Growing up is hard to do..

Soooo…remember when I made a bunch of life and fitness goals for 2012?  Well, I need to retract one of them.

I had originally planned to move out of the nest this year, but I recently had a change of heart.   I realized that I should live at home a little longer.  I have been saving and calculating for months, and I figured I could afford to move out by May.  I even told my friend that I would be able to move in with her when her lease ended.  

One night,  after a chat with my dad, I totally had a change of heart/epiphany/ whatever you want to call it.  I realized that just because I could move out, didn’t mean that I should.  I knew  I could afford it, but I would literally be spending every penny that I made.   My entire paycheck would be going to rent, student loans, food, and utilities.  That didn’t leave much money for fun, and I like fun.

I had to weight my options; Living on my own and scraping by, or living at home comfortably, but with less freedom.

In the end, I decided to stay at home for at least another year.  I was sick about my decision and really scared to tell my friend.  I didn’t want to let her down, but I knew I had to make the right decision for myself.

So, as a way of coping with living at home, I’ve decided to put together a list of perks.  I’m trying to look on the bright side!

1.        Dinner is usually waiting for me when I get home from work.  This is a big perk for someone who doesn’t really know how to cook dinner.  Breakfast and lunch I can handle, but dinner is a whole other ball game.

2.       In-house Laundry (sans rain boots) - When I lived in an apartment during college, we did have our own laundry in the basement, but the problem was that our basement flooded….alot!  9 times out of 10, you had to wear your rain boots while doing laundry.  That’s really not fun, especially if you drop a clean sock in a puddle…

3.       Not paying utilities!  While living in that apartment, we  had to pay for our heating, which was really expensive in the cold Vermont winter.  We would put the heat down really low, and sit on the couch in sleeping bags to keep warm while watching TV.  I really don’t miss that!

4.       A fully stocked fridge (most of the time) .  Food shopping is not fun!  I really need to appreciate this time in my life where food shopping is not part of my weekly errands.

And there you have it!  If anyone reading this is in the same boat, I hope this helps.  Like I said, I wrote this as a way to cope with staying at home for another year.  It does suck sometimes, but I really think it’s the smart thing for me to do right now.  Now I'll just appreciate it more when I do get to move out.

This post was inspired by the pork roast, baked potato, and green beans waiting for me after work today. :)