Twostep
Well-known Member
- Location
- Tiny town Oklahoma, OK
Work your cards right! Best of luck!
Does anyone here live on a Shoestring?
- Thread starter Cyclist
- Start date
Cyclist
New Member
After he dies, it's the mobile home park. The owners often let someone live in an RV until a Mobile comes up for sale. It's a total of $600 more per month but I account for it being $700. Hopefully I'll stay in shape with no accidentsto continue to ride the E-Bike. Everything would be walking distance-church, community center, bar, organic cafe, gas/mart & nursery. It's about 2.5 miles to the Mom & Pop health food store. Also a public bus comes up 1x a week taking folks to the nearest larger town where we Mtn Bike. It's only $10 round trip. We lived in snow country which was too much
Remy
Well-known Member
- Location
- California, USA
I was not dealt a good hand from day one. Parents to start.
Twostep
Well-known Member
- Location
- Tiny town Oklahoma, OK
Use what you have to the best of your ability. May Lady Luck shine on you!
Cyclist
New Member
I hear you. After a rotten childhood, my Mom stole my inheritance from my Grandma who showed us multiple times her bank account balance. It was embarrassing but now I see why. She predicted it yet didn't have an Attorney handle the matters. I stayed on with the relationship but when her sister who has Down syndrome was suddenly barred from seeing me and my family due to my Mom being mad at something, I cut it off. I was never able to see her but once in hospice. I wish I had cut that relationship off decades ago. I feel so free
Me too! I spent most of the 1960s overseas, living out of a backpack on a shoestring budget. Here’s an old Swedish newspaper clipping of me from April 1964. I was the first hitchhiker of the year to pass through Storuman, so the local newspaper did a brief story on me. What years were you traveling? Maybe we crossed paths!
If you dont want to move one solution would be to refinance for a longer period to lower your payments. Truthfully this does cost you more in interest. But if you have a long term mortgage your kinda just paying rent anyways. Once things improve you can always make extra payments.
Excellent! Too bad the text is unreadable. I see that you were on your way in the sixties so we probably didn't cross paths but we most certainly did tread a lot of the same turf! I converted a Haglöfs ryggsäck for fishermen by throwing out the sewed-in straps, padding the external frame and drilling it out so I could use any bolt-in straps when they needed changing. It's rather small so I did a lot of hand-washing along the way. I still use it today.
I started out overland in 1975 (went down through Africa to Cape Town, then back up and across through Asia, on to Australia, then across North America and back to Europe in 1982. Since then I have done some travelling but not very much. I travelled though Asia during Charles Sobraj's reign and I have been to several of the places he haunted. I may have seen him but I never met him, thank God. I've also been to Cameron Highlands where James Thompson was last sighted but I didn't find him either, unfortunately.
Here it is:
By the way: I'm still waiting for that consignment of fresh durian from you. Heaven, pure heaven!
gruntlabor
Well-known Member
- Location
- Last Frontier, Age 82
Yes and we had no idea! That was a pretty d___ smooth move on the part of our government.
Same situation here. My son's mental illness responds wonderfully to his medication and no one he works with would ever guess he had one, but there's always a chance that could all change if his meds quit working or he develops an intolerance for them. Nothing is more frightening than the thought of us dead and gone and my son in a state institution.
So we have savings and lots of it. It helps that hubs and I are both natural tightwads. We don't have cell phones, we wouldn't think of paying for Amazon Prime or any streaming service when Tubi, YouTube and library books are free.
Our house is paid for and nicely furnished, but our closets are more than half empty because we don't keep things we don't need.
I like my 1998 Neon and wouldn't want to learn the gadgets on a new car. We think of travel as a huge hassle.
Most beneficial to our savings account is the fact that we all hate to shop.
We don't need a budget, we need someone to make us go shopping for some new clothes and call a handyman to install a new garbage disposal.
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I started out in 1961 with my Bergans of Norway backpack and spent three years traveling and working in Europe and Israel. In August 1964, I left Europe and hitchhiked most of the way to Calcutta. Like most hitchhikers heading further east, I flew Union of Burma Airways to Bangkok via Rangoon. (At the time, Burma could only be entered by sea or air.) From Bangkok, I hitched down the Thai-Malay Peninsula to Singapore, where I stayed in a Sikh temple until I could book passage to Fremantle, Australia.
I then hitchhiked across Australia from Perth to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Tennant Creek, and finally arrived in Darwin, completely broke. In Darwin, I found a construction job, saved enough money, and flew back to Singapore. From there, I hitched back up to Bangkok and hitchhiked around Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia before going on to Japan and Vietnam, where I taught English before returning to Europe in April 1966.
In the 1970s, I made three trips to South Africa and Rhodesia, before it became Zimbabwe. Regarding Charles Sobhraj, India should have handed him over to the Thai authorities so he could have been executed.
Yes, it’s true, the land border with Burma was closed on both east and west borders. I flew from Kathmandu to Rangoon. Travellers to Burma just had to bring in a bottle of whiskey (can't remember the brand name) and a carton of cigarettes ("International 555" for sure!) to sell on the black market. If I remember correctly you could only stay 5 days in Burma so I took the over-night Chinese-made rail up to Mandalay and then Land Rover to Maymyo. Back to Rangoon and a flight to Bangkok.
I had a job in Berlin (West) and in 1979 I hitched from there through Asia.
Same here except that I first went from Singapore to Jakarta then on to Perth where I got a job in Fremantle. Back then it was easy to find work - from the government job centre no less! Nobody asked me for papers. Then on to NSW and got another job. Then up through so many places in South-East and East Asia that there isn’t enough space on this page to name them all.
In 1977 I hitched from Sweden to the RSA and found a job in Salisbury, Rhodesia during Ian Smith’s regime.
I agree completely. As far as Jim Thompson goes he was never found. Maybe Sobhraj got him?
Twostep
Well-known Member
- Location
- Tiny town Oklahoma, OK
You can appeal but need good reason and be patient.
gruntlabor
Well-known Member
- Location
- Last Frontier, Age 82
I wouldn't say a word to them if their pants were on fire.
hollydolly
SF VIP
- Location
- London England
Do you see this thread... back in 2015 which I started... quite an eye opener reading it back, almost 10 years later
Retiring and living on a Shoestring?
Retiring and living on a Shoestring?
Cyclist
New Member
We are in the same boat regarding having a son w/mental illness. Our son is on SSDI, he's highly educated used to work for Apple. Moved up then the disease won. It is my concern he won't have enough $ so I plan on saving $$ in cash for him. He is very responsible about $ but if he ever gets in with a bad lady, it could be stolen. He'll inherit our home, RV, car & bank account too. Otherwise we'd move to another county and live well but we can't leave him. I said a prayer for your family, it can be rough just due to the unknown. I try to stay healthy hoping I outlive him.
It breaks my heart to hear you say that, but I'm the same. I've recently been trying to lose weight for that very reason. We must be the only people on earth hoping to outlive our children. He does so well in every aspect these days I may someday be able to feel okay about leaving him behind, but I also know I'm his anchor and I can't picture him without me. Thank you for your kind prayer.
Remy
Well-known Member
- Location
- California, USA
The concept of going no contact with family. Some people think it's cruel. But most do it for a reason and to save themselves. I wish I knew and had the confidence for that concept the day I turned 18 and even beyond. I sure didn't.
Cyclist
New Member
You're very welcome. We are a rare breed
I wish somehow both of us somehow meet up with others in that same boat. I'd be happy to commit to looking after another's adult child if I live long enough. My son is wonderful and he needs friends. Mutually beneficialI am very frugal but don't have to be. We planned well for our older years, my husband has passed but left me in a very good place financially. The plain truth is we don't know what awaits as we become older. A health problem has ruined many a person's retirement, even with insurance and Medicare.
When my husband was only 46, diagnosed with a rare terminal cancer, lots of money was spent even with great health insurance. There was about 50 thousand out of pocket for deductibles and meeting the catastrophic levels until everything was covered at 100%. That was over a 5 year period, so 10 thousand a year.
We were very lucky, believe it or not. Once he started in clinical trials, they covered everything. Our travel costs, airfare, hotels, rental cars and food besides all the tests, MRIs/ CTscans, surgeries, drugs....This is why I am such a big advocate for trials. The drug he used was FDA approved a couple of months after he passed for use of an aggressive brain cancer in children. Although it would not save them, it did provide months of time the cancer did not grow. They had more valuable time with their families without bad side effects.
When my husband was only 46, diagnosed with a rare terminal cancer, lots of money was spent even with great health insurance. There was about 50 thousand out of pocket for deductibles and meeting the catastrophic levels until everything was covered at 100%. That was over a 5 year period, so 10 thousand a year.
We were very lucky, believe it or not. Once he started in clinical trials, they covered everything. Our travel costs, airfare, hotels, rental cars and food besides all the tests, MRIs/ CTscans, surgeries, drugs....This is why I am such a big advocate for trials. The drug he used was FDA approved a couple of months after he passed for use of an aggressive brain cancer in children. Although it would not save them, it did provide months of time the cancer did not grow. They had more valuable time with their families without bad side effects.
Cyclist
New Member
What a gift your husband gave so many children. Sorry to hear you lost him so early but glad you don't have finances to be concerned over to boot.