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Good for him I say

Quote:Living in a van was my grand social experiment. I wanted to see if I could -- in an age of rampant consumerism and fiscal irresponsibility -- afford the unaffordable: an education.

I pledged that I wouldn't take out loans. Nor would I accept money from anybody, especially my mother, who, appalled by my experiment, offered to rent me an apartment each time I called home. My heat would be a sleeping bag; my air conditioning, an open window. I'd shower at the gym, eat the bare minimum and find a job to pay tuition. And -- for fear of being caught -- I wouldn't tell anybody.

Living on the cheap wasn't merely a way to save money and stave off debt; I wanted to live adventurously. I wanted to test my limits. I wanted to find the line between my wants and my needs. I wanted, as Thoreau put it, "to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life … to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms."

LOL...thought this was a DML thread

Sounds pretty cool. I'm sure he had some friends to crash with for those few very cold or very hot nights. NC is probably a good state to do this in because of our climate. I'm not sure why he keeps mentioning the iPod as a sacrifice. I have a Nano that got for less than $100 and I've gotten hours and hours of entertainment out of it. That's frugal to me.

I admire this guy for being dedicated to his idea.

That guy in Alaska lived in a bus for awhile. What a moron.

(12-07-2009 06:47 PM)don bosco Wrote: [ -> ]LOL...thought this was a DML thread

+1

How cool is that? A giant middle finger to all the elite dook preppies!

yeah - inspiration to me for sure.

I really feel for him though - he sounds socially isolated.
And maybe he's right to do that. . .loose lips and all that.

His story made the Raleigh N&O today. I bet his days are numbered in that van.

(12-07-2009 09:45 PM)ElNumeroUno Wrote: [ -> ]That guy in Alaska lived in a bus for awhile. What a moron.

Yea. Until he died.