After living in a converted school bus for a year, a retiree is now $10,000 in debt and selling her schoolie

Buying something and being able to afford it are two very different things.

I'm not sure that she has learned much if she is going to sell the bus at a substantial loss to buy a car and trailer that will depreciate and eventually need the same maintenance/repairs as the bus.

I have had this conversation on several occasions with various people. It just seems odd to me that the concept is so difficult to grasp. I don't know anything about the person in the OP (there could well be extenuating circumstances we are not aware of), so I can't really comment knowledgably on that, but I can about the conversations I have had in person.

Tony
 
Another thing I noticed was the $45k spent to convert. That means she paid someone else to do the work. Again, unless you have the skills, bus life ain't for you.
Yup

Much like living off grid in the mountains
Seems the simple life
I've seen many folks come.....and many folks go
You can't hire that stuff out
Or expect help
If it needs doin', you best be able to do it
 
We lived in a 1988 16ft caravan for two years , we completely renovated inside including replacing the old bed with a lift up version you can store stuff under ..we did ALL the work including the fabric upholstery it cost us about $500 in materials for every thing
We traveled around Australia for 2 years in between selling our home in the suburbs of Adelaide and having this home built .
So in saying that unless the woman intended living in the bus for the remainder of her life she was unwise to spend so much money on it as that sort of accommodation ,which rarely gains value they are very expensive to run fuel / servicing wise .We met many during our travels who wished they’d never invested in such a heavy / slow moving vehicle
 
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We lived in a 1988 16ft caravan for two years , we completely renovated inside including replacing the old bed with a lift up version you can store stuff under ..we did ALL the work including the fabric upholstery it cost us about $500 in materials for every thing
We traveled around Australia for 2 years in between selling our home in the suburbs of Adelaide and having this home built .
So in saying that unless the woman intended living in the bus for the remainder of her life she was unwise to spend so much money on it as that sort of accommodation ,which rarely gains value they are very expensive to run fuel / servicing wise .We met many during our travels who wished they’d never invested in such a heavy / slow moving vehicle
@Kadee46
I only traveled Victoria and SA, but found the caravan parks very well maintained. You were fortunate to travel around for 2 years. I bet you met a lot of interesting fellow-travelers.
 
@Kadee46
I only traveled Victoria and SA, but found the caravan parks very well maintained. You were fortunate to travel around for 2 years. I bet you met a lot of interesting fellow-traveler
We did meet allot of very nice fellow traveler some we stayed in contact with for 14 years until they both passed away suddenly ..we visited each other over the years
We didn’t stay in allot of caravan parks we stayed in national parks / beautiful riverbank / seaside locations allot had beautiful amenities for free or low cost ( better than some caravan parks ) we liked places where we could walk / explore see and hear birdlife.
We considered that a luxury be to heathy enough to climb mountains walk through forests of huge trees ect ..we don’t have bears of anything like that to worry about ...
This book was a bible for finding the best areas to stay
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@Pinky
 
Yeah, but on their online forums, they said it was easy to just live off grid, and live off the land. :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: BwaaaaHaaaaaa
Heh, the only 'easy' thing about it, is the dream
First year, I literally worked night and day
One can only read/study so much, then....it's hands on learning
Learning whether you can or whether you want to that bad...whether yer willing

What kept me, and my lady, was enjoying the work.....the accomplishment
 
I would get claustrophobia living in a small place. But it would be nice to have a camper van or something like that in case the wild fires hit us here next year, so we'd at least have a place we could live. My husband is a tall guy, so that makes that iffy.
 
I feel bad for her. I agree, she didn't think everything out but I guess she's not the only one. I follow some RV, campervan, trailer people on YouTube. It wouldn't be for me. I think she needs to find a home, settle and see about traveling from there.

I agree doing that bus up like that was not wise. It's not worth much if it doesn't run unless she wants to park in in a year round RV park and live there. A bit sad. I sure haven't always made the smartest decisions myself.
 
I feel bad for her. I agree, she didn't think everything out but I guess she's not the only one
One does feel bad for folks that act on a whim
Seems they fixate on their own 'can do' thoughts and skewed initiative
Then
Grim reality

Some do the most outlandish things, thinking they'll be pioneers...trend setters
One couple bought wunna those sheds you see...for a few bucks down
Those shed folks will even set it on yer property
We visited 'em
Nice, younger couple
Being native Americans, they commenced to build a teepee
Were gonna raise fish in that teepee
Also, were gonna keep chickens in it...'to keep the teepee warm'
I jus' shook my head
Couple months later, they moved back to town
Burnt the shed up from their makeshift wood stove

I could write a book on what folks try

I might
 
My goodness. She could have had a tiny house constructed for about the same amount of money, hitched it to her vehicle and hit the road. To buy an old bus and pump that much money into it was foolish. She should have had a trusted mechanic (is that an oxymoron?) check it out first and not taken the word of who sold it.
https://www.itinyhouses.com/tiny-homes/35-frugal-tiny-houses-can-build-buy-budget/
She may have also come out cheaper buying or renting a travel trailer. This site has them for under $25,000. For either option, her vehicle would need the specs to be able to tow them. Watched the video for this trailer. It looks really nice inside.
https://rv.campingworld.com/rvdetai...tream-enlighten-25bh-bunkhouse-20k-LAK1799676
 


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