Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Thoughts on this article, about living on less

Good article - and very doable...

It's the latest fad with millenials.

It's a form of rebellion from the Gen Xer's and the Boomers.

Interview him again in 10 years. Guaranteed he ain't living in a fugkin' van.





Dave

Doable for who?

Where's he parking that POS? Who does he plug in with? Who pays for it? How often is he running a generator? How long will his generators last being used at the rate he's using them? What if you have to work somewhere cold? What's the heating cost?

Where do most people work? WTF is gonna drive an RV as a commuter? And more importantly, how many businesses can accommodate the parking?

I can sum his whole idea up much more succinctly. "I don't work or have a family so I can live in a van."




Clark

My wife is always reading about tiny houses. Yesterday she showed me a couple articles about how to live in a conversion van. Cheap, yes, but why live like that?

Living in a van, down by the river?

I like a big house!

Me too!

My thoughts are that he's a loser.

"A professional musician, he can work by computer from any location." Yeah, right. I know guys in the music business who make well more than he's making, so my take-away is that he sucks at his chosen profession.

A better article would be focused on how you can make $250k a year in the music business so you don't have to live in a van.

tiny house doesn't have the room to store even my camping gear. God knows you can't put my gun safes in one. No, I'll stick with a regular house, and keep my stuff.

No doubt.

I think a lot of these folks are delusional and live in denial about their situation. They make themselves believe they are happier living in a van down by the river so they don’t have to face the fact that they don’t get to have fun(read the entertainment section) they have no girlfriend or family, a job that pays 11k and no purpose to pursue.

If you want to live in an RV that’s fine, but I assure you, you only get one ride in this pony show and I don’t plan on spending mine living like a gypsy.

I think he is trying to romanticize homelessness.

One article she showed me wasn't living by a river. They were parking it in 'hidden in plain sight' places like Walmart parking lots where nobody would take a 2d notice. That's not living. It's merely existing.

I think he's retired.. But many can work from their RV. As far as parking goes, there are RV sites that can either be purchased (15-25K$) and then the only fees are electricity and maintenance.. I've looked into those. It would run about $150 mo.. Other parks in places offer long-term parking for about $450-500/mo.. There's a guy about 50 miles SE of me that owns 2 acres. He has a very small shed on it, has electricity and a driveway. He parks his trailer on it for 7+ months a year then heads south to a friend's ranch for the winter..

There are a LOT of full-timers in RVs. Done properly, a retired couple can live quite easily for under $2K/mo...but there's also a lot of full-timers who work from their camper.. The carpenter that built my parents' house back in '65 spent his retirement in a camper and went from park to park, working part-time repairing/building things for the park in exchange for a site... Worked out very well for him..

YMMV

Most do.. But when one gets older it gets more difficult (and expensive) to maintain one.. Then there's the fact that yer gonna pay "X" thousands of bux/year in property taxes - just for the 'privilege' of living there. Most of my friends I see every day have sold their houses, moved to town in either an apartment or a smaller town home. These guys are in their 70s+.

But as long as one has the bux to keep a home - hey, gopherit..

Full-timing's (RV) not for everyone, obviously.. But you might be amazed at how many people actually do it.. Same with some people living full-time on boats.. It's not for everyone - but people do it..

Fortunately he has others that like bigger homes that can help subsidize his health insurance too.

I'll be damned if I ever pay thousands of dollars in property taxes a year.

Sheit, Momma and I have 20 acres, and sometimes I think that is not enough room to keep my crap. If it were not for the adjoining farm fields, it certainly would not be enough buffer from other human population.

And the Walmart stores around here have recently posted "NO OVERNIGHT PARKING" signs. So there goes your free campgrounds.

The guy is a loser! It's all fun and games while you beat the system and live off the grid. Some day he will find out why living under the interstate overpass in a refrigerator box won't satisfy his real life needs, then he will move into a care facility where society can pick up the tab for his care.

The bad news is, he has the equal vote to redistribute the money others make.

For years Walmart has welcomed overnighters. It's good business and PR. Their intent was RV's needing a place in their travels. I guess they're getting too many long term 'campers'.