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What's the cheapest living situation possible that still has basic utilities?

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What's the cheapest living situation possible that still has basic utilities?

#1

Post by format997 »

I'm curious about possible non-conventional living arrangements to cut out one of my biggest expenses. If location weren't a primary concern (I can telecommute as a programmer, but would still want to live within a few hours of a major city), what's the cheapest living arrangement possible? Buying cheap land and hooking up utilities to a mobile home? What are the fees like to run utilities to new property? Are there cheaper living structures than mobile homes? Are there completely different ideas I'm not considering?

I'd be curious if I could set myself up with a basic home for $40,000 or less that would mean I wouldn't have to pay any other living expenses going forward besides unavoidable ones (property taxes [though I could pick a state without property tax], maintenance and utilities).

Re: What's the cheapest living situation possible that still has basic utilities?

#3

Post by api »

I met a "prohobo" once. Chatted with him at a coffee shop. He was living in a squat, had 4G/LTE Internet, and a solar panel for his electronics. Rode Greyhound and/or the rails around the country (the latter, he said, is hard to get away with these days). Said he also occasionally stayed in hotels when he needed to freshen up and get a better nights reset for a while.

I think he made a living doing contract web programming, routed his money to an electronic bank account.

Re: What's the cheapest living situation possible that still has basic utilities?

#4

Post by Beached »

You may try looking into Tiny houses, they may cause some problems with zoning in some area's so picking a location will require some research.

A tiny house can easily run under $20,000 fully equipped. Some people have been able to build them for under $10,000.

Fix the house with solar panels, maybe a small wind turbine for electricity. tin roof with a rain water collection, you can run is through a 3 stage or 5 stage filter into a small water tank under a couch. Solar or propane hot water heater, propane gas stove. Grab yourself a 5-mile wifi- antenna to pick up wifi from coffee shops nearby. Composting toilet or a standard RV backwater holding tank to take care of the nasty.

A tiny house with this set up can take care of all of your basic utilities and if you are frugal, resourceful and pick up recyclables, you could drive down the cost possibly under $10k.

Check out this video for my favorite tiny house build. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VckbqU4kK2I

Edit: You will need a car/truck that can tow it around. But an automobile would definitely come in handy if you still want to commute into the city.

Re: What's the cheapest living situation possible that still has basic utilities?

#7

Post by format997 »

Beached wrote: post #4

You may try looking into Tiny houses, they may cause some problems with zoning in some area's so picking a location will require some research. A tiny house can easily run under $20,000 fully equipped. Some people have been able to build them for under $10,000. Fix the house with solar panels, maybe a small wind turbine for electricity. tin roof with a rain water collection, you can run is through a 3 stage or 5 stag…

Where would you typically park them for an extended period of time? Is that what you mean with zoning problems? Do people usually try to hang out in a large parking lot for long enough? Or perhaps just get outside the city limit in what looks like abandoned land?

Also, how do you deal with the waste water in the long run? Stop by RV parks and empty out your septic tanks?

Re: What's the cheapest living situation possible that still has basic utilities?

#8

Post by nightcracker »

Beached wrote: post #4

You may try looking into Tiny houses, they may cause some problems with zoning in some area's so picking a location will require some research. A tiny house can easily run under $20,000 fully equipped. Some people have been able to build them for under $10,000. Fix the house with solar panels, maybe a small wind turbine for electricity. tin roof with a rain water collection, you can run is through a 3 stage or 5 stag…

> Grab yourself a 5-mile wifi- antenna to pick up wifi from coffee shops nearby.

This sounds incredibly illegal.

Re: What's the cheapest living situation possible that still has basic utilities?

#10

Post by Beached »

nightcracker wrote: post #8
Beached wrote: post #4

You may try looking into Tiny houses, they may cause some problems with zoning in some area's so picking a location will require some research. A tiny house can easily run under $20,000 fully equipped. Some people have been able to build them for under $10,000. Fix the house with solar panels, maybe a small wind turbine for electricity. tin roof with a rain water collection, you can run is through a 3 stage or 5 stag…

> Grab yourself a 5-mile wifi- antenna to pick up wifi from coffee shops nearby. This sounds incredibly illegal.

:)
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