All right, I’ll admit it. I live with my parents.

Many students, upon hearing this, will look at you as though you are a poor excuse of a student and pathetic for taking advantage of the free rent and food offered by loving parents.

Living with one’s parents has its pros and cons but right now the pros far outweigh the cons. Until that changes, my parents’ crib is where I’ll be staying.

The first obviously awesome thing about living with one’s parents is the free rent and food. That alone saves me at least $800 a month — that’s $3,200 a term going into my pocket instead of a landlord’s.

Living with parents is especially convenient when school gets heavy — midterms, term papers and final exams. Whenever I study and write papers, I have a fridge full of leftovers and stuff to put into sandwiches so I don’t need to worry about picking up groceries. I never end up starving because I didn’t have the time to buy food.

Another awesome part of living with parents is that they have a collection of stuff from decades of living in the same house. My parents have at least 10 different kinds of tape and repair glue so that whenever I break anything, they have what I need to fix it.

Throwing together a last-minute Halloween costume is never a problem for me because my parents have boxes of costume items they saved from Halloweens past. Also, my parents’ house is equipped with a kick-ass HD TV with an even more kick-ass couch. Whenever I watch The National, I get to see Peter Mansbridge’s pores. The TV is that good (and it also has a PVR).

I never truly realized how amazing my parents’ collection of stuff was until I moved away for a summer. I wasn’t able to make a fun concoction of cleaning products to clean up the food stain on the carpet. The only cleaning product I had access to was No Name all-purpose cleaner.

My parents’ house is full of comfort that only comes from a house that has been lived in by the same family for over a quarter of a century. There’s still that spot on the wall where we kids would get measured and you can see how much we have grown over the years. My family has had the same kitchen table since my parents bought the house, so the table is full of wear and tear. There are marks from years of family dinners, nights of homework and hundreds of craft projects.

But there are downsides to living with my parents. I could never bring somebody home for a wild night of bang-a-langing. Hell, I’m not even allowed to have boys in my bedroom with the door closed. But as I am currently consumed by midterms, term papers and the coming finals, I don’t have time for that shit anyway. Nor do I care to get involved with the confusion and drama associated with hook-ups and “seeing each other.”

I also can’t just invite a group of friends over to chill. It’s my parents’ house and I respect that, so I don’t want to bring a group of friends over who will probably be loud and say things that are not appropriate for older ears.

All in all, I have it pretty good. I don’t have younger siblings that get in my way, nor do my parents care to know where I am all the time. I can come and go as I please and as long as I have decent conversations with my parents a few times a week, everything is cool. My parents are basically “mature” roommates who buy me food and let me use all their stuff.

To all you lucky ducks out there who are fortunate enough to still live with your parents, stop being embarrassed. Be loud and proud that they buy you chocolate milk and save you a shitload of money.

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Graphic: Brianna Whitmore/The Sheaf