I’ve got plenty of friends who left college and went back to their hometown and moved back in with their parents. I’m not so sure that the parents were happy about that, but most of them love it, because they get to collect a real paycheck and live rent free and get home-cooked meals. It sounds like a sweet deal, but is it really?

This is solely my personal opinion, but I think that you are doing yourself a disservice both financially and emotionally by living at home with your parents after college for an extended period of time. I understand if you want to crash back at home for a couple of months to get your feet under you before you tackle the real world, but if you’ve lived with your parents for over 6 months now, something is wrong!

We need to think in terms of what kind of habits it helping you to form as an adult. When living at home, your budget will never be the same as when you live on your own. You won’t start learning to budget your money properly and you won’t even get in the habit of paying your bills in a timely manner. This will hurt your wallet and your credit in the future if you don’t establish good financial habits early on in your twenties. And let’s be honest, your parents don’t want you there! Sure, they’ll take you in, because they’re your parents! But do you really think they want you back after having 4 years of getting to do whateve they want without kids in the way? Is your room still your room, or did they turn it into an office or a personal gym? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Anyway, think twice before you decide to call your parent’s house “home” again. It could have a big straing on your finances in the future and on your relationship with your parents.