to ask you what you were doing at 24?

[jewelledpineapples1]

I've just turned 24 and my future seems so uncertain. I thought by this age I would have more of a career plan.

If you don't mind sharing, what were you at 24 and how different is that to where you are now?

At 24 I was pregnant with myself second baby. I met my husband at 18, went to uni and moved in with him, bought our first house at 20 while at uni and had our first child at 21. I graduated when my ds was 2 months old and then became a Sahm. We divorced at 25. I don’t regret any of it as I’ve always wanted to be a young Mum so it worked for me. Well always a Mum... I’m 37 now and expecting my 5th :)

I was in my FY2 and had 2 under 5.

I was a Registered Nurse running an acute medical war having qualified three years earlier.
I am now working in a very different job but one that was accessible only because of my early experiences and qualifications. I have returned (temporarily) to hands on care to help with the Covid situation. Once a nurse, always a nurse I guess?????

Happily single and delivering babies.

Pregnant with baby number 2 working in Tesco no idea what I wanted to do in life. Now I'm mid 30's went to uni at 30 got a 1st class degree and now working in the criminal justice sector quite enjoying life :) no rush :) just take your time

I was still with my current partner and working as a care assistant. We lived in a town I hated! I also drank alot and had bad MH issues.

Now at 32 still with DP and have 1 Dc, moved house but just been offered my dream home. Currently in the process of becoming a trained MH nurse. Still have bad days but mostly good.

OP your still young and have plenty of time to decide what you want to do. What's your interests? Decide what you want to do and grab it with both hands, life's to precious.

At 24 I had returned to university to do teacher training. I also visited Tokyo because my boyfriend at the time was working there. I also cheated on that boyfriend with my now husband. I'd been sharing a house previously in my hometown but stopped that, moved to Brighton and I had no house or home other than student digs and my mums house. I dropped my previous career plan in hr (which I'd done for 3 years) to be a teacher.

It was a massive changing period in my life!!

By the time I was 26 I was married and in a teaching job. I've been a teacher over 16 years and married for 15 with 3 kids. So those changes paid off!!

Parting, travelling and didn’t have a plan or a qualification to my name. Now I have a degree, a profession, a nice house and a family.

at 24 i had just broken up with a long term boyfriend, had just left uni, back living with my parents and couldn't find a job

at almost 30, i'm married, i have 3 beautiful children, i have my own house, i'm almost 6 years into my job, i'm happy

no way would me at 24 believe me if i told myself where i'd be by 30

Single mum on benefits at age 24, no prospects and the highest education level I had achieved was GCSE.

Ten years later. I have more DC, a stable relationship, I’m a homeowner, I have a degree and I’m working on a postgrad. I started and sustained my own business as a sole trader to a good level of income, and I’m financially solvent.

Best thing, I’m happy. Good luck OP.

I was travelling round New Zealand with my now DH. We knew we wanted to get married and have children, as we’d been together since we were 20, but knew we wanted to live our lives a bit first.
New Zealand was phenomenon and we can’t wait to take our DC to visit one day.
Personally, I’m glad we took the time to really enjoy ourselves before we settled down. We were so young.

Just started my PhD. Had a completely commitmentphobe bf of sorts, who I adored, and was going to save from himself. (I didn’t) . I wasn’t skint, but PhD scholarship and a bit of part time work didn’t stretch much beyond rent, food and the occassional curry. I absolutely loved those years.

Unsuitable bf and I eventually did part company after a couple of years. Met DH about 9 months later.

Pissing about in London, in a house share, clubbing lots and getting the night bus home at 4 am. I work with lots of people in their early twenties now and they seem so grown up, with mortgages and some have children but I was still a kid myself at 24. Have sensible life now 😁

It was 1997...I was going to raves, taking lots of recreational drugs, drinking & having sex with men you couldn't take home to your mum. I had a flat share, where I owned the flat, and it was brilliant! I had no money, and often survived for weeks on a bag of potatoes.

I'm now a very sensible 47 year old, married with 2 children, in a beautiful home.

I never, ever thought I'd have what I do now.

I had not long graduated , was married and pregnant and working as a corporate fundraiser BUT I was very much an anomaly amongst my friends who mostly got married and had kids in their early thirties.

Oh forgot about how it compares to now! still married and have a teenager and a younger one. Work part time from home.

At 24, I was working as an administration assistant for a programme within a youth offending service. I bought my first (and current) house alone. I live in the North West and got a very good price so this was easy to do alone (5% deposit at just over £4K).

The house had an unusable kitchen, old fashioned bathroom and awful garden.

I liked my job and at the time I thought it was a decent salary, and I guess I still think it is.

Within the past year, I had come out of an emotionally abusive relationship after I I found him cheating.

I'm now 30. I still live in the same house and now have almost £60k of equity in the property. I plan to do an extension to the house next year to make it a four bedroom house.

In the past six years, I've managed to pay for a new kitchen, a new bathroom and I've recently had the garden landscaped.

I now have a partner who I've been with for a few years and we have a lovely son who is 10 months old.

I work as a PA to a CEO now, earning £10k more than I was at age 24, which again may not be a lot for some, but allows me to live a nice life.

I enjoy my job. I could go further but I genuinely love what I do, so I'm in no rush for now.

Within the past six years, things have been great, and gone to pot, but I've always recovered, and life has always improved and got better.

I was in my FY2 and had 2 under 5.

Realised I was supposed to add where I am now. Mid thirties, happily married, still a junior doctor (almost where I want to be), with a few more kids and much happier despite poor health. Have moved cities a few times in there.

I was married, no kids, about to move from a city I loved (and still love) to a place where there was work. DH and I met in high school and married very young. He had a career path and I'd been unemployed for 9 months having left my PGDE after establishing teaching was absolutely not for me. Things weren't great. I desperately wanted children and felt useless not working.

I'm 35 in a few weeks, we're still married, now 11 miles from where we moved to, living in an awesome house, and have two kids and a dog. He is in the same workplace but several times promotoed and I work part time for a local family business and love it.

About to get my professional qualifications, Hating my job and wondering what on earth I was doing. Awful commute. Living with (then) bf and having a fab social life. Lots of fitness type / gym going things.

Working 7am-3pm shift in a petrol station Mon-Fri and delivering pizzas Fri night til 2am.

Clubbing on Saturdays.

Rented a studio flat, had biscuits for dinner and tea because I only earnt £112 a week and my rent was £70

Bought a motorbike, planned to travel the world, never did though, just a couple of countries.

Settling down or having a planned career wasn’t on my radar at all.
Enjoy your 20s freedom whilst you can !

At 24, I had been married for 2 years and expecting my first child who was born just before my 25th birthday. I had recently returned home from living abroad and was working in retail. Since then, I’ve been a SAHM and gone on to have another DC who is due to start school in September. I have also just completed my first year of an accountancy course and before coronavirus, I had just started looking for a job in that field. So that’s on hold for now. I’m 31, not a home owner yet and very little in savings but hopefully once I’m working we’ll be able that’s save a deposit.

In many ways, I’m actually glad I haven’t bought yet as we could be in a worse situation now if we had.

Please don’t worry if you’re not where you hoped you would be. Many of us aren’t. In some ways, I feel like I’m now just starting out. There’s no shame in that. I’m really looking forward to someday starting my accuracy career, buying our first home etc. I’m glad I have things to strive for and to look forward to!

I was newly separated with a three year old. I cleaned other people’s houses to pay for nursery school. Another life.

*to save a deposit
**accountancy career

Loads of typos sorry! I really should have previewed that

At 24 I was a mum of 4, had been married for 8 years and had 3 jobs! (Cleaning for a friend, looking after horses on our farm, and a special needs teaching assistant part time)

Now I am 38, a mum of 6 and a primary school teacher (NQT)