The allure of your mum’s Sunday roast… the cheap/non-existent rent… after graduation, there’s a LOT of temptation to ditch your new-found freedom and retreat back to comfy nest of your childhood home.
But once the post-exam wind-down is over and it’s time to think about careers and real life again, that safe haven with your parents can be tough – especially after those blissful uni years full of freedom.
So here’s the reasons why you shouldn’t move home after uni. Don’t say we didn’t warn you…
Expectation: I’ll get snapped up for work RIGHT AWAY so I won’t even have to be at home much anyway.
Reality: Unless you’ve devoted hours of your final year to applying for every graduate scheme you can, it’s unlikely you’re going to waltz out of uni and straight into that dream job. Soz. Which means you’re also going to be at home a lot more than you’d bargained for, probably with a parent hovering at close range to ask how many jobs you’ve applied for today/if you’re planning on changing out of your PJs at any point. NOT the duvet-day dream you’d hoped for. You’ll also probably be a lot further away from the big city and its career opportunities, which means missing out on roles because you can’t get to interviews quickly.
Expectation: It might be a nice opportunity for us all to bond again, like when I was a teenager!
Reality: Sure, spending extra time with your family is nice. But so is being able to come and go without telling anyone, staying out as late as you want without the fear of waking someone up at 3am, and not being told off for snacking just before dinner. In truth, your life has changed A LOT in the last three years, and your new experience of being an independent adult might make for a really difficult adjustment when you move back in (and your parents still treat you like you’re 17).
Expectation: I’m gonna be ROLLING in disposable cash to do whatever I like, because as if my parents will charge me any rent…
Reality: If you’re very lucky, your parents might be happy for you to live at home for free – but that sense of guilt will soon catch up with you, my friend. Your parents will probably get pretty annoyed if you doss around all day and treat their place like your own personal hotel and will expect some compensation – which means someone’s bound to be nagging you to do chores, do your own washing, and make your own dinner. A far cry from those lovely uni days of being able to let laundry accumulate for two weeks, eat at any hour of the day, and dodge the cleaning for as long as humanly (and hygienically) possible.
Sure, you might save some money. But you’ll be missing out on *spending *that money in all manner of memory-making, fun ways with your friends: the rooftop yoga, tasting menus at fancy restaurants, and the spontaneous post-work drinks and dancing. They’re probably not going to feel the same while you’re watching them via Instagram.
Expectation: Okay, it might be a bit of a drag but I’ll get to see my friends at the weekends. Which makes it all worth it, right?
Reality: A lot of your friends might come back straight after uni, but they’re bound to slowly start moving away once they get jobs lined up. Soon they’ll be all settled in to their swanky new city flatshares, drinking espresso martinis on a Thursday night with all their new work friends while you’re left with a bad case of FOMO on the way back to your parents’ house, waiting for the signal failure just outside Watford to be fixed. Sorry, the truth hurts. Oh, and have you checked out how much peak hour trains cost these days?
Not to mention that on those rare times you *do *get to stay in London, you end up having to dutifully succumb to the discomfort of a friend’s sofa/floor/broken blow-up mattress yet again. Sigh.
Expectation: The food is going to be AMAZING.
Reality: Fair enough. You’ve upgraded from a fridge filled with mouldy baked beans, gone-off milk and Sainsbury’s basics vodka. Go and enjoy that smorgasbord of fine fruit, an endless supply of bacon and some deluxe cheeses (with M&S crackers). We won’t take this one away from you.
However, if you can do without the sourdough sandwiches and want to avoid a life of missed career opportunities, parental rows and lost freedom, why not try flatsharing? We’ve got over 90,000 rooms and flatmates waiting. Find yours, and be free!
