Advice on moving to San Diego with just the clothes on my back...

[carlos123]

Thanks for the encouragement you all (howdy SDObserver!). Much appreciated. I don't really post in the open forums here much if at all these days as I am too busy with my blog here, work, and other things to get too involved in general discussions but I did want to add a couple of further comments for what it's worth.

Originally Posted by queenvic

I am a San Diego native, although I live in another city now, thank God. People here are very conservative, although the "mask" is that SD is welcoming, open-minded and diverse. If you came here, you will find that the city is very expensive and you will experience people calling the cops on you, calling you names and giving you looks of disdain as if they are better than you.

I've heard that before queenvic. From my brother who lived here for quite a while during his stint in the Navy and others.

Overall my experience here with regard to the people has been a bit mixed.

Public servants in general here are almost rude in how they treat the public. If you go in and ask property tax questions, ask questions about what one can do or not do in San Diego, business licences and all manner of other things...it's like you are bothering them and like they don't want to be hassled helping you. When they are employed by YOU! Utterly ridiculous.

Canadian public officials in comparision were angels in comparison!

I had some contact with police persons downtown once when I was inquiring about a police regulated business licence too and it's the same with them. Almost rude at times.

Non-personal phone contact with civil servants can be even worse.

I don't really know why that is down here. I think it has something to do with everyone being exposed to a lot of con games down here or civil servants being bombarded with people who are all out for themselves or something. Don't know.

I miss the overall civility of Canadians though I certainly do not miss the insane winters up there.

I try to stay away from much of any interaction with public officials down here.

Now the people on the street are a different matter altogether.

They are some of the nicest persons I have met anywhere.

I routinely get people who don't know me saying hi to me while passing me on the sidewalk (unless that's some kind of drug signal to see how you will respond or something it's quite surprising to have people say hi to me like that in a big city).

Just today I had a lady who cut me off at a cross walk look back at me and excuse herself for having done that! Even in Canada where I was at in Edmonton, Alberta they don't do that! They cut you off and continue without a seconds thought.

Now bear in mind that most of my public contact with people has to do with the poorer classes in San Diego which I imagine is quite different than with the richer folks. Rich folks here may indeed be rather snobby. I don't know as I don't come in contact with them much...well...I do with some but only in Christian circles where at least they act more loving toward others at least outwardly if not in real fact from the heart (if they are real Christians).

The Mexican folks I have met here...and there are a lot of them...are very nice. A bit suspicious and standoffish at first but once you break through that exterior they end up being very nice folks.

It's pretty easy to get into conversations with strangers here. People are more than willing to talk to strangers on the buses, in store aisles, at restaurants, and wherever. I'll even initiate to get advice from people waiting at bus stops with me about this or that and almost invariably people open up and give me an earful when they find that I have a sincere interest in hearing what they have to say.

And there is a fair mix of tourists mixed into the bunch at this time of year. Especially in the beach areas, Balboa Park, and other such places. The tourists being more open to talking about anything San Diego or that might interest them than they might be in their home country settings.

The weather is really nice overall but it's been getting really hot lately (today wasn't too bad). There may be something to the idea of thin and thick blood as my blood does not seem to have gotten thinned out yet given that I can barely stand the heat when it gets really hot down here and that I was up in Canada freezing to death for the last ten years.

Most of the grass seems to have died out (though it's obviously not entirely dead as it comes back to life quite well in the winter time). Brown everywhere. Almost no rain for many months. I mean there's lots of green too but mostly in the bushes and only where people water I think.

Anyway those are just some further notes on my experience here so far for what they are worth.

Carlos

[SD Observer]

Carlos now that you have been here and established yourself, I've got a couple of questions. When you first got here you were going to all-you-can-eat buffets and riding the trolley/bus. You were washing windows for a living.

What are your favorite restaurants ?

Will you be buying a car ?

Have you met a girlfriend ?

How is your work going ?

Hope all is going well my friend. I really eenjoy your style of descriptive and honest writing.

[carlos123]

Hi SDObserver,

I feel rather honored and bemused that someone off these forums would show such interest in my little ol' life.

I do appreciate your interest SDObserver but given that most of your questions are not directly about how to move to San Diego with the clothes on my back...I think I will just answer them in brief at my blog here for anyone that is interested in getting the answers.

So please check my blog here (just click the "B" under my name above) as I will be posting answers to your questions there. A blog being a venue where I can post about personally relevant issues all I want

Thanks for your interest SDObserver. That's very kind of you.

Carlos

[_Charles_]

You are far more likely to be a victim of violent crime living on the street in So Cal as opposed to anywhere in Canada. San diego used to be a bit different than the rest of So Cal - this is no longer true.

No offense but something about your story doesn't add up. With all the work you claim to do why have you remained on the street?

[carlos123]

__Charles__,

No offense intended but don't you think it would have been worthwhile to go visit my blog here and read my answers to SDObserver's questions before you jumped to the conclusion that I am living on the street?

For what it's worth...I have not lived on the streets in the entire time I have been back to the states (on my eighth in San Diego now). Even more...I have never in my entire life lived on the streets! A long time ago I lived in a very nice tent in the woods for a year or two (I had money and could afford the best in camping accomodations). More recently I lived in my truck before coming to San Diego (which I outfitted very nicely to live as comfortably as possible inside it while I took out a gym membership and took showers practically every day there).

So no...I have never just lived on a sidewalk or crawled under a bush so to speak. Came close several times but the Lord rescued me from such in nearly miraculous or outright miraculous ways every time.

And my work is sufficient to pay my rent and otherwise provide for my immediate needs though I am of course hoping to make more shortly once I finish a web site I am building to showcase my computer skills and promote myself more to local businesses.

If you want to know more please go read even just a few of the Personal Category posts at my blog here.

For the record regarding the topic of this thread...it is most definitely possible, with God's help, to move to San Diego with little more than the clothes on my back though in my case I came with two suitcases, a small backpack, and an old laptop .

Thanks.

Carlos

[SD Observer]

Hey Carlos.
Nice blog you have written. Hope you pick up more work in the programming field. More money and it sure beats washing windows !

Stay strong in your belief in God.

[carlos123]

Thanks SDObserver!

Regarding coming to San Diego with little more than the clothes on one's back I thought of a couple of other things to add that might be instructive for those wishing to move here cheaply based on my experience of having done so.

Oh...in my last post I said I had been here eight. I meant eight months .

Of primary concern with respect to moving here is housing. Housing in San Diego is insanely expensive. If one does not have a great job that pays super well and allows one to work reasonable hours then one has little choice but to become a slave to pay for housing here. I mean a wage slave.

From morning and into the night with a second job and possibly into the weekend just to pay for a decent apartment never mind a house. How's that saying go...I owe, I owe, so off to work I go!

I routinely meet people whose lives are being used up in doing little more than working at jobs that they don't really like to be able to pay for an apartment so they can live in the nice weather in San Diego. In my opinion that's no life at all. I would never do that!

The only reason I am in San Diego is because of the weather! In my case I can live super cheap so I am here but if I had to become a wage slave I would move out of here in a heartbeat to go somewhere where I could work less, still have cheap housing, and enjoy life more as it passes by.

None of us are guaranteed to make it to retirement much less live long enough to enjoy it. It never ceases to amaze me how so many people invest their whole lives in working to make it to retirement only to end up crippled by a chronic condition or even dying before they get to their golden years.

Life is not about working like a dog to make it to retirement where one can hopefully live well and comfortably for the few years they may have remaining. Life is about living the fullest along the way...whether one makes it to retirement or not! Anything less than this is just...well...ludicrous.

I guess what I am saying is that one should not give up their life along the way so to speak to be able to afford to come and live in San Diego. San Diego is nice but it's certainly not worth giving up one's life to become a wage slave here.

Having said that if one wants to come and live here cheaply there are several things one can do. Most of this applies to singles by the way though some may apply to couples too.

There are lots of rooms which can be rented from homeowners who are either getting ready to enter into or actually in foreclosures. Find foreclosed properties and offer to rent a room from the owners for cheap. They need money like anyone else and unlike everyone else their expenses have gone way down since they are no longer paying the mortgage. So many are willing to rent cheap in order to get some money coming in. Under California law...if I remember right...the person owning the property cannot be kicked out unless they are given something like 4 months notice. Forclosure is a process and that process can legally take a while. As a renter there are laws that cover you too. Any new owner must give you something like 30 days to move out or some such. I don't know all the details but suffice it to say that renting a room in a foreclosed property will not to my knowledge result in your being put out on the street overnight. You will have notice and some time to find other accomodations when it comes time to get out.

But...the point I am making is that you can find yourself a decent room in a foreclosed property for super cheap. When I first got to San Diego I rented a room for $80 per week. Payable weekly. Oh...yeah...you don't want to pay monthly if you can avoid doing so since the owner may be kicked out for this or that reason. And get a receipt of some kind. Don't make a big deal of it but get a receipt. Even a handwritten one with a signature.

Your pretty helpless if you can't prove you live somewhere. California law only protects you if you have some sliver of proof that you do indeed rent and live somewhere. Otherwise an owner could put everything of yours out for trash collection and then say you were never there. So keep your eyes and ears open and do use some wisdom as to who you rent from.

Bear in mind that owners that rent in a foreclosed property may rent to other, less desireable tenants, to get money. They don't much care about the property anymore so they may rent to persons who they normally would not have rented to otherwise. So...ask for and get a key to your room and lock it up every day you go out.

It may be making it sound worse than it is...just don't go into things blind.

Also as a Christian I do not condone homeowners staying where they can't afford to stay and living free...California law or not, but I am also not responsible for the way the law allows homeowners to live free in their homes while the foreclosure process makes it's way through the system. Just as I am not responsible for all kinds of things in society that do not reflect what is right to do by God including how some corporations do things but if they hire me to work on their web site I will work on it barring any glaring promotion of unrighteousness on their web site. Such as promoting porn or some such.

Anyway...

If renting at a foreclosed property is not your cup of tea...then the next and really a better option in my opinion...is to rent a fifth wheel trailer to live in. Knock on doors if you have to in order to find one.

Or put up an ad on craigslist saying that you are looking to rent one for so and so dollars.

Renting a fifth wheel is pretty straigtforward. You should get water, electricity, etc.. all included. You can even get free internet if they already have internet in their home wirelessly and don't mind you accessing their router. It's best if the trailer is in the back of the house both for privacy and to keep from being bothered by people coming and going into the house.

If you rent a trailer it's best to keep jugs of water around that you have filled up straight from a house connected spigot as drinking water straight from the water tank may not be such a good idea. Especially if it gets filled by a hose which runs out to the trailer. If you don't fill up every day the standing water in the hose may start to develop some bacteria that could give you the runs along with the tank itself. I mean I drank water that way for many months but it's not advisable. In my case I filled up every day and the water kept running through the hose but still...it's not advisable.

You can also get an RV hose that is meant to carry potable water. Regular hoses tend to leach a plasticy or hose smell into the water...can't be that good for you even if you don't get the runs .

Sewer wise...I won't go into the details but one can get set up quite nicely and handle that with no problem. Depends on the homeowner and what they are willing to do.

Bear in mind that living in a trailer may be frowned upon by city authorities so your housing is such that you may have to leave on short notice if neighbors complain and the city comes down hard on your situation. But it's on the head of the homeowner since they are the one's that are legally responsible for renting you a fifth wheel trailer. As long as you don't cause a ruckus, are a party animal, take care of yourself and properly dispose of your trash, and so forth...I see nothing wrong with living in a fifth wheel trailer and you should be fine.

Renting a trailer parked on someone's private property is best for persons who are private in nature or like me...who work on their computers constantly and who don't have a lot of visitors.

Basically homeowners just want the rental money without hassles. So the less visible you are the better...depending on the homeowner of course.

Here's another option...you can again put an ad up on craigslist to rent a piece of grass in someone's back yard to set up a tent there. I put an ad up for that when I first came to San Dieogo and actually had people respond. $100 a month. No bathroom or kitchen privaleges. Just rent a spot on the ground for a tent and go and take care of your manicure and toiletry business at the local health club type of thing.

Again...being descreet is 80% or more of these types of living situations. Don't be a rabble rousing, party type, boisterous, obnoxious, whatever and you should be fine. Homeowners want and need to make more money in these hard economic times. That's an opportunity for those of us willing to live less conventionally than normal in that we can make deals and get cheap housing even in San Diego!

Food wise...if you have a car...it's Hometown all the way. $6 once a day for eating all you can eat Salad Bar, Taco Bar, Soup Bar, Drinks, and Desserts! You simply cannot beat that and cannot buy as much food as you can eat there at the grocery store for that little. Just be careful of what you eat as you can pig out on unhealthy food there and get fat or otherwise sink into being less healthy than you should be.

The .99 cent Dollar Stores are your friend. Lots of cheap but very useful stuff there including food. Again pick carefully as there is also a lot of junk there too.

Regarding buses...buy $5 day passes. Skip the one way far to anywhere ($2.50). A day pass entitles you to ride unlimited for the day and if you are going anywhere and coming back by bus you will spend $5 anyway. Buses take cash unless you have a bus pass so come with the right bills in change. Getting a bus pass is even better if you can afford it but it's a bit steep ($75 or some odd dollars) per month. They also sell a half month pass.

I could say so much more but I will leave it at that.

If enough people want to know more maybe I will start posting more at my blog here about how to live cheaply in San Diego.

Better yet...maybe a I will write a book on this, sell it, and make millions while living in a nice mansion writing revised editions continuing to give advice to poor folks . Now wouldn't that be a trip (I wonder if the California linguo is starting to make it's way into my consciousness or something LOL).

Carlos

[Justynkace]

Originally Posted by SD Observer

Moving to Southern California in your financial shape and with your present job description would not be advisable.


In the end its better to be poor in SoCal that in Canada.
At least you won't freeze to death !

DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT iF U WANT BEACH DO OREGON IF IT JUST ABOUT A FAIR SHOT AT A NEW START i RECOMMEND ARIZONA OR EVEN MAYBEE VAGAS BUT CALIFORNIA WILL FIND A WAY TO MAKE MONEY FROM YOU!!!IE.. ARREST YOU AND KEEP YOU IN THE PENAL SYSTEM OR PAY YOU JUST ENOUGH IF YOUR REALLY LUCKY THAT START TO FOOL YOURSELF ABOUT YOUR ACTUAL SOCIAL/FINACIAL STATUS-- AND WHEN NOT IF WHEN SOMETHING SMALL HAPPENS DUI---BABY---INJURY--RANDOM ACT OF VIOLENCE YOU WILL ISTANTLY BE BACK WERE YOU WERE EXEPT YOU WILL NEVER GETOUT OF HERE!!!!----WITH ONE EXEPTION --THIS IS NOT MENT TO BE RACIALLY DEROGATORRY --
i NOTICED YOUR NAME IS CARLOS AND YOU WANT TO MOVE NEAR MEXICO. IF ON SOME SMALL CHANCE YOUR HISPANIC AND ILLEGAL FAMILY HERE OR FREINDS THEN BY ALL MEENS DO IT DO IT NOW ILLEGAL HISPANICS WILL BE THE NEW CALIF. MIDDLE CLASS INSIDE OF 5 YEARS---

mARK MY WORDS-- gOOD LUCK mAN!!!!

PS sCREW MY 2 FRONT TEETH ALL i WANT IS THE F*@% OUT OF THIS STATE!!!! E.s.R.42/W/M BORN RAISED STUCKIFIED IN lANCASTER CALIFORNIA

PEACE

[carlos123]

Hi Justynkace,

Thanks for your advice but it's really a bit misguided in that....

1. I AM already living in San Diego. Been here for eight months!
2. Is every person named Pierre a Frenchman? Or Smith an American? Or Kosheiske a Russian? Well...for the record (for the umpteenth time on this forums)....I am NOT a Mexican (no disrespect to Mexicans intended). I do to be sure have pure Spanish blood in me but so does everyone who is descended from anyone that came out of Spain several centuries ago!
3. Please do not post in all caps. On the internet that's taken as SCREAMING!

Having said the above I understand your frustrations with California and do wish you well in trying to move out of here. As for me I am very content to be here, for now...though I am not sure I would want to live here the rest of my life.

Carlos