If you’re like me, you probably got a rude awakening when you moved out from home and into your own place. Lately, I’ve really started to realize all the things my parents did that I took advantage of, or didn’t even realize that they did at the time.

1. Working Over 40 Hours a Week

Seriously, I didn’t realize this one would be so hard, but it is killer sometimes. The work part of this equation isn’t even the hardest part. It’s doing all of it, plus coming home to cook, clean, and everything else that needs to be done. Yep, definitely not as easy as it looked. Plus, after they got off work they ran us here, there, and everywhere. When I get off work at 5, literally all I want to do is go crawl in the bed or lay on the couch and watch TV.

2. Paying Bills

Bills seriously suck. You work so hard, finally get your paycheck and then *poof* it’s gone. I never really understood why on my parent’s pay day we couldn’t just go do what we wanted because, “Hey, you just got paid!” Now I know it’s because, in a matter of a few days, much of that check would probably be gone so that I could live in a house with lights, food, and water. Not to mention all the other random expenses like car tags, vet bills, and parking fees that seem to pile up.

3. How Expensive Groceries are

Yep, going back to the food thing. It’s seriously expensive. I feel like it doesn’t matter if I leave the store with two things or ten things, it’s always over $30.00. There were five of us in my parent’s house and we always had the best food. Now, I feel like I am splurging when I buy a gallon of Sweet Tea as opposed to drinking tap water. That must be why I feel like I need to always eat a lot at my parent’s house because I know when I get back its back to the blah food.

4. Taking Care of the House

I swear things always happen so unexpectedly when it comes to a home or apartment. Just last week I ran home during my lunch break and only had about 15 minutes to spend at the apartment. I walk in the door, and my entire kitchen floor is flooded. How in the world do our parents just handle this sort of stuff without even a minor freak out? Not to mention the stuff behind the scenes that I was introduced to like pest control, air filters, and even light bulbs (they’re more expensive than you’d think).

So kudos to you parents around the world for handling life so calmly that it is sort of shocking when we actually have to get out and deal with it ourselves. I know I definitely took advantage of all of the work it takes to run a house, and even function as a productive citizen of our society.