When Did You Leave the Nest?

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Or, if you haven't yet, when do you plan on?

By "leaving the nest" I mean getting a place on your own, and being financially independent of your parents. So going away to undergraduate school doesn't count. The conditions are as follows:

1.) You have an income
2.) You have your own place
3.) The parental units are not responsible for 1 and 2.

For me, the age was 26. I got my first "real job" at 24, but I made crap money, and so I still lived with my parents. I didn't finally move out until I was 26 - almost 27 really, as my birthday was about one month after I moved.

 

About a week after I turned 23.

 

Alright - if you borrowed living expenses, that counts, because you ultimately paid for it yourself when you paid back your loans, and you were financially independent, even if you weren't earning an income.

 

I never did. My dad and sister moved to Florida when I was in my twenties. I paid my dad rent (deeply discounted) until I was married and had a decent job and then I bought the house from him.

 

Well, certainly by the time you bought the house you ahd to be financially independent... your dad certainly couldn't have lent you money to buy the house from himself!

EDIT: It occurs to me that if you still live in the same house you grew up in, you are one of very few adults who can say they've lived in the same place their entire life. (Unless your parents moved into that house while you were a kid.)

 

Correct, I bought it, he didn't give it to me. I moved into this house when I was 5

 

From my mother and step-father when I was 17 -- I moved in with my father. I joined the Navy a year later and have never since received any financial assistance from any of my parents or step-parents for any reason.

 

I moved out when I was 19. I hadn't relied on my parents for money since I was about 16.

 

17 but it really wasn't my idea
The judge gave me a choice between jail time or the army(remember this was in '75, I don't know if they do it any more) so I entered the technical world of mos 92g(thats a cook for the non-army out there.)

 

Moved on my own when I was 16, financially independent by hm, 19 I think it was.

 

17. I went to Penn St at 17 and hve never looked back. Even college was funded by myself, except for 800 I borrowed from my grandfather for the first year tuition. I paid it back with my first 2 paychecks I rec'd when down school.

 

Around 23/24...

 

I was 25. I paid for most of my undergraduate (which isn't expensive: ~1000 euros a year) and moved out last November when I managed to get my own place.

 

I was 26, shortly after I got my CA designation.

 

Living in my own place, have done for the past three years. Got a beautiful place now with a garden and rooms. Still lacking in furniture in most of them but it's early days.

Financially we're still rocky. Only income in the household so far are my benefits and student loan, however due to the neurological effects of aspergers and side effects of my medications - it goes to the person who has power of attorny over me still, which would be my mother

 

19 years old, and not by my choice. My mother, who I had always lived with, moved from California to Hawaii to live with her boyfriend. The plan was that I was supposed to live with my father for the first time since I was 7 years old. I guess I never felt particularly comfortable there, as I was rarely "home." One night, only a few months into this arrangement as I recall, I did deign to sleep at home. Not expecting me, my father and his girlfriend were having some rather boisterous romance. I remember window shades getting banged against regularly. Not quite sure of the logistics of that... but I digress.

I snuck into my room and tried to ignore it. A couple of days later I was asked to move out so my father could have his space. My father's ex-wife (not my mother) put forth a small amount of money each month to help me make ends meet. But regardless of Aldeth's criteria, I was on my own. Going to school, working, and paying for a one room apartment.

I haven't lived under mom or dad's wing since. Now my dad is dead (died at age 51) and my mom is, well, living on another planet as far as I can tell.

Not the best story. I'm hoping my own sons' stories about their folks will be a lot cheerier. I'm pretty sure they will be.

 

20 I think. My father still insists on paying my phone bill so that's the only thing that remains that I'm not paying for myself. It's not a lot and I could take care of itself too but I guess it's his way of supporting my studies.

 

A few weeks short of 17 is when I became completely responsible for my own means of support.

I still look back and can't believe I actually managed to graduate High School with a B average.

I would have loved to have been able to "go off to college", but for some that just isn't an option, at least it wasn't until AFTER the army.