Save your budget for living van?.. Ugh

Nanna said:
I do have a friend who lives in a camper not much larger than a van. She has done so for years as she gets her master's in art.

She got a job managing a camp spot at the state park. They pay her to live there in that she gets free rent, free showers, and does get a small amount of money too. Though her camper does have a bath of sorts, and she could use their hook ups, she chooses not to for ease, just uses theirs.

She leaves sometimes for the summer breaks and drives from place to place as she pleases. She will find a job, work, do her art, sell her art, and when she is ready she will find out if the job is available or not back at the park and goes back to her studies.

She says she will miss this when she graduates.

It's a nice little set up for a single person. It lets her spend her savings and earnings from her art on school with no loans. Not bad. Not bad at all.
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I can see this as a temporary life style for a single person. Your friend has a plan and stays in real camp sites which is better than Walmart parking lots.

Like your friend, I knew a retired couple who traveled the country in an RV and stayed free at camp sites in exchange for working at the camps.
 
Evo Dragon said:
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Living in a Van Was the Best Financial Decision I Ever Made - DailyFinance

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$1k per month for apartment? There is a lot own house for only $700-$900 a monthly for single house.

$450 per month for repairs? Never will happen for everyone unless got drunk and break around the house.

Food $200 for house and $132 for van without refrigeration. More like junk food and risk his health.

Cell $70 for house and cell phone $37 for van? It dont make sense to me!

Zero for clothes/household appliances? He must be stink.
 
Is Rochester in middle of nowhere, eh?


Jiro said:
why would I be surprised? you live in middle of nowhere as well.

notice the keyword - "usually"? how many other facility is there? so far... just one? there you go.
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The Highlander said:
$1k per month for apartment? There is a lot own house for only $700-$900 a monthly for single house.

$450 per month for repairs? Never will happen for everyone unless got drunk and break around the house.

Food $200 for house and $132 for van without refrigeration. More like junk food and risk his health.

Cell $70 for house and cell phone $37 for van? It dont make sense to me!

Zero for clothes/household appliances? He must be stink.
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That does seem high for Durham, NC.

In SC, you can get a 2,000 sq. ft. single house for $1,000/month.

Why would he have to spend $100/month on clothing in a house/apt. but spend $0 on clothing for living in a van? He doesn't appear to be naked in the van. Does he think living in a house requires more formal attire? :confused:

I live in a nice house and I don't spend $100/month on clothing. (I don't know why he lumps together clothing and household appliances in the same category.)
 
diehardbiker said:
Is Rochester in middle of nowhere, eh?
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pretty much yea. so is Virginia Tech. I doubt a person like in OP would be living in Rochester area and sticking around for a while.
 
are you sure?

Perhaps you don't have survival skills. Too city boy I guess.

Jiro said:
pretty much yea. so is Virginia Tech. I doubt a person like in OP would be living in Rochester area and sticking around for a while.
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diehardbiker said:
are you sure?
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I'm pretty sure. I've been Rochester several times. and I've driven all over Eastern coast from North to South.

diehardbiker said:
Perhaps you don't have survival skills. Too city boy I guess.
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in case you didn't know - I'm a mountain man. I don't live in city and I refuse to live in city but I work in city because I make good money. Good money means I would be able to afford to enjoy life on road or at mountain. I prefer living in a cabin with a mountain as my backyard. Camping out in mountain at 40 degrees or below is a vacation to me. I've hunted small games and eaten it. what do you think why I bought a truck instead of some Honda car? because I'd be able to drive offroad to somewhere isolated.

perhaps you shouldn't have assumed...... :cool2:
 
Jiro said:
in case you didn't know - I'm a mountain man. I don't live in city and I refuse to live in city but I work in city because I make good money. Good money means I would be able to afford to enjoy life on road or at mountain. I prefer living in a cabin with a mountain as my backyard. Camping out in mountain at 40 degrees or below is a vacation to me. I've hunted small games and eaten it.

perhaps you shouldn't have assumed...... :cool2:
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I thought you lived in an apartment in NJ with a parking garage? Didn't you post some pictures?
 
Reba said:
I thought you lived in an apartment in NJ with a parking garage? Didn't you post some pictures?
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yes. where I live is not a city. it's a town. I live next to city and I refuse to live in it.
 
Jiro said:
I'm pretty sure. I've been Rochester several times. and I've driven all over Eastern coast from North to South.


in case you didn't know - I'm a mountain man. I don't live in city and I refuse to live in city but I work in city because I make good money. Good money means I would be able to afford to enjoy life on road or at mountain. I prefer living in a cabin with a mountain as my backyard. Camping out in mountain at 40 degrees or below is a vacation to me. I've hunted small games and eaten it. what do you think why I bought a truck instead of some Honda car? because I'd be able to drive offroad to somewhere isolated.

perhaps you shouldn't have assumed...... :cool2:
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There is GOOD NEWS for you. Mississippi has a lot of them and you are ready to move in whatever you want. The hillbillies and rednecks are going to mess with you for just fun - $10 per night at cabin with many brown recluse spiders. You got firearm so you are perfectly prepared. :lol:
 
Foxrac said:
There is GOOD NEWS for you. Mississippi has a lot of them and you are ready to move in whatever you want. The hillbillies and rednecks are going to mess with you for just fun - $10 per night at cabin with many brown recluse spiders. You got firearm so you are perfectly prepared. :lol:
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You mean Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina (my home state)? :giggle: The Mississippi plains is a whole 'nother accent.
 
Jiro said:
I'm pretty sure. I've been Rochester several times. and I've driven all over Eastern coast from North to South.


in case you didn't know - I'm a mountain man. I don't live in city and I refuse to live in city but I work in city because I make good money. Good money means I would be able to afford to enjoy life on road or at mountain. I prefer living in a cabin with a mountain as my backyard. Camping out in mountain at 40 degrees or below is a vacation to me. I've hunted small games and eaten it. what do you think why I bought a truck instead of some Honda car? because I'd be able to drive offroad to somewhere isolated.

perhaps you shouldn't have assumed...... :cool2:
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Mountain Man? Just because your bike can climb over them, you really should call those raised areas where you live thier correct name: "speed bumps". Also, those lights at night are street lights, not stars. :)
 
TinCanSailor said:
Mountain Man? Just because your bike can climb over them, you really should call those raised areas where you live thier correct name: "speed bumps". Also, those lights at night are street lights, not stars. :)
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oh those yuppies...
 
TCS tells me that the truck stop showers aren't bad, and that they are similar to what campgrounds have.

In order to use a homeless shelter's shower, one must be an overnight guest of the shelter. When people enter shelters they get a list of the rules and have to sign an agreement to follow them. Our local area women's shelter has seven pages of rules. No one is allowed to simply stop by and take a shower.
 
Reba said:
TCS tells me that the truck stop showers aren't bad, and that they are similar to what campgrounds have.

In order to use a homeless shelter's shower, one must be an overnight guest of the shelter. When people enter shelters they get a list of the rules and have to sign an agreement to follow them. Our local area women's shelter has seven pages of rules. No one is allowed to simply stop by and take a shower.
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or go to jail or state prison to take a shower. :lol:
 
Evo Dragon said:
He might sign up "paperless" policy in bank service online, Auto insurance has paperless without send mail and DMV dept, too. he will recevie email in his smartphone.

or sign up at P.O. box locker
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Insurance still required the physical address, that way they would know where car usually park overnight to set the basic cost. I believe he find family-relative or friend who have lower criminal zone at their home, it will reduce the cost.
 
Reba said:
The homeless shelters that I know don't let people casually pop in to use their showers. They have strict check-in rules for their residents.

Truck stop showers are not free. They probably aren't located where this guy lives either.
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I saw a homeless woman at a public woman bathroom taking a sponge bath . She has her clothes on but she was washing under her arms and trying to clean her hair too. She was using the handicap toilet to changer her clothes etc. It was sad to see, she was a young woman and I wondered how she ended up living on the streets.
 
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