• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

going homeless - 1/02/17

I'm going with the rent a room option as well. The car thing will get old really fast. Since you work for the state can't you transfer to a different office location where rent is cheaper? I could barely find a house for under 200 in 2010, can't imagine what a sub 200k house looks like in the BA in 2016/17. Might not seem like it now but might be for the better.

Not to point the figure but I'd blame the appraiser over the VA for including a detached shed in the report. He could have at least asked.
 
For what it's worth, my GF and I lived in a van for about a year, with the goal of paying off student loans and saving $$ for a down payment. While it wasn't "luxurious" living by any means, it's easier than it seems, and we achieved our two main goals. We still worked full time at our jobs (and are both still employed, thank you very much!).

Main concerns were:
  1. Eating - Whole Foods salad bar (or cheaper alternative), or just buying raw salad ingredients and assembling easy meals yourself. Cheap, healthy, and means you don't have to eat out every night.
  2. Pooping - they sell self-contained marine toilets that work pretty well.
  3. Showering - 24 hr fitness membership means you can shower every day, and basically anywhere across the country
  4. Overnight parking - we parked at our respective employer's lots a lot of the time, also plenty of inconspicuous parking spots in SF/Oakland where we stayed most.

http://www.cheaprvliving.com/ is a great resource for this kind of thing.

Feel free to send me a PM if you want to talk in more detail, and good luck in general with your situation. Sorry to hear you're in this bind.
 
The shed shouldn't even count if it's less than (I think) 160sq ft.
 
Couldn't you live with your gf and that dude with SF season tix?
 
ghebinkim said:
For what it's worth, my GF and I lived in a van for about a year, with the goal of paying off student loans and saving $$ for a down payment. While it wasn't "luxurious" living by any means, it's easier than it seems, and we achieved our two main goals. We still worked full time at our jobs (and are both still employed, thank you very much!).

Main concerns were:
  1. Eating - Whole Foods salad bar (or cheaper alternative), or just buying raw salad ingredients and assembling easy meals yourself. Cheap, healthy, and means you don't have to eat out every night.
  2. Pooping - they sell self-contained marine toilets that work pretty well.
  3. Showering - 24 hr fitness membership means you can shower every day, and basically anywhere across the country
  4. Overnight parking - we parked at our respective employer's lots a lot of the time, also plenty of inconspicuous parking spots in SF/Oakland where we stayed most.

http://www.cheaprvliving.com/ is a great resource for this kind of thing.

Feel free to send me a PM if you want to talk in more detail, and good luck in general with your situation. Sorry to hear you're in this bind.
Click to expand...

You found a girl that could put up with all that and she's still just your gf? What are you waiting for, a better deal to come along.
 
JesasaurusRex said:
I'm going with the rent a room option as well. The car thing will get old really fast. Since you work for the state can't you transfer to a different office location where rent is cheaper? I could barely find a house for under 200 in 2010, can't imagine what a sub 200k house looks like in the BA in 2016/17. Might not seem like it now but might be for the better.

Not to point the figure but I'd blame the appraiser over the VA for including a detached shed in the report. He could have at least asked.
Click to expand...

I don't think the sub-$200k House exists in the Bay Area any more. A Vacant lot where you can permit to build residential will go for that now, if not more even if you go for something Sub-Bay like Solano, Contra Costa or Sonoma County, but even then, most things will probably be a Condo with a $500 HOA attached, so you may as well spend another $100k anyway.
 
Eldritch said:
I don't think the sub-$200k House exists in the Bay Area any more. A Vacant lot where you can permit to build residential will go for that now, if not more even if you go for something Sub-Bay like Solano, Contra Costa or Sonoma County, but even then, most things will probably be a Condo with a $500 HOA attached, so you may as well spend another $100k anyway.
Click to expand...

:(
 
72SBC said:
Extended Stay America, Or buy a R.V.!
Click to expand...

My 33' bumper pull was like 38 Ish plus tax. 2 1/2 people plus a dog live in that bitch more or less full time. Get a little stir crazy but if you're all by yourself it's more than enough space. Pulling it with a 1/2 ton currently, would recommend a bigger truck but still within the tow rating of the 1/2 ton. Obviously if you dont own a truck that's an additional expense. Thing is I don't know how much rv parks in the BA charge. You might be looking at $1000 per month for a spot, then it really kinda defeats the purpose.
 
Another dude on another job moved to Martinez from Denver and lived in a camper in the back of his truck instead of renting.
Dude started getting cabin fever after about 4 months. No social life, his wife stayed in Colorado. We had to cut him loose he was getting weird beyond repair.
 
phocup said:
Sucks to hear that man, but you have a good attitude going into a bad situation. Who knows, you might have an epiphany and change your life like this girl did.

[youtube]p3j1-V_UgIE[/youtube]

If you explore her channel you might find some pretty good suggestions .. like this one about where to park your car at night for safety.

[youtube]7379aanKuZE[/youtube]

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Living in you car isn't as big a deal when you're young and cute and know if you want you have other options. She could have a place to stay in a minute of she wanted. And not just offers from pervy old guys.
She seems entertained by it and the attention she's getting. She also has decades ahead of her to sort out whatever it is that has her sleeping in a car so not anywhere near a real life hardship situation IMO.

Not anything like a middle age homely guy (no offence OP, I don't know what you look like but I'm assuming you're not cute). That's a situation that harder to pull out of.
 
Blankpage said:
Living in you car isn't as big a deal when you're young and cute and know if you want you have other options. She could have a place to stay in a minute of she wanted. And not just offers from pervy old guys.
She seems entertained by it and the attention she's getting. She also has decades ahead of her to sort out whatever it is that has her sleeping in a car so not anywhere near a real life hardship situation IMO.

Not anything like a middle age homely guy (no offence OP, I don't know what you look like but I'm assuming you're not cute). That's a situation that harder to pull out of.
Click to expand...

Just going to say, she's running a decent quality camera, has the funds to renovate a van to suit her, in the few video slices I saw is wearing well fitting, washed, new-ish looking clothes. She's got funds behind all that for sure and definitely has a place to go if things aren't going that well.

I would guess she is supported by disappointed parents behind the scenes and really is basically a hipster playing at being homeless.

Not the same thing at all.
 
Eldritch said:
I don't think the sub-$200k House exists in the Bay Area any more. A Vacant lot where you can permit to build residential will go for that now, if not more even if you go for something Sub-Bay like Solano, Contra Costa or Sonoma County, but even then, most things will probably be a Condo with a $500 HOA attached, so you may as well spend another $100k anyway.
Click to expand...

We just bought one in Richmond for $180k, they are out there but essentially not available unless you can arrange to be a cash buyer since anything in that price bracket has issues that prevent getting a loan. Once you are competing with financed buyers prices go way up. We also needed to spend ~20k on plumbing before the house was habitable. Like so many things in life, the more hard up you are, the more expensive everything gets.

ScarySpikes said:
Just going to say, she's running a decent quality camera, has the funds to renovate a van to suit her, in the few video slices I saw is wearing well fitting, washed, new-ish looking clothes. She's got funds behind all that for sure and definitely has a place to go if things aren't going that well.

I would guess she is supported by disappointed parents behind the scenes and really is basically a hipster playing at being homeless.

Not the same thing at all.
Click to expand...

While I essentially agree, the assumption that everyone out living an alternative cheep life is supported by their parents is unfortunate. Plenty of young folks living the dirtbag life on the cheap without help from parents. I found most often the people assuming you need a trust fun to go out and live the dream are those who are too terrified to break away and take the leap away from a conventional lifestyle.

My Girl and I lived and traveled on our 28 foot boat for a few years, Technically we were homeless with an income well below the poverty level, but it certainly wasn't a hardship and stress levels were very low since we both are easily employable and knew we could get good paying jobs and re-enter the real world at any point.
 
ghebinkim said:
[*]Eating - Whole Foods salad bar (or cheaper alternative), or just buying raw salad ingredients and assembling easy meals yourself. Cheap, healthy, and means you don't have to eat out every night.
Click to expand...

Sorry man, but that's pretty shitty. Eating salads every meal isn't healthy, unless you're a rabbit. You could eat well with a propane stove setup, but you're going to also need a source of running water to clean up. It's definitely doable but if you actually want to eat real, home-cooked food, it's not super easy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top