Alternative living \ Survival for the homeless or adventurous

Hi There I am Raziel giving greetings to all I hope things are well for you all during these increasingly troubling times.

I understand this may or may not have been talked about on this forum before but think of it as a fresh slate and fresh information.

Now for the subject at matter,
Alternative living, Doesn't it have a little ring to it? for me it sounds like freedom and in this time of financial decline and global economical failures more and more people are losing their homes and unable to find a suitable alternative replacement home, well as it is in these times we face losing our homes as well or may have lost them so for the present people on this forum I have become inquisitive in this matter and decided to start off what I hope will become a few pages of useful information regarding how to survive out on the open road and on the most effective and cost effective ways of creating a temporary or perhaps even permanent home. (this however will not discuss finding and foraging food or growing plans or any of that for now it is simply about your home and its location)

Now for starters I am not just talking about America as I myself live in Australia in the suburbs of Adelaide so I am thinking abroad but for starters lets stick to a set landscape and just talk about it from the point of view of all say oh America haha lol anyway as that covers most various types of landscapes that I can think of for now lets assume you are like me and live in the suburbs of the city and are either in danger of losing your home or for some reason are planning on leaving your home of your own free will and also for now lets assume you are by yourself with little money to spare lets say you happened to have $500.

Ok now that we have a starting point I want to discuss what would you be able to make or buy for a portable home? or a permanent dwelling, now of course I'm sure the classic tent pops into mind its easy affordable and certainly portable or perhaps one may prefer a abandoned building to live in all the stuff is there and built for you however I'm thinking of something far broader, for instance a few things like a bicycle trailer home now it's only recently that I have researched these projects after stumbling upon a picture of one at random they are trailer homes (or mini caravans if you like) that are towed by your bicycle and they absolutely fascinate me, These trailers are designed to be as light weight as possible in order to make their transportation a whole lot easier on you poor legs they are mostly made from light weight materials like coroplast and light wood and metal types they can incorporate whatever ones mind can imagine within the limits of the space of course you can even put a power grid into them and a mini cooker (with certain care not to melt your home LOL) and I intend to build one myself one day very soon, now here is a link to a bike trailer project by a man called paul elkins a DIY free thinker for homeless situations very good stuff I also recommend you view his other projects,

youtu.be...

For now I shall leave that as my input on an alternative home (though should you have some awesome links to other bike trailer homes I would be very interested in them)

On to the next matter where will your home be? or alternatively where can you take it? now with the bike trailer home depending on what its made of and how it is made their are various places you can take it, you can stay in the suburbs on and empty lot or in a park or perhaps even in a forest? of course you will need to locate it where you can find food within easy reach which is something I will be discussing in a separate thread.

Now also I am trying to be imaginative so lets say one for some unknown and crazy reason (or you never know there could be a reasonable explanation) wishes to live amongst the tree tops or the mid area of a tree, or perhaps build a sort of bunker into the ground, or dwell in a cave or even dig your own cave out! or perhaps one would like to live on a body of water on a lake or along a large river or perhaps coastal by the ocean? their are so many possabilities and ideas please share all you can with me and each other and we shall see and learn all we can about pre emptive survival planning.

for now this is all I can honestly think of but I hope it is the push start that can get this thread going hope you all enjoy this and I hope we can study and learn and share information together and pull together how to survive in different areas and how to accommodate ones self with easy living alternatives

Kind Regards Raziel.

All you need is a few changes of clothes and if you can afford one an ultra warm lightweight sleeping bag.

I travelled around Australia for months with no cash and as much as I could easily carry on my back (never made it to Adelaide though). If you're passing through cities or towns then food is very easy to obtain for free - google dumpster diving, as is shelter - look up the rights of 'squatters'. You are actually protected under law if you wish to sleep in abandoned buildings as long as you don't trash the joint and you have a discerning enough eye to find something decent in the first place (though you may want to learn how to pick locks). If you're a little worried about safety then go to somewhere protected by guard dogs and slowly make them your friend using food scraps accompanied by a signal (like a special whistle). By night three they'll come to you with tails-a-wagging when you whistle and will protect you as you sleep. Suburbs are usually a lot safer to sleep in than metro areas. If you wanna visit somewhere exotic then just do a bit of fruit picking or work at a backpackers to get a little $$$. You can travel around easily via hitching - the world really is your oyster. If you don't mind roughing it at a level slightly below camping you can travel anywhere (at least within your country) for free.

Hell, when I did actually splurge a little and bought myself a $40 kmart tent I lived in some scrub behind the Nimbin graveyard for nearly 2 months, though there was something in the......eh ehm.......air that made me want to hang around there for a little longer than usual.

Camper trailers are for pussies and old people

I was homeless 10 years ago, for about 5 years. Had a car though. But the problem with parking a car, popup, van, tent, etcetera, is on land where you will not be harrassed and called the police upon. It was extremely hard for me to park somewhere without these people hired by the property owner, harrassing me to leave. I never wanted to go into woods with a tent, as a lone female. Being homeless was for me, hell. I only recieved help when I went around proclaiming to everyone, that I was going to final-exit myself. America, land of the free for the rich.

I have been known to occasionally go "on walkabout." I Am currently thinking of doing so again, and was thinking myself about a bike and trailer. I Had been considering a normal trailer and tent and such...but this has me quite intrigued. A quick search on google comes up with some amazing examples. None of what I have seen thus far has quite hit the right chord with me, but my mind is reeling with the possibilities. There is a particular one from 1940 ( tinyhouseblog.com... ) that I really liked for it's low profile. If you could combine that with some sort of pop-up top like on an old volkswagen microbus, I might just want to hit the road right now. I love the "on the road/wilderness" lifestyle. My last hitching adventure (1300 km as the crow flies) lasted about a week with alternating periods of relative high and low comfort. When weather was coming, I could be quite comfortable as long as I set up prior to precipitation starting. The issue then is that you are stuck in place until the rain stops and things dry out, or you will soak a good bit of gear and supplies that you don't want wet. And of course, if bad weather starts unexpectedly while you are on the move, you might as well just sit cold under an overpass somewhere because that's about as good as it will get. Some of these examples I am finding (and the ideas they are giving me) make me think I could stay more mobile with bad or changing weather, and I also think it would be easier to find a spot to make a bike trailer sit level rather than a truly flat patch of ground with no rocks or roots and proper drainage for a tent. This has made my day. Thank you.

reply to post by RazielRabencuuk


Interesting thread and idea. A life of "Waltzing Matilda". I have always appreciated the Aussie view on Liberty.