'It's a recipe for disaster': Memes for young adults moving out alone and trying to figure out how to survive

Giuliana Tiscioni • Writer

Sep 5, 2026 7:45 AM EDT

Did you also dream about moving out alone when you were a teenager?

That was what most of us wanted, it's true, and it can be a wonderful experience to have in your 20's! You get to become a full adult by yourself, experience how living in society actually feels, and you learn to enjoy your own company. That last one is really important. If we learn to de happy with just ourselves, we will never feel lonely. Or maybe we will, but if we already know how to get by, it's a lot easier.

When we first move out alone, we discover a whole new world of things we didn't even know existed. What do you mean by saying we have to pay rent every month? What does it mean to do our taxes? You say we have to buy food every week and cook every day? How do people have time to live? Aren't they exhausted? Well, news flash, they are. Welcome to adulthood, this is the price we need to pay for our freedom!

It's so funny (and a little embarrassing) when our parents come to visit, and they realize all that we have in the fridge is a slice of lemon and a can of soda. Our moms will be appalled to realize that we've been surviving on takeout and mac and cheese from a cardboard box. We do our best, but sometimes our plans can go a bit off the rails. There is a learning curve to becoming a responsible and well-adjusted adult. Heck, some people spend over 40 years trying to figure it out, and they're still stuck in their teenage years, so surviving on processed food alone is not the worst thing we've done. We'll learn to cook eventually; we just need time to get used to the fire and the knives and understand when we need to turn off the oven… We don't want the fire alarm to go off again; it was embarrassing enough the first time, when we forgot about the cookies we were trying to bake.

As with everything, we need time to learn and adjust. And while we do that, we can still laugh at our own mess-ups with this list of memes.