So I've always had a fascination with alternative lifestyles. I can remember back when I was a courier driver out on those long trips into the sticks, passing constant bushland and thinking - Fuck, how cool would it be to just throw up a shack somewhere out here and never pay rent again.
I always dismissed that temptation as madness, and the years passed by, jobs changed, I worked for a year as a telesales marketer in the city which nearly killed me. Constant pressure to hit targets, and all my friends and family were too far away to see in any meaningful way. I was rotting to the core in that job, when one weekend while complaining to a good friend he simply asked "Why don't you just quit on Monday?"
"I can't do that!"
"Yeah you can."
and so I thought about it, and Monday morning as I was sitting at my desk dreading making my first call and I felt like I was at the end of my tether, I asked my manager nervously to speak with him in private, and 10 minutes later we were shaking hands and I was out the door experiencing an intense and overwhelming feeling of freedom and excitement.
Over the next year I tried to bootstrap my own website building business, a terrible idea because I barely knew how to do it. I figured I could just make nice websites using services lik Squarespace and pass them off as my own, and well even if I could it didn't matter - I wasn't motivated to find clients. Importantly during this time I engaged heavily with my love for music, dipping my toes into electronic production and getting some really exciting results.
Throughout this period though I was under constant pressure from my family who I had moved back in with to get back into the work force. A suggestion that at the time made my skin crawl. Eventually though I did secure a great job on a part time basis that I really enjoy, is local and leaves me enough free time to work on music and muck about making YouTube videos.
It turned out though that paying rent and my share for the utilities wasn't enough for my family, and I won't go into the particular details here but what I will say is that living with them was coming at a huge cost to my mental well being.
So I started looking for options, and if you're familiar with Sydney rental costs I couldn't find anything that I could be confident about paying for consistently, at least on my own. So I looked into sharing a place, but all my good friends had arrangements already and I was not willing to house share with strangers again (I did that while living in the city on the sales job).
Then I saw a listing for a commercial office space on one of the real estate websites, and a fresh gear started turning in my mind and I started researching. Fast forward a bit, and I'm being handed the keys to a small office space in the heart of an industrial area, at a cost I can more than manage. I moved all my stuff in, built a cabinet for my mattress and bedding that could be locked from the inside with a 12v linear actuator, and began living out of the office.
This was my first step into alternative living, and it was pretty damn exciting and I loved the challenge. I got myself a gym membership for the showers, and even had a little kitchenette where I could store and prepare my meals. Y'know what the best thing about it was though? I could be loud here, like really loud. Being in the middle of an industrial area, it was a ghost town after 6 and on the weekends. Perfect for a broke musician.
Fast forward a few months though, about 3 or maybe 4, and the landlord is not happy about the amount of time I'm spending there. While technically I am permitted 24 hour access, other tenants were upset that the building alarm was deactivated overnight night after night. I tried explaining that I'm a night owl and do most of my work in those small hours, but he wasn't an idiot and had figured out I was living there - a violation of real estate zoning laws, and the party had to end.
While I never admitted to it, we both knew I had to break the lease and so that's what I ended up doing. Kind of a drag, but like quitting my shitty job in the city, this too had a silver lining.
I was fortunate that in a couple of months time, a friend of mine would be available to rent a place with me, and the thought crossed my mind - well what if in the meantime while I wait for them to become available, I just sleep in my car? The weather isn't too warm, and I'm sure I could make it comfortable.
I dismissed the idea at first, who the hell lives out of their car? But it kept sneaking back into the forefront of my mind, because what else can I do? I refused to move back in with my family, and while some friends offered me a couch I couldn't bare the thought of becoming a burden on them either. So I began researching, and I found vloggers on YouTube, and blogs through Google of people living out of their vehicles full time! It blew my mind, and I went deep down the rabbit hole. I began getting excited at the thought of being able to stay in any town I want, not paying a dime in rent, and not having to share with anyone and all the bullshit that comes with it.
So I ripped out my back seats, threw down some timber and an IKEA mattress topper, and moved into my car. My family protested, but there was nothing they could say to dissuade me. I was determined, and over 3 months later I'm still living in my car and enjoying the absolute living shit out of it.
Yesterday I had a waterfront property, today I have a cool quiet mountain road, tomorrow - who knows. I worry that the summer will be more or a challenge than I can handle, but being close to the mountains gives me confidence I can retreat up there on the super hot nights.
My home is a 2007 Mazda 3, I call her Maz and she's well looked after. I've since added a large battery bank that charges while I drive, and while I sleep or am at work it can charge my 18650's and DSLR batteries.
Moving into my car forced me to embrace minimalism, something that turned out to be more painful than I anticipated. I had to throw out most of my clothes, sell off or donate most of my possessions, and thankfully for my music gear I was able to set it up at a friend's house who is also a keen musician, and is making great use of it.
I'm now planning on upgrading my camera, I want to be able to shoot 4k at 60fps, and I want to invest in a nice editing laptop like the Dell XPS, and maybe even get a drone. Over the last year I've discovered my love for videography, and want to pursue this to my fullest ability - continuing to shoot silly YouTube videos, but importantly to develop professional skills so I can try my hand at things like real estate and wedding videography, and maybe one day transition out of the work force to be my own boss in a creative field.
I also spend a lot of time thinking about vans, how good the extra space would be. One of the challenges of living out of your vehicle is how do you cook your food? For me I tend to cook outdoors a lot with a camping stove, but on windy days I'm forced to do it in the car and if I'm not careful it's a recipe for greasy bedding.
So that's where I'm at, who I am and where I'm going. Figured I'd put a lot of effort into this post, because why the hell not.
My YouTube channel is Jimmy Blimps, and I apologize for the shitty photo on this post. I accidentally tapped on the wrong one, and well whatever it'll do.
I'll be mainly posting photos :)
Wooo-hooo. Nice story.
I’m thinking of a long trip in a van so I think you could throw a great deal of advice to a lot of people here.
@bronevik bro, please upvote this guy
okay
Thanks for the comment man, I'll be sure to do just that :) Good luck on your journey
Nice story indeed.
It's curious sometimes that idea so simple seems so much unobvious just because it is out-of-the-box. Your car is your property, why not live there?
Exactly! Making the move has tought me so much about what we really need and don't need in life.
I've lived in a car and a van, but not long time. Great post, keep on keeping on until you make it
Cheers bud :)
heeh my friendz....i'm 100% human...so i like to follow you,If anyone like to follow me,Then i will followback all of my followers 100% you...Make a reply for this comment..,,then i can found who followed me.Thank you
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Cheers! Good to be here :)
Resteemed because I know what it is like to be homeless and I got your back. Keep in mind I have a tag for songs called #boombox to share (any music) where I resteem them for free with the alternate profiles. It is an effort to get artists and their fans paid together. I using to resteem this one with too. Oh, check out the @fortpeacesteemit page too. We got you back. Love to help in any way we can.
Hey man thanks for the comment I'll check that out
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I love minimalism and that is why I eat from my garden. I love cars way more than smart cars. I love freedoms and ownership.
Fuck yes
Welcome to the community @jimmyblimps! Here in the platform you can do a lot of things to grow your authorship. Follow your favorite authors to help you learn new things and become a great author as well.
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welcome to steemit friend.Want to see more posts on future.Good luck @rdnblogs
Thanks!
Go jimmy do the damn thing homie! You a ride or die and I like that! I’ll be checking out your blog in future all the best brother sounds like you’re going to be having plenty of adventures
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Thanks!
Hey buddy, welcome to steemit. Wow! what a story? Do take good care of Maz . She is a keeper your actual ride or die.
Dante is here No FearCheers
That she is my friend
Your picture was offputting but I like your story. Look forward to pictures from your everyday life. It'll be interesting to see how you do. I wish you the best. You're braver than I am. Thats for sure.
Haha thanks man
I admire your courage to dive into the unknown. We did something similar ourselves too, two years ago. We packed only a few suitcases and left to volunteer from Holland to Spain with our three month old baby. Not knowing if we'd come back, and where we would end up after two weeks of volunteering. Eventually we found two more places to volunteer in Spain, and were doing that for almost three months before setteling down in Spain :) After 14 months we moved to Budapest, where we now live for a year.
Many people will not understand these kind of decissions but I never regret doing so. It has broadened my horizon, taught me many new things, and maybe even most valuable is that we don't live in poverty anymore, and managed to build a decent life here.
Maybe if you are looking for new challenges, you can have al ook at workaway.info that's how we saw nice places in Spain, they have hosts all around the world, and especially when you have a car this will be easy to accomplish finding a host, as many are off grid.
Thanks for sharing this story :)
Wow that's awesome man congrats and thank you for sharing that :)
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Welcome to Steemit! This is a good post to start with! Hope everything goes well with you.. 🙌🏻 Love your humor by the way!
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Thanks!
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Go for it man, thanks :)
I am definitely not envious of living in a car. Give me a van any day full stop in fact I have one. Haha. I do miss living in vehicles though as we used to live in a horse lorry in the UK. And when we move back to Australia we lived in a bus for quite a time on the coast down here in Victoria whilst we saved for a house. That bus is in our garden still and I still hang out in her just to remember how lovely it was to be in such a beautiful small space. I did travel all the way around Australia once in a 1976 Toyota Corolla and that definitely wasn't set up more than sarongs for curtains and a milk crate with a gas bottle and pots and pans and a small box for food and a single mattress and a backpack for my clothes. I am always happier in small spaces and living on the road. Looking forward to going on a road trip in the van next week probably over to South Australia.
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Wow that's amazing! Super inspiring to hear from someone else who's toughed it out in vehicles. I hear you on the van thing, and I'm so keen to get one eventually but if I never tried living out of my car I'd have never know how much I'd love living in a van. Thanks for your comment :)
You life is decentralised, everywhere is your home - I have read about digital nomads but i have never read a story of someone living in a Car :) Steemit is FUN :)
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