that we got suckered into a lease with him, we found out he had a drug problem and was INSANE. About 7 months in, I got pregnant (antibiotics completely null birth control btw) and it was time to find a new place. Trouble was, from the beginning of my pregnancy, my doc put me at high risk and didn't want me stressing too much at work. That meant little to no hours and little to no money. So, it was hard to find a place of our own in just 2 months when we KNEW we couldn't afford it. So, back home it was, for a little while until we could save money to find a place.
Trouble was, my parents had sold their house with the garage apartment and moved into a small apartment themselves. No room at the inn there. So, my mother-in-law graciously extends and offer to come and stay with her for the low price of paying the monthly bills such as electric, water, cable and phone. Seemed like a dream, if you get along with your in-laws. I, however do not. I was extremely pregnant and therefore extremely hormonal, but we made it there for a year.
And now here we are, FINALLY, ACTUALLY on our own. I'm 27 and he's 29. We entered into a Lease/Purchase agreement on his boss's house last year and about 3 months in, the HUGE church across the street offered to by us out of our contract. So, we got enough $$$ from that to make a good down payment on a great house, that is ALL OURS! Well, and the bank's, but ya know. I just got a great job, with unlimited overtime and we are making it work. With gas being $4000 a gallon, things are tight because we both commute, but we're doing good.
So that's my story. My advice, learn to grocery shop. And by that I mean when you get those sales papers in the mail that advertise those unbelievable deals, only buy those deals. If you go from store to store and just buy what they have on sale and use coupons, you'll be surprised at how much you can buy with $50. Also, don't do grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. If you do, don't go anywhere near the General Merchandise side of the store. If you are going for groceries, stick just to THAT side. Oh and if are going to room with someone, don't expect it to always be the greatest thing ever. There are going to be days when they don't do the dishes after you've all ready done them twice, or they eat all of your food. That all comes with having a roommate. Just stick it out and try not to argue over little stuff. You'd be surprised at how the little things, can really ruin a friendship. I mean, just watch Judge Judy.
