Curious to hear experiences from strangers online, Redditor WallStreetDoesntBet asked:
"People who moved out of the parent’s house before 30, how?"
Most people can't afford to live on their own.
Roommate Is Key
"yeah this exactly. I've never lived by myself, was roommates until I got a serious girlfriend and now fiance. There's exactly 0% chance of me being in the same position I'm in financially if I had been paying full rent all those years."
– lick_me_where_I_fart
Not A Care In The World
"I was 17, we had 4 of us in a ghetto 2bd apt (bunkbeds) we had a beer bong on a lanyard screwed to the ceiling. We'd have keggers, party's every weekend and always had randoms crashing on the floor. Could barely afford to feed myself and pay bills but still not a worry in the world and it was the best time of my life."
– ApprehensiveAd6006
Oh, Josh
"I had 5 in my first place. 4 of us shared rooms. Despite the random brawls over Josh never doing the dishes, it was actually awesome."
– duracellchipmunk
Too Close For Comfort
"6 of us in a punk house the moment I turned 18. I had the walk-in closet as my room and I paid $100 for it. It was absolutely disgusting but I remember it so fondly."
– Theatre_throw
One inconvenience shared by many was the sacrifice of a good, home-cooked meal.
Change Of Scenery
"Just needed a little R&R."
"Roommates and Ramen."
– SudoPuff
The "Wild" Years
"This, lol. I was kicked out at 16 and after couch-surfing for a few months I moved into a studio apartment with 4 other people."
"When I say we were poor, I mean poor - most of us didn’t have jobs. I lived off the worst of the worst food. Knockoff ramen. Dollar store canned veg. Rice and terrible year old pasta."
"It was a wild few years."
– Vetiversailles
Rice For Life
"Or rice. I lived off rice for a full year. Fancied it up by adding some salsa, and then extra fancy by also adding ranch dressing."
"Those were hard times."
– Ok_Opinion_
Having work definitely makes things easier.
Saving Up To Leave
"Started working while I was in school. Got out as soon as I could."
– ReallyIdleBones
Not Much Fanfare
"Yep, moved out for college in 2006. Came back for the summer in 2007, but thereafter I got an internship so I just stayed in the city. Got a job at the same place after I graduated."
"It was never some big moment for me (my parents are fine, just annoying), just a natural progression for me."
– Zerole00
Building A Life
"At 18. Worked in construction. Lived on a couch with 6 buddies in one house paying for college. Bought cheap land during the recession. Then built my own house."
– ReubenZWeiner
Not moving out by choice seemed to be a common shared experience.
High Turnover Rate
"Got kicked out at 14. Finished high school sleeping on friends couches while serving tables. Had a ton of roommates for the next 10 years. At any given time I was living with like 3 or 4 people, it was never boring haha"
– herriotact
Different Parenting
"I am hearing that so many people are actually kicked out in the really young age is well."
"But i am not getting that why parents are so tough because in my country they try to keep them under their wings."
– wowoao
Tough Love
"My friends parents were going to kick him out immediately after he graduated high school simply because 'That's what their parents did when they were his age.' His Dad fully expected him to go out at 18 and buy a house because 'he was able to.'"
"Then his Dad got pissed when my friend did not buy a house and went to live with his uncle instead. Even after his uncle broke down the whole 'Your mortgage is $2200/month with taxes and you expect your son, who works part time at $7.25 an hour to afford a mortgage? With no credit history?'"
"Some parents do it out of tough love. Some parents do it because they shouldn't have had children. Some parents still think the world is the same as it was in the 70s-80s and think minimum wage part time employees can thrive."
– bangersnmash13
Placed Expectations
"My parents didn't kick me out, but there was definitely an expectation for me to be moved out and financially independent at 18. My mother walked into a job as a radio DJ at the age of 18 and then became a journalist with only a high school education a few years later (early 1970s), so she had this expectation that I could do the same. The thought of me being able to do anything like that in the 2000s was laughable."
– pie12345678
Lucky Break
"I walked into a journalism career with only a high school diploma in the late 1990s, but I was well aware of my unicorn status and would never have expected my kids to have the same kind of luck I did."
"That being said, of my kids who are now adults, only one of the three has had to move back home after leaving. The other two have managed to make it work with roommates and busting their ass, just like I did after I got my lucky break."
– ExtantAuctioneer
I moved out of my parents' house because I booked my first professional gig on a cruise ship.
It couldn't have worked out better. I was paid to perform on board in the shows while my rent was already taken care of since I lived and worked on the ship.
I packed one suitcase and traveled the world doing what I loved for about two years. It was the best way to transition into an exciting new chapter in my adolescent life.
What's your moving out story?
Reddit user "breathingsaveslives" asked:
What ridiculous features would you put in your house if you had a ridiculous amount of money?
It you were expecting things like a helicopter pad, a giftwrapping room, or a personal Starbucks ... well... keep reading.
Pizza Party
"An outdoor brick oven for pizza. Then I'd hold pizza parties, instead of grill outs." - flpacsnr
"You don't need a lot of money for a pizza oven. I put together the jankiest oven for free and it gets above 700 degrees!" - myshkiny
"Definitely! And inside the pizza oven you could have a rotating stone baking surface, so you can have multiple pizzas gradually cooking as the stone rotates. Take a cooked pizza out, shove an uncooked one in, and it'll be cooked by the time it finishes its 360°." - green_meklar
Splash Pad
"Swimming pool in the basement designed to look like a cave." - ilike7hournaps
"Complete with a waterfall that's fed by a river that flows through the house starting from a fountain in the lobby. Also, behind the waterfall is a bar" - BigSwedenMan
"We current have a pool - it's nice. It's a standard in-ground pool with a diving board and slide. If I had unlimited $ I'd rebuilt it into a kind of grotto with caves, waterfalls, bridges, fountains, etc. It'd be awesome!" - HouseRenovations
The Horror-Movie House
GIF by Archives of Ontario | Archives publiques de l'OntarioGiphy"A gigantic kitchen with plenty cabinets for all my things. It would include one of those industrial dishwashers that clean dishes super fast and easy. And appliances for whatever I want."
"Í would also get a nice, big dining-room for all the fancy dinner parties I would throw."
"My house would also have a garden with a lot of flowers, but not too much. I don't need bugs. I would have loads of flowers, and a raspberry bush. I would create a beautiful terrace to have tea on."
"As a kid, I sometimes visited this nice, old lady who lived in a big home. Her garden was amazing, with flowerbeds, and a terrace, and you could look at it from a balcony. All the way in the back was a wall, layered with raspberries."
"In the summer we were allowed to pick them, because this woman and her husband weren't gonna. Inside the house was kind of like a horror-movie: Confusing hallways, a dark attic, and a mysterious office. It was the ideal place for children to play hide and seek, and then finding a ghost or something." - ieatalot2004
Vacuum Walls
Vacuuming Freddie Mercury GIF by QueenGiphy"There are these hidden baseboard vacuums where all you do is sweep towards the gap at the baseboard and it vacuums up everything. Definitely I would have that in the kitchen, bathroom, and near both entry doors." - okcallmegoddess_
"This is real?!? I want vacuum walls!" - breathingsaveslives
"The maintenance is difficult, and I've yet to see one functioning as intended after 5 years without being completely rebuilt."
"It's such a lovely idea that I really wish was executed better." - TragedyPronFamilyVid
10 Seconds
Cat Chores GIFGiphy"I worked at a kitchen for a little while and they had this dish washer that you just slid the dirty dishes on a rack underneath it, pull down the handle and it jet washed them in 10 seconds." - [reddit]
"I mean in a restaurant those dishwashers are practical but why would you need it at home? How often are you going to need 30 plates cleaned in a minute and a half?" - MountainCandidate0
"Family of 4, eating 3 meals in a day is 12 freakin' plates, forks and approximately 30 toddler cups because they somehow vanish into a black hole."
"Every day is a full load of dishes in the dishwasher. Miss one load and the sink is too full to get sh*t done."
"Full load of dishes in 10 seconds? Hell yeah!" - ihaveabibledegree
Going On Tour
Water Bathing GIF by SalesforceGiphy"I'd want a bath on rails that takes me out of my bathroom and through a very slow tour of my pirvate and secluded garden while I wash." - Auserna
"I didn't know it, but now I want a toilet version of this" - ggrindelwald
Rich Friend
fish koi GIFGiphy"Had a rich friend. She had a large koi carp pond with stepping stones that you had to cross in order to reach the main bedroom."
"And then the door to the bedroom was some sort of round thing that you rolled aside to enter. Since seeing it I've always wanted exactly that." - pawnografik
Access
Design Architecture GIF by SavariaGiphy"An elevator for my disabled boyfriend." - goldenalpha207
"I came here to say "an elevator for my cat to go into the garden dowstairs", and now I feel bad." - lbpixels
Dungeon Master
Dungeons And Dragons Dnd GIF by Nerdist.comGiphy"I'd pay people to sit in a room all day and night. When I'm in the mood, they have to play dungeons and dragons or magic the gathering with me. They would live on my estate with up to 10 chosen friends or family, they would earn a nice salary."
"They would all have a copy of the Player's Handbook and I would have two butlers, Jeeves and Alfred, to bring me rulebooks upon demand."
"Jeeves would double as the rules lawyer. Got a question? Ask Jeeves." - chubbychaseryou
So what would YOU put in your dream home? Sound off in the comments.