Are you a mummy’s boy forever?

Grim statistics released show that millions of twenty-somethings are forced to move back in with our parents after graduation.

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According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) , in 2013 more than 3.3 million young adults between the ages of 20 and 34, were still residing in their family home.

That’s 26% of that age group. Of those, Northern Ireland has the highest proportion at 36%.

That’s a lot of mummy’s boys and daddy’s girls.

Why bother washing up when mummy and daddy can do it for you?

Both the ONS and National Housing Federation say the grim trend of living at home is due to bad economy and lack of affordable housing. In other words rather than waving their kids back in through the front door, parents are having to deal with us using their hot water and hogging the TV well into our late twenties. Grim.

ONS researchers even suggest that living at home could cause a decrease in fertility rates, due to a delay in settling down with a partner and choosing to have children once you’ve moved out of your parents house. Which makes sense, because there are some things that are just too weird to do at mummy and daddy’s house, and bringing someone home for happy procreation while they’re in the next room is one of them.

It all looks a bit bleak, doesn’t it?

This got me thinking, is there a huge issue with this?  Should Northern Irish students resist the urge to go home every weekend? Will I have lowered my aims and expectations if I too choose to move back in with my parents after graduation? It’s all very nice to envisage myself moving to London into a swanky apartment decorated according to my wishes,where I spend my days sipping cappuccinos from my very own coffee machine and reveling in my new found independence.

Personally, I’ve never been a home bird.I’ll admit that now, after 3 years at University enduring Tesco value pasta with tomato sauce, going to bed in gear equipped for the Antarctic and all because your loan is on it’s last legs,  every trip back to my parents home fills with me with delight. It all becomes quite comfortable.  Free electricity, free full fridge, free rent, free ample water supply for baths,free internet, free TV…emphasis on FREE!

Hey mum you don’t mind washing my Tab t-shirt do you? For the next ten years?

In an age where tuition fees have risen and employment is in big cities where living costs are high, can we feasibly fly the nest in in our 20’s and 30’s? Dave McIlroy whose family home is in London, graduates this year from Queens deciding that “London is an amazing place full of opportunities, but experiencing them is a bit limited whilst living with mum. Cheaper, sure, but I’ll be moving out ASAP!”

Grim as it sounds, we may have to be grown ups after graduation and worry about the economy sorting itself before we can live the cool, independent fantasy life we all dream of having in our twenties.

But if I have to for a little while, I’ll definitely pick mum’s homemade baking over an overpriced flat in which I’m not allowed to put up different curtains or own a cat. Or I could just put off graduating forever.

Money really does matter after all.

Seeking: cool flat, rents for less than 12p per month