Living on $5,000 a year, on purpose: Meet America's 'intentional poor'

[SJohnson]

http://inplainsight.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/13/20923154-living-on-5000-a-year-on-purpose-meet-americas-intentional-poor?lite

[DURHAM D]

1. He seems a little wack

Price’s marriage dissolved soon after, and the whole family moved to Oregon, where he grew up. Price opted to move alone into a tiny cabin in the woods, then a flophouse, then a teepee, and finally into an underground “Hobbit hole” on a horse pasture near a river, where he still lives. During the winter, he decamps to Hawaii to surf and avoid the harsh weather.

[fitman]

3. $5000 a year and then decamps to hawaii??

That cost money.. and Hawaii is very expensive to live there.

[Myrina]

5. I would guess he crashes with friends, or in a tent, or a park bench ...

.... doesn't sound like he's trying to live in 5-star (or even 3-star) establishment ....

[fitman]

6. Round trip air fair to Hawaii is not cheap

about $750-1000 depending on where you live-really cuts into the $5k per year ..I have been to hawaii ..food is very expensive everywhere..maybe he is mooching off of friends..and I hate those kind of mooches.

[Myrina]

7. ... and maybe he flies standby ...

... there are ways to make life alot cheaper than what 'advertised prices' say ... one just needs to be creative.

Maybe the friends he mooches off of don't consider him a moocher.

[PeoViejo]

8. There are places to Camp on or near the beach

It can be a pretty rough crowd. We were on the Big Island at a beach when my Wife dropped her Snorkel. It hadn't lain there but a few seconds when one of the local denizens snatched it and started to walk off. I recovered it with no problem, but a Park Ranger later told me they are a perennial problem, since there isn't much they can do to get rid of them, save a free ticket to the Mainland. A lot of them survive by breaking into vehicles. If you leave something unattended, it's as good as gone.

[fitman]

2. Would be fun for a while

but would get old...sorry..don't want to live in a "Hobbit Hole" or a one room apartment for life..life is to be enjoyed..but if these people are happy that is all what counts..the guys living in the Hobbit Hole is a modern day Henry David Thoreu (sic)

Sometimes when it comes down to it I think these people don't want responsibility..I feel this way at times when having stress..just taking off and going from job to job, living off the land but then reality comes roaring back. I also remember selling blood when I was poor..don't want to go back to those days..ever.

Could never get the wife to do this and get rid of her horse barn anyway so the point is mute with me.

[TlalocW]

4. There's a part of me that really wants to do something like this

Maybe not exactly living in a Hobbit hole, but the whole idea of saying, "fuck you," to the system really appeals to me. Alas, I don't think I have the skills to live in the wilderness (neither did Thoreau - every Sunday while he lived in the woods, he would go to his mom's house so she could do his laundry, and he could have a good meal), but I would love to be able to roam the country in something like what's pictured below.



TlalocW