Living with My Parents vs. Living Independently

Living With My Parents vs. Living Independently

I always thought that moving out of my parents’ house would be an exciting new start to life. Apparently nobody thought to explain to me how stressful and cost-consuming life really is outside the comfort of mommy and daddy’s embrace. Living with my parents and living independently differ exponentially, but living with my parents isn’t nearly as dreadful as I thought it to be as a teenager. The first upsetting difference between living alone rather than with my parents is the food. When I lived with my parents, it was easy to eat a healthy, home cooked meal and not have to worry about preparing it. It usually just appeared on the table as an alluring plate of deliciousness without having to lift a finger. On the other hand, trying to make a meal is much more complicated when living alone. The freezer is normally stocked full of microwavable foods that taste like plastic and the refrigerator maybe has some five-day-old milk. Gaining weight is easier than ever when the only cuisine available is fatty and nutritionally deficient. The second depressing part of living alone is the money, or more precisely, the lack thereof. When residing at my mom and dad’s house, wasting money on luxuries was the most exciting part. Not to mention my parents’ seemingly endless amount of money to help pay for anything and everything was always a plus. Saving money was even possible at the time. But now, living independently definitely has its drawbacks. How many bills can possibly come in one month? With barely enough money to pay the bills, how is a girl supposed to shop for anything other than frozen goodies and Ramen? And forget about trying to save any cash, rummaging through my coin jar has become my favorite new hobby. Furthermore, who knew that cleaning didn’t just magically happen? Coming home from work and school to a clean house was definitely a convenience, though it went unnoticed at the time. I was previously