Money...ugh. When will I ever make enough money to be on top of it all?

I just turned 20 this year, move dout of my parents into an apartment with my boyfriend, and have a steady job that I plan to keep for a few years.
I am not going to lie, it's tough! I have lots of responsibilities and bills and sometimes I wish I could just go back home and sponge off my parents like a few people I know.
But I know in the long run this will make my a stronger more independent person and I am definatly learning a lot from it.

The way I see it I could:
a) Live at home, go to school full-time (have my parents pay) , not have a job, and sponge off them. Or,
b) Live at home, go to school part-time and work part-time (still have my parents pay for school) but be able to save some money. Or,
c) Live in MY home, work full-time, figure out what I really want to do, go to ngiht school (my parents will help me out), and still pay for everything myself.

So, I picked C, and even though it's so hard and I get real down sometimes I think it's the best choice for me.

I wish my decision to be happy didn't affect my relationship with my sister. Due to her religion, she doesn't agree with me moving in with my fiance. It's not like I'm shacking up with him, he's the man I love and chose to spend my life with! and she refuses to come over to our place, beacause she doesn't know how to *explain it* to my neice & nephews....which is who I CARE about seeing. Her and her husband can go fly a kit for all I care. It's okay though....the kids know they have kooky parents. You would think that because I' FAMILY that she would consider being a little happy for me. this blows.

ugh. I feel your pain ashcwebb...good choice though. And I would love to be on top of money, but the wedding is juicing us out.

I think money is an issue for most people-young and old and one that always rears it's head down the line.

Sometimes I get mood swings like I'm hitting puberty again.

And unfortunately, I'm not finding college much more pleasant than high school (the worst four years of my life). My peers are more intelligent and mature, but I feel the same.

I'm having a quarter-life crisis.

I feel all of ya'll! It's good to know that I'm NOT alone!

ugh, puberty...why does it have to suck so much?

My own independence. No matter how hard I try to do things my way, overprotective family will be there to butt in and tell me a better way to do things.

What a girl to do?

Growing pains - a steady relationship and a stable job. I'm enjoying all the fun of singleness and floating around from fun and different jobs (contract work is the nature of my biz) but eventually I think I need some stability or I'll go crazy!

my "growing pains" mainly stem from the fact that i'm at the age now where all of my close friends are married and starting to have families. i'm still single, with no prospects on the horizon, so it's been hard to cope with having no one around (b/c they're all, rightfully, living their own lives). i want the best for them; but it's still hard.

Money!

My friend is eighteen and just had a baby, and she's planning on getting married in October.
That's what did it for me. It really made me realize that, "Oh my God. We're still so young, but we're slowly becoming adults." It's so weird to think that we're moving on to the next stages in our lives. It doesn't even seem real.

the older i get, the tests just get more difficult. thank goodness confidence comes with age

I'm 25 and I feel like I'm caught in between still being a kid and being an adult. I'm past the point where I want to party all the time and I enjoy the responsibility I've gained, but my boyfriend of 3 1/2 years wants to get married and I don't know if I'm ready to be THAT adult right now. I feel like I'm finally starting to figure out what I want out of life and what is really important to me. It's a nice stage to be in, after the turmoil and drama of my early 20s, but I don't want to jump too quickly into the next stage.

Bouts of shyness. I have not outgrown that yet.

I grew up in Cali and moved to the east coast to go to college. I didn't realize that might mean I'd never move back and it's looking like it more and more. My job moves with me, because I work from home.

So I feel like right now I'm dealing with this issue of, where do I want to live? I mean, right now I'm okay where I am, but I'm thinking of buying a house. But do I really want to do that if I don't want to stay here long term? On one hand, I'm so sick of moving every year or two, from apt. to apt. On the other, I don't want to settle down somewhere that isn't my ideal place.

Jenintx, I feel the same! Most of my best friends are married. In one case, I'm close friends with the husband AND wife. I know I should go out more and meet new people, but with who? everyone's at home with their husband or boyfriend. and many saturday nights, the easiest thing to do is just call them to hang out! We go to dinner, see a movie, etc. I end up having a fantastic time with my married friends, but at the same time I didn't really try very hard to meet any new people. It's a wierd place to be in.
I really fight the emotion of thinking "what's wrong with me" and "why am i such an isolated freak of nature who can't find a boyfriend?" but i know those are negative thoughts and are only self-fulfilling. i try to just keep going with the flow and staying postive! it'll happen one day for me.

I'm feeling a lot like I'm stuck between a kid and an adult. I've spent two months without a job, and I'm tired of living off my parents. I'm going to grad school in the fall, and I have a a summer job lined up abroad. I'm tired of looking and waiting, and it's hard that all my friends have careers. So, I feel like a kid in that respect, except that I'm in a very serious four year relationship, while they're still into the bar scene. I'm stuck in between.

I feel like I'm falling behind my peers, most of whom have already graduated and are working full-time.

I've delayed my university graduation by 3 years due to being depressed and failing subjects. I'm so stressed about my future job prospects due to my abysmal academic performance.

I'm still painfully shy and lack a lot life experience since I still live with my mum.

I torn between wanting to move out once I am employed full-time to become more independent and staying with my mum to help with the mortgage and look after her.

I'm graduating in a year and scared sh*t at the thought of finding work in my chosen field (graphic design) and paying back upwards of $70,000 of student loans. I'm 21 and in my first (and only, ever, if things go well) serious relationship, but that's not a growing pain so much as a solution to them. I think I'd be much worse off emotionally if I didn't have my boyfriend.