INTRO 2015

[MrsChang]

Hello Everyone,

I'm a newbie on this forum with no experience in the van dwelling life, but am quite interested in alternatives to spending most of my little retirement on rent.  My husband and I have been looking into tiny houses, trailer homes, cheap land, and what not.  We hope to find a way to keep our heads above water despite the awful economy.  

I'm actually still recovering from a few years of illness (2011-2014) but things are improving now.  My next main project is to get well, downsize the junk, and economize.  I'm sure I will find great ideas on this forum.

My location is Northern California.  You can tell that there's a lot of land use regulations in my part of the world, that I will have to contend with.  Even different counties have different rules, so I have to be careful.  

All the best to everyone,

MrsChang

 

[rvwandering]

Welcome to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips & Tricks" post lists some helpful information to get you started. We look forward to hearing more from you.

 

[MrsChang]

Will do, thank you.

 

[gramakittycat]

Welcome Mrs. Chang I recently join CRVL also. I am at a point where one of my motivators in van dwelling is the ridiculous amounts of rent for even a no-frills  small apt.here.My kids are all grown but live in the area however I really want to do more traveling.My rent not counting utilities is fast approaching half of my monthly so I'm preparing to live in my van so I can save a bit of a nest egg while I'm still able to travel alone.All the best and welcome again.

 

[cyndi]

It's a great lifestyle, Mrs.Chang! Go for it!

 

[gypsychic]

Welcome Mrs Chang. Although I'm now in Oregon, I spent the better part of 10 years in Northern CA. Still have plenty of reasons to return for quick visits. I'm not fully vandwelling yet but will be soon. I've read so much here that is helpful. I can't wait to hear from you about how you and your husband develop your plan.

Cheers,

GypsyChic

 

[MrsChang]

Thanks loads for all the welcome messages. I didn't imagine anyone would notice my intro, but there you have it. I'm not the only one facing ridiculous amounts for rent, in fact my rent takes about two-thirds of my Social Security and it's like pulling teeth to even get a job interview. This is nothing new, of course, it's something too many of us are facing.

Right now there aren't any stories for me to share about this new way of life, as my husband and I are still struggling with our "normal" lifestyle, but with a little more time, my health should vastly improve, my junk should get recycled, and the bank account should look less anemic. In the meantime, there's all this reading to do about how others have lived interesting lives on the cheap.

I appreciate the fantastic info being shared on this forum. It's inspiring to see so many examples. BTW, many years ago, my husband and I drove to California Valley to take a look-see in our (former) Chevy van, and we noticed that other people driving vans would wave at us, so we waved back. We figured there was some sort of common bond among van drivers. So we'll see you guys on the road someday.

MrsChang

 

[MrsChang]

Hello again,

Haven't been here for several days due to illness - cough, cold, some fever. Now I wonder how people deal with being sick while they're on the road. Is there any thread about this?

Mrs. Chang

 

[LowTech]

https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-Serious-illnesses-while-living-in-van

 

[gypsychic]

I'm sitting in bed with a cold myself & have been thinking about the same topic since I'll be in my van (hopefully) in a couple of months. I'm not trying to be flippant when I say this but my thought is dealing with a cold or flu in a van or mobile vehicle would be pretty similar to dealing with it in a house setting. I think the moving of a vehicle if doing urban stealth would be a pain & the biggest difference. But then I'm not fulltime yet so I'm only using my imagination. Real experience is a better voice. Am I missing something?

 

[MrsChang]

This is my second week of a barking cough and even the workers in my local clinic are coughing, too. And yet they won't touch antibiotics (maybe they have a point). I think I need to prepare an arsenal of OTC meds for the many illnesses that may come up, whether I live at home or live in a van.

Oh to stay healthy!

 

[MrsChang]

This is my second week of a barking cough and even the workers in my local clinic are coughing, too.  And yet they won't touch antibiotics (maybe they have a point).  I think I need to prepare an arsenal of OTC meds for the many illnesses that may come up, whether I live at home or live in a van.  

Oh to stay healthy!

I almost lost my bookmark to this site (it's a long story), but my cough is going, going, gone. Now I'm off to study the other posts so I can get more enlightened.

 

[anewbiewannabe]

Glad your cough is going, going, gone. It is getting harder for people with small retirements or social security all the time and trying to get work after a certain age is challenging depending on what one has to offer an employer. Zoning seems to be the biggest pain for trying to live out our lives in our own places that are affordable. I know that a lot of tiny houses get around zoning because they aren't permanent structures, especially if they have license plates, but there are still areas with restrictions on what can be parked in a yard if around cities and suburbs.

Best Wishes on your Journey. I'm newly headed toward mine as well.

 

[VJG1977]

[font=arial, sans-serif][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Welcome to the forum. [/font][/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]It is not just Zoning regulations you have to worry about.  More and more cities and counties are passing laws to prevent sleeping or camping on public land.[/font]


[font=arial, sans-serif][size=small]Zoning regulations can limit where you park a camper on private land.  Often there are set back limits where you can not park within 20 or 30 feet of the front or 5 to 10 feet of the side and back property line.
[/font][/size]


[font=arial, sans-serif]Thread-Find-Local-Stealth-Laws-Parking-Living-Sleeping-Camping[/font]

[font=arial, sans-serif]If you go to your city or county on the following site, then do two searches: one with camping and one with sleeping as the search term.[/font]

[font=arial, sans-serif]California Municipal Code Library[/font]

[font=arial, sans-serif]For Napa county I found this for camping,[/font]

• [font='Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]12.02.010 - Findings and purpose.
  [/font]
  The public sidewalks, accessways and streets, including but not limited to rights-of-way underneath or adjacent to said sidewalks, accessways and streets, and other public areas within jurisdictional boundaries of the unincorporated area, should be readily accessible and available to residents, the public at large, and county maintenance and emergency crews. The use of these areas for camping purposes or storage of personal property interferes with the rights of others to use the areas for which they were intended, and also subjects those persons using such areas to substantial health and safety risks. Many persons, including families with young children, have been camping in automobiles and other public places in the unincorporated area in unsafe conditions, with no running water, toilets, cooking or sanitation facilities, even though accommodations in shelters are available to them, resulting in increased disease, illness and crime. The purpose of this chapter is to maintain public streets and areas within the unincorporated area in a clean and accessible condition and to diminish problems such as disease, illness and crime by encouraging the use of appropriate shelter facilities and designated campgrounds.
  (Ord. 1295 § 1 (part), 2007)
  
• and for sleeping
  
• 12.02.020 - Definitions.
  
  As used in this chapter:
  "Camp" means one or more of the following: pitching or occupying camp facilities; using camp paraphernalia; and sleeping in, on or under any parked vehicle.
  "Camp facilities" means and includes, but is not limited to, tents, huts, temporary shelters and, when used for the purpose of sleeping, vehicles.
  "Camp paraphernalia" means and includes, but is not limited to, tarpaulins, bedding, cots, beds, shopping carts, sleeping bags, hammocks, or other storage containers or similar equipment.

 

[HarmonicaBruce]

Mrs. Chang,

I'm single, and I travel a lot going to festivals and other events.  Living out of a van works for me.  For a couple that doesn't particularly want to travel a lot, it might not be the best choice.  In Florida it's pretty easy to find a decent mobile home for under $10,000.  A year ago I was paying about $275 / month for my lot rent, which included garbage and water.  It was a pretty nice place.  I don't have any experience with the west coast.  People who I talk to want to know everything before they jump in, but you really can't.  Every year about 80 or 90% of the people in the trailer parks go north for the summer.  Every year about 10% of them don't come back.  Then, they want to sell their trailer as soon as they can.  So, if you find a trailer park you like, just wait for something to become available.

There are lots of advantages to living in a mobile home rather than in a van.  Of course this forum is for people who prefer to travel and live in a van.  So you may not hear others agreeing with me about this.

Welcome to the forum, and good luck!      

 

[sassypickins]

Hi and glad you didn't lose this bookmark and are feeling better!

 

[MrsChang]

Hello everybody,

I'm back after 5 months. Life happened to me again, and then I lost the bookmark because my system was replaced (it's a long story). And then I had to hunt for the site and set up a bookmark, as well as renew my login password. My health, IMO, is much improved and will continue improving, so time has not been wasted. I appreciate all the replies and will keep reading more posts to get more ideas. Good luck to all of us as we pursue our dreams.

All be best,
Mrs. Chang

 

[highdesertranger]

welcome back, glad you are feeling better. highdesertranger

 

[Theadyn]

Welcome back.

 

[MrsChang]

Welcome back.

It's good to be back. Now maybe I can figure out a plan on how to deal with the coming hard times.