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Living in a van - an inspirational story of frugality and achievement

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Re: Living in a van - an inspirational story of frugality and achievement

#51
post #13
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well put. Does the world not already provide enough difficult challenges? I encourage others to test themselves by endeavoring to make the world a better place. Yes, I know that sounds condescending, but I cannot stand the author's self-absorbtion: "By making life harder for myself, I prove how macho I am!"

You're being downvoted, but I think you bring up an interesting contrarian position that I'm surprised so many here disagree with. Couldn't he be working on a startup, instead of living off rice in an ant-filled van?

Well, he could move the van occasionally so that ants didn't set up shop inside!8-)

Re: Living in a van - an inspirational story of frugality and achievement

#52

He learned to live like the homeless: tucked away in his van, quietly hoping campus security didn't notice (they probably were generously keeping an eye on him and his van for his own sake). Seems a stretch to romanticize his lifestyle vis-a-vis Thoreau, who lived in the wilds rather than a parking lot. And he's a long way from Thoreau as a writer: "During rainstorms, I listened to millions of raindrops drum against…

Thoreau's cabin was only 45 minutes' walk outside of Concord, however.

Re: Living in a van - an inspirational story of frugality and achievement

#53
It's cool and all, but I've found attempting to live too sparsely compromises what I get from school. If I eat too frugally, I can't think properly. If I try to save too much on transportation by sleeping on campus, I am not well rested.

As my parents told me when I was hemming and hawing about whether or not I should buy a certain text book for a class, or try to get by without it- I'm already paying thousands and thousands of dollars in tuition and living expenses; I should get the most I can out of it, even if it means buying that $150 book.

Or, to put it more simply- penny wise, pound foolish. I've come to realize I agree; I'd rather go into debt and make the most of college than scrape by as cheap as I can, and not learn anything.

Re: Living in a van - an inspirational story of frugality and achievement

#54
post #29

This reminds me of an experiment I did in college to see how small of a food budget I could go on while still maintaining three healthy (and delicious) meals per day. I think I got it down to under $2/meal with a carb, protein, and veggie/fruit component to each meal. Pretty amazing when you factor in that I did ~50% of my shopping at Whole Foods. (they have quite competitive prices when it comes to frozen veggies an…

Could you give us a sample ingredient list/menu for a typical day?

Sorry missed this reply. For those still interested.

The key to keeping down costs is to buy in bulk, something I realize is not feasible to all people because it requires frontloading much of the cost. Scale according to what you can afford.

Breakfast & Dinner Example (I'm using very very generous prices, you can find most of these items for substantially cheaper via weekly sales/coupons or costco)

Breakfast: 2 Slices of Whole Wheat Bread = $0.60 ($3 for 10 slice loaf) 2 Large Eggs = $0.33 ($2 for 1 carton) 1 Tomato = $0.50 1 Banana = $0.50 Incidentals (salt, pepper, butter) = $0.10

Breakfast Total: $2.03

Dinner

Pasta = $0.33 (1 bag of pasta at WF = ~$1 and makes about three man servings) Can of Tuna = $0.50 Frozen Veggies = $0.50 (1 bag of mixed veggies about $1.50, makes three man servings) Canned Tomatoes = $0.50 (1 can = ~$1) Shredded Cheese = $0.40 ($4 bag makes about 10 servings) Olive Oil, Salt&Pepper, = $0.10 1 clove of Garlic = $0.05

Total: $2.38

Heat oil, sautee garlic, add veggies, add pre-cooked pasta, add tuna, season, add tomatoes, check-seasoning, stir-fry and reduce the water down, throw on the cheese.

Again buy in bulk and these prices go down even more. Canned goods, frozen foods, and carbs (rice & pasta are my favorites) are dirt dirt cheap.

For extra health, replace a few meals each week with fresh produce.

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