This wasn’t true for all my peers. Some of my friends met long-term partners early and have always preferred a night in with a takeaway than hitting up a techno night. But we were able to decide what kind of lifestyle worked best for us.

Now inching towards my mid-30s, I look back on my 20s as a time defined as much by dating, partying and managing messy friendship dramas as it was studying, interning and job hunting.

This is not to say it was all plain sailing. When I graduated and started looking for work in 2014, the economy hadn’t recovered from the 2008 financial crisis. It took over one hundred applications in just over a year to get an entry-level role in my chosen career of policy and research. By the time we hit 30, younger millennials like me earned on average 8% less than members of Generation X, who were born 10 years before us.

But things are even harder for many of the women coming up behind me. Leaving the family home is often thought of as one of the first markers of entering adulthood. I was able to live in a three-bed houseshare in London on my entry-level salary. Now, high rents, the cost of living and the need to save money means more 20–29-year-olds across England and Wales are living at home. And if you can’t live at home, lots of young women face an out-of-control rental market and long waiting lists for social housing.

Research by the Women’s Budget Group found that because women tend to earn less than men, a larger portion of their wages goes on rent. For a one-bedroom property in England, 36% of women’s median earnings are absorbed by rent, compared to 26% of men’s. This goes up to 53% for women and 41% for men in London.

“I breathe and I’ve spent £50”: why young women feel priced out of the party