Living in a VAN down by the RIVER! (shed, area, Los Angeles)
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assuming you have the tools, the strength, the time and the skills, which is a very bad assumption for the OP, I bet. :-) Stick with a 1k van, I can live a year on 7k, even if I didn't grow/catch my food. If I did, it would last 2 years.
MEET THE MAN WHO LIVES ON ZERO DOLLARS: IN UTAH, A MODERN-DAY CAVEMAN HAS LIVED FOR THE BETTER PART OF A DECADE ON ZERO DOLLARS A DAY. PEOPLE USED TO THINK HE WAS CRAZY
BY CHRISTOPHER KETCHAM,PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK HEITHOFF
Daniel Suelo lives in a cave. Unlike the average American—wallowing in credit-card debt, clinging to a mortgage, terrified of the next downsizing at the office—he isn't worried about the economic crisis. That's because he figured out that the best way to stay solvent is to never be solvent in the first place. Nine years ago, in the autumn of 2000, Suelo decided to stop using money. He just quit it, like a bad drug habit.
His dwelling, hidden high in a canyon lined with waterfalls, is an hour by foot from the desert town of Moab, Utah, where people who know him are of two minds: He's either a latter-day prophet or an irredeemable hobo. Suelo's blog, which he maintains free at the Moab Public Library, suggests that he's both. "When I lived with money, I was always lacking," he writes. "Money represents lack. Money represents things in the past (debt) and things in the future (credit), but money never represents what is present."
[Snip] Click link to read rest of 4 page article.
Moneyless in Moab (2006) - YouTube - Moneyless in Moab (2006). He is a little too "new-age Zen" for my taste in the way he 'philosophizes,' but still the essence of what he is doing, I can appreciate.
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The next one is about an old hermit (he died not long ago - last year, I think) who acquired the name "Dugout Dick." He was sort of a local folklore fixture in Idaho for decades, and people -sort of like us here on this forum- would go out to see him or the buildings he created over the decades.
He carved out a modest lifestyle for himself for the better part of six decades. I forget the details of the story which I used to have a good link about, but he started out for many years squatting on BLM land, and the BLM just pretty much left him alone. After some years, they realized it would not be practical to kick him off, so they just let him lease the land... and he's been living there ever since, all the while making new "dugout" houses every few years.
These "dugout" houses he carved into the mountainside aren't much to look at, and he scavenged all kinds of things to help make them.... but as can be seen from the video, this old guy definitely seems like he comes from a "different time," and so I figure he doesn't live by the same standards of luxury that many of us do today, so the dugout houses were a solid, livable shelter in his mind.
Diggin' Dugout Dick Full Movie - IMDb (<--- "Diggin' Dugout Dick" - Full Movie. This brief 15 minute documentary shows a few of his various buildings, has interviews of the history of it, etc...)
I currently own a little sort of cabinet with shelves I could use....I didn't want anyone to know I was living in the van but I guess I could think of a little white lie as to why there's a big cabinet in there...
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Originally Posted by Woof
You can simply use a lightweight dresser, but make sure the drawers don't easily fall off if you have to brake or turn quickly. Thrift shops often have something like this: South Shore Black 3-Drawer Chest - Walmart.com
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
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Really, no one is going to look in your van except maybe very rarely a cop at night. When I went traveling a bit and someone would start up a conversation about my van, I'd simply tell them the truth - I was traveling along the coast and would stop sometimes in one area to explore it. No biggie, as long as no one knows you personally.
I wonder what is causing us to desire the independence from our present societal ways.
For me a lot of it is not wanting to work for corporations or other evil entities. I need to work for myself...but I'm not making much money yet and not sure if I ever will. I also have always hated shelling out so much money for a place to sleep. It's ridiculously expensive with mortgage/rent, electric, gas, and on and on...and it keeps going up all the time.
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A question MV. If you are going to rent a storage anyway, can you possibly rent one large enough to fit your van in at night or with all of those foreclosed homes, can you park in the driveways or backyards for the night. These options would seem suitable for you.
The storage is tiny but parking in front of an empty home seems like a good idea. Thank you!
For my purposes, I wouldn't want something like this...too obvious. I'm trying to hide out!
Quote:
Originally Posted by giney12
Such a trailer is a big waste of money, and it tells cops and thieves that you have stuff in it. bad idea, actually.
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