Like many pandemic graduates, my young adult life started not with a bang, but with a whimper.
There was no big celebration, just a diploma picked up from the school office and a new job as an associate editor at a Charlotte-based digital media company.
I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in December 2020. My lease, signed with four housemates, ran until the following summer. For the first half of 2021, I worked remotely in the same house I’d lived in during my first semester of senior year. Professional life wasn’t much different from my life as a student, but I was content.
When the lease ended, I was faced with three choices: move to Charlotte in anticipation of when my workplace returned to in-person work, find new housing in Chapel Hill, or move back home.
At that time, COVID vaccines had been rolled out, but the pandemic wasn’t over. I didn’t want to move to a new city under those circumstances. With most of my friends leaving Chapel Hill, staying felt pointless. Moving home was the cheapest and easiest option. I took it.
The savings added up, but I was languishing
I moved into my old room and shared meals with my parents, just like I’d done before college. I worked from home, writing and editing articles about personal finance.
My parents didn’t charge me for rent or food. But, I helped out around the house and covered any personal expenses, like my phone bill and miscellaneous purchases.
With no rent or bills, and student loan payments paused due to COVID, I saved roughly three-quarters of my income. I invested some of that money and kept the rest in a high-yield savings account.
But while my savings grew, my personal life languished. My parents were loving but often treated me like the kid I used to be, not the adult I’d become. After four years of independence during college, that was hard for me to adjust to.
I was also lonely. St. Louis was my hometown, but I had no community there. My friends were scattered across the country, and pandemic restrictions made it hard to meet new people.
I knew I didn’t want to stay in St. Louis long-term. Building a life there felt pointless since I planned to leave once the pandemic ended, but I didn’t know when that would be.
Moving to Charlotte was the fresh start I needed
After eight months of limbo, I finally found the motivation to leave home when my workplace reopened for hybrid work. With my parents’ support, I moved to Charlotte in February 2022.
When I left home, I had about $15,000 saved. That money was invaluable in kickstarting my new life, which came with a surprising amount of upfront costs.
I had no problem paying for my apartment’s security deposit and first month’s rent. When I couldn’t find a suitable car due to the 2022 car shortage, I could up my budget and keep the monthly payment manageable with a higher down payment. I felt comfortable buying supplies for the apartment without second-guessing every expense. I even had several thousand dollars left over for an emergency fund.
I didn’t spend extravagantly, but it was incredibly freeing to know I could pay for the things I needed — now and in the future, thanks to my emergency fund — without going into debt.
Starting my young adult life without credit card debt and with a financial buffer made everything less stressful.
Was it worth it?
I’m incredibly privileged — and grateful to my parents — to have had the choice to return home while working full-time. Not everyone has the chance, and not everyone has the choice. I was also lucky to land a job upon graduation, a privilege many pandemic graduates didn’t have.
But was moving home worth it?
From my personal finance journalist’s perspective, unequivocally yes. The money I saved set me up for long-term financial stability and made my first year in Charlotte so much easier.
From a personal perspective, it’s complicated. Those months at home weren’t exactly the happiest time, but I don’t regret them. They taught me that in order to build a life that made me happy, I needed to stop taking the cheap and easy way out.
The year after I moved to Charlotte was one of the best in my life. My expenses ballooned, but I had freedom, community, and a better relationship with my parents despite the distance — all things worth more to me than money.
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