Still lurking & learning
 

I have been checking in on this thread periodically for about 3 or 4 years now. I've had my various ups & down since the massive post I wrote here the last time life threw me a curve ball. I keep coming back to this thread for inspiration on what is truly important in life.

I bought a house 6 months ago, a small city row-home built in the 1890's, and in a way it is a simplification. Rents are skyrocketing due to gentrification here, so owning has become cheaper than renting. With 2 housemates here it's actually cheaper than renting.

I haven't been cycling as much as I used to because of a hectic work schedule, and I'm still only car-lite, still driving my late grandma's car that is nearly 20 years old.

I think I keep coming back to this thread because the topic, and many of you the frequent contributors, are not afraid to go against the grain of a society that says more consumption, and more complexity must always be a good thing.

I don't have much of a solid closing thought here, or an overarching theme to recap. I just wanted to say hello, to reach out across the electrons and check in with one of the few constants in the shifting circumstances of my life the last few years.

It's good to hear from you again. The new house sounds nice. I have always preferred older homes for aesthetic reasons. The house I'm in now (renting) is about 100 years old.

To live simply is more than to simply live.

Mode of transportation: Mainly right thumb, sometimes left thumb, always both feet.
Cellphone model: None
TV model: None
Garden: Yes, shared ones and guerrilla gardening
Job: None, fulltime available, short while every now and then, here and there.
Yearly money income from state: €0.00
PC: Old gaming pc from a friend for €150, screen included. (Biggest spending in years.)
Favorite clothes brand: Ones I Have, Gifts We Don't Need, Thank The Kids.

Two rules and only two rules I live by. Keeps life simple, you know...
- Be the change you wish to see.
- Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.

May I ask, where do you live that you can hitchhike? I thumbed extensively back in the 1970s and loved it. But by the end of the decade it had gotten so that nobody would pick pick you up here in the states. :(

Belgium. Planning on traveling southwards next year (France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, ...) hoping that it goes as well as here.

I hope so too. Keep us posted!

Wow 12 years later it's interesting to look at my old post and think about the way of life back then and the thousands of others who have posted since 2006 on this thread. Takes me back...

Ahhh, back in the "good old days"

My life in the last six months has changed from living a simple life in a minivan to living in a rented room. The luxury of having a shower, toilet, and full kitchen with a refrigerator is good. Yet the yearning to return to van life is strong.

Simple living doesn't need to be small; but to most people it means discarding things that aren't used anymore. To me it is about not being wasteful and being mindful of how I spend money. Everything I have purchased in the last few years is useful. Anything purchased to make life better seems worthwhile. Something purchased that just sits around doing nothing for me isn't worthwhile. The easiest thing to relate to this is clothing. How often are each of your garments worn? I understand keeping a suit around for special events seems reasonable but what about old T shirts or shorts that aren't touched for over a year. Those are just taking up space. Eliminating things that aren't used really makes life simpler regarding space.

I mention space because clutter really creates agitation in the mind. Everybody whom I've ever read about or watched on video who has deliberately shed huge amounts of possessions feels relief from something that they didn't even realize was bothering them. The most often used descriptor related to downsizing is freedom. Who doesn't want that?

In my new residence I've added an outdoor reclining chair, a bar stool chair, a new cot with risers for the legs, eight plastic storage bins to repackage my things into neater spaces, an electric guitar and small amplifier, a new laptop computer, and a couple of kitchen items. So I'm not going crazy filling all of this extra space with useless items. I use everything.

When I first visited this thread I lived in a two bedroom apartment with one of them packed to the roof with boxes of things. The living room also had furniture and unused appliances. The kitchen was filled with things that were never used. Living this new uncluttered life is much better. Being able to pack everything in one or two hours and move seems like a huge benefit. Not many people have the ability to do that.

How simply do you live? Well I looked up world wide incomes. 50% live on less than $2.50 per day. Another 30 % live on $2.50 to $10.00 per day. The rest earn more than $10 per day. I saw a poster in a Salvation Army church office that stated: If you have shoes on your feet, clothes on your back, food in your stomach, and any kind of roof over your head at night you're doing better than 75 % of the world. For what it's worth I always refer back to that when I hear someone crying the blues about their life.

Some thing to think about... I also think anything we have is given to us by God. No matter how hard u think u work for what u have, the reason u can work hard is because God ,Nature,Great Spirit or what ever u want to call it,gives us the health, and strength to work hard.

We Are our Own good !
 

The things We own are Due to our personal effort and Accomplishments ... NOT some Fictitious Being from biblical references !! I have Always owned more than I needed, Mainly because I was influenced by those who claim 2 is One, and 1 is None! So REDUNDANCY has always been important especially when living in Survival mode as I have. Better to Rely on Yourself, and Become your Own god ! 😎

[QUOTE=technoD;20176892]The things We own are Due to our personal effort and Accomplishments ... NOT some Fictitious Being from biblical references !! I have Always owned more than I needed, Mainly because I was influenced by those who claim 2 is One, and 1 is None! So REDUNDANCY has always been important especially when living in Survival mode as I have. Better to Rely on Yourself, and Become your Own god ! 😎[/QUOT]

Maybe, but it’s pretty easy in the US.

fictitious creature...what produces air u breath.. Not talking about a man in the sky..talking about nature..and where would God be if there is a God..? A lot if times talents you have are DNA given to you ..so why take credit..give it to your parents at least if u don't believe in God.. I prefer Great Spirit..because too many people hear the word God and think if some man watching over us.. I just think every thing is connected...but who knows?

Great Spirit ?
 

I won't get into a pissing match here, but I Am a advocate of Evolution of Life, with that said , that's my answer for our air, Etc. But Great Spirit ... Um NO. At any rate, have a nice day. 😎👍

wth I was trying to say this in the other living car free thread and everyone laughed. I respect their opinion but ross i feel u 100%.

Anywho how did I miss this thread....
I sleep on a hammock and only thing in my efficiency apartment is my bikes and tools. I sleep on the floor or outside in my tent. My laptop is about a 13 in screen and very light. I have a phone but rarely use it only for emergency wifi which I cannot stand but do not have a phone sim card nor account. I use the same bamboo bowl and utensils and recycle bottles whenever I encounter them - which in Florida is practically every 5 mins.

Nice!! Police dont bother or tap ur window to check? I did it like this a few times but grew weary of getting light shined in the middle of the night. I think the best way is a pickup truck and u sleep in the bed of the truck in rthe back lo

Then why use the word 'god' in the first place? While luck -both good and bad- is a hugely significant factor in terms of how things play out for us, that's not god. Sure, some persons have exceptional natural talent, but this isn't intentionally given to them... it's just luck. Lucky to have great parents, lucky the phenotype worked out, lucky there were no catastrophic accidents that ended a life early... none of this is consciously given by anyone or anything any more than getting great cards are given to a poker player. It's just how things play out.

One time a policeman in Eugene Oregon came to my door in the late morning to tell me I couldn't park on the street beside the Walmart. He wouldn't have been there if not for the trash heap of an RV parked at the end of the street where the people had unpacked a ton of junk and left it on the grass between the sidewalk and street. Somehow those jerks felt it was OK to do that while their twenty year old Class A heap was parked there. Such people give people like me a bad name.

In Helena, Butte, Hollywood, Portland, and Monroe I was never bothered because I was hidden. I didn't hang out outside of the van. I didn't step into or out of the van side door if anybody was around. Most of the windows were painted black on the inside. They looked tinted from a distance. Light couldn't penetrate them. A thick black vinyl curtain separated the front seats from the rear of the van. Nobody knew I was there.

One Thanksgiving some people were going around bringing food to people living openly in their junky looking vehicles. Mine was one car behind a van with a high top roof. Those charitable people didn't come to my van because I was invisible. Even though they were living in that neighborhood and were familiar with the others parked on that street they didn't know I too was living on that street. I was very stealthy.

I stayed in my minivan for a little over two years. I worked in Hollywood for many months. Then tried Portland for a couple of months. From there I got a temporary job in Monroe Washington and remained there for three weeks before heading to Portland and then back to Hollywood. I got a job and would still be there if I could have bought a newer van. Unfortunately I couldn't prove I had a residence. Which meant I couldn't get car insurance. So the deal for the van I was intending to buy couldn't be completed.

The old van was dying so I quit my job and sold it. Living in Hollywood would have been too expensive in an apartment. So I returned home to Helena Montana to live in an uncluttered quiet safe place. I can go months without hearing any kind of siren. It's beautiful too. Plus the government isn't as insane as the one in California.

It is my hope that in a month or two I'll be able to switch to a more lucrative job and save enough money to buy a small RV trailer which will become my next home. Where it will be parked is unknown. An RV park would give me power, water, and internet. I really love having those things at hand, but; I could do without them just as I did while living in the minivan. It would just require more effort and planning.

I like living simply in my rented bedroom. A small RV trailer would be a little smaller than my room but it would have everything needed to live plus it would be mine. Nobody could tell me I had to vacate it because they wanted the space for a relative to move in. That has happened to me twice. :mad: Living simply in my case means I can move on a moments notice. With an RV trailer as a home I could leave in the time it would take to unplug everything, put things on the counter tops into boxes on the floor, and attach it to an SUV or truck. In a few days I could be in any part of the country. The simpler life is the more freedom I have. It's great.

This is the best post. I am glad you are doing well and your van setup was classic! I tried it but did not even have tinted windows I would just pick places I knew people did not go however sometimes it would seem I had a homing missile attached to me and I realized that it has to do with being in slightly commercial areas. Do you have bikes still or condensed down to just one?

Right now I don't own a bicycle. The roads are icy and I've got a breathing problem right now. For some reason my body isn't absorbing oxygen as it should. New medications are being tried and perhaps it will be handled soon.

When spring comes I want to get a Kickbike. I really like the physical motion used to propel those more than bicycling. I used a Xootr for many years. I stopped using it because the tiny wheels got caught on a tall crack one time and I was injured in a fall. My reflexes weren't fast enough to prevent it. A Kickbike has bicycle size wheels which would easily roll over such sidewalk cracks and holes. https://www.kickbikeus.com/

One key to being stealthy is to have a nondescript vehicle like a clean minivan. Another way to remain hidden is to park near apartment buildings because new people come and go all the time in such a neighborhood. Nobody knows anybody. Plus parking in front of an apartment building doesn't bother anybody. Parking in front of somebody's house can draw attention if it's done often. Don't leave your vehicle in one spot. Even if you park in the same neighborhood regularly you should leave it every day just like everybody else does when they go to work. There are lots of other things that can be done to remain invisible but those are the important ones. If I eventually do get a small RV trailer such stealth parking will be impossible.

That explains it I used to park in abandoned or empty back of grocery store type parking lots. I figured it was quaint enough however your advice makes more sense but man sometimes those apartment areas are noisy or too much commotion in and out! I think the minivan helps a lot too. I just could never find one for a good price as I care more about bikes :) I do tilt my hat to you as it truly does help improve ones mindset to learn these aspects.

I think a small cargo van converted into a camper would be even better since cargo vans have fewer windows; usually only one rear window and maybe a small one on the passenger side.

It would be more difficult to live stealthily in conventional minivan because of all the windows. Sure, you can put up curtains, but that's a dead giveaway. With a converted cargo van all you'd have to do is block out the rear and side (if it has one) with something dark and it's unlikely anyone would notice anything unless they look closely, which they won't unless you leave it parked in the same spot for more than a couple days.

While I like the idea of long term living off a bike, there are just too many limitations in terms of where you can spend the night. It has to be either a legitimate campground or an undeveloped area where no one would care. This eliminates cities, towns, suburbs, and even many rural areas.

Cargo vans stick out in neighborhoods, especially the tall roof models now available. A beautiful conversion van would be noticed but people probably wouldn't wonder if it were parked in their neighborhood by thieves stealing things from houses. Passenger vans with blacked out windows would work better.

As I mentioned, I painted the glass on almost all of the windows behind the front seats. Only the side door window wasn't painted, but I put a custom fit plank in it at night. It fit very tightly and was painted black.

Hmm. Where I live (pacific northwest) cargo vans are pretty ubiquitous and no one seems to pay much attention to them. When I'm out and out about I see them all over the place, and since most of them are white they aren't distinct or conspicuous. [Funny how most people are less suspicious of white things.]

A converted minivan is more obvious. I see them regularly as well, and it's usually obvious someone is living in it because of the curtains, etc. It sounds like your situation was more stealthy.

To be clear, I'm not talking about a full-size cargo van, but something more compact like old Chevy Astro or Ford Transit Connect. Regardless of the vehicle, you just have to be smart about parking, and as I wrote don't leave it parked in one area too long otherwise people will figure out what you're doing.

Can someone explain the advantages of living/hiding like a criminal on the lam? Good for hiding from bill collectors or what?

I often do wonder if I could sell off what I have and live simply.. Do some bike touring which I have been thinking about for a while.. Having even a small home like I do still requires upkeep. Also what do I do with my two cats..hehe..

It's about living simply and cheaply and working as little as possible so I can focus on doing things I enjoy - hiking, biking, kayaking, traveling, etc. In many places it's simply too expensive to live a healthy, happy life because one has to work way too much. This is way van living is on the rise in many places.

I'm in very much the same situation. I have a cat that is almost 19 I feel obligated to care for to a reasonable degree. He's doing OK, but as with most old cats he has fairly advanced kidney disease and I don't expect him to live beyond this year.

While he's been a great companion for about 17 years and I'll be sad after he's gone, if I'm being honest I'll also be relieved to be free of the responsibility, which will make it more viable to considering doing things like living out of a van and traveling.

As I wrote, I love the idea of just living off a bike for an extended period of time, but having a vehicle to sleep in gives you more flexibility and security. I guess you could get a hotel/motel for a few days since bikes are much less expensive than motorized vehicles.

I suspected that working as little as possible and avoiding responsibilities were significant reasons. A need for extreme frugality is a logical result of making such choices.