to ask what age you moved out of your parents' house?

[jackiesil]

I only ask because there is a "buying your first home" thread that I was commenting on (I was musing about how I've managed to land on my feet, but my brother, only a few years younger than me, is facing a much more difficult environment)... and then just now I've read a thread where the mother of a 14 yr old was commenting that she has to wake her DD up and make breakfast etc etc.

ANd my first thought was "cor blimey at 14 I was only a year away from moving into nan's and pretty much living as an adult", and so it surprised me. Not that I know it's normal - my parents split up when I was just past my 15th birthday, and to stay in the same school to do my exams it meant living with my nan for a couple of years before uni (in the end it worked out very well, i got a huge awakening into the real world (i helped out around the house and stuff) and was all the close to my nana/grandad for it).

so, what age did you move out of your parents?

And do you think you should have moved out sooner? later? What did you learn or wish you could go back and tell yourself?

(I wish I could tell myself to be easier on my grandparents from the start - I was quite a troublesome child and it took me a few months to realise that I couldn't shout and swear about curfews to my nan in the same way I'd been used to with mum. I regret being such a pain back then.)

18 to go to college, came back after a year and then finally left again when I was 26

I moved out when I was 24. My brother is still living at home and he is 40!!

18, to go to university. I came back for the odd spell of a few weeks at a time during uni holidays but once i graduated i moved to a shared flat in London.

At 17 I went to stay with my aunt. Had to go back to parents to sit my A levels, then left for good on my 18th birthday. Went from aunts to uni, stayed with her again some holidays, but mostly I was on my own. I have spent 1 night in my mums house, and 1 night in my dads house since then (21 yrs!) although dad comes to visit me quite often.
DS is 16 and chomping at the bit to move out whenever he gets the arse about things, usually when I refuse to give him more money or enable 18+ movies/games etc on the computer. He does his own laundry sometimes, but I do it if he puts it in the basket. He sorts his own room, and his own food when dd's are at their Dad's. He can and does occasionally clean the bathroom, but I have yet to get him to clean the windows. I think we will both be a bit sad and a bit relieved when he goes (hopefully to uni in a couple of years).

18 - bought my own house (with help of now dh)
also moved half way across the country

18, i wanted to move out sooner but didnt have anywhere to go so i just moved out for uni and then never went back (i mean as in some people move for uni but come back during holidays)

got married within a yr from leaving, and then lived with inlaws for 3 more years tho! again with that we actually wanted to move out sooner but they didn't want us to so we had major issues with it & eventually we just had to leave although they didnt "let" us

so eventually got our own place together at just before i had ds1(renting), and been able to buy our own place last yr when i was 25, dh 26 which i know is really lucky!

22, 3 months after meeting DH.

Bought my House at 19

Very different I suppose but I 'left' home at 11 to go to boarding school and never really felt like it was 'home' again. If I came back it was for a holiday and as such I didn't do laundry/washing up (mum doesn't like things done differently) it was always a bit difficult plus I would do things like go to America for 3 weeks of the summer with a friend who lived there. I went to uni at 18 bought my first flat at 21 and have rarely been back for longer than 3 days at a time since.

I know this can't compare with leaving to live independently at 15 but I do always feel that I haven't lived in the family home since I was quite young. Sorry if I've got the theme of the thread wrong too, but I could no more have imagined living at home again than flapping my wings and flying (fortunately I never had to)

18 as soon as I finished school.

26! I just had too good a life at home lol! Was independent within my parents home from about 17 though ie. own washing, ironing, shopping, cooking etc. I'm close to my parents and was happy at home. Lived there until I moved in with DP, now DH after 14 months of dating. He had his own place though so I often stayed over anyway before moving in officially.

18 when I left for uni. Never really moved back went back for the summer between my first and second year to work and as bf (now df) was living in home town, but slept ate and showered there and thats it. Df moved to the same place I was at uni the end of that summer, and eventually we moved in together. I could never live with my parents again.

Still here at 29 lol

Travelled at 20 to australia for a year by which point my parents had moved to dubai so came home with now ex partner and had our daughter so lived in their house as they was abroad.
Moved to australia in 2008 for nearly 3 years and got back last year to uk for a while so back living at parents as they still live in Dubai. i am lucky in they have no mortgage so i pay no rent and my dad pays all the bills.

I have plans to go back to oz as have Permanent residency but my parents are fully willing to buy me and dd our house of our outright but as i dont know what we are doing i am reluctant but have viewed some.

I am in a very lucky position and very grateful for it too.

17 to go to uni. Purposefully chose a uni far away so that I could leave home. I love my parents, but I was very independent and needed my own space. Also, I didn't have the happiest of childhoods because my parents have a very dysfunctional marriage so that was another reason to leave (they don't know I feel like this however). We get on well now though.

25. Didn't go to uni.

My mum always cooked tea and did my washing until I left I got up under my own steam but mum always made my lunch, I probably wouldn't have bothered eating otherwise

It did neither me (or mum for that matter) any favours whatsoever. I won't be so soft with my DDs.

Moved out for uni at 19, then came home a year later when I dropped out (). I'm 21 now and can't wait to move out for good... trying to decide between renting a flat in the next few months, or staying here for a year or two to save a deposit to buy.

17!

Moved 200 miles away.

Absolutely the right decision for me at the time.

Bought my own flat at 25- with help from a keyworker scheme. I was lucky, very few of my friends (all early/mid-30's) own their own homes- i'd never be able to do it now.

I moved out when I was 18 to go to uni. I definitely considered it moving out, took all my stuff and stayed in my uni city during holidays except for a week or so each Christmas. However, I then moved back with my parents for about 9 months when I was 25 after I came back from a few years of living abroad. I thought it would be really difficult as an adult to live together with my parents and thought they would be constantly on my back and treating me like a child, but it was actually quite nice mostly! Now I live in a flat shared with a friend. Can't afford to buy. I'm 26.

I was 17, moved in with my then dp and our 6 month old dd.

Almost 2 years to the day I left him with just the clothes I was wearing, back to my parents for 3 months while I saved for a deposit on a rented house.

Then back to my parents again 10 months later after my dd became very ill and needed round the clock care.

Moved out (hopefully for the last time!) A few months ago.

I was 23. Off to Drama College in London. I would have fallen to pieces any younger!

Moved out into a rented flat at 17, while still in yr 12. Bought first house at 18 after a-levels.

18 to the minute - I got mortgaged to the boyfriend I was going to be with for EVAR.

Then I went to University the following year and it all went to cock. Never went home though!

I moved out to live with a boyfriend at 17.
I came back just before I turned 18.

I moved out to live with a boyfriend at 18.
I moved back when I was 19.

I moved out (very temporarily - like a month!) to live with a friend when I was 19, then came back again.

I moved out again when I was 20 and met my now-ex-husband and haven't had to move back in since.

21 - when i went off travelling round the world but to be fair they'd lived abroad for the previous 2 years. So it's safe to say they left the family home before i did!