hit the road

HIT THE ROAD

Normally this isn't the kind of article I'd write, as it is far from frugal. I reconsidered in that it seems a few new minions want to move and are conflicted as to where a good place would be. The truth is, good places are not very good anymore. There are only Less Bad places. My normal advice is, pick a piece of junk land in a state that isn't too terrible, and pitch a tent and build yourself a cabin. It costs you under a grand, the down payment, a tent that will last longer than a month ( this probably rules out Wal-Mart ) and a Starplate Connector kit dome ferrocemented ( HERE ).

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Alas, sometimes folks aren't ready to leap from decadent luxury to frugal off grid living, no matter how free that can make you. Sometimes it is necessary to bribe the wife, or yourself, into baby-step moving in that direction. So, even though this is a much more expensive way to do the very same thing, I assume you'll understand this is for folks with more resources. I've always said, if you don't want to change your lifestyle too drastically, just buy an RV and live in a trailer park in the dream location of your choice.

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It ain't a retreat. It isn't your preferred off grid site. But it gets you out of the city, allows you to continue working, and offers a smaller but similar way of life as you are used to. Say you are foolish enough to want to live in Idaho ( I think the combo of high land cost and few jobs makes it a loser. Residents of said state think I'm a jackass ). You can't afford a home there, and rent is a bit much also. Just live in a RV park in a small city/large town near where you think you would like a retreat. Work. Search for property.

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But more importantly, see if the state is all its cracked up to be. See if you were sold a pig in a poke by idiots who moved there eons ago and are giving you advice from a comfortable position you cannot duplicate. If you were to choose Nevada, most junk land has gone DOWN in price ( lucky me, buying at the top ). I'm not giving you impossible to follow advice. Yet, if you are unsure the cold desert is the place for you, or if you want to live among lost and pitiful former Californians ( who you'll really want to bitch slap ), better to rent and see than buy, even if land prices did halve.

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All my life, I've happily moved unencumbered, testing out a place to live. If I didn't mind the place, I'd buy a trailer there rather than renting a room or a flea bag hotel spot or God forbid an apartment. That might not be so easy anymore. You should be able to buy affordable RV's, but they might only be feasible for junk land. Two trends make it harder to live in RV parks. The greedy whores started only accepting newer trailer into their parks, because anyone too poor was obviously a drug user/dealer ( but in actual fact they wanted Social Security guarantees instead of minimum wage job lay-off possibilities ).

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Thanks, twats. Trailers USED to be a way for poor working class folks to survive. The other problem is that a few giant corporations gobbled up all the RV manufactures in the 2009 meltdown. There might be scores of brand names, but only a few companies own them. As you might imagine, the RECREATIONAL in “RV” meant no one bought them in a Super Recession. The companies were bought cheap. All the Union workers were let go, and crackheads put on the assembly line. All labor AND materials are subpar. As the prices doubled and tripled.

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Hey, just like your GM car! Not only are you forced to buy new-ish to be graciously allowed into a park ( usually lacking trees or much space between trailers ), you can't expect that trailer to last all that long ( unless you get land and put an extra roof over it ). So whatever your budget for an RV is, don't expect that to be anything other than a sunk cost. Like renting an apartment it is merely a cost with little return. HOWEVER! Even if the cost is too high for my taste, you still do gain from this strategy.

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If an RV park rent is one half an apartment, in as little as three years the RV has paid for itself. If you find a spot at one third the cost, in two years the trailer starts saving you money ( I assume you buy slightly used, to reduce the “drive off the lot” asset depreciation ). Don't worry about buying a hunk of crap. The new ones start falling apart-literally-in a month or so. More importantly, you are not stuck in one location. You are free to hit the road and find exactly the right place you want to live permanently. You have the option of taking the RV to your junk land, saving extra money there.

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Now, obviously, elves on sparkly unicorns don't whisk your RV from one spot to another. You need to pull it ( I wouldn't go with a motor coach unless you can fix it yourself-or you'll have no place to live when the thing is at the mechanics ). Almost never owning a vehicle, I always just bought locally after taking the bus. My last move up to the current location, I did have a truck that came with the RV. Bless that Chevy's heart, built back when that company embarrassed Ford. How sad is it that a truck built in the Oil Embargo 70's was much better quality than one made now in “boom times”?

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The NOL's daughters family ( Larry, Curly and Mo ) sold their house for more than it should have been worth, paid it off with its refinanced mortgage, and had enough left over for a brand new fifth wheel trailer AND truck. Chasing jobs, “Larry” moved three times about the country, with only gas money being a consideration. For what they got they paid way too much, but they also gained a certain amount of freedom. Freedom to explore. As it turned out, Oklahoma and Arizona was too much of a culture shock and they returned to Nevada. But they found out first hand.

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Me? I would have thought Oklahoma would have been a step up, but they are both Westerners and the humidity ( east part of the state ) must have been too much. I can't get much information as the daughter is one of those folks that doesn't allow input when she is focused on herself ( in other words, you just listen to her talk ). This is all second hand information. But they did give me the input that RV living can be more than just a cheap alternative to renting an apartment. It can be a decent way to find out where you want to relocate to, without committing yourself beforehand. It is living somewhere, not just visiting.

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Visiting an area gives you a flavor, but it is just a superficial exposure. Living there shows you all its warts. Not a cheap strategy, but perhaps a better one for all its expense.

( .Y. )

( today's related Amazon link click HERE )

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