LeilaLight
Member
Hello, everyone --
I am a single mother, currently still in S & B apartment (boo) while waiting for Teenager to finish high school and head to college. At that time, I'll be mid-50s. I will have about 10-12 years to work after Teenager leaves before retirement, so I plan to stay in the city where I have a decent secure job. My dream is to retire on the road -- RV living or Van living. To get there, I need to make a transition to save up for the small RV rig I'd want, and I thought I could do so by trying out van living. If I like it, I could stick to the van. So here are my ideas...
1. When Teenager leaves for college, rent a room for least rent possible (still probably 500 per month) and save the difference until I can buy the RV rig I'm considering. This would take me about 2 years, best as I can tell. Pros, I guess, are relative safety (still living in someone else's home or having roommate), convenience, and not stealthing in the city where it's illegal to sleep in one's vehicle.
2. When Teenager leaves for college, immediately get a cargo van or other super stealthy vehicle and outfit it for stealth living in the city. I could keep a gym membership for showers, and a storage unit for closet/garage to maintain my work wardrobe and any items I'd want later for the RV. I easily could get out of the city to local boondocking locations on weekends and days off for a sense of freedom from stealthing. I think by stealth camping with no rent, I could save up enough for the RV rig I'm considering in about 10 months. So at that point, I could make a decision about continuing to stealth to save more money, or purchase the RV and move to an RV park lifestyle until I retire.
I'm really attracted to option 2. One concern I have -- what about if the van were to break down. Would I have to try to disguise the fact that I'm living in it before it could be seen by a mechanic? How would I do that if it's my only vehicle and it has broken down? I have less concern about couch surfing with friends if my home were overnight at the mechanic's shop.
Thoughts about any of this from experienced city stealthers?
I am a single mother, currently still in S & B apartment (boo) while waiting for Teenager to finish high school and head to college. At that time, I'll be mid-50s. I will have about 10-12 years to work after Teenager leaves before retirement, so I plan to stay in the city where I have a decent secure job. My dream is to retire on the road -- RV living or Van living. To get there, I need to make a transition to save up for the small RV rig I'd want, and I thought I could do so by trying out van living. If I like it, I could stick to the van. So here are my ideas...
1. When Teenager leaves for college, rent a room for least rent possible (still probably 500 per month) and save the difference until I can buy the RV rig I'm considering. This would take me about 2 years, best as I can tell. Pros, I guess, are relative safety (still living in someone else's home or having roommate), convenience, and not stealthing in the city where it's illegal to sleep in one's vehicle.
2. When Teenager leaves for college, immediately get a cargo van or other super stealthy vehicle and outfit it for stealth living in the city. I could keep a gym membership for showers, and a storage unit for closet/garage to maintain my work wardrobe and any items I'd want later for the RV. I easily could get out of the city to local boondocking locations on weekends and days off for a sense of freedom from stealthing. I think by stealth camping with no rent, I could save up enough for the RV rig I'm considering in about 10 months. So at that point, I could make a decision about continuing to stealth to save more money, or purchase the RV and move to an RV park lifestyle until I retire.
I'm really attracted to option 2. One concern I have -- what about if the van were to break down. Would I have to try to disguise the fact that I'm living in it before it could be seen by a mechanic? How would I do that if it's my only vehicle and it has broken down? I have less concern about couch surfing with friends if my home were overnight at the mechanic's shop.
Thoughts about any of this from experienced city stealthers?