We’re post-college and pre-picket fence—technically adults, but we don’t always feel like it.

We started the zine Before the Mortgage after leaving our first 9-to-5 jobs in New York City, where we’d spent two years living in apartments with more roommates than bedrooms, trading stories of awkward first dates and job interviews (how different are they, really?).

We compiled essays, quotes, and photo collages about such topics as crazy coworkers, so-called relationships, and moving back in with our folks, all in an effort to make sense of the school-to-work transition. We put it all together in a zine, which later inspired our book. Before the Mortgage: Real Stories of Brazen Loves, Broken Leases, and the Perplexing Pursuit of Adulthood includes a few beloved essays from zine plus contributions from our favorite young writers.

So, really, Before the Mortgage has nothing to do with actually getting a mortgage. It has more to do with examining (and laughing at) the tangled process of growing up.

— Christina Amini and Rachel Hutton, editors