I live at home, I'm 21.
So does my brother at 25...and my "adopted" brother at 24 (who was recently laid off, but still gives my mother part of his unemployment checks for rent)...
If we did not, my mother would lose the house.
We each give her literally as much as we can out of our paychecks each week so that she can keep the house she loves. WE are the ones to always bring up that some day, we are going to leave. (Me mainly, though...she keeps bringing it up that she'd knew I'd be the first to go.)
She's too proud to leave our house. It's where she raised me, my brother, and a LOT of our friends who are now apart of our family practically. It's the place she fought to keep her children in the same school district so her kids didn't have to move to a new school while her divorce was going on, and her entire world was being torn from her. I can't blame her for wanting to stay here. This is the only thing left that is HERS.
So we help with that as much as we can. We still live paycheck to paycheck some weeks. There are always things going wrong, cars needing to be fixed, the house falling apart because it's old, someone getting sick, losing my medical benefits, accidents, etc...but that's life. I've always payed for everything I've ever had. Once I turned 16, and got my first job, I was paying for my own food and my own clothes. (Also, hand-me-downs became a happy and appreciated thing REALLY quickly. Such as my car, which was my grandfather's, and all the furniture I've ever had.)
To save money, I recently quit smoking. I stopped going out, and I stopped buying beer. I stopped eating out. Most kids at 21 would not do that. Most kids at 21 would be out almost every single night blowing their entire paycheck at the bar. I only go to the bar now if I have five extra dollars at the end of the week for myself, and even if I do, sometimes I don't even spend it because I know I need to save in case of emergencies.
My brother is the type of MAN (yes, he is a MAN) that makes sure my mother has the bills covered when their due, and if he doesn't, he lays out extra. He's the type of MAN that wakes up early when it snows, shovels, and cleans off ALL of our cars (yes, including mine). He's the type of MAN who pays for absolutely everything he has ever wanted or needed. He pays for his bills, and helps my mother with hers if she needs it. If someone were to turn my brother away because he lived with his family still at home, I'd literally laugh in their face. There's plenty of 30+, 40+ "men" out there who would not do half the shit my brother does, and really are just grown boys. He doesn't need to be asked to do these things, and he would probably be a lot happier living on his own or with one of his best friends in a house, but he doesn't. Because he is a man, and that's how a man takes care of his family.
So excuse us for living at home, but at least we know responsibility, and we're not mooching off of our mother. We do what we need to, and we take care of our shit.
