What was your life like when you were 24?

[OkSoqhateo]

The title says it all. Were you living with your parents still? What was your job like? What did your social life consist of?

I had a 2 year old and his father and I were planning to sell our flat and move to Spain. We then split up due to his infidelity with my best friend coming to light. He was supposed to buy me out of our flat (this didn’t really happen) and I went to university and life improved in every way. It took me until 39 to get back on the property ladder though 🙄

I was living alone, working on a master's. It was a great time in my life. I made some good friends at the time who are still friends today. Socialising consisted of parties, hanging out with friends, going out for inexpensive meals, occasionally to concerts or the theatre. Rent definitely ate up most of my income but I enjoyed living in a small apartment of my own after having roommates/flatmates for several years before that.

I was also madly in love, though the man in question turned out to be a bit of a cad. That is an experience I wouldn't want to repeat, though I'm not sorry it happened.

I was in a fulltime job, had just bought a house, had a friend as a lodger. Evenings and weekends were mostly spent in the pub or out with girlfriend.

Was about to have my life utterly blown up when girlfriend of 10 months suddenly went into labour without us knowing she was pregnant. The second half of being 24 looked very different to the front half.

I was more than two years in to an interesting job after graduating aged 21, I had a rented 2 bed flat in London which I shared with a friend, I was out most evenings socialising. It was a lot of fun!

I'm ancient now but at 24 I was married with two little girls the eldest of whom was born with a serious genetic disability. We didn't really have a social life at this time as we were skint and up to our necks in babies. We lived on a new estate and made lifelong friends there even though we all moved on eventually some of us have stayed in touch. They were tough times for us but we survived - married 49 years and have 5 amazing DD's and very happy with how our life turned out.

OP I don't want to derail your thread but has your DS considered extreme day trips? It's a great hobby and a good way for him to dip his toe in the water of travelling? There are lots of facebook groups he could join about it too.
This info might help him;
What are the benefits of extreme day trips?
A quick and exciting escape
Minimal/no time off work
If you do it during the weekend you still have one day off to relax
It’s cheaper than a weekend break because you don’t have to pay for accommodation
It’s fun to do solo
Great to conquer nerves around solo travel or flying
Genuinely does feel like a holiday
A fun way to unique experiences without long-term commitments.
How do I plan an extreme day trip?
Start with a specific date – this helps you narrow things down and makes it much easier
Then go onto Skyscanner and search for flights to ‘Everywhere’ on your chosen date from you nearest airport
Scan through your options to see which flights have an early departure and a late return
You’ll probably only have 1-2 options by this point
Once you’ve chosen your destination, do a quick search to check you can quickly and easily get from the airport to the centre and there’s enough to see and do to keep you busy all day.
Then get those flights booked!
I then like to look for places to eat and things to see and do
Plot everything you want to do into a Google Map

I was travelling in Australia and Asia, having the time of my life!

I was in my first job after uni. I started off living back with my parents and then I was embarrassed about that so I bought a new build, but not new new flat. It had wallpaper borders in every room and the walls were lilac and mint. I didn't want the flat, but I thought it was something I ought to do because living with my parents was childish. I didn't know that people still socialised after their student years because I had heard that people always made their best friends at university.

I bought a 14 inch portable tv and there were only 4 channels then. Weekends were very long and I didn't like watching sport so it felt like there was never anything on. I was very lonely and I had radio 4 on all the time. I lived on pasta pesto with no protein at all. I bought brightly coloured acrylic salt and pepper mills and a matching storage canister. Those were the only things I bought for the flat.

There was a swimming pool in town but I didn't think of going there.

My employers wanted people to do permanent backshift and I couldn't understand why nobody wanted to do it so I volunteered and it was every weekend and 3 days in the week. The highlight of my week was Sunday morning when I would walk to a shop and buy the Sunday Times and spread it out on the floor and read all the supplements.

My best friend from uni lived 15 minutes away and we would write letters to each other every few months, even though email existed. We never thought to meet up. I had a computer and I used it to look up directions to random cities on Microsoft Autoroute and print them off.

I had a brand new car but I just went to work and back in it. Never went on a trip or day out. I didn't have any hobbies.

I never considered I was on the property ladder even though I had the flat. I thought I would have to stay in the flat forever. I ended up selling the flat because I thought I wasn't cut out for it and I didn't buy another property until I was in my forties. I didnt change one thing in the flat. Sold it with the borders intact. I never made it my own. I left the job too.

The year of being 24-25 changed my life and not in a good way. I don't think I will ever recover from it. I had everything a car, a flat and a job but it was horrible. I sometimes think things might have been different if I had had someone to look out for me and give me a biy of guidance on life after uni. Nobody should need that, of course, but I'm ashamed to say I did.