Homebound

So Varmazis moved back into the family's home outside Boston and began work at a trade publication that pays less than $40,000 a year. She hopes to save at least that much by living at home and then use the money for a down payment on a place of her own.

Varmazis has a savings account and contributes to a Roth IRA, and she shows her parents her financial statements every month. Her bills include car insurance (less than $900 a year), gas ($1,700 a year) and cellphone service (only $36 per month, thanks to a company discount).

While she has budgeted only $360 per year for dinners out and entertainment, in fact, this year, she is on course to spend more than that. Varmazis has made plans to attend a wedding on the West Coast soon that "pretty much blew the budget." And when she does meet her friends for a night out in Boston, she makes sure it's worth her while.

"When I do something," she said, "I make sure it's not a little thing."

Staying on Balance

For young adults who decide to live on their own, financial planning experts say it is crucial to set up a budget that incorporates savings and realistically accounts for housing and other costs.

Shah said that young adults preparing to live on their own should budget a little less than 30 percent of their income for housing and that car payments should not exceed 25 percent.

To prepare for her move out, Grossmann worked as a temp making $12 per hour and then got a full-time job at an accounting firm making $40,000 per year. She paid off her credit card and reimbursed $1,700 worth of car payments her parents had made.

She recently moved out of her parents' New Jersey home and is couch-surfing in Washington until the lease begins on her apartment in Arlington in a week. She started working about a month ago at Wealth and Tax Advisory Services Inc. in McLean, where she assists in client tax preparation. And she started keeping her budget on an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of her monthly cash flow.

"I have it open right now, which tells you how obsessed I am with keeping it up," she said.

Car payment, $285.

Car insurance, $110.

Student loan payment and cellphone bill, $65 each.

Fifteen percent of her gross salary goes into her 401(k) plan and her Roth IRA. She never wants to have credit card debt again.

Grossmann knows it will hurt to see $1,100, about one-third of her monthly salary, go toward rent and utilities rather than her retirement. And she thinks she'll only be able to make it to one football game at the University of Florida this year. When she was living at home, she traveled back to her alma mater three times a year for football games.

But she's excited about her plans to return to school: Grossmann has been accepted to Georgetown University's certificate of financial planning program. The past three years, it seems, were just training for her future career.

"That's kind of how I realized that I was interested," she said. "I'm fascinated by my own finances."