If you don't want to BUY or RENT, then whats' the best way to live???

reply to post by MyHappyDogShiner


ya I'm sure but Canada is way too big, so is the usa

If you can buy, buy. You still need land. But otherwise, I have dreamt of caravan type gypsy things. If necessary a group that moves around, camps somewhere for a week, maybe does workshops or some wake up counseling or art, woodworking, maybe wake people up as you move around, OR, keep to yourselves. It depends on people.

Anyway this kind of thing came to me too. But you can't garden in the same way, sure you can still have tomatoes and some things, for food.

tinyhouseblog.com...

Gypsy caravans, even made out of paper crepe. OR, canvas, like a teepee, with hemp concrete sprayed on. Or padded with commercial hemp type insulation or aluminum fabric, and foam and arctic waterproofed material.

But its the land that is a nice thing to have for growing stuff.

I mean you can live in a teepee, put it on some kind of wooden platform, put a couple up say 30 feet ones, and put a green house between them, and a little bathroom shared, hot tub. And it can be canvas with insulation, like I was saying, maybe some sprayed on hemp stone stuff, or just a pull down layered padded weatherproofed fabric.

I find teepees elegant and beautiful and something I'd have for guests on a farm, but the pickers from the past, when we grew up who lived out a winter in one with small children, that was harsh, the woman bailed with her babes in tow and who could blame her. With the kind of thin insulation, aluminum tape and hemp fabric insualation, and type of winterization, rocket stoves, there are ways to make it into a really warm and liveable space if you don't have 4 kids.


Lakota Tipi Part One

reply to post by spartacus699


I would do it in the South Okanagan or the Shushwap in Canada, winters mild enough for soft fruit like cherries, januaries maybe -10 C at times, usually not. Semi desert. Warm summers. Dry climate. Lots and lots of lakes and creeks and rivers and farms. Smilkameen nice too. IMO most beautiful place on earth: Penticton, Summerland, Peachland, Westbank, Kelowna, Vernon, Enderby, Salmon Arm, Chase, basically the prettiest spots on earth.

The only other place I'd move to if I could is Norway, or Sweden, and Im not thinking teepees good idea there. Some determined person probably has done this however, but I'd be reluctant. Maybe if they had a really good hot tub.

reply to post by Unity_99


I agree

work up the money to buy land.

in the meantime, if you want to get away or need a temporary spot to live, seek out a designated national forest and camp there preferably in a location near a town. you can stay there for weeks without any trouble.

you can camp comfortably without the need for a tent (this helps especially if you are travelling by foot, bicycle, or hitching), by simply using a hammock with tarps strung above and on the sides of your chosen encampment in the treeline.

hammocks keep you off the ground and are fun to chill in, just make sure your placement doesn't put you in any environmental danger such as below a rock face where rock fall could potentially hit you, or beneath any dead trees.

then there's a whole host of alternative living ideas: hobbit houses, underground dwellings, treetop platform dwellings, eco homes made out of recycled materials...you name it.

Originally posted by Gazrok

Thing is, you have to think about the bathroom situation no matter what portable solution, and that's the complication.

Me recommendation, for your situation, would be to get a conversion van and utilize public restrooms. Beaches have showers. Of course, you still have to pay for gas, insurance, but at least you have a way around. Get a PO Box for mailing purposes.

Never # in an RV.

Originally posted by Mugen

Originally posted by Gazrok

Thing is, you have to think about the bathroom situation no matter what portable solution, and that's the complication.

Me recommendation, for your situation, would be to get a conversion van and utilize public restrooms. Beaches have showers. Of course, you still have to pay for gas, insurance, but at least you have a way around. Get a PO Box for mailing purposes.

Never # in an RV.

edit on 7-25-13 by Mugen because: Grammar master

Interesting topic! The choice between buying a home and renting one is the biggest financial decisions that many people make. But the costs of buying are more varied and complicated than for renting, making it hard to tell which is a better deal. Every now and again, some people will notice an article on some website someplace about a “rent-or-buy” showdown. Usually, it's a crock of manure, as much of the press appears to have been bought off by the financial industry, but from time to time, somebody gets it correct.

Tourist towns usually have a few restaurants/hotels/ski lodges, etc where housing is available as part of your pay package. They usually take out a small amount of money from your check to cover food and housing.

Find a set of pontoons from the largest pontoon boat you can find, or build them from stainless steel drums or at least 6000 series aluminum. Build a good superstructure / platform atop these pontoons and a sturdy space atop that that is enclosed with a lot of surface area on outside top and sides, like an RV.

I drew up a pontoon boat which was really wide using 3 pontoons once when I was daydreaming about escaping which was very wide but was retractable to fit through narrower locks and waterways

Completely cover the top and sides of the great big box you just built with solar panels, except where windows and doors are of course, and place your battery bank in the center of the thing as low as possible hidden under a wide bench or counter type structure with good ventilation, over your center pontoon if you made it a tri-toon type thingie, do up all wiring electrics and stowage and source a high torque, low voltage and amperage, low rpm and reliable electric motor system to run the whole thing.

Stick a big outboard on there in the event you need to run away from hurricanes and storms and such and you could be gone for quite awhile and re-figure the entire world and maybe never come back until you're just too damned old to do it any more.

I would do this but I'm just too damned broke to buy even the pontoons, and I'm not willing to trade what little I have to get started....

Well our escape plan looks like this: kids nearly at age to have 3 legal drivers including me, excluding the couple that may be at university at the coast within a year. We are going to start small creative businesses this year, would have already but am driving nonstop, 3 times a week roughly for various different family health issues, and this seriously is causing me to nearly collapse my own health, but, the end is nearly in sight, so within a month intend to start with the first small project and within a year be able to save up for second hand extended cab trucks, (chev, dodge or ford), and second hand fifth wheels. 3! That way, ALL OF US, even the boys who might be going back to college can take off anywhere we want if we need to.

We could visit up north, spend days in parks and nights nearby or walmart parking lots.

But the next goal would be land.

As it is, we do have a family property with very low payments and unlike you if I had large money coming, I would be providing safety and land/homes for over 12 people, friends and family, and then establish a couple eco farms for the troubled youths in the ministry at the coast who need safety and healing up too.

And I would love to create my own trailer park and eco farm. Would be lovely, would have 3 times the lots, large additions, take second hand, the kind they don't let you have, and fix them up with hemp cob, and eco solutions, and have aquaponics, pool and payground for kids, commercial kitchens, chickens, and orchard, and small payments for grounds, with woodworking shops and mini van.

I'd even start a mini bus that ran daily for people in this area to the neighoring cities, and have a half way house near a bus stop for them to recover and plan adventures.

I'd create happiness, adventures in the lives of those living in poverty and fixed incomes and safety.

Because that is what counts the most.

Creating as much safety, happiness, adventures in the lives of those who never get to have them, love, peace, meditation. zen gardens, I'd make lots and cherry blossoms around trout ponds. And food, abundance, all on fixed incomes, OPTING OUT.

If you had money to buy but didn't want to own, I'd call it ignorance. Owning has its issues but so does everything else. If you own a home and live in it, its a liability. If you own a home and someone else does, its passive income. savvy?

As with everything there exists a control system. If there was no system, there'd be no measurement, if there was no measurement there would be no economists. Don't hate the player, hate the game.. Better yet, learn the game and be a player too.

Huge tip: Asset v Liabilty

What do you spend your money on?

originally posted by: Unity_99

We could visit up north, spend days in parks and nights nearby or walmart parking lots.

But the next goal would be land.

And I would love to create my own trailer park and eco farm. Would be lovely, would have 3 times the lots, large additions, take second hand, the kind they don't let you have, and fix them up with hemp cob, and eco solutions, and have aquaponics, pool and payground for kids, commercial kitchens, chickens, and orchard, and small payments for grounds, with woodworking shops and mini van.

I'd even start a mini bus that ran daily for people in this area to the neighoring cities, and have a half way house near a bus stop for them to recover and plan adventures.

All it takes is a dream, follow through (determination) and a little bit of liquidity. Put that into a business plan and you have a working model. Need assistance? Find investors. you have a community all around you.

Public places are best avoided, there are opportunists of every type everywhere one goes, most seem innocent but in the end few are selfless or trying to help anyone but themselves.

Human nature is animal nature mutated and twisted by conveniences, laziness, boredom and technology.

The only thing man ever did was remove himself from the natural order of things.

a reply to: Rosinitiate

originally posted by: MyHappyDogShiner
Public places are best avoided, there are opportunists of every type everywhere one goes, most seem innocent but in the end few are selfless or trying to help anyone but themselves.

Human nature is animal nature mutated and twisted by conveniences, laziness, boredom and technology.

The only thing man ever did was remove himself from the natural order of things.

a reply to: Rosinitiate

Public places meaning what? I think park but I suspect you mean bank? Most people can't/don't help others because they're too worried about themselves. Little do they know that helping others is in fact helping yourself.

I know that, and that's what matters.

originally posted by: Expat888
try homesteading in canada .. from what heard still alot of land there and they have a homestead program .. thought about it at one time .. but gets too bloody cold in winter there for my liking .

According to this that homesteading program in Canada is no longer active. en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: spartacus699

I have a friend who is pretty experienced living out of a car. There are two things, one you want to blend in to minimize hassle with local authorities and to not attract attention from thieves, two you want to be comfortable.

The van's what I would do, affordable, and normal looking. You do not want anything too shabby nor anything too shiny, if you know what I mean.

Maybe a white utility van, former business use, and rehab the inside to make it nice..

beware a tent on the ground .. !!!!! in some places you can get run over by some nuts in their 4x4's.. a towable RV has registration, tag and insurance issues..a 3/4 ton truck with a slide in camper minimizes that.you can drive instantly and park almost anywhere. the cheapest is a camper shell on the back of your pickup truck, or a station wagon,or mini van,turn inside of bed of truck into sleeping and living area, no bath or john though, but the larger slide in camper can be had with ac ,shower, toilet ,large bed over roof of truck, fridge,sink and all.i read Backwoodsman magazine, they do articles on this every other month.which ever you do keep it looking good ,nothing draws the cops faster than a grungy RV or camper..

It isn't the cops who care so much about whether one's vehicle is undesirable in appearance, but the people who file a complaint about it being grungy.

This is why I said earlier to avoid public places, to avoid people who don't have enough business of their own to mind.

Those who enjoy the conveniences become lazy and use technology to inform the authorities to protect them from the scary free looking person minding his own business.

Most have absolutely no idea what a vicious group of animals the human race actually is....

a reply to: madokie

a reply to: spartacus699

Now you're talking!