Don't you get British television ... maybe on PBS?

ABC picks up a number of BBC programs so we watch quite a few British shows. Grand Designs and Man Made Home are on quite frequently each week.

We get BBC America but it's mostly Dr. Who reruns and that silly show about cars.

Do you mean Top Gear? That's one of our favourites!! :D The British one, of course, not the Australian one.

We get quite a mix of TV here ... Australian, New Zealand, British, Canadian, and US. Probably about half of what we watch is British.



I should maybe clarify that ABC is Australian Broadcasting Corporation ... ABC1, 2, 3 and 24 all broadcast mainly British shows, as do one or two other channels.

I'm new to this forum and was browsing about when I ran across this thread. Talk about timely! I'm 56 years old, divorced, and I recently sent my only son off to nuke school in the Navy. So, I started to clean house.

I was married for nearly 25 years and had accumulated plenty of stuff. My ex and I sold & donated a lot when we moved apart but I still had couch, chairs, big tv, stereo, kitchen stuff, etc.... You know what I'm talking about. This past June I hit the road to move to San Diego, taking my time to stop for a few months to visit family & friends in L.A. where I grew up.

Now, I have:
- a big tv (I'll probably give that to my buddy in SD when I get there);
- a well-stuffed rolling tool box (doesn't take much room and very handy, but I'll probably give it to my nephew the engineering student/car nut)
- a big '80s stereo setup (I'm thinking on this one. Man, those old tower speakers rock!)
- about 6 cu ft of specialized cooking equipment (I'm thinking about this one, too. I'm a chef, by training)
- 2003 Ford POS Escape (disposable)

Tomorrow, I take delivery of a new Trek 7.2. I plan to be a daily rider, a "utility cyclist."

I'm going low. Thanks for this thread. I'll be here often.

Cheers!

edit: and my desktop computer. I don't even have a smart phone, yet

Welcome to the forum. I hope you like San Diego. It's a great town!

Welcome Beachczar. Just this week I was comparing the audio quality of music on an old cassette player with the digital stuff. I like the tape audio a lot better. I miss having my big speakers and playing records. The quality was just great. If I ever settle into one location I intend to buy an awesome analog music system and collect records again. Instead of having a super powerful loud system I intend to just buy some awesome headphones.

If you want to save some money in the long run it would be worth it to invest in a new lower wattage computer. A laptop would do the job or you could get a new tiny desktop that uses similar laptop parts. This year I will buy either a low end Chromebook from Toshiba or a Chromebox from ASUS or HP. They use the Chrome OS from Google. They use very little power. Only people who need specialized work programs really need to buy expensive Apple or Windoz machines.

My desktop has a 300 watt power supply. It isn't operated at its maximum capacity very often. Just idling it probably uses at least 150 watts. These new Chromeboxes and Chromebooks probably have a maximum power usage of 65 watts. While idling they use fifteen watts. These new machines are also faster than my 2009 desktop computer. I think that the energy savings in just one year would pay for one of them (my computer is on 24 hours a day). Since my energy usage is included in my rent that doesn't matter to me as much right now but it might for you.

Keep the stereo...the internet and the TV news will drive you bloody nuts. Music is your best saving grace and you'll likely miss the entire setup badly, never to return without a huge financial wallop.

When you are exhausted after a day's cycling, music is the battery charger and relief you'll need.

Welcome to Bike Forums!

Welcome to the forums beach!

You're gonna love your Trek 7.2 !! (jealous) I have 2 mt. bikes but mine aren't nearly as nice as that.
I'm a few years younger, but even at 53 and divorced x2 and all alone I find myself drastically downsizing.
I probably don't have half the stuff you do but it's still too much for me.
I want to get down to a couple of backpacks and my bike, since I may be facing a life changer if my job doesn't improve in early may.
I *might* find myself on a Amtrak to Portland,Or. to start over again, since I found a company there with jobs in my field. I'm down to a laptop, semi-smart phone and a few ham radio items, and my bike. Everything else will be stuffed in my packs. Hell, I don't even have a vehicle so I fit in the car-free category too. Hopefully if I go to Portland I won't need one.
Good luck in SanDiego too! Hope to hear more from you!
Happy St. Pat's to all the rollers here on the forum too!!! :thumb:

OK, just got my van, a 1998 Ford E-350 with a Stahl utility body. The utility body gives me more headroom and a wider body than a regular cargo van, so if a hammock doesn't work out due to back issues, I can install a bed across the body of the van instead of lengthwise to better use the very limited space. Plus it's got all kinds of nifty storage compartments built in.

We were car-lite for a long time, with only one car, a subcompact 5-dr Mazda Protege5. It worked for us, with me doing a lot of bike commuting and my wife working from home. Situations change -- we are separating, house is being foreclosed on, and where we were thinking tiny house, I am going even smaller because one person doesn't need something extravagant, like 118 sq ft of living space... ;)

Through the winter, I did the Big Purge. Pretty much everything I own which is still in the house could get packed into the van, although more than half will need to go before I hit the road. We are currently splitting a 10x10 storage place with very little of my stuff in there, mostly her stuff. Anything I don't touch in a year will go...

We still have not received 30-day notice to get out of the foreclosed house, so I'll continue to live there while I build out the van. I could live in it rough as-is, but there are some amenities and necessaries I'd like to do to it before converting to van-dwelling full time. Insulation, an aux battery setup maybe with solar, vent/fan install, CO/propane detector/alarm, cooler or refrigeration, figure out storage and what will come with. Probably a thousand other little things as well.

In any case, I am totally psyched to be getting this show on the road. Due to inspiration found here in Living Car Free, I will now be Living in a Car, a gas guzzling 5.4l V-8 non-aero van, to boot. Driving will be limited -- infrequent big travels as part of a more migrant lifestyle, shorter regular local moves as part of a stealth camping routine.

[MENTION=88907]mconlonx[/MENTION], I hope your adventure is a good one. I also hope that you continue to have Internet access so you can keep us posted. Best of luck!

At the very start of the housing bust in 2008, I was leasing an apartment when Countrywide foreclosed on my landlord. I posted some signs and continued to live there without paying rent. After eight months, they gave me the 30 day notice but also gave me $2000 to move out and leave the property broom clean. This is known as "cash for keys". I don't know if these mortgage crooks still offer cash for keys, but I hope they do!

Van sweet home:

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...0&d=1398607475

Lots of building out to do, but I already have a hammock in the back...

...and so it begins.

Wow that's different than what I imagine folks talk about when they say they're living out of a van. I picture full size vans or mini-RVs, never a utility van like that one. Being up in Maine, how do you keep warm in the winter ?

It would have been this or a plain white cargo van. Hopefully everyone shares your view about nobody living in this type of truck...

Part of one potential future involves becoming migrant -- taking off to parts south, seasonal jobs in ME and FL/AZ/not frozen North.

Otherwise, a critical part of the build-out will be insulation, fan/vent, and a propane catalytic heater. (...and requisite propane/CO/CO2 detectors.) That's the Cadillac heater, many get by with a Mr. Heater Buddy model, or even one of those cannister-top Coleman heaters.

Good luck! I'd imagine the only people who might mess with you in that vehicle are thieves hoping to find copper to steal!

I'm affraid I just own too much to join this thread. I admit I live too complicated.

I just have too much hobbies that require tons of material: photography (collection of cameras most of them are cheap second hand stuff but anyway... ), guitars & music (cd's, dvd's), computer stuff, books (lots of unnecessary ones I carry back to second hand shops), ...

Did almost 2 years without television, but since 2 months ago I have a big one in my bedroom.

I ride my bike, go by foot or take public transit. Don't have a car, but my wife has a company car.... so all my efforts of living car-free are worthless.
I grow my own vegetables in the garden, though.

Want to live more ecologically. But it really isn't working out.
Just happened to discover this thread. I'm learning a lot of you guys, picking up some nice ideas.

How Simply Do You Live? is really a question. If it were a command like "You Must Live Simply" then it would be different, more like a challenge.

It seems that you are getting rid of things you don't need, like the books. You are perhaps saving money and improving your health by growing your food. Only you can decide if what you are doing is right for you. If you want to do more, and it is right for you, then do it. This isn't a fad to be joined. People do it because they try it and some of them like having less stuff around, which contributes in some ways to a simpler lifestyle.

Your goals and mine are probably different. Since you've read this thread you have many ideas about what you would like to try. What comes across to me in this thread is an overall vibe of people realizing they don't need all of the stuff they've accumulated. Getting rid of some of it is beneficial for many reasons. The things we shed go to others who can use them now instead of them sitting around in our lives unused. By doing that we save money for others and sometimes take in a little bit of money. It allows others to have things that they might have had to pay full price for new ones. It saves the environment a bit by keeping things out of landfills.

Every thing I own holds a tiny bit of my attention. I must think about how to preserve it, store it, and to keep it secure. Every thing I give away or sell leaves my space and no longer requires any of my attention. In addition to giving me more physical space it gives me more mental space. For everything I let go I recover a tiny bit of my attention to be used for other purposes. This is why my long term goal is to own very few items.

To each their own, and it is a step by step process.

I have been cleaning up our old farm, hauling scrapped equipment off to the recyclers, and doing general purging. I will probably never get down to the level of my daughter. Everything she owns fits in the back of her Subaru hatchback. :D She currently lives on the edge of the grid in western MA. My son has more stuff, but lives car free in Boston.

Aaron :)

wow!

Back in 1977 I could pack everything I own in 2 saddle bags. Then I got married.
Then in 2010 the economy got so bad the company I worked for cut my salary, no one else was hiring, so I had no choice, I had to start my own company.
So add 2 vans, a parts storage building and a shop full of tools to my list. Oh and an office with computers and filing cabinets, and 3 grand kids,,,,,,,,,,
-i hate forms, credit cards, insurance companies, attorneys, etcetera. I try to avoid these things as much as possible.
-my favorite activity is camping by bicycle in summertime. (These comments stolen)
If I ever get to retire, I will sell the company, load up my Long Haul Trucker and Bob trailer and head south, until I die.

Somebody left this link in a comment at a blog I regularly visit. It is a few images of a man who lives in a small earthen shelter in Oregon. What Choosing Poverty Looks Like - NBC News

He rides a recumbent tricycle or walks everywhere. He doesn't have many expenses so his $5000 per year income is enough for him. He rents the land where he built his house for $100 per year. There is no explanation about his electricity but the images show lights and an electric hot-plate.

Would anybody here like living as he does?

It would work for me... but not my wife.

That isn't too far off how I was living when I was in the pickup camper in the woods. I did have a regular job that was weather driven, so I only worked an average of 30 hours a week, quite often getting 2-3 weeks off at a time in the winter. I admire him for sticking with it and making it work for him.

Aaron :)

Indeed, all respect for his way of life. But I can't at the moment. I largely can pick up a few things he does and adjust it in my life.
I'm too fixed in this society where we live a different way.

I also have a child, and a second one coming soon. And they have certain needs.
And if you have a wife, you both have to live the same way, otherwise it just does not work.

But still yes, we live too wealthy... but other generations before us fought to gain this wealth for us.
I can live with less, and see my neighbours live in luxury, and could be even more happy. But you only live once and you can leave a lot... but not everything.
When I work, the money I get is not to consume, I try to save a lot. And the savings are not only for when I am old, but mostly for my children. I guess the world where they're going to live in, will be a hard word, when sources of raw materials will get scarse.

I don't know what family situation the guy in this article has, ... does he have children or a wife to look for?
Does he really live alone, or has he other people to rely on.
I'm just wondering because, in the situation where he breaks a leg or aging problems where he just can't live this same life anymore as he does right now... He can get into problems sooner or later.
As he said he can't pay his hospital bill, it will get worse when he needs more care later on.

A quote from this man:
That's totally true.
I get this same high feeling, admitted... Need to change this setting in my head when possible.
The thing is that I consciously buy things. For important things, I mostly set up an excel to compare brands, on price, durability, where it is fabricated, ... And when that's done, I realize wether it is necessary to buy the product or not.
Nowadays, for most products I'm already satisfied when I know it's a durable or ecological product with the least footprint.

Rowan and I lived in a situation similar to that for a year.
In our situation, a year was enough.
If we were to do it again, there would be several changes.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and your changes!

For one thing ... we'd own the place. That would probably be the main thing.

Do you know the story of our "rustic year"?

That's kind of where I'm headed... except in a van, not a hole in the ground. Biggest impediment to me about that is the non-mobility, and the need for either a chunk of land or an excellent relationship with an understanding landlord. If the right situation presented itself, I wouldn't hesitate to go that way.

Part of the reason why is not even a main part of the story, but living simply allowed him to take a cool job he loved doing for meager pay. Not too many other lifestyles would allow for that.

There's also stuff like this to consider: coroplast homeless shelter. Bet something like that could be modded as a bike trailer pretty easy...

I'd not expect to be able to do this with any other person, let alone with kids. I'm at a uniquely unattached point in my life -- grown kid, no partner -- so I plan to take advantage of it.

I'm a compulsive spender. One way I've tried to turn that around a bit is to get into buying silver bullion. I'm not some gold bug, not some "funny munny" Fed-Reserve-is-a-scam economic apocalypse prepper or anything, but I have a numismatic streak from way, way back, and when times were tough a few years ago, sold silver when it was at $40+/oz.

It's also part of a "pay yourself first" program, where I save a bit of cash, buy a bit of silver before paying bills, buying groceries or gas. It really satisfies the urge to buy -- something, anything -- without tossing it away on consumer goods or perishable luxuries.

No, is there a link by chance?

I talk about it a little bit here, in these two links:

Charlene Barach (Machka) - 2009 Cycling Adventures
Charlene Barach (Machka) - 2010 Cycling Adventures

Photos here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/machka...7619719051119/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/machka...7623277367498/

If you want to live simply, you can emigrate to India, Africa, or any part of the world where people have to get by on $2 or less per day. You can scratch a living as best you can, your excess belongings won't be a burden because you will barely make enough money to buy the basic necessities. Your life will be somewhat shorter, as medical care is expensive, and not very good.

Cars are of course out of the question, unless you are part of the top 5 percent and can afford a run-down beater of a car with more miles on it than the space shuttle, or the new cars that the top tenth of the top one percent can only afford.

Part of the reason you can enjoy the option of owning a car, or seeing a dentist twice a year, or being able to afford a bicycle which cost more that what an average person in the third world earns over the course of a year, is that the people around you refuse to live simply. They like to buy things, and these things have to be made by other people, who are paid to make them. The makers have to pay other for the materials, while others are paid for supplying the energy, the transportation, the marketing, the advertising, and delivering of these things.

You should be thankful that there are enough people who refuse to live simply, otherwise your lifestyle would be no different than those who eke out an existence in the third world.

Um, thank you?