If home truly is where the heart is, the benefits of being there will be many and varied, even if the reasons you’re there in the first place are based on less than good news. One common reason is the recession. It either has ended or is still stumbling along, depending on who’s talking, but in its wake is a raft of strange bedfellows and their living arrangements.

There are adult kids coming back home to live with their parents (36 percent in 2012), those who are already taking care of their parents (47 percent in the same year), the so-called sandwich generation, and any and all permutations that make sense when you’re trying to figure out how to stay solvent.

We ventured out into the beyond to see if we could figure out how this works, what the benefits and drawbacks are, and whether it’s inevitable to feel like you’re 12 again when your mom calls you down for dinner.