How to Survive and Find Income

[QinReno]

This probably belongs in another section of the forum, but ...

NPR had a report this morning about people living in cheap, and usually horrid, extended stay motels in towns having high tourism. Since the tourists gobble up all the usual accommodations, the low paid "workers" have difficulty finding places to live. It says: "[font=Georgia, serif]In the summer, when the vast majority of tourists visit, businesses can't find enough workers to fill all the seasonal low-wage positions". [/font]
https://www.npr.org/2018/07/11/627351318/caught-in-the-extended-stay-motel-trap

... can't find enough workers ... So, this sounds like the perfect place for CheapRVers to find income while on the road.

There is also a recent book out on the similar matter, deals mainly with WorKamping,
https://www.amazon.com/Nomadland-Surviving-America-Twenty-First-Century/dp/039324931X

 

[bullfrog]

Having your own housing, being able to get to work, being presentable and in general able to get the job done has kept me busy even when I didn't really want to work the past 13 years in remote locations where housing is impossible to get and you can only live if you work (National Parks). We spend most if not all of what we make in order to have the things you need like doctor visits, food and such. The internet has helped make a life like this possible without going into debt or living in poverty as a lot of rangers did in the past.

 

[crofter]

We spend most if not all of what we make in order to have the things you need like doctor visits, food and such.  The internet has helped make a life like this possible without going into debt or living in poverty as a lot of rangers did in the past.

That was my experience with workamping on the National Forest. I did not have any health insurance for myself or my companion animal, and a couple health issues gobbled up unbelievable amounts of money. And due to my age, I only have health insurance from a job at this point, so right now I am working in the regular job market. My job is a pretty sweet deal, but it's regular job market. 

The other thing I found was that food was so expensive. In the town I was near to it was about one dollar per item higher than in the co-op store farther away. So I would wait for time to make that big trip to the far away store.  So that was my day off spent in town on the necessities instead of on fun.  Just a couple down sides to the workamper life.

On the good side, while workamping I did get to wake up every morning in a stunningly beautiful place, and I worked outside all day. 

~ crofter

 

[QinReno]

Thank you, Mr C, for your look at the resort life from the other direction. Like workamping, this thread was proffered as possibility for the footloose RVer. OTOH, find a good resort job, and the tips will be welcome.

 

[crofter]

Who else on here is still working?   ~crofter

 

[Almost There]

I am!

Working seasonally in a tourist area. Housing isn't terribly expensive here, it's just totally lacking. There is a vacancy rate of .0001 % here.

If it hadn't of been for my having my own accommodations in the form of my camper I wouldn't have been able to work here!

One of my fellow co-workers was sharing a 4 bedroom flat above a store with 3 strangers, one bathroom and a half-baked kitchen. Others were forced to either commute from the closest city where they live - an hour and a bit each way. At the start of the season there were 4 staff living in tents for lack of better housing - a couple found it too difficult and quit their jobs, one bought a POS camper to have a roof over his head and only one found a shared accommodation housing with someone he knew!

The same story is being told all over BC, in every tourist town and tourist attraction - no housing means no employees!.

I can pick and choose my summer jobs because I have the camper.

 

[QinReno]

I can pick and choose my summer jobs because I have the camper.

Yes, you're living the solution I talked about in the original post. Employees are needed, but accommodations, especially cheap ones, hardly exist for them. So a perfect place for RV people who want a job. Good to hear it works.

 

[Dingfelder]

There is also a recent book out on the similar matter, deals mainly with WorKamping,
https://www.amazon.com/Nomadland-Surviving-America-Twenty-First-Century/dp/039324931X

Incredible reviews on that book.  It looks like the one half the people on this forum would have loved to have written first or, at least, as well.

Price for the kindle version just dropped three bucks.  I just have the sample and it's a good read so far.  I'm trying to reign in my spending but I'm pretty tempted ...

 

[becida]

[quote pid='392927' dateline='1531327829']

There is also a recent book out on the similar matter, deals mainly with WorKamping,
https://www.amazon.com/Nomadland-Surviving-America-Twenty-First-Century/dp/039324931X
[/quote]

I read the blurb on the book at Amazon. If that's an accurate portrait of the book we've had very different vandwelling experiences.
"The end of retirement", "[font=Arial, sans-serif]dangerous work of beet harvesting", "[font=Arial, sans-serif]the dark underbelly of the American economy" & "[font=Arial, sans-serif]the precarious future".[/font][/font][/font]

[font=Arial, sans-serif][font=Arial, sans-serif][font=Arial, sans-serif]I worked at an amusement park, did the beet harvest & worked at an RV park in Rockport Texas as a maintenance guy for a winter.  I must have missed the "dark underbelly" part... Good people at all of those jobs![/font][/font][/font]

[font=Arial, sans-serif][font=Arial, sans-serif][font=Arial, sans-serif]I've met a LOT of people out doing this (vandwelling and/or workcamping) because they enjoy it. Been a few who were doing it because it was a cheap way to live & they had to live cheap. For some, this was how they had chosen to live their life. I would not have used any of those negative descriptions for how I live or this life.[/font][/font][/font]

[font=Arial, sans-serif][font=Arial, sans-serif][font=Arial, sans-serif]I guess the beet harvest could be dangerous, bad luck happens, accidents happen too, trucks & big machines & all of that.... best not tell my wife it was dangerous, she'd feel bad about having done it...[/font][/font][/font]

 

[QinReno]

Somebody said that "drama" sells best. I guess it is true that a lot of people who were nearing retirement age got creamed in the Crash of 2008, and lost their jobs, their homes, and their retirement savings, and were too old to have time to make it back up. The DOW went from 14,200 to 5,500 in a little over a year and many people were over exposed n stocks and real estate. So I think a lot of the people she found for the book were those people.

 

[becida]

Somebody said that "drama" sells best. I guess it is true that a lot of people who were nearing retirement age got creamed in the Crash of 2008, and lost their jobs, their homes, and their retirement savings, and were too old to have time to make it back up. The DOW went from 14,200 to 5,500 in a little over a year and many people were over exposed n stocks and real estate. So I think a lot of the people she found for the book were those people.

10 years ago, a long time back but ya, maybe she did & I've just never managed to meet them. Or maybe after 10 years they look the same as the rest of us living on social security. Or maybe whoever wrote the blurb (that is all I read) wanted vandweller/workcamping to look bad for reasons of their own.

I don't know & it really doesn't matter. 

All I do know is that there a lot of people are out & about workcamping who seem happy and none of those negative things mentioned have been noticed by me.

 

[Sleep]

I just finished my first camp hosting job. It was in a beautiful spot and parts of it were awesome. Learned a lot for next year and plan to do it again next year. Weekdays not as busy, but I liked having people around, in moderation!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dingfelder]

Bob talks repeatedly of the devastation wrought in America's economy by the crash of 2008, and he's not pulling anyone's leg. The entire world economy was on the brink of disaster, and many aspects of the American economy have not fully recovered. In fact most of the recovery "boom" has gone to the most wealthy. The jobless have just been struck off the records and now officially don't exist.

The problems are plenty real. I was in several businesses that got hit hard and know plenty of others too. And the pain was felt across a vast height and depth of income levels.

It is indeed a story that many people were put into places from which they have not recovered and never will.

And I'm very, very glad someone is talking about it.

If anything, it makes me sick to see politicians of every stripe crowing about booming economies that exclude so many ... and intend to.

 

[John61CT]

Yes my reaction now to talk that the economy is now healthy again, or even discussion implying we should care, is

What's the economy ever done for me?

We're getting to the point that a "perfectly healthy" economy only needs 20-30% of the population to be working.

Read (about) the new book "Bullshit Jobs", so much paid work - well-paid work - is just busy work, only a few hours out of 40-50 actually productive. What a waste.

From the economy's POV, the rest of us are just surplus, burdensome friction best left to die.

But wait, it needs us **as consumers**.

We really need a whole different economic model, so people are made to be & feel a productive part of society even if not tied into the Beast.

 

[becida]

You folks live in a different world than I do... 2008 was a long time ago in my world.

In my world the roads are still good, the gas stations still sell gas, there are places I can camp for free, social security still sends me money every month, I get the internet through my pocket computer and workcaming jobs are available.

The part about workcamping jobs being available? That ties right in with the title of this thread...

 

[RoamerRV428]

learn from the past if bad and don't repeat it is best anyone can try to do but to dwell on the past is wrong for me

nice to post possible jobs for others. if you have your home on wheels you can zip in, maybe claim a job and be comfortable in a situation where many can not. Workers needed and if a roamer needs work it could be an option.

ways to make income are huge if you have a little bit of creativity and spunk to find it for yourself.

 

[QinReno]

Along the lines of RVers possibly getting jobs at resorts, ski season is almost upon us, and they will be looking for seasonal help. Mt Rose Ski Area is advertising locally, jobs averaging $13/hour with free season pass. I'm sure many other resorts are similar. You would no doubt want an RV setup for cold weather.
- https://skirose.com/employment/