3 Reasons Why Moving Back In With Your Parents Isn’t as Bad as It Sounds
Readers! We have a treat for you on this blizzardy day! Sarah Niles Gadbois, a married 27-year-old account executive at HubSpot and blogger behind Girls Night Gossip, is here to shed light on what it's like to move back to your home town...and move back in with your parents.
Based off the title of this blog, you’re probably already thinking – what a poor pathetic girl. She’s 27, married, and is also living with her parents?! How sad. Before I get into the three reasons why it’s actually mutually beneficial, let’s talk about how I wound up in this situation.
My husband and I moved back to my hometown of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from Charlotte, North Carolina in September. We were living comfortably in Charlotte for two years, paying an exorbitant amount in rent and spending the rest of our paychecks living the dream. We never turned down a night on the town, dinner out or even long weekend trip. We both made a more than livable wages, and basically spent it all having an awesome time. To say we were reckless with money might be an understatement, but I think we’d both agree it was probably the most fun two years of our lives and we wouldn’t take back much of it. Except we maybe should have planned a little bit for the future. Neither one of us is exactly in the “too young to care” category. That’s why when my husband got the job offer of a lifetime back in Boston, with a 3-week turnaround time, we had nowhere else to turn but to head back to my parents’ house. To be fair, we could have given renting another go, in a much more expensive city, but our end goal is to ultimately buy a house. Saving money for a down payment would be a major challenge if we were writing another hefty rent check each month, so we were super lucky to have my parents to lean back on for a few months.
There are a lot of ways in which this living arrangement can be challenging – that’s for sure. But as I sit here riding out the Blizzard of 2015, watching premium cable in well-heated, comfortably furnished home, I will choose to focus on the positive. Here’s the top 3 reasons why moving back home works for us.
1. Living at home makes saving money much easier.
Like I mentioned above, we’re saving money for a down payment on our own house. While we are not living off my parent’s completely rent-free, it’s exponentially cheaper than leasing an apartment somewhere. We live in a comfortable in-law apartment in my parents’ basement and have plenty of wiggle room to aggressively save.
2. There’s almost always something good to eat.
Anyone who knows me knows I can’t cook to save my life and I don’t enjoy trying. Several nights a week my mom cooks dinner and it seems she actually enjoys cooking for more than just my dad and her. Then, on the nights they’re not cooking, we coordinate and either get takeout together or combine efforts to go out somewhere.
3. I’m never lonely.
As you already know, we moved back here for my husband’s job. What I didn’t include before is that he works overnights at a local TV station. If we didn’t live at my parents’ house, I’d be alone. A LOT. Now, I always have my mom to watch our TV shows with and to share the day’s experiences with when we get home from work. And – if hubby and I feel like staying in on a weekend night, there’s always two other fun loving people to hang out with and play games with. Not a bad deal.
According to a New York Times article, one in five people in their twenties and early thirties are currently living at home with their parents. So on the days where I feel less than proud of this scenario, I can at least remember I’m not the only one. With some communication and expectations set early on, living at home with your parents can be a wonderful experience for everyone involved.
This post was written by guest blogger, Sarah Niles Gadbois author of Girls Night Gossip.
To hear more from Sarah, follow her on Twitter at @GirlsNightGossip.