Tired of my regular job and thinking about quitting to travel and live off odd jobs. Thinking about buying a relatively cheap house so I always have somewhere to come back to, letting a friend stay there and putting money aside for my mortgage every month. Probably going to ruin my retirement but I think that's off the table for most people now. Healthcare is one of my largest concerns as well because I won't have a full time job. Being able to actually see the world and live seems like the dream but I'm in my 30s now so I have to be realistic. Wondering if anyone else has tried this, or is currently living this life.
>>2886476cringe
Go up to Alaska and die unprepared and regretful like that one guy in the 90s.
>>2886476>live off odd jobsThey are a pain in the ass to line up. Demands from your clients can be very unpredictable and spaced out over days or weeks, giving you no time to wander around doing your own thing. I tried making money as a vagabond early on in my travels, but failed after making barely $300. (The earnings still saved my ass from going flat broke later on.) Settled seasonal work with dorm housing was the more sensible option; the resorts and retreats are used to hiring people from far away, unlike local yokel employment opportunities which don't want to risk anything on a random vagabond just passing through.In short, you should count on having no income when you are wandering around. Only when you pick a place to stay for a while will you have a chance of arranging profitable employment. And you need to make sure you have a place to shit, shower and get looking presentable on a daily basis. Gym memberships are a common go-to, but those franchise gyms are always found in the soulless suburban sprawl parts of the country, never in the areas worth exploring. >healthcare is my largest concernDon't be stupid, don't get hurt, don't get sick. Billions of people live without access to modern medicine. No, you don't need to go for a monthly checkup or any of that bullshit.
Also, are you planning on traveling America without a car looking for work? I'll be doing something similar this summer, starting in La Junta, Colorado after riding the Amtrak from Los Angeles. I might buy a second ticket to go farther. Many people say you have to have Facebook in order to join local groups, and that's where you ask for a place to stay on a weekly basis, who wants to hire a short-term/temp worker, all those kind of things. Rural Americans can be extremely helpful to a stranger, or they can act like you don't exist/your very existence is loathsome. It all depends on where in the country you are, and whether you look like a druggie (which yes includes pot smokers). If you want to smoke weed as a white vagabond in America, you might as well resign yourself to a lonely ostracized existence.Anyway, my dad has a lifelong friend in Chicago, so one idea for me is to connect with him and see if he can help me find a little cheap room somewhere in the city where I can make some money while continuing to own nothing. Without connections, vagabond life in America is so much more tiresome and aimless, even if you have a car that is capable of covering all those vast distances. Knowing people is the key to unlocking opportunity in 90% of cases. Otherwise, there is such a barrier of distrust due to your low economic class that you will feel like an outcast.
>>2886492> Thinking about buying a relatively cheap house so I always have somewhere to come back to, letting a friend stay there and putting money aside for my mortgage every month. Unless you can buy the house in full, then lease it out to friends for a passive income into a security savings account or cash for between odd jobs. This is how you go bankrupt and don't recover.You probably don't understand how good you have it in your "mundane" life. >Being able to actually see the world and live seems like the dream but I'm in my 30s now so I have to be realistic.Then change careers or jobs to something with travel or work remote as a focus rather than "yeah being a bum with odd jobs will totally pay the bills". Alternatively, go in for a seasonal trade type gig and live somewhere in the midwest. Doing HVAC, welding, roofing, etc can pay massive for 6-8 months with 4-6 months off.
>>2886492Seasonal work with housing was going to be my go to and living place to place like that. >>2886495My main thought was seasonal work and odd jobs on the side. I've family and friends all over the country so if need be I do have people to lean back on. >>2886496Can't buy it outright but the mortgage would probably be around $900 with my friend covering half. Figured I could at least scrounge $500 a month.
>>2886495you dont need connections to find a room in the city. open up craigslist to see where all the rooms are, then go there and call the numbers you see
>>2886499Yeah this is a perfect way to end up homeless and bankrupt with one simple trick
>>2886499>the mortgage would probably be around $900 with my friend covering half. Figured I could at least scrounge $500 a month.you're too dumb for the life you want
>>2886502Craigslist is full of scammers and creepy faggots in [current year]. Its days of being a useful site full of real humans are long gone. >>2886506Buying a cheap house (that needs a lot of TLC and investment) only to abandon it for the wandering life doesn't make sense. Buy an RV if you really must have a place of your own, but also want to wander around doing odd jobs and parking in people's back lots.
>>2886499>Can't buy it outright but the mortgage would probably be around $900 with my friend covering half. Figured I could at least scrounge $500 a month.So what happens when the roommate says he is leaving, or something in the house needs to be fixed like water/sewage/HVAC?How are you dealing with property taxes+insurance premiums for a mortgaged home?How are you going to secure a loan without a job?Who's job is it to cut the lawn and clean up so the city doesn't yell?500/mo is not guaranteed, especially if you're just doing day jobs and don't have a set of tools on you. Wow you can do basic manual labor and a US citizen so if you get hurt you will 100% sue me vs. pedro who is illegal and him getting hurt = he won't tell no body and stumble to the ER for free gibs.>>2886628>Buying a cheap house (that needs a lot of TLC and investment) only to abandon it for the wandering life doesn't make senseThe point is you buy a house in FULL so you don't have any monthly requirements, can homestead it if available in that state for lower taxes, and lower the overall insurance requirements that would suck away from your vagabond lifestyle and cause you to default. Yes banks are now far more aggro with blackrock being barred from buying/owning single family homes now.>Buy an RV if you really must have a place of your own, but also want to wander around doing odd jobs and parking in people's back lots.Enjoy going bankrupt even faster. A large van you can sleep in+planet fatass membership for showering+charging phones+hanging out works better.
>>2886628nah CL works fine
I've done this and kinda still do in a wayIgnore the retards responding to you. Sure it's not always easy but it's an adventure and they would never leave their basic life and comforts to even try. My advice is not to mortgage a home and let people live in it. Instead reduce your items to necessities, get a small shack somewhere you can buy outright, and don't expect to go anywhere and find work, try to find something in advance. It's must easier once in a place to connect but it's so hard to not be tricked before going and end up with bait and switch, which btw when you are foreign locals have power over you always.Also be wary of work for accomodations these people are exploiting you, but in reality they cannot force you to do anything nor stay if you end up like this. Healthcare don't worry anywhere you go you can afford it and you likely aren't going to need anything major.
>>2886634I figured I'd rent to a military family since it's close to a base. I have friends in the military who can set me up with a tenent or I could go for a student at the near by med school.>>2886638How do you live?
>>2886710>I figured I'd rent to a military family since it's close to a baseOh nonononon HAHAHAHA please be a troll.Those require usually more insurance and paperwork handling to deal with whatever COLA program they are on. Besides most apartment complexes around base will just snatch them up, if you do manage to get someone living off base enjoy the enshittificaion of your home and be willing to accept the lowest rung jarhead coming in to your place and no ability to say "no" if you don't word your lease right. So you open the door up to cops busts for their inevitable first time drinking hard after 1-2 months of nothing, MP police searching if they suspect drugs, the tenant leaving it in whatever state they feel like since "you can take up repayment with the government", and so on.t. lived 25 years in the largest naval port city on the east coast
>>2886638People who don't have a car are most vulnerable to workstay exploitation in rural areas. The only option for escape may be walking 20 miles to the nearest bus station. After a few days of arduous labor with half-broken tools for room & board, I've always begun to regard the easy pace of vanlife with more fondness.
