Well, Topper and I went through this decision process. We found ourselves in the same place that you and Ono are facing. We were both about 19 at the time, but the basic principles are the same, move out and gut out the financial stress or continue living at home and save up money.
Topper was just starting his career, it was going well, but he didn't have the stability he does today. I was still in college/working part time.
We wanted to get married and move in as soon as possible, we'd already been seeing each other for several years and felt we were ready for the next step. As Topper said... we Listed all the expenses, one by one. And let me tell you, even though we did that... there were STILL expenses that we didn't see coming that surprised us along the way.
We sought budget help from those around us, we fine combed said budget and when all was said and done, we knew that yes, we *might be able to squeak by, but we weren't quite sure and there was a possibility I would have to start working full time, in addition to my internship and college classes.
We thought long and hard about it, sat around one whole weekend and it's all we spoke about. We decided that if we did choose that, yes, we'd be living together and finally be able to get married... but we would hardly be able to see each other because we'd both be working so much and that's not the kind of stress you need in addition to adjusting to living together.
Long story short. We waited another year and a half before moving out. Continued working and saving, while each of us living at home. We still got to see each other frequently. And over that time, were able to save close to 15K which really got us out on the right foot.
When we finally were able to live together, we were glad we had waited, because we didn't have all that extra stress of working insane hours like we would have had we done it earlier. Then, we could just focus on how great it was to be together finally.
I think that Life is all about Timing.
Choose your timing carefully, weigh the options and listen to what you really want and everything will work out nicely.
Good luck to you both, glad you have found each other
sweetpea