[redpoint5]

No, hemorrhaging money isn't a strategy for success, it's a strategy for hemorrhaging money. If you're not fixing up the house while you live in it, you're certainly not fixing it up when you aren't confronted by it constantly.

I'd live with my folks so long as I wasn't pursuing a family of my own because it saves a ton of money and we mutually benefit each other. My 20 year old GF thought it immature of me at 22 to still be living with them. Both my parents were around though, and my sister didn't have special needs. That girlfriend only had a mom though, and her young brother was severely autistic. She achieved her goal of becoming a nurse and is married with children now. Ran into her in a barn dance in my small town recently, which was exciting and tough at the same time. Not regretful kind of tough, just my feelings towards people never change despite a change in relationship status.