Living in a Van • Hacker News Board

Re: Living in a Van

#21

Post by tgrass » Fri, Oct 05, 2012, 6:03 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #15

This seems like a romantically bohemian way to approximate a pampered middle class kid's idea of how poor people live. If you want to save money, you can try what they actually do, which is move to a less desirable neighborhood and spend one third what you do on rent for an apartment. You live in a crazy expensive neck of the woods? Nice to meet you; I live in Japan, cry me a river. There's old folks on social securi…

Patrick, he does write "it’s worth noting that we are talking about people that want to live in vans."

I was a lower middle class kid with a lackluster middle class education and good manners so I was able to scrape by on $17K a year and "live" off my motorcycle and later out of my truck in between stints at a lodge in back country Alaska. It was privileged. Sure. And there were before the crash many of us doing it. None of us had any responsibilities. Why the disdain? No one ever claimed it was more than it was. There's a leisure class at both ends of the economic spectrum. For the most part, there were very few Trustafarians. We were middle class kids who wanted to climb/write novels/surf/snowboard/insert your interest here.

We all sacrificed future income for those days. No need for disdain. We all make our own choices.

[EDIT] Here's a current stream of a couple living the dream: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Drive-Nacho-Drive/21838885820...

Re: Living in a Van

#22

Post by pclark » Fri, Oct 05, 2012, 6:04 PM UTC

never thought i'd get a chance to promote foster hunting on hacker news, but et voila: the polar opposite of this article – something that would inspire you to want to live in a van – can be found on this fantastic blog: http://www.arestlesstransplant.com

Re: Living in a Van

#23

Post by timmaah » Fri, Oct 05, 2012, 6:07 PM UTC

Great time to be living. My wife and I sold most of our stuff and have been living nomadically the last 4 months while continuing to work full time. Though we are in an Airstream, not a van.

Started in Vermont and currently beach front on the Oregon coast. Truly awesome

http://www.watsonswander.com/

It is turning out to be just slightly cheaper than when we owned a house. Averaged $27 a night the last two months for campground fees and $20 a day on gas.

Re: Living in a Van

#24

Post by United857 » Fri, Oct 05, 2012, 6:07 PM UTC

This guy goes one step further; living in a Honda Civic:

http://www.quora.com/Would-becoming-homeless-be-a-good-strat...

Re: Living in a Van

#25

Post by threejay » Fri, Oct 05, 2012, 6:09 PM UTC

pclark wrote: post #22

never thought i'd get a chance to promote foster hunting on hacker news, but et voila: the polar opposite of this article – something that would inspire you to want to live in a van – can be found on this fantastic blog: http://www.arestlesstransplant.com

I concur. This is one of my absolute favorite blogs.

Re: Living in a Van

#26

Post by GladHatter » Fri, Oct 05, 2012, 6:13 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #15

This seems like a romantically bohemian way to approximate a pampered middle class kid's idea of how poor people live. If you want to save money, you can try what they actually do, which is move to a less desirable neighborhood and spend one third what you do on rent for an apartment. You live in a crazy expensive neck of the woods? Nice to meet you; I live in Japan, cry me a river. There's old folks on social securi…

I'm not sure if the allure is necessarily the bohemian way of feeling poor. I think much of it has to do with the minimalism of the experience. The ability to pack up and move on at a moments notice has 'starting over' feel to it, which can be quite nice. Kind of like refactoring crufty code.

Re: Living in a Van

#27

Post by tiramisu » Fri, Oct 05, 2012, 6:14 PM UTC

When I worked in Palo Alto and lived in SF, the daily commute felt tolerable for three days of the week and then became intolerable for the last two days of the week. After quitting my job and getting a trailer to travel the country, I figured out that a solution to the commute would have been to buy a trailer/van while in SV and park it permanently in one of the huge lots at work and overnight there when I didn't feel like driving back to SF. Like vans, some trailers, like Airstreams or vintage "canned hams", don't depreciate if taken care of.

Re: Living in a Van

#28

Post by enraged_camel » Fri, Oct 05, 2012, 6:16 PM UTC

GladHatter wrote: post #26

patio11 wrote: post #15

This seems like a romantically bohemian way to approximate a pampered middle class kid's idea of how poor people live. If you want to save money, you can try what they actually do, which is move to a less desirable neighborhood and spend one third what you do on rent for an apartment. You live in a crazy expensive neck of the woods? Nice to meet you; I live in Japan, cry me a river. There's old folks on social securi…

I'm not sure if the allure is necessarily the bohemian way of feeling poor. I think much of it has to do with the minimalism of the experience. The ability to pack up and move on at a moments notice has 'starting over' feel to it, which can be quite nice. Kind of like refactoring crufty code.

>>Kind of like refactoring crufty code.

I think you mean "deleting code and starting from scratch". Refactoring code involves making changes to existing code in order to optimize it - I don't think it's analogous to packing up and moving on.

Re: Living in a Van

#29

Post by timmaah » Fri, Oct 05, 2012, 6:16 PM UTC

daveman wrote: post #20

Regarding the topic of internet access, I wonder how many van dwellers resort to piggybacking on nearby homeowners' unsecured wifi networks? Seems like if you're trying to minimize costs, rolling up alongside an open network is a great way to get your Hulu and Netflix without going over your data limits.

Granted I've been in campgrounds the last few months and not near many residential neighborhoods, but my experience is that its more trouble than it is worth.

We have a wifi extender on the roof of our travel trailer. Finding an open wifi is fairly rare these days. Even campground offered wifi is hit or miss on speed. Our 3g data card rocks. 20gig a month gives us a little leeway on streaming. We make due with local news and a stash of Seinfeld and Sopranos.

Re: Living in a Van

#30

Post by ssharp » Fri, Oct 05, 2012, 6:17 PM UTC

aidenn0 wrote: post #10

mikegirouard wrote: post #3

> Actually, you’d break even much sooner because your camper van is an asset. If you bought a used camper van from the 1980s, it’s unlikely to lose much more value under your watch. If you fix it up, it may even have appreciated in value when you look to sell it. If you resell it for anywhere near what you paid for it, you break even in just a couple of months. If you found a great deal on a van, you’d break even soo…

Used cars depreciate very slowly on average (if something expensive breaks you are SOL though). New cars lose a lot of value the moment you buy them, and then start to follow the used-car curve. Everyday cars with a reputation for reliability lose their value very slowly. Luxury cars lose their value very quickly at first, but then slow down a lot. Buying and selling to/from private parties saves a lot of money, but…

Campers (and I'd imagine RVs) are much the same. Once they hit 15-20 years old, as long as long as the interior is decent and you keep them waterproof, they won't really lose value. Replacing components like the fridge or water heater is pretty cheap and simple if you can come by the parts.