chloe3pisces
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My name is Chloe. I was on SSI (Supplemental Security Income - disability) for 5 years due to health complications. Social Security taught me the hard way to live cheap: renting backhouses, in-laws or a camper on private land. Over time, I learned to navigate the Coachella Valley geographic region in Southern California which extends southwest by the Santa Rosa Mountains, by the San Jacinto Mountains. I am very familiar with Blythe and when I was on YouTube researching places to venture, mostly a new environment to call home – I magically came across Bob’s channel regarding Living Rent-Free at Ehrenberg, Arizona. I have traveled cross country from the east coast to the west coast. And that allowed me to relate to Crystal Vanner: living in a minivan’s story to a short degree. I’ve had my trials and tribulations of learning to live out of my Kia Soul, making use of little camping skills including the gym for showers with exercise. Therefore, I am thankful nomads like yourself including the people you’ve interviewed have similar situations like myself.
My tale began in Oceanside, California. I finally left the desert to live by the beach again – taking me to a dirty cheap neighborhood. When I left San Diego and moved back to the San Francisco bay area due to a high employee turnover at my university job in Solana Beach -- it put me jeopardy with my rental. Luckily, I was on a month to month lease and my landlord understood and released me.
This triggered me to apply for jobs asap, taking me to the San Jose / Gilroy area. I learned to live out of my car in 2 months until I could find an affordable place to rent in Santa Cruz, which is very difficult since the city itself is chockfull of homeless. From this point, I realized I could live cheap in my car: going to the gym for specific necessities, using Starbucks with other cafes for internet usage while not on the job (off the clock). This was my life for 2 months. I was proud of myself that I was never harassed, nor was my car ever broken into. Beforehand, I had tried the Walmart camping method, but certain rowdiness of unwanted noise existed from late night strangers. This is what led me to look for 24-hour grocery stores or any McDonald’s to make use of the restrooms since I only carried a plastic container with a sealed lid that was usable to urinate in while in the back of my vehicle. Fortunately, I have sewing skills and pre-made black drapes using sticky Velcro placed at the top edge of my inner car to block out any sunlight or being seen from outside. It was a great trick and it worked to have privacy. Example: If I had to really use the bathroom (#2), I always got up at 5:45am, put my street or work clothes back on, then heading for the fast food establishment that was walking distance from the semi-expensive hotels I slept behind in order to let my Kia Soul blend in with other vehicles in the parking lot. It was the 24-Hour Fitness that saved my life to stay fit, while exercising and showering. I never made any friends at the gym, but it let me think about life. I only lasted about 4 months in Santa Cruz. It was a beautiful experience that I will never forget, considering my rent took up the majority of monthly income $1,175.00 for a backhouse with all utilities included. In this timeframe, I did have pets and other household goods; but, to make this situation work until I finally began stable, my best friend watched my 2 pet rats and my belongings stayed in a paid storage unit.
I got so used to having nothing (for almost ½ a year) that when I retrieved all my goods with my loving pets, I experienced another doomed event. My California nonprofit social services job had lack of funding and it took me to a new job opportunity in Portland, Oregon. I thought to myself, “This is it, I finally have an incoming flow of income. I did it. I got off of disability to stay in the workforce.”
From that point, the rent skyrocketed and life took me across the bridge to Vancouver, Washington. Yet, another hopeless event: nonprofit contract was possibly going to end and people began to leave the company, landing other jobs in order to not lose their employment to become homeless.
Again, a new job arose … but another budget cut with high employee turnover existed -- this time for a college. This put me in a detrimental situation. I had to break my year’s lease, then move in with my friend.
Moreover, it’s been a challenge trying to find another new job due to company budget cuts. This is how I started to investigate living in other medical marijuana states with affordable rents. I’ve looked into tiny houses in the past, but I just don’t believe in paying to own a home when I’m going to die later on in life and have no kids or other family members to pass it down to. I am in my early 40’s, disabled, and need to work a job. Note: I’m missing that 10-year work experience – therefore, I do not desire to get back onto SSI because I have a college loan and car to pay off. And I do not qualify for SSDI.
So, perhaps NOW in this lifetime, I can learn to be more frugal, as I typically am, but to live off free lands or pay small fees to travel/camp locally to even keep a decent paying job while maintaining my pets. Living out of my car, I’m preparing for the worst and probably the best transition I will ever make to enjoy life before I die. I am a social person and I am educated with a master’s degree. I am a free spirit with a loving heart and truly desire to embrace myself in a camping community that will accept me -- and where we can learn from one another to live with less economic stressors as a tribe. Like Crystal Vanner and others that I have seen at your YouTube channel, I am starting to realize, “Do I need to work a high paying job to be happy? To pay those expensive rents and utility bills – knowing that I am struggling to find the perfect job to allow me to qualify at 3 times the rent as a single woman with no kids? It’s hard, especially since I am not married and have no roommates to rely on – not even my own family. I feel the desert or other lands are calling me, it’s just a matter of time when I land that new job and can relocate to a camp site to be free from such burdens of everyday life in the 21st century.
Life is not like it was when my parents could easily afford to purchase a new home. My parents are in their 70’s and these days, my mom finds it preposterous that I’m struggling to get by in life. I’m a strong person and she knows this. It’s the economy and job market that make life a nightmare in today’s society. If I did not have a college loan, then I would have fought to stay on SSI. But these days, I’m working hard to prove to myself, “You can do it. Work 10 years and down the road, perhaps you will qualify for SSDI.” By that point, then I can really travel like a nomad. But for now, I am very interested in cheap RVing. Thank you for your YouTube videos, Bob. I really appreciate it.
Still, I have found that you can use a UPS Store personal mailbox to get a Washington state driver’s license, but it’s the P.O. Box number disguised as a personalized mailbox for their fake real street address (UPS store address) that will not allow a person to qualify to get a voter’s registration card. It has to be a real home address. Because when I gave 1234 _ Street for example, in their map system of addresses it (Washington Secretary of State) triggered the address to show I was living in a shopping center (UPS store) in order for them to say, “We need another street address.” But I will later on try your method of paying for a monthly camp site to show as a utility bill to get a real diver’s license in order to fly on an airplane. Just be wary that if anyone chooses to use the UPS store, your driver’s license will be mailed to that PO box you rent as a personal street address -- however, there is a BUT in this scenario ... make certain to ask the UPS store associate working behind the counter to PLEASE not take a marker or pen and draw a slashed line across the address before and when you sign the contract. They may complain hard, "I was told to do that on all mail" ... My suggestion, fight it as hard as you can. Tell them, "No thank you. It's my personal mailbox and that's how you advertise it. Please do not write on my mail slashing out the address." Why? Because you will need that piece of mail (envelope) to bring to the DMV to prove your residency. However, I used cleaning spray products from the dollar store (any bathroom cleaner) to use with a towel and it rubbed the black permanent marker off the clear see through address window on the envelope that the driver’s license was mailed in showing proof of residency. Hope this information helps.
In closing, I am super excited to meet as many people that I can to learn from when I score a new job and can camp in my wagon.
My tale began in Oceanside, California. I finally left the desert to live by the beach again – taking me to a dirty cheap neighborhood. When I left San Diego and moved back to the San Francisco bay area due to a high employee turnover at my university job in Solana Beach -- it put me jeopardy with my rental. Luckily, I was on a month to month lease and my landlord understood and released me.
This triggered me to apply for jobs asap, taking me to the San Jose / Gilroy area. I learned to live out of my car in 2 months until I could find an affordable place to rent in Santa Cruz, which is very difficult since the city itself is chockfull of homeless. From this point, I realized I could live cheap in my car: going to the gym for specific necessities, using Starbucks with other cafes for internet usage while not on the job (off the clock). This was my life for 2 months. I was proud of myself that I was never harassed, nor was my car ever broken into. Beforehand, I had tried the Walmart camping method, but certain rowdiness of unwanted noise existed from late night strangers. This is what led me to look for 24-hour grocery stores or any McDonald’s to make use of the restrooms since I only carried a plastic container with a sealed lid that was usable to urinate in while in the back of my vehicle. Fortunately, I have sewing skills and pre-made black drapes using sticky Velcro placed at the top edge of my inner car to block out any sunlight or being seen from outside. It was a great trick and it worked to have privacy. Example: If I had to really use the bathroom (#2), I always got up at 5:45am, put my street or work clothes back on, then heading for the fast food establishment that was walking distance from the semi-expensive hotels I slept behind in order to let my Kia Soul blend in with other vehicles in the parking lot. It was the 24-Hour Fitness that saved my life to stay fit, while exercising and showering. I never made any friends at the gym, but it let me think about life. I only lasted about 4 months in Santa Cruz. It was a beautiful experience that I will never forget, considering my rent took up the majority of monthly income $1,175.00 for a backhouse with all utilities included. In this timeframe, I did have pets and other household goods; but, to make this situation work until I finally began stable, my best friend watched my 2 pet rats and my belongings stayed in a paid storage unit.
I got so used to having nothing (for almost ½ a year) that when I retrieved all my goods with my loving pets, I experienced another doomed event. My California nonprofit social services job had lack of funding and it took me to a new job opportunity in Portland, Oregon. I thought to myself, “This is it, I finally have an incoming flow of income. I did it. I got off of disability to stay in the workforce.”
From that point, the rent skyrocketed and life took me across the bridge to Vancouver, Washington. Yet, another hopeless event: nonprofit contract was possibly going to end and people began to leave the company, landing other jobs in order to not lose their employment to become homeless.
Again, a new job arose … but another budget cut with high employee turnover existed -- this time for a college. This put me in a detrimental situation. I had to break my year’s lease, then move in with my friend.
Moreover, it’s been a challenge trying to find another new job due to company budget cuts. This is how I started to investigate living in other medical marijuana states with affordable rents. I’ve looked into tiny houses in the past, but I just don’t believe in paying to own a home when I’m going to die later on in life and have no kids or other family members to pass it down to. I am in my early 40’s, disabled, and need to work a job. Note: I’m missing that 10-year work experience – therefore, I do not desire to get back onto SSI because I have a college loan and car to pay off. And I do not qualify for SSDI.
So, perhaps NOW in this lifetime, I can learn to be more frugal, as I typically am, but to live off free lands or pay small fees to travel/camp locally to even keep a decent paying job while maintaining my pets. Living out of my car, I’m preparing for the worst and probably the best transition I will ever make to enjoy life before I die. I am a social person and I am educated with a master’s degree. I am a free spirit with a loving heart and truly desire to embrace myself in a camping community that will accept me -- and where we can learn from one another to live with less economic stressors as a tribe. Like Crystal Vanner and others that I have seen at your YouTube channel, I am starting to realize, “Do I need to work a high paying job to be happy? To pay those expensive rents and utility bills – knowing that I am struggling to find the perfect job to allow me to qualify at 3 times the rent as a single woman with no kids? It’s hard, especially since I am not married and have no roommates to rely on – not even my own family. I feel the desert or other lands are calling me, it’s just a matter of time when I land that new job and can relocate to a camp site to be free from such burdens of everyday life in the 21st century.
Life is not like it was when my parents could easily afford to purchase a new home. My parents are in their 70’s and these days, my mom finds it preposterous that I’m struggling to get by in life. I’m a strong person and she knows this. It’s the economy and job market that make life a nightmare in today’s society. If I did not have a college loan, then I would have fought to stay on SSI. But these days, I’m working hard to prove to myself, “You can do it. Work 10 years and down the road, perhaps you will qualify for SSDI.” By that point, then I can really travel like a nomad. But for now, I am very interested in cheap RVing. Thank you for your YouTube videos, Bob. I really appreciate it.
Still, I have found that you can use a UPS Store personal mailbox to get a Washington state driver’s license, but it’s the P.O. Box number disguised as a personalized mailbox for their fake real street address (UPS store address) that will not allow a person to qualify to get a voter’s registration card. It has to be a real home address. Because when I gave 1234 _ Street for example, in their map system of addresses it (Washington Secretary of State) triggered the address to show I was living in a shopping center (UPS store) in order for them to say, “We need another street address.” But I will later on try your method of paying for a monthly camp site to show as a utility bill to get a real diver’s license in order to fly on an airplane. Just be wary that if anyone chooses to use the UPS store, your driver’s license will be mailed to that PO box you rent as a personal street address -- however, there is a BUT in this scenario ... make certain to ask the UPS store associate working behind the counter to PLEASE not take a marker or pen and draw a slashed line across the address before and when you sign the contract. They may complain hard, "I was told to do that on all mail" ... My suggestion, fight it as hard as you can. Tell them, "No thank you. It's my personal mailbox and that's how you advertise it. Please do not write on my mail slashing out the address." Why? Because you will need that piece of mail (envelope) to bring to the DMV to prove your residency. However, I used cleaning spray products from the dollar store (any bathroom cleaner) to use with a towel and it rubbed the black permanent marker off the clear see through address window on the envelope that the driver’s license was mailed in showing proof of residency. Hope this information helps.
In closing, I am super excited to meet as many people that I can to learn from when I score a new job and can camp in my wagon.