Homeless by Choice: How to Live for Free in America

I think that if someone wants to explore this lifestyle, without the extremes, Caretaking would be the way to go. Often parks during the "off season" open up to those who wish to live isolated and remote as a means of a "presence" and maintenance. Sometimes these jobs are year-round.

The wealthy folks with large properties often have several out-buildings on the grounds that are used by "caretakers"; sometimes there are stippends or barters such as food and utilities.

I just left a position as a caretaker to a lake property where I lived isolated for 18 months in a wildlife sanctuary. My first winter the furnace blew and so I managed by fireplace only, then the summer rolled around and the a/c finally died with 106 plus across many weeks. Sand storms, freezes, you name it! I had no water for two weeks one winter and my only means to the toilet was as nature intended; although I was kind enough to bury my musings!

I am proof that gormet can be made out of a toaster oven!

I am glad to be back in town living in a real neighborhood, but I do find myself not wanting to wander too far. I love my airconditioner and I am slowly getting used to seeing people again.

reply to post by zysin5


hey zysin! i'm very sorry to take so long myself in replying to your very thoughtful post. after reading what you wrote, i thought about the very idea of money and how it relies on inequality, doesn't it? i've heard it said that the rich need the poor, so if somebody has an excess then somebody has to have a deficit, right? and then if there was egalitarian distribution there would be no need for money, so inequality must exist in a system of money, right?

it seems to me this is HUGE stuff as just entering the type of thinking that a system of money would require would drastically change one's outlook on everything else, it would seem. am i crazy here? i guess i'm trying to say that the psychology of money appears to be powerful!

i thnk there is a real, primal reason that it is so romantic and alluring to imagine a world devoid of a system of money.

like you, there are things i take for granted every day (the AC, like you mentioned, showers. i would sorely miss recorded music, honestly), but doesn't it seem like those things could and would exist in a 'perfect' world' (which would not include the scourge of money)?

i can't help but think that if money boils down to energy, then we have people hoarding disgraceful amounts of energy that could be redistributed more efficiently, so the very idea of hoarding this energy seems like something that ultimately holds us back as a whole species, it hurts us.

where i live, in the extreme northwest of the united states, there are a lot of people who say they'd like to do away with money. we had people moving to my area in the 60s and 70s (they called them the 'back-to-landers') who moved here from large cities for more natural, communal living. some of these communities still exist (a lot of them grow pot). as a whole, though, these people are generally ridiculed as dirty or simple (and not in the good way). there is an interesting dynamic here- it's as though we look down upon those whom, for whatever reason, are able to exit the rat race. maybe we do this because we're angry we don't have the courage to do it ourselves.

again, thanks for the interesting post, zysin!