Back Home? Try 'The Parent Trap Escape Plan'

Nov. 26, 2006 — -- If your plans to get your own place didn't work out, moving home may leave you feeling a bit disappointed, even defeated. It can be tempting to let your parents baby you for awhile, but don't get too comfortable. "The Parent Trap Escape Plan" -- reprinted from "The Quarterlifer's Companion: How to Get on the Right Career Path, Control Your Finances, and Find the Support Network You Need to Thrive," by Abby Wilner and Cathy Stocker, with permission from McGraw-Hill -- is a six-point plan to get off the couch and get a life.

Think of this one as a contract with yourself.

It's 4 p.m. and you are sitting on your parents' couch watching "Oprah" or reruns of "MacGyver." You have just finished a bag of chips. A supersize bag. Your mom will be starting dinner in about an hour and you are wondering which high school friend to call tonight.

My friend, you are falling into a very dangerous place.

You are about to get caught in the "Parent House Trap." We understand that it is ever so much more comfortable to slip back into the comfy, warm familiarity of life at home, with mom and dad taking care of everything. Why keep knocking on corporate America's doors only to have them repeatedly shut in your face when you could just curl up with some book you loved as a kid and then eat a home-cooked meal?

It might sound dreamy. Couldn't you just let yourself slip into that place for a few days?

NO, you can't.

It's time to get off that couch and get a real life of your own!!

Here is our recommended "Parent House Escape Plan," a kind of boot camp for those made flabby by Parent House living.

1. Get up at a normal time, and the same time every morning, just as you would if you were going to work. Don't get used to sleeping in; you can sleep in on the weekends.

2. Schedule one job search outing each day. It must be something that gets you out of the house. It can be an interview, a trip to the library to do research, a trip to Kinkos to copy resumes, anything. It can be a lunch date with an acquaintance who has an interesting job you want to learn more about.