<prompt> Human: Hey all. Ill start off by giving a back story of how my life got so twisted and messed up and how it led me to the place I am currently in. I would really appreciate any of your help and hopefully after you hear my story, I can get some positive meaning and advice out of this whole experience. So here goes:I am very social and outgoing person. I have plenty of friends and have never had trouble being happy. I dont feel depressed or down on myself about anything usually.Now these traits of mine sound great, which I believe they are, but over time some of these overly social characteristics of mine led me down a dark path of abusing drugs an alcohol. Throughout college I would say I had a pretty good handle on my partying, and I never really had a problem abusing drugs.Fast forward to when I graduate. After I moved back home and started hanging out with old friends who hadnt amounted to much, and not surprisingly were addicted to opiate pain killers. I knew what opiates were and I knew the addictive potential. I lost all self control as one day turned into two and everything just snow balled, until I found myself being and addict as well.So for three years I hid my addiction from my family and friends as best I could. My bad habits turned into financial bad habits and my addiction caused me to run up personal debt. For some reason I just didnt care. I know it was the grip opiates had on my mind and I just didnt care at all. I blew my money. I closed myself in a shell and just shut myself out from the world.Long story short, all things come to an end and thank god it was not my life. My friends had noticed that I was messed up one night and got my parents involved. They moved me out of my living situation, got me sober, and I am currently still living with them trying to get my finances in order that I ruined over the course of three years.Honestly, It has been the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I am so thankful for my family and friends helping me kick this bullshit habit I never wanted to begin with.I have never felt better and am so motivated to just pay off this freaking debt I am in. Im willing to do whatever it takes, be that maintaining a strict budget, or getting a second job.So here is the dilemma that I am struggling with now that I am clean, sober, and determined to turn my life around.I got addicted to pain killers right out of college and never really learned the skills necessary to live a productive life and take care of personal my personal matters as a sober functioning adult. I realize that this was because of my addiction. Now that I am sober, I want to try again and figure out how to make my life work on my own. My parents on the other hand dont feel the same.They feel like I should continue living with them until my debts are paid off, I guess in order to allow me to pay off the most amount of money as quickly as I can. Although I am very thankful for this, I do not see it as beneficiary to molding me into the true adult I want to become. I feel like this was all my mistake and that I brought it upon myself. Therefore it is up to me to work my ass off until I get out of this situation.It is hard living with my parents for many reasons. For one, I work with them. So basically, I am around them 247 which at time can be very frustrating. Two, because I am a single adult who recently discovered a drive and mental state I never knew existed in me. I am motivated to find a girlfriend, make more money, basically just work work work until I fix this because I truly want it. I feel like I cant do those things living with my parents.To make matters worse I actually just met a girl that I think is absolutely perfect, and I just feel so ashamed to tell her I live with my parents when I know that I can succeed this second time around. I havent told her my whole story yet, and I fully intend to, but its just so new that I dont want to drop the whole I am a recovered drug addict and live with my parents story just yet. I will soon, but Id rather my story be to her that I turned my life around and kicked my bs habits and am living the right way.So basically I am struggling with the internal need to start my life over on my own terms and kick ass doing it. Or continue the easy route of living with my parents, while feeling down on myself about it. What do you guys think I should do?I know what I need to do. I know how to get there. I make enough money to live comfortably on my own, while still paying debt. I know that temptations will always be there with me being on my own, but I know that the life I lived before brought me to a place that was hell. I NEVER want to go back to that place. Especially after getting sober allowed me to realize that I can do better, and allowed me to meet such an incredible woman. I WANT THISHere is a breakdown of my personal finances:My income monthly comes out to 2905 after taxes I have the ability to earn 400-800 extra a month umpiring baseball. Also, I am looking for a new job that hopefully A. I am more happy at and B. pays betterI have 5200 in credit card debt at 12.9 interestI have 7377 in credit card debt at 7.9 interestI have 14695 in student loan debt at 6.8 interest Personal loan of 16,868 10.99I have made a budget that I can include in the discussion, and can live on my own now that I am sober and in the correct frame of mind.What do you guys think?  <response>: Id break your desire to move out of your parents house into two buckets1. You feel the need to prove to yourselfthe world that youve grown up and you equate living on your own to being grown up. What I would tell you, is that by getting sober AND being able to pay off your debts, youve grown up. It doesnt really matter where you live - you will have accomplished far more than anyone else at your age by doing those two things. Who cares where you live2. You are sick of living with you parents because you spend 247 with them.Lets tackle 1 first to show why you ABSOLUTELY SHOULD STAY WITH YOUR PARENTS. Ill make this simple, lets just assume you have 1,000 of monthly expenses living with your parents hopefully you far have less than this. That leaves with you with 2,000 to pay off your debts. You have 44,000 in debt. Ill say youll pay on average 300 in interest on a monthly basis, leaving you with 1700 to pay down principal. That means you can pay down your principal in about 26 months a bit over two years.NOW, lets say you move out on your own. Lets say living on your own adds 1,000 to your monthly expenses you can do it for less, you can do it for more, just keeping this simple. Now all of a sudden, instead of paying 1700 monthly to your principal youre paying 700. That means youre now at 55 months or so. You can be done in a bit more than 2 years by living with your folks, or 4.5 years by living on your own. You can even do better by working that umpire job, and limiting your personal expenses. If you plow 3000 into your payments, you could be done in 16 months!On 2, sobriety is a daily battle. If you live with your parents AND work a second job, youll have fewer distractions then youve ever had and it makes it easier. Your parents clearly care for you, and while it is tough to live with them, it will be good for you personally. Getting a new job not working with them, might help even more.My conclusion - LIVE AT HOME, PAY OFF YOUR DEBTS. The new girl will understand, and if she doesnt, she wasnt long for this world anyway. You also have the advantage of having your highest interest debt being with the smallest balance. Tackle that 5,200 one with gusto, then I would tackle the next credit card even though the personal loan is more expensive, then I would work on the personal loan, and finish with the student loan...Good luck - keep us updated 