apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

While I totally get the idea behind this it made me think about a few things. I stopped for a moment and realized how trendy this is. This idea of well-educated folks "living like Thoreau". Where I live, living in your camper or van just means you're poor. My husband and I have been living in our camper for two years now, saving money to build our house. A few years ago, when we were talking about this move from renting to camping, people looked at us like we were from outer space. Now, I still get some odd looks, but it's as if what we're doing is somehow "cool" and "green". The truth is, they were right before, we're poor. We couldn't afford to take out a huge loan to build a house (or buy one), so we're doing it ourselves. The long way. Yes, now I know exactly what I need to live happily and comfortably. But I'm not doing this to get in touch with my inner-Thoreau. It's the economics.
Sooo, all that to say, good for this guy to try and avoid getting into debt. In the long run it'll be totally worth it.

Hitchhiking more than 7,000 miles to avoid paying airfare is just stubbornness.

Sounds like he wanted to go to school and have an adventure... And he is doing both - good for him.

@mdevans -

You raise an interesting point which I've pondered in my recent strives towards minimalism. In many ways, it's a luxury for the affluent to think about having less. But must a discovery of excess precede a discovery of (and appreciation for) simplicity? When "simplicity" and "minimalism" are not of choice but of necessity, your perspective is certainly quite different.

However, I don't believe this somewhat cynical perspective should squelch the desires of those looking to return to basics. In fact, perhaps its those lessons from those who've touched affluence that can teach those "struggling to get ahead" to instead enjoy where they're at. They probably have more than they know.

Granted, this student's lifestyle is a bit extreme and likely a poor example of something worth striving for. Some degree of comfort is also comforting to the soul. But at what point do our comforts bring us discomfort and stress? I think these are important questions to ask.

A well-educated English major can still be poor. A graduate student in English, if not supported by family, most likely is poor.

As I see it, the drawback here is social isolation. A grad student really should be forming bonds with colleagues. That's hard to do with this lifestyle.

I wonder how gendered this story is. Would a woman have the same experiences living in a van?

I've spent many of chunk of time sleeping in our car, not recently though. We chose to do so in order to follow our favorite band. I learned alot, picked up new trades, became a better cook and really got down to the bare bones of it all, on all levels. I loved reading his story, his stance on something like this, good for him for following through and doing it all the way.