Several readers wrote to share this story of extreme personal finance from the pages of the Los Angeles Times: 26-year-old Andy Bussell has been living in his truck, homeless by choice, for the past year-and-a-half.
The odyssey began in 2005. Bussell was working full time as a “Mac genius” at the Apple Store in Newport Beach, sharing a $1,600-per-month apartment in Aliso Viejo. He had racked up more than $10,000 in credit card debt and was struggling to pay for school and save money for a three-month road trip. So on July 29, 2005, he started living in his truck, with the goal of lasting one year.
Andy sounds reasonably well-adjusted. He has a job. He’s going to school (he’s a film student). He hangs out with his friends. He engages in hobbies like yoga and rock climbing. Where he differs from average young adults is his willingness to cut corners and live cheap in order to tackle his debt. After eighteen months of extreme frugality, his credit card debt is nearly gone.
Andy’s blog has some interesting bits, particularly his cross-country road trip. (I’ve always wanted to do a cross-country road trip.) His blog is all on one page, and begins with arrival of his camper shell. Scroll to the bottom and then work your way up to follow his entire homeless adventure. He even shares some lessons he’s learned from his experience, such as:
- You never really think about the angle of your bed until you’re parked at a slant. Annoying.
- Avoid sleeping at 24 Hour Fitness — that’s where I got my ticket.
- Angle the truck away from any street lights (if possible). Easier to sleep in the dark.
- Carry extra floss.
- Always have backups and emergency planning.
Despite the current rash of media attention, I get the impression that Andy would much rather have a home. He went into the project expecting to live in his truck for a year, and for the past few months he’s been halfheartedly looking for a place to rent. It sounds as if there are other issues besides money involved: “So I’ve been looking for a room to rent. It’s hard. Between my hatred for people and my hatred for people in my space I’m just not getting anywhere.”
The Cal State Fullerton Daily Titan has a short video interview with Andy in which he describes his lifestyle.
[Los Angeles Times: Homeless by choice, O.C. student learns self-reliance, via Don, Matthew, and Evan]
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I have a friend who has lived in a truck or a van (and a little while in a cave) for the last 20 years by choice. He is now in his first year of law school in the Bay Area and is still homeless.
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Norman, that reminds me of my father-in-law, who lived in a mail truck for a couple of years while attending college for free by sitting in on classes. He’s actually been immortalized in one of those humorous anecdotes that “Reader’s Digest” publishes.
Me, I lived in a Honda Civic for a month and a half to save up for a security deposit. It sucked ass, and I would never have dreamed of blogging about the experience because I was deeply ashamed.
Once I found a place to rent, a friend of mine lived in a tent in the backyard for a year to save up money to go back to school. Honestly, I don’t think this kind of thing is so terribly uncommon.
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Wow. Sounds like Andy might have other issues if he has succeeded and now claims a hatred of people.
Interesting story…
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It’s very easy to fall into this way of living, and very hard to bounce back. I very much doubt it’s just temporary.
I’ve known a couple of types in similar situations, they start with a reasonable plan, but they get used to it and drift far from the norm. I hope the interest he’s generating will not give anyone ideas.
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If he really wants an apartment without roommates, he could find a small studio most likely and not have to deal with people in his space. If he can live in a truck for 18 months, I’m sure he could stand living in a small studio apartment!
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[...] Homeless by choice [...]
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In response to Judy’s comment, my guess is he prefers a share over a studio due to the lower cost, not because space is an issue for him.
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[...] love stories of extreme personal finance. In the past I’ve written about a guy who was homeless by choice, how to pay off your mortgage in three years, and about the most fuel-efficient driver in the [...]
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From the article: “He had racked up more than $10,000 in credit card debt and was struggling to pay for school and save money for a three-month road trip. So on July 29, 2005, he started living in his truck, with the goal of lasting one year.”
I’m not sure I would call this homeless BY CHOICE… This is homeless by being able to afford it.
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It is a choice. It’s his choice. During the next time you have a list of the monthly bills; all of them, think of the way to get rid of them all.
I had the idea to “car camp”, as it sounds better than saying “Homeless”, because my rent was more than my car bill. Which to say isn’t much more and totalled over 1400 (75% of my net profit each month). That and knowing I did want to get out of my current job and learn, I had to find a way to cut bills.
I’ve been car camping for over half a year. The hard part is that you know going into this that you won’t see any benefit for a couple months, as minimal. It’s not a sudden “I’m free”. Canceling contract fees add up. It’s one that doesn’t become apparent until you sit down and do the math.
Do people understand? Some do. Others can not imagine giving up their smart phones, their rent, their current lifestyle. That’s all fine and good. That is their choice. I pay my taxes, keep my car up in shape, follow laws, I keep myself and everything presentable.
There’s a lot of things that goes into camping in the car than just parking. Cold weather, Hot weather, bugs, rain, storms, accidents, police, thieves. How will you shower? How will you eat? how will you spend your off time? What will you do if you’re sick? Where can you park for the 8 hours of just sleeping? How will you handle police knocking on your window? How will you handle strangers asking for money?
Am I safe in my car? No. Have I learned to sleep with 18 wheelers driving 70 mph on the interstate just a 40 feet away? Yes.
I see it as adapting, surviving where others can’t imagine doing. I did the crime and now it’s time for me to do the time.
Why go through all of this?
I want to have more out of life than fighting bills, fighting paycheck to paycheck. I want to go back to college and not have a gigantic loan over my head for the rest of my life. I want to be able to look at my paycheck and not think “X needs this, Y needs this, Z needs this, I need this, and I have 20 dollars left.”
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