poormanbiking

I'm in Ohio and its getting cold. At work we had a discussion about moving to warmer climate and living a simple lifestyle. Keeping to the basics: a P.O. Box for mail, a small storage sled for storage and rest ,and a gym or YMCA membership for showers . Using public grills for cooking and a cooler for short term cold storage.

Anything we overlooked ?

Ekdog

If you're talking about doing this on a permanent basis, you need a house or apartment. Living outside, even if you have a shed to rest in, will get old fast.

Artkansas 

Might I be so bold as to suggest a bicycle?

10 Wheels

You do not need any of these:

P.O. Box for mail, a small storage sled for storage and rest ,and a gym or YMCA membership for showers . Using public grills for cooking and a cooler for short term cold storage.

10 Wheels

Go on a camping trip:
Rain cover
Fire
Water
Food

thompsonpost

Homelessness is no picnic, I know. You will constantly re-evaluate your commitment.

Llamero

That's not enough unfortunately. If you live too minimally, you run a substantial risk of falling seriously ill, and then your medical bills and hospital stays will not really conform to that "minimal living" lifestyle. I live in a 350 sq. ft apartment with my wife. We have a kitchen, bedroom, shower, and bathroom, and can live warm and dry. Even though we live in a northern climate, there is a minimal need for heating, because with aspace that small, the sun easily warms up the apartment during the day, and we just bury ourselves under blankets at night.

Rather than asking yourself how to live minimally, I'd ask how to live the most efficiently without feeling like you're living without.

Foofy

Agreed.

wahoonc

Everybody has different comfort limits. Living outside for months at a time is work (been there done that)

Aaron

Machka 

First, I recommend going to the touring forum. Cycletourists live on the road, often mainly outside (in a tent) ... and some do it for extended periods of time ... several months or years. I toured Australia for 3 months that way, living out of panniers. It's amazing out little you can get by with.

Second, I agree that it can be a lot of work. Cycletouring is a lot of work ... exercise every day ... and the elements do get a bit tiresome at times. Even living where Rowan and I do now ... in a shed in the Australian bush ... has been a lot of work.

However, we're almost entirely self sufficient here now. We're getting our power entirely from the sun, and it is enough to run some lights, the computers, and even the wash on occasion. Our stove is a coleman campstove ... powered by tanks of gas. Our water comes from the rain.

swwhite

Here's an idea.

https://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

cerewa

Why not? Be a nomad living without a house, for as long as you feel like, and have a plan for how you'd get a place to live indoors whenever you want to.

Then, if it turns out you get tired of camping after a week or a month (or a few years) no problem!

Machka 

Exactly right.

I'm not sure how it is in the US but over here in Australia there's something called the Harvest Trail. People of all ages have given up being encumbered by a house and "traditional" lifestyle, and instead they travel and work. It would appear that the younger ones (and mostly male) take the picking jobs ... picking cherries, mangos, bananas, oranges, mandarins, etc. etc. etc., and the older ones (and mostly female) take the sorting and packing jobs.

These people usually start by living in a tent and cycling, taking the bus, or using a car to get from one job to another as the various jobs open up starting in the north and working their way south. As they earn more money they appear to upgrade to living in vans, and then to living in larger caravans (RVs).

Rowan has done a bit of work on the Harvest Trail in recent years before settling down to work on one orchard for the past 4 years or so. And I guess I've started working on the Harvest Trail now with a sorting/packing job in a cherry plant for the next few weeks.

I would have thought that most of the people working the Harvest Trail would have been much younger (and I guess the pickers generally are), but the sorters/packers are anywhere between about 17 and 70, with the younger ones tending to be fairly local students etc., and the older ones (40-70 yrs old) tending to be the itinerant workers. They might have a house which they are renting out for a large portion of the year ... or they might have sold the house to buy their caravan (RV), and they are enjoying the travelling aspect of the life they've chosen. They work in one part of Australia for 6-8 weeks or so, then spend a couple weeks getting to another job, seeing the sights along the way, then another 6-8 weeks at another job, etc. etc.

It's a very tempting lifestyle. The work pays well and you get to travel and see the country, all while living very simply. The one possible downside is that it can be hard work ... it's not easy.

crazybikerchick

Where do you plan to keep your storage shed? If somewhere populated enough to have public grills you may get harassed for living in a shed, which I think would become apparent. Also, do you plan on frequenting coffee shops for #2, or digging catholes somewhere in this once again populated enough spot to have public grills.

Me thinks the idea of a tent and a bicycle, moving from spot to spot, with a small stove and potset, and an email address you can access at public libraries is pretty simple.

crazybikerchick

Also you didn't mention what you planned to do for food. Are you going to rely on savings, are you going to have a job, or are you going to catch your own, or ..?

Ekdog

I think it'd be cool to live in a tipi.

wahoonc

In this country the bulk of harvesting is done by migrant workers, not too many people are willing to work for the wages they pay for harvesting. They are sub subsistence in many cases.

Aaron

Machka 

I wondered about that. It's a different story over here. Here, working in a cherry packing plant, I'm taking home more than I was making as a Document Control Clerk or an Engineering Technologist. Well above Australia's minimum wage, which is well above Canada's minimum wage. It makes the sore back worth it!!

And the people doing this kind of work are a mix of foreign students from various countries, who are attending school locally, and older people (40+). If you saw these people in the street, dressed in the attire they wear in the packing plant, you'd think they worked in an office or something similar ... all reasonably well dressed, well groomed, pleasant, friendly people.

Like I said ... it's a tempting lifestyle here.

Curious LeTour

Every person's limits are different. Having a tiny cube/trailer of some sort to sleep in, and store clothing and sundries, would make it doable for me. My biggest problem is not with roughing it. My problem with that would be losing value on the dating market.

wheel

SO the poor man never answered our questions (troll)


MONEY where you gonna get it from?

There is a reason people have a job and a home .
There is also a reason people who have money simply travel.

crazyed27

Interesting thread, I was thinking about biking from St. Louis to Fla! And then finding employment and a place to stay.I am more so because of the weather is like 30 degrees or less.

Machka 

And what reasons are those?

If you read my posts in this thread, I work with a lot of people who may or may not have a home ... and who enjoy travelling and seeing the country ... and they get work here there and everywhere as desired. They love that lifestyle. Rowan reminded me of the name of the older people who do this ... "Grey Nomads".

https://thegreynomads.com.au/

crazyed27

You ever think that someone has a limited amount of money and needs to survive??? What if you lost your home and your job??? What would you do??? Money is shyt I'd rather have my friends!

poormanbiking

I work for a national company and can transfer almost anywhere. Using limited amount of money to survive is always an idea. Live simple ,Live cheap.

wahoonc

Enjoy the job while you have it. And I fully agree that living simple and living cheap is the way to go in today's market, but then again I have always lived that way. Makes life a bit less stressful.

Aaron