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Going homeless/car squatting for a couple months. Concerns/advice?
- Thread starter Sonnytron
- Start date
This is part of that "terrible financial advice" that people who supposedly know about finance preach around. My concern isn't "debt" period, but rather unnecessary debt. And going into debt to pay rent on a property that I will never own and will only sleep in 40% of the time is flushing money down the drain with interest attached to it.
I need my car to: drive to work, commute to school, run errands, buy groceries, get from point A to a very distant point B. Selling my car offers me no advantages, costs me my job and doesn't fix any of my problems. So it seems like you suggested it just to preach this "used car cash price, minimize costs or don't do anything at all" false dilemma/ultimatum.
The point of this thread isn't to ask you guys to convince me to continue to pay rent and to just "make it work" with an apartment. The point of this thread is to see if you guys can offer feedback on how I can do this safely and what I should look out for. I get it. You guys have apartments/houses and you're very attached to them. However, if you took all your belongings, video games, televisions, computers, extra clothes, toys, gadgets, extra set of rims, car parts, boxes with pictures, sports equipment, snowboarding gear, etc... If you took ALL of that stuff and put it through a zombie apocalypse filter (bare essentials, toiletries and a pair of shoes), you'd have my belongings. So really there's no point to an apartment right now.
shdwblugti
Go Kart Champion
getting laid and sleeping in a bed if you got a studio apartment near school
After taxes, I make $1754 per check. My yearly income after taxes is about $45,000. So basically 22% of my income is getting eaten up by rent/utilities for a single room with no door. If I worked in New Jersey, I would expect to make at least $80,000 for the extra cost of living. And at that point, I wouldn't live in North New Jersey either. I'd look at Brooklyn in Crown Heights or Eastern Parkway for $700-800.
Why do people keep discussing the parts of my thread that aren't relevant to what I need to know? I feel like I should just delete my income and situation and just ask for a shopping list for sleeping in my car.
Two of the girls I'm hooking up with now have their own apartment and let me crash there after business is done. Before you say it: No I don't want to live with a girl right now. I like being on my own but I've never needed my own bed to take care of business. Like I said in the OP: 80% of the time, girls want to come over to my place. I'm okay with losing 4/5 of my sex life. Hell I went without 5/5 of it for a year after my ex.
lol expecting to make $80,000/year for cost of living. sorry man, doesn't work like that here. been working for over 3 years, had to pretty much threaten to leave my job to get a raise (started at $35,000/year plus bonuses BEFORE taxes), I am nowhere near $80,000/year. I still live at home, but companies don't pay for "cost of living" anymore.
anyways, it's your life. gotta do what you think is right. we're just voicing our opinions here, and I think it'd be a horrible idea to live in your car when you're financially capable of renting a place. I for one hate the idea of rent, but it'll be happening sooner than later due to other circumstances. It's a waste of money, I agree, but it's also a good waste of money. I would rather live in an apartment and have a shitty car for a while than to continue to pay $400/month for my GTI.
my opinion - your priorities are screwed up. you value your car more than anything else. you will be putting on a shitload of mileage and unnecessary wear and tear on the car. you will have no life balance.
no one is telling you what to do.
good luck.
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You're not telling me what to do but you're certainly imposing your idea of priorities on me even though it's all opinionated. I'm not married, I'm single. I don't have kids. My car makes me happy, my room is a depression cave. I need to finish my degree, I don't want to be poor as shit in the process. Where does renting an apartment relieve me of my car's mileage? You didn't even think that part through. Here I'll walk you through it:
Taking the class to finish my degree is a non-negotiable. I had plans to finish the degree at distance, my college has been supportive, the schools in my area decided to go back on their deal. No amount of logic or argument will change this 100% fact. I can't go into the state school admissions office and be like, "You guys promised you would let me take it here! You have to keep your word!" The world doesn't work like that.
I will not keep my job or an apartment at the sake of not completing my degree. Some people feel like having a job is more important than having a degree. I would say I feel sorry for those people for having their priorities screwed up but that's an opinion and it's one I don't share. (Notice something? We're 0/2 on priorities and lifestyles we agree with. I don't really think we're compatible enough for your advice to apply to me, so far.)
I'm going to have to make the drive regardless so no matter what Fairy Tale you think of, putting the mileage on my car is going to happen regardless. I'm going to stay ahead of the maintenance, drive conservatively and make sure my oil is topped off at every step. I might buy a 4-door 2000+ for the commute + I can drive for Lyft (I'm already a Lyft driver but my MK5 doesn't qualify because it's 2 door) but renting an apartment doesn't somehow mean I won't be putting mileage on my car. I don't know what sort of magic tricks you did on yourself to come to that conclusion.
$80,000 in North Jersey: I have no idea what you do but my field is in considerate demand. I work as a mechanical engineer by title but perform process and manufacturing engineering duties on a daily basis and work with city permits for a private contractor. I make $58,000 as an entry level salary with a bump to $64,000 in a few weeks. I negotiated two pay raises before 6 months into my preliminary contract on the stipulation that I perform to standard (which I have) and I decide to stay.
Even if I moved to Morris or North Jersey and stayed at my income, I would live in Brooklyn. Right now I pay $800. Just because it costs $2000 to rent in Palo Alto 10 minutes away from me doesn't somehow make $800/month constitute being cheap. That's the silliest argument I've ever heard. That's like saying $700 for a Stage 1 tune on a GTI is cheap just because a Porsche 911 tune costs $1500. It's apples to oranges.
razr390
Go Kart Champion
peeps are missing the point, and apparently so are you OP
take this with a grain of salt, but if it's for 2 months only, then go ahead and do what needs to be done to get your degree and get past this hurdle. P.S. life won't get easier and having a degree can be viewed as necessary as having a car nowadays in terms of "getting by" so cutting costs like that is kinda suckish if it's only for 2 months. I understand if it'd had been for a year or so but for 2 months just get it out of the way.
My 2 cents
for what they're worth
tl;dr don't live in your damn car, take a hit and move on.
Like nuggstein said, you don't needa GTI or a VW to drive from point A to point B, either. So making a choice to keep a more premium car but live a below average way of life life (in terms of you have to do shit you don't want/like for a degree) then take the high road and just do what you have to do.
take this with a grain of salt, but if it's for 2 months only, then go ahead and do what needs to be done to get your degree and get past this hurdle. P.S. life won't get easier and having a degree can be viewed as necessary as having a car nowadays in terms of "getting by" so cutting costs like that is kinda suckish if it's only for 2 months. I understand if it'd had been for a year or so but for 2 months just get it out of the way.
My 2 cents
for what they're worth
tl;dr don't live in your damn car, take a hit and move on.
Like nuggstein said, you don't needa GTI or a VW to drive from point A to point B, either. So making a choice to keep a more premium car but live a below average way of life life (in terms of you have to do shit you don't want/like for a degree) then take the high road and just do what you have to do.
GOBbluth
Ready to race!
Your responses lead me to believe you're a lil nutty. Can't quite put my finger on it, but there's s dash of nuttiness.
As in, the perfect amount of nuttiness to survive living in your car. So go for it.
If I had to: I'd probably budget two, three nights a week at an air bnb room or cheap motel. So car for 5 nights, at least bed for two.
Careful with weapons for "self defense" and beer drinking while car is on. You don't wanna accidentally violate dwi or ccw laws when you're very likely to attract cop attention late at night. Especially if you park in the same spot.
As in, the perfect amount of nuttiness to survive living in your car. So go for it.
If I had to: I'd probably budget two, three nights a week at an air bnb room or cheap motel. So car for 5 nights, at least bed for two.
Careful with weapons for "self defense" and beer drinking while car is on. You don't wanna accidentally violate dwi or ccw laws when you're very likely to attract cop attention late at night. Especially if you park in the same spot.
UNFOGIVABLE
Go Kart Champion
sleeping on your car is illegal IIRC
outshined
Go Kart Champion
Agreed.
