My plan.

Bart.Man

Bart.Man

Active member
Hello NSG,

I write this thread for two reasons. Firstly, and mainly, to physically write it out and help me to comprehend it more concretely. Secondly to allow for feedback, tips or tricks, and general commentary.

I am a freshman in college with just one more week and finals week, then summer starts for me. I recently received some life changing information. This information has affected every aspect of my life and caused me to reevaluate my life, particularly my academic path. I may not return next semester or continue in schooling at all. I plan to pack all the things I need to live (primarily camping gear) in to my car and take to the road for a year or more this summer. I would do so by working and saving up a few hundred dollars and then heading out. I would camp out of my car. I have extensive experience in the outdoors so I am confident in this aspect of my plan. I would look for odd jobs and short time employment in towns when I needed money. I would only need money for gas and food and the occasional piece of replacement gear. The more I think about where I see myself in 10 years, the more I see myself working to save money to buy a piece of land in rural Colorado or Montana and homesteading. I would raise/kill most of my food and be as self reliant as possible. I realize the work involved, but I see it as exchanging one struggle for another. I would rather be putting in manual labor for myself to survive than to work a petty job in a city to pay my bills. The only issue I can see with this is if I decide that I want to do something different, but I guess that's part of the reason I want to live on the road for a while, do some soul searching. Please don't hesitate to offer suggestions, point out flaws, or even just ridicule me for my ideas. Thanks for reading and (potentially) offering responses.
 
I'm (theoretically) majoring in communications. And to those saying finish school, why? Then I just enter the world with a debt, rendering my idea of homesteading basically useless and impossible seeing as though I'd have to work a petty job for someone to pay off student loans for a degree that I have no use for. And changing majors wouldn't be beneficial, just a degree in general wouldn't serve my cause and put me at a large financial disadvantage.
 
What has made you reevaluate life. I did the same thing a year ago, after my first yr didn't go back but don't just run out into the world and try to escape. Go home and come up with a few options.
 
Threads, I got a 30 ACT and stuff but I've been thinking the same mindset as well and want to see what people say.

But dude... Aren't you gonna need to pay for health insurance? Hiking and you bust a leg and end up with a huge medical bill, oof
 
I don't see it so much as an escape plan to avoid problems, but more the result of a critical analysis of my future. I recently was told my dad has pancreatic cancer. After observing his life, while he lead a good one, I don't want the same thing I saw him and countless others do, that being run a rat race where the end result is an unhappy, material centered life.
 
I'm very pro-college, but I wouldn't go into debt for a communications degree.. Your plan sounds possible if you're serious about it and know what you're doing. Also I would love to know the life changing information you have.
 
You can read my last reply and see the information. Also, why do you say you wouldn't go in to debt for a comm. degree in specific?

@WaffleDestroyer, I would eventually (probably) stabilize with basic expenses down the road, but in the meantime I would play it by ear and pray for the best.
 
i like your idea, and its really cool that you are willing to do that, i would like to think that i could do something as cool as that. but what will happen when you get older or if you have an injury and cant work how will you support yourself, school is a backup but there are many more important things. just my $.02 but i would at least have a few backup plans.
 
why not look into a major like outdoor recreation, here we have this option and you take classes on recreation and leisure, outdoor survival skills, fighting wildfires, wilderness first responder, ect.
 
do you enjoy communications? because it's not a good degree for getting a good job. If you aren't enjoying it anyways don't bother. No sense in going into debt for no reason.
 
We have a strong adventure ed program at the school I go to, but I wouldn't want to get a degree in that seeing as though I don't know of any jobs that I could get with that degree that I couldn't get with experience
 
Save up more money. it's possible with what you're thinking, but it'd be nice to have a bigger safety net, like a few g's at least.

Some things I've seen friends of mine do: network, network, network! I know two kids who had offers to set up on someone's land to basically homestead (in Montana). One is living in one lady's guest house, built a passively powered greenhouse and a permaculture garden. He does lots of seminars and speeches about what he does and basically has free reign to do all sorts of similar experiments. The other passed up the offer to built a yurt on some guy's land, but the offer was there.

Do lots of research on what you want to do. Buy some books on homesteading, farming, agriculture, I'd recommend permaculture cause it's a combination of all the above. I saw somewhere that Montana has (or at least had) some sort of tax incentive type deal on buying land from the state and homesteading it, but don't quote me on that one.

Best of luck, but realize that there are plenty of ways to have a 'normal' life without leading a 'normal' life, so to speak. Just take things slow, I feel like a lot of people get too into the rat race because they don't think out what they're really doing. Think things completely through, and if it still seems like the right thing to do, go for it. And if you watch TV a lot, stop, it's not helping anyone.
 
That's encouraging. Yeah I should take a year or so to accumulate wealth and think through my plan, I just don't want to become stagnant and never act on it. I'd rather think it through while I have time and the freedom to do so.

And to butterslut, you raise a good point, but I don't know if any of those career paths sound appealing to me. I really probably just need to take a semester off anyway and reconsider in a meaningful way.
 
I totally feel you on this, but getting a college degree doesn't necessarily mean you will have a job that is meaningless to you besides the money it brings in and that you will become materialistic. Also, it sounds like an awesome idea and I think about stuff like this all the time, but in reality, I think the kind of lifestyle you're talking about is way harder than you think it is.
 
Have you seen into the wild? That dude is dead.

Finish school, more than likely when you're about 30 you wont want to break your balls everyday anymore working in the fields and will want a decent job to support yourself and without a college degree this will be almost impossible, especially in the next ten years as college is becoming more and more important to land any sort of job whatsoever
 
Fuck school and go.

If thats what you want to do and have the balls to say fuck it and go do it, why wouldnt you?

A degree will do nothing for you, have fun paying off debt working in a cubicle.

Just send er bud.
 
I just really don't think it's a good major.. not to get into that debate any further but I'm just saying don't just go to college to "go to college" I think in your case taking some time off to reevaluate things could be beneficial before you accumulate debt and commitments.
 
i think you're highly underestimating how much money it costs to live.

also, if you get caught hunting/fishing out of season or otherwise illegally prepare to have those privileges revoked and fucked royally by the court system
 
this. Seriously OP, the fact that you think you can head out cross country with a few $100 just shows that you shouldn't do it. You won't get out of your state with a few hundred dollars.

You're 18 maybe 19 years old. Chances are you haven't had true responsibility. People our age think we are invincible. How would you pay for health insurance, car insurance (where would you get your bills sent to? If you decide not to get it you end up in jail or a big fine if you get pulled over).

Chances are you will end up stuck in a really shitty situation. Don't do it OP. Give it another year. Your plan is faulty and full of holes. Wait till your older (mid twenties) when you're fully grown and know how to handle real responsibilities. I'm not trying to be an asshole, I'm being honest.
 
i agree wholeheartedly with these last two posts. a comm degree is definitely not worth the debt, imho. and living on your own is fucking expensive. you said you're going to save up a few hundred bucks and head out....you aren't going to get very far on a few hundred bucks, bud. especially if you're travelling across the country. you need to have at LEAST a couple of stacks before you take on an adventure like this.

that being said, sorry to hear about your pops and good luck in your future endeavors.
 
think about yourself in 50 years. You can always say I will figure something out, but you should really think about how you're going to do manual labor when you're 70. How are you going to save up for retirement if currency is something you don't come in contact with.
 
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You're not going to get a lot of support here I bet. If you got a lot of support it would mean that your plan probably wouldn't achieve its intended goal. All the power to you man. If it doesn't work out you can always go back to school, but if you don't try you may always have some regrets or those "what if..." thoughts.
 
Wasn't so much looking for support, but general feedback and an outlet. ANd the more I think about it, the more I feel this way.

And I realize that "a few hundred" isn't a sufficient enough, it was just an off the cuff figure to convey that I will accumulate some wealth before heading out.
 
It sounds like you need to really think about this more and come up with a solid plan. Save more money than you think you need and go if you think you can do it.
 
I have recently come to (what I feel is) a more realistic, less extreme option, but I may be wrong.

I plan to work for a year or so depending on a variety of things. In the mean time I will be accumulating wealth and materials. I plan on buying a used short bus, or finding someone willing to trade for my car plus some cash. I then plan on renovating the short bus to be livable. I will insulate it, install shelves, cabinets, table, counters etc. I feel like once the money and materials have been gathered, this will be a very realistic project. I will then travel, living out of this bus. For power, I will create a solar energy gathering system . For water, I will construct a simple gravity fed water system with a tank along the inside roof and a sink in the counter top. I look forward to seeing how this idea evolves and comes to reality. So far as I can tell, I could easily make this a workable lifestyle for several years. I would still take into account such expenses as insurance, phone bill, registration and such, but I feel as though I would figure out ways to meet such expenses. The worst that can come of this is I gain experience and nothing else. I am enticed by the adventure and potential struggle this entails, as it would be a completely different, more subsistence-based life, through which I will develop a sense of what I hope to achieve in life.
 
Do what you want to do with life, these people don't have the answers to life, they aren't over with it either. Worry about what you want, you have the rest of your life for school.. There is no right or wrong way to life
 
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