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Aside from a couple bank accounts, everything we own is either in a 10x20 storage unit or at the campsite we're currently occupying in the mountains in Virginia. And we rather like it.
Background - I retired in Jan 2020 and Covid notwithstanding we took off in our camper. We spent 5 months on the road that year and 6 months on the road in 2021, so we got to know our camper and ourselves in a small space pretty well those two years.
Then, in late 2021, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. She spent 2022 enduring chemo and radiation. At the end of all that, she was pronounced clear of cancer and we were left free to roam about the country again. There's a hiccup, though. She had long taken hormones to control frequent hot flashes but the oncologist took them away and she can't have them back. So, we made the call to get out of Florida ASAP and seek cooler climates.
We put our house on the market and hit the road. To no one's surprise, the house sold almost instantly and now we find ourselves in a peculiar position. We've got a camper and a couple vehicles and a storage unit full of stuff and a newly fattened bank account, but no address.
An old neighbor is allowing us to forward our mail to her for now, but that can't last. We're house shopping, but we think this could take a good while. We have a pretty specific list of stuff we want and we don't see any need to hurry. If we don't find a place before November (or so) I'll take us south a few hundred miles and we'll come back in the spring. In the meantime, we're having a pretty good time!
I will need to address the lack of an address, though. I'm investigating mail services now.
I was homeless for a while. Sold my place in Texas and moved to SC and stayed at a motel with monthly rates.
I went to the UPS store and rented a box as it comes with a physical address you can use.
USPS doesn't offer that and there's some places/sites that won't accept PO Boxes (USPS).
Good for you both! What an experience. I was homeless in 2012 for a short time, first time in my life. I "looked deep into myself" during my time of tribulation and asked myself what I wanted to do since I did have choices. Rent/buy a condo, a travel trailer and travel, live on a cruise ship as I'd heard about, move here, there or yonder? I realized I need a "home base" to come back to, for security and for peace and quiet, so I bought a garden home in a 55+. After my beloved dog passed I decided not to get any other pets so I could be free to go when and where I wanted to.
I was and am blessed by my lifestyle. I can leave for as long as I want, but have a place to come home to when I need to get away from the crowds, traffic and construction, and aggravations that are now a part of everyone's life.
I don't have a fixed physical home location either. I've lived most of the past 3 years in a rental furnished vacation apartment in Germany. I have had success with US Global Mail in Houston TX. I use my private mail box address in TX for my USA income taxes, retirement pension, social security / medicare, banking, investment account. If I get a physical piece of mail (not very often), they scan the envelope and send me an email. I login and examine the outside of the envelope and read the senders name & address. I decide if I want them to discard it, forward it to me via mail, or open it and scan it and let me view the PDF scan. Sure, there is an additional fee to have them forward the mail or scan it, but that is just one of the little fees that comes with having no physical home address.
An advantage of the Texas address is I don't have my fixed address in a state that levies income taxes. Lots of RV people do this, as well as many Americans living outside the USA. Several other no income tax states (South Dakota in particular) also have several well-rated mail forwarding services that let you have an address in that state.
A camper is a home, no? It certainly has the floorplan of a tiny home, only it moves around. It seems like a very cool lifestyle, but I couldn't drive something that large. I envy those who can!
We bought a used motor home about 5 years before we retired. We thought we would travel for at least a year in it but I could only stand being in a 27 ft home with 2 people and 4 dogs one of which was big for a month. We were able to see many of the national parks with it and take the dogs. Eventually we sold it in 2019 because between the price of gas, rv sites and repairs it was cheaper to take the car and stay in motels once we only had 2 tiny dogs.
A camper is a home, no? It certainly has the floorplan of a tiny home, only it moves around. It seems like a very cool lifestyle, but I couldn't drive something that large. I envy those who can!
it is if you lease a plot of land and camp it there. But with a camper you can just travel and park yourself for one night, one week, one month and then be off again.
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