The first time your parents walk into your home unannounced is fine; the seventh and eighth time? That's a bit of a problem. The first rule I required when we all moved in is that you have to knock if you're going into the other person's space. Our time in our homes is private, and no one wants to be ambushed by something they weren't expecting. Plus, my husband and I both work from home and can't afford to have calls interrupted unexpectedly.
Even though having pets became somewhat of the new craze for Gen Z and millennials who knew they couldn't afford to have human children, that's seemingly become too expensive on top of housing costs. Some people even report staying in a marriage or relationship longer than they wanted because they couldn't afford housing plus a divorce or to live on their own.
In 2013, after three years of living abroad and backpacking around the world, my partner, Sam, and I returned home to Australia without a cent to our names. We'd literally spent everything we had on our adventures and owned nothing but the clothes in our suitcase when we stepped off the plane. I didn't want to move back to the city we were living in before our travels, as I grew up there, and I was worried it would feel like a step backward.
