Tips for Moving Back Home With Your Parents

Tips for moving back home

• Establish some ground rules. Sit down and talk with your new roommates/landlords about guest policies, as well as living arrangements.

• Expect to pay rent. If your parents don’t directly ask you to pay rent, you should offer to pay it. This way, you will eventually need a steady source of income, which should act as a motivator to get you moving. Also, you can offer to pay for groceries and utilities.

• Stay busy. If you are unemployed, spend as much time as you can looking for a job. In your free time, get out of the house. Do whatever you can to avoid intruding on your parents’ lives, but at the same time, offer to help out around the house. Your parents don’t want you lounging around all day on their couch, and neither should you.

• Give yourself a deadline to move out. It doesn’t have to be set in stone because you can’t predict the future, but have a good idea of how long it’ll take you to find a job and/or a new place.

• Be independent. When somebody moves back home with Mom and Dad, it is common to revert back to teenage habits. Stay on top of your life and avoid letting your parents do everything for you. Remember that you are an adult, and remind your parents to treat you accordingly.

• Pack light. You don’t want to bring an overwhelming amount of stuff to your parents’ house. Sure, you may have nowhere else to put it, but perform a quick assessment of everything you own. Is there anything you can sell to make some extra cash? Is there anything you can give away or store at a friend’s place temporarily?

• Do not ask your parents for money. You must be self-sufficient, so don’t rely on Mom and Dad for everything. You may be living in their home, but do not expect things to go back to the way they were when you were younger.

A step in the right direction