Did you leave at 18, or close to it?

[etrigan420]

Was in boot camp 2 weeks after high school graduation.

Me too! :thumbsup:

 

[SpunkyJones]

Commuted to college, moved out shortly after graduation when I got my first job @ about 23ish.

 

[smackababy]

This is the more traditional story I expected. Surprised to see nearly 50% leave home for good at 18. How do you survive paying your own living expenses and still save enough for college/your first place? Did you have to go to near 30 to get out from under debt? And by debt I don't mean a mortgage.

For me, I worked full time and qualified for quite a bit of financial aid (helps when your family is poor). Eventually, though, it did prove to be too much and I dropped out of college to join the military. Luckily for me, it worked out about the same (if not better) because what I was in college for I did in the military. Got professional experience, which counts about the same in my field. Add in a drive to actually succeed and the discipline to learn my craft on my own, and I do okay.

 

[Exterous]

I went to college at 18 but came back home for the summer and holidays for a little less than two years. The second summer I got my own apartment and have been on this side of the state ever since

 

[Platypus]

yes

 

[crashtech]

Left when I was 17, crash landed onto mom's couch at 19, left for good half a year later.

 

[DigDog]

if you have to leave the home you were born in, something's wrong with your family.

(something was in fact wrong with my family, had to leave at 25)

 

[JulesMaximus]

Yes, I moved out of my Mom's house around that age.

Been on my own ever since and there was nothing wrong with my family.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Lived at home for college. Moved to grad school in another state at 21. Have lived "on my own"* for 11 years.

*I have a housemate and cats.

 

[MrPickins]

This is the more traditional story I expected. Surprised to see nearly 50% leave home for good at 18. How do you survive paying your own living expenses and still save enough for college/your first place? Did you have to go to near 30 to get out from under debt? And by debt I don't mean a mortgage.

Roommates, full time job and student loans (but no other debts).

Sure it wasn't a glamorous lifestyle, but I survived and learned a lot of good life lessons from it.

 

[Platypus]

This is the more traditional story I expected. Surprised to see nearly 50% leave home for good at 18. How do you survive paying your own living expenses and still save enough for college/your first place? Did you have to go to near 30 to get out from under debt? And by debt I don't mean a mortgage.

I got a job immediately while taking 21 credit hours in school and I suffered through it. I got student loans to pay for school and used some of the money for room and board and food. I got roommates after my first year to offset the cost of an apartment. I took classes in the summer which were cheaper and still counted for credit at my uni. I am 30 with no debt, my car is paid off and I do very well for myself.

When you're in a bad situation you can adapt if you have to. People who have never had to go through that don't have the same appreciation for the capabilities of the human spirit to endure whatever it is to get to a better place. People have ridiculous expectations of what they think they need when the reality is, you don't need hardly anything to survive. You can do it if you put in the work and effort.

For me personally, it was either get the fuck out of my nowhere white trash environment and away from my family situation or die. It's really a pretty easy choice to make when you think about it like that.

 

[MrPickins]

When you're in a bad situation you can adapt if you have to. People who have never had to go through that don't have the same appreciation for the capabilities of the human spirit to endure whatever it is to get to a better place. People have ridiculous expectations of what they think they need when the reality is, you don't need hardly anything to survive. You can do it if you put in the work and effort.


For me personally, it was either get the fuck out of my nowhere white trash environment and away from my family situation or die. It's really a pretty easy choice to make when you think about it like that.

:thumbsup:

 

[Ns1]

left when i was 20 for college, never moved back.

 

[zinfamous]

went to school in the same town, so I was around for weekends and summers (first summer after first year in college I lived at home).

Final semester of school, and next ~1/2 year, I moved back home because I was out of the country for that first semester and previous summer, so it didn't make sense to find anything.

Then I moved out of state at...23?

 

[cronos]

As far as place of living, the answer is yes. I moved out right after high school and only came back for visits. But I wasn't completely on my own until grad school (mid-20s).

 

[Tombstone1881]

I had about two months of high school left to go when I turned 18.
I graduated, then 8 days after my HS graduation, I was off to boot camp and lived on my own ever since.

I've always thought that 18 is when you should leave home, providing that you don't have to be a caregiver or have something else going on that would force you to have to remain at home. Otherwise, 18 is the age you should spread your wings and become an independent adult.

 

[ch33zw1z]

21, for good. 19-20, off and on by choice.

 

[olds]

Turned 18 in December, graduated high school in February, moved out a week later.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Moved to college about 2 mos after graduating at 18. Screwed that up, moved back home around 22, got my shit together in a year, moved out, went back to school and haven't moved back since.

 

[slayer202]

this explains a lot

 

[MustISO]

Lived rent free until I was 25, saved up a good deal of money during that time.

 

[JTsyo]

18 went to college, still home for breaks and summer
21 moved for work would still come home on most weekends

 

[Childs]

I was somewhat on my own at 16. Right before my senior year my father had a heart attack and my parents thought it would be better to move closer to sea level. I had just transferred to play basketball at a big time school, so they let me stay. Got a small studio apartment and got a job when the season was over. Then JC to play more ball, and then off to college. I had jobs to pay for rent and stuff so I never went home during summer breaks. Longest I've been home since I was 16 was two months.

 

[gorcorps]

Went to school so lived up there most of the time. Lived at home for the first summer, then I was in an apartment or condo for the rest of my time there.

 

[ringtail]

escaped FOREVER at 17


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From Humqaq (Point Conception), - "the Western Gate," the place revered by Indians all over the whole US and Canada as the door into eternity, the jumping-off place of human souls to the afterlife with the (what we now call) Chumash people of Goleta and Santa Barbara as its sacred custodians, since 13,500 years ago. link

Rincon in the foreground and the Santa Barbara coast