I was 24 maybe, 2011. My mom was moving to JC to a one-bedroom and so I got the boot. Was making maybe 40k, thinking it was great. Moved in with a friend, paid $700 a month, but also took on other bills associated with living alone and 40k went from seeming great to not so great, so decided I needed to stop half-assing my work and start whole-assing it. Moved into another place, two roommates in a 3BR in New Brunswick. Saved more. 2014 came and I bought my home, met my now wife, etc. etc.

Had fun living with roommates. Had fun before I had my kids. Have fun now with kids, but it's a shitload more work, but also incredibly rewarding.

I will let my kids stay with me long enough to get financially comfortable. I won't force them out (unless God forbid they get hooked on drugs, and then you can't enable them) and leave them to financial instability. I was fortunate enough to get my house in 2014, when prices were low, my initial mortgage was at 4.25%, and has since come down even further. Just absolutely lucky and I try to not take it for granted, so my goal is to set my kids up as well as I can so they don't have to take on unnecessary stress, because stress is a killer.