Extreme-saving choice: Live in your van
Posted
Jul 10 2008, 05:04 PM
by
Karen Datko
To those readers who have cut spending every which way they can, but find it's not enough, "Tight Fisted Miser" offers an extreme idea -- live in a van.
The 40-year-old law student is seriously considering a van-dwelling experience when his apartment lease runs out in the fall.
Is Tight Fisted Miser just floating a trial balloon to see how many readers will tell him he's nuts? After all, he isn't planning an extended retirement RV trip. He's going to park the van down by the river in Kansas City, Mo., shower at the university, and cook his meals in a microwave there.
Needless to say, most people don't choose to live without a real roof over their heads. While it's unclear how many have been made homeless by the nation's abysmal foreclosure rate, their stories are surfacing and they are not pretty.
A USA Today story says:
More than 300 school districts in the USA have reported a rise in homeless children because of the foreclosure crisis, according to a soon-to-be-released report by the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth and First Focus. Areas that are absorbing the biggest surges include Michigan, California, Florida, parts of Illinois and the suburbs around Houston. As of April 1, Cleveland schools enrolled more than 2,100 homeless students, a 30% increase from last year.
So far, Tight Fisted Miser's readers have been supportive. Summer Fey Foovay wrote: "My husband and I actually lived in our car and a tent for several months a couple of years ago. We enjoyed it so much we seriously discussed making it a permanent change." "KRod" said, "I always dreamed of doing this. Good luck."
Maybe certain bragging rights come with the experience. Reader "shoyu" said, "Even if you only last until winter, you'll always be able to tell people you once lived in a van."
Tight Fisted Miser says his other choice is to get rid of his car, which costs him on average $263 a month even though it's paid for. But he'd have to quit his pizza-delivery job. He likes the flexibility driving allows, so it looks like vehicle will trump apartment in his future life plans.
Van living will be an adventure, he says. One of our favorite books, "Blue Highways" by William Least Heat-Moon, inspires him. After conferring with other van-dwelling types, he says, "I've realized that this dream is actually quite feasible and I intend to make it a reality this year."
