mconlonx

Oh, sure, totally on board with you there. Simple, spare living is what I'm aiming for. Definitely less environmental footprint than a house or apartment. No extra room for stuff accumulation. Conservation in all things.

Just saying that there is irony involved here, being turned onto living in a vehicle in a sub-forum called "Living Car-Free."

gerv 

Irony? In LCF? Never seen that before.

tpin

Sounds like an RV type of vehicle

"Living in a van or other form of RV requires simple living practices."

Such a vehicle, like a camper, is a great way to do more cycling. I've done some great rides out of a trailer in the Adirondacks. The post is called How Simply do you Live. That qualifies as simple in terms of amount of stuff. The logistics are difficult, but it's an adventure. Living simply is often connected with being mobile. However, living simply is not necessarily for the purpose of being mobile.

mconlonx

Iknowright!

Yes indeed, bare bones, stripped down RV, only what I need, what is absolutely essential, not much else. Part of what will come with is the Birdy folding bike or maybe some other folder, preferably with 20"/406 wheels for better tire choice.

Been trying to live simpler and simpler with varying degrees of success; relishing this new adventure to really hammer it home. "Simple living" is a broad term with varying degrees of simplicity based on whoever is trying to live that way. Someone's 'simple' might be another's 'extravagance.' Moving into a 60sq' living space will have to be more on the simpler end of things...

Rollfast

If my computer is roaming it's either going to a shop or being stolen. I just don't dig laptops a ton and I still attach a mouse at the least because that little pad is a dumb design for me and Hunt and Peck have a contract on me..

Artkansas 

An interesting perspective from someone who's spent 10 years living off the grid on an island in British Columbia.

https://www.offgridquest.com/58-10-ye...-little-island

Machka 

We've started watching an interesting series. We all know Kevin McCloud from Grand Designs ... in 2012 he did a series called "Kevin McCloud's Man Made Home". Maybe you've seen it?

Hopefully the link works to describe what the show is about ...

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2429484/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1


Reminds me of our year in the shack in the hills.

MyBikeGotStolen

This sounds like an interesting show. Are you watching it online? I would like to try to find it and watch it if possible.

Machka 

No, not online ... on ABC.

Smallwheels

Search Youtube for Grand Designs. I came across it last week and there are some interesting designs shown.

Kevin McCloud's Man Made Home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhhIc_uG4Zk

Machka 

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.

Roody

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

Machka 

Do you mean Top Gear? That's one of our favourites!! 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.

beachczar

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

Roody

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

Smallwheels

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.

Rollfast

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!

technoD

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!!!

mconlonx

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.

Roody

@mconlonx, 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!

mconlonx

Van sweet home:



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

...and so it begins.

MikeRides

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 ?

mconlonx

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.

loky1179

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

bulevardi

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.