[DeltAlum]

As a side note, I looked at a very small studio apartment in Manhattan (maybe 20x20 max) with bathroom and kitchenette for $1500/mo.

Back to the topic, parts of this will not be popular, but here goes.

First, after finding my first TV job immediately after college, I never lived at home again. Mrs. DeltAlum spent about a month after graduation at home planning our wedding and never went back home. Nor did any of her siblings.

However, our middle daughter had an apartment for a while and then came home for a while. And, our oldest came home for a very short time after a divorce.

Neither stayed long because we enforced some rules on them. They weren't nearly as strict as they had been in high school, for instance, but we felt, and I still do, that if they wanted consideration from us, we deserved some from them. (Neither paid rent, which might have changed things somewhat)

The one that was the worst was, while not trying to impose any kind of curfew, simply asking them to let us know when they expected to get home at night. Granted that they were both in their 20's, the problem is (was) one of being awakened by the door opening, etc. It's a heck of a lot easier to roll over when you hear it (and we did hear it), look at the clock and say to yourself -- Oh, that's Number One, than worry about a burgler, etc.

The other side of that is waking up at 3:00 AM and not having heard the door open and wondering if they had been in an accident. You simply can't turn off your parenting instincts simply because your kids are "of age."

In many ways, it can be a "lose, lose" situation, but again, it's a matter of consideration.