Were you forced to move back home due to the pandemic, like losing a job or getting your hours reduced, or even having to do from homeschooling? You aren’t alone, about 53% of young adults have moved back home with their parents or relatives.
I was among those people that were forced to move back home. I had completed school but didn’t have a job lined up and my living situation was also tricky and by the end of it all, I was forced to move back home.
It’s not easy when you are an adult to live under the roof of your high school and middle school self and it’s not easy because sometimes people are forced to move from the bustling city life filled with a social scene, parties, concerts, restaurants. To a sleepy town that the lights and everyone else is asleep by 9:00 p.m.
Definitely not the way that many of us envisioned our 20’s. However, because of the economy that we are currently in, we are not alone many people have had to make the transition.
Having been in this situation for about three months I thought about offering some words of wisdom and sharing my experience with you all.
I would love it if you comment below YOUR OWN experience with moving back home and how that has been for you and also add some words of encouragement to others, this is a supportive community where we are all learning from each other.
These are 5 things that I would recommend to anyone who is moving back home to keep in mind and before they know they can be better off because of it.
01. HAVE A ROUTINE OR ROUTINES
In the beginning, it was so easy to wake-up early and apply to jobs and follow the same routines that I had when I lived on my own. But little by little I began to lose momentum with the Holidays and just this feeling of being overwhelmed.
I have noticed that when you do create routines it’s easier to feel motivated and not lose track of trying to achieve your goals and getting back on your feet so that you can move out of your parent’s house and achieve your goals.
When you create routines that you had before moving back home you will get more done.
Did you guys ever go back home for the holidays and if you were a college student you would take work to do over the holidays but never got to it? Yeah, well that is the exact same feeling that I’ve had for the last couple of months since being back home.
It’s hard to want to study (currently studying to take my real estate exam) and because places are closed or do have coffee shops where I could study it’s been hard not just moving back home, but moving from city life to small-town life.
When you create routines like morning routines or night routines it makes it easier to achieve goals and keep your motivation.
02. SETTING BOUNDARIES
It can be hard to live back in your home town or with your parents because you aren’t the same person anymore. There are certain things that you did that are different from when you used to live at home.
One of them for me was working out more and getting really into fitness and that can be hard in an environment where there is pizza or burgers regularly and you want to keep a healthy lifestyle but the temptation is there.
Other times it can be about setting boundaries with your family. For instance, if you are the older sibling growing up you had responsibilities of taking care of your younger siblings and since moving out, you didn’t really have that responsibility.
It can be hard moving back home and having that again of having to take care of your siblings when you are an adult with plans and things to do and having to “ask” for permission from your parents somehow feels wrong.
From the beginning communicating that you have certain boundaries and learning to respect those from each other. That goes both ways like you can’t expect to cook for yourself or do your laundry because you are an adult now, but also they can’t treat you like a child because your no longer a child.
03. KNOW THAT ITS NOT FOREVER, IT’S TEMPORARY
When weeks and months have passed and you still live with your parents or things are not good at home, it can feel like being stuck in a bad situation and like it’s going to be forever. And that is currently not the case.
This is just temporary and it can be hard.
Use this time to focus on making yourself better and setting good habits (habit article) so that you can be set on your goals when you do move out.
I think that it is difficult when you see that other people are living your dream life on social media and it can feel defatting that you have to move back home.
This is why it’s so important to note that it’s not going to last forever.
04. TRY TO KEEP BUSY
When you’re focused on a plan of how to get yourself back on your feet that in itself distracts you from certain situations.
I know that it can be hard when at times it can be hard to even get out of bed when we spend so much time on the computer doing homework, on zoom calls all day, etc.
I talked about how I started the small habit of going on walks every day (or most days)
This has helped me take breaks from being on the computer all day or being at home all day and that has done wonders for my mental health and my anxiety.
Maybe you want to take up a sport like basketball or tennis by doing this you not only get healthy endorphins but also taking a break from a busy life and doing little things that make you happy.
05. USE THIS TIME TO SAVE MONEY
The Number One reason young people move back home is because of their finances. It’s difficult to afford a place without roommates or if you do have roommates it can be hard to find a place at times.
For many, it’s a financial thing more than anything. This is why many are opting to move back home.
Use this time to save as much money as you can. What you would have been spending on eating out or going out with friends can be an emergency fund that you can build for your future such as a deposit for a home, emergency savings for 6-12 months so that if anything were to happen to your job again it would affect you.
One of the benefits of moving back home is being able to save up money. There are so many statistics that point to this, that many young people are being financially smart and moving back from college or even living at home while in college.
Many in their early 20’s or even younger in their late teens see that staying home can benefit them in the long run.
Know that this is completely okay and that many of us are going through some tough times right now and there is no shame in having to move back home to make it.
I wanted to write this article because it can be hard to move back home after moving out after living on your own for so long and learning how to do things on your own for yourself and when you move back home it can be hard on you and your parents or even sibling relationship.
I started this blog to talk about real topics and real struggles that happen to us millennials and to have a supportive platform that is honest about the struggles of expecting something and then having to move back home and there are some challenges with that.
