merc0447:
I just don’t know how switchlogic does it, the organisation it must take must be something. Just think of the rent he has saved i bet he is [zb] loaded man!
Not really you just need a good sense of priorities (see my post above) Hahaha…
switchlogic:
merc0447:
I just don’t know how switchlogic does it, the organisation it must take must be something. Just think of the rent he has saved i bet he is [zb] loaded man!I have a terrible spending habit so no I have no money, just a big overdraft.
As for organisation I suppose it’s something you get used to. I spent several years before I drive trucks on coaches living out of a suitcase and loved so the decision to live in a lorry wasn’t a hard one. The truck is just a big suitcase!
What about weekends does your boss try and get you to a particular place you want or could you literally spend the weekend anywhere?
I spend 24’s wherever I land but for 45’s or longer we did a deal, they get me to London and I have my weekly rest for free. That way I get to have a weekly rest in central London and they save money. In fact it was the fact you can park a truck in Smithfield Market that prompted me to move into the truck. Was very expensively living in North London till then.
I can also request weekly rest in Bristol to visit mates or Wales for parents and they have never failed yet to get me where I want to be.
I suspect it is more common than we might think. I knew two regulars at our yard who lived in their trucks. Both owner drivers with every possible mod con that you could fit into a cab. One was a Magnum and the other samller but equally luxurious.
The savings must be considerable. If you are abroad a lot of the time I assume that there are tax advantages - in any case for an owner/driver the tax allowances would be considerable; no mortgage or rent to pay, no need for a car, and able to max out the work without worrying about trying to get home.
I asked them about laundry and such and they both knew all the places where facilities were available, all the best spots for rest days and a book full of ‘useful’ telephone numbers.
merc0447:
AlexWignall:
All I would need would be a WiFi connectionYou know i love it when you park for a break maybe there is a row of houses boom your wifi comes on the phone one of those houses doesn’t have it password protected, yessss.
When I worked in Denmark the house opposite the yard had open WiFi. That’s how I got into online gaming in the first place.
I’ve got to stop reading this thread the idea seems far too attractive.
(only joking love… honest!)
W
Foxstein:
Just be careful Harry 'cos if your away from your house for more than 30 days your insurance may be invalid.
Yes, in fact I did read recently of a company which invalidates home insurance if you are away for 72 hours. 
I don’t own a house at the moment though, I live with my girlfriend in her house and I’m quite happy with that although if that ever changed I would think about living in the truck and just using her house as a postal address and to do laundry once in a while.
Well Luke and Malc, I take my hat off to you both, I mean that too, I must’ve got a bit too used to my creature comforts, no way do I want to do that again, although I would if the need arose, but given the choice I’d take the illogical route and work more, to pay for a house that I see even less as a result 
My offspring will no doubt applaud that decision, as far as I can work out, only beneficiaries ever get the full benefits of someone completing a mortgage
There are worse places to stay than in your own modern truck with proper facilities, but living in one permanently! I’m slightly amazed by that lifestyle. Takes all sorts I spose 
; interesting tales to tell no doubt.
newmercman:
Well Luke and Malc, I take my hat off to you both, I mean that too, I must’ve got a bit too used to my creature comforts, no way do I want to do that again, although I would if the need arose, but given the choice I’d take the illogical route and work more, to pay for a house that I see even less as a result
Whatever I did, there’s no way in the world I would buy a house at the moment.
In the road in which I live, there are around seventy three-bedroomed Edwardian bay-fronted houses, all identical.
In 2007, when I separated from my ex, three houses sold in this street, two for £155,000 and one for £160,000. (You can obtain details of all house sales in the UK on zoopla.co.uk/ )
Three houses sold this year, one for £110,000, one for £105,000 and one has just sold for £90,000.
We haven’t even begun with the real pain of the recession yet, and in a year or so interest rates will rise.
I didn’t buy in 2007 because I read the property price crash 100% accurately, and my prediction now is that in three years time, houses in this street will be selling for £60,000. So if I did buy again, I would live in the truck for the interim period, save like mad and buy outright in 2014.
newmercman:
Well Luke and Malc, I take my hat off to you both, I mean that too, I must’ve got a bit too used to my creature comforts, no way do I want to do that again, although I would if the need arose, but given the choice I’d take the illogical route and work more, to pay for a house that I see even less as a resultMy offspring will no doubt applaud that decision, as far as I can work out, only beneficiaries ever get the full benefits of someone completing a mortgage
Well we are all different and like different things is suppose is the moral of the story! I usually get one of two reactions when I tell people, always shock but then they either think I’m insane or think its amazing. Never seems to be any in between.
Because they don’t have a spare room I even sleep in the truck outside my parents house. Mum keeps saying I should sleep on the sofa bed but I keep telling her why would I when I’ve my own bed outside, either the truck or Babs the VW Camper! I’ve been a drifter for 13 years now.
Harry Monk:
Foxstein:
Just be careful Harry 'cos if your away from your house for more than 30 days your insurance may be invalid.Yes, in fact I did read recently of a company which invalidates home insurance if you are away for 72 hours.
I don’t own a house at the moment though, I live with my girlfriend in her house and I’m quite happy with that although if that ever changed I would think about living in the truck and just using her house as a postal address and to do laundry once in a while.
That is a problem with insurance. I am looking after a friends dog because they have gone to New Zealand for 8 months, they go every year and cannot get insurance unless one of the family lives in. I could not even live there rent free as the home insurance would not cover me.
switchlogic:
I’ve been a drifter for 13 years now.
Something I can fully relate to, I have been away for over three months before on roadshows and loved the nomadic life.
I only stopped doing it because I had children, but now they are teenagers and I have said for years that when they got to the age where they didn’t need my physical presence any more that I would go back to that life.
I know the market’s on its arse, it was one reason I spent those two years in the cab, but unless you buy and sell at the worse time, you can make a few quid out of property, but it’s a very long term deal, under 5yrs and you could end up in a load of debt, as your examples prove
It’s all relative though, with the better exchange rate at the time, if we’d sold up a year earlier, not only would we have had a lot more from the house, we’d have made enough from the exchange rate to mean we would’ve been mortgage free from the word go, yet even though we timed that wrong, we’re still well in front.
Snudger:
There are worse places to stay than in your own modern truck with proper facilities, but living in one permanently! I’m slightly amazed by that lifestyle. Takes all sorts I spose
It’s not such a huge leap from those drivers who ‘tramp’ for five nights a week.
In fact it’s considerably less stressful if you don’t have to charge about for an early finish on a Friday so you might get a few extra hours in ‘your’ house.
The trick is not to lose your links with your friends and family in the real world because if you do ‘Tramping’ takes on a whole new meaning.
W
switchlogic:
Because they don’t have a spare room I even sleep in the truck outside my parents house. Mum keeps saying I should sleep on the sofa bed but I keep telling her why would I when I’ve my own bed outside, either the truck or Babs the VW Camper! I’ve been a drifter for 13 years now.
Your dad must get a bit miffed having to clear the plastic bottles from under the hedge though 
Wheel Nut:
switchlogic:
Because they don’t have a spare room I even sleep in the truck outside my parents house. Mum keeps saying I should sleep on the sofa bed but I keep telling her why would I when I’ve my own bed outside, either the truck or Babs the VW Camper! I’ve been a drifter for 13 years now.Your dad must get a bit miffed having to clear the plastic bottles from under the hedge though
Wheel Nut:
switchlogic:
Because they don’t have a spare room I even sleep in the truck outside my parents house. Mum keeps saying I should sleep on the sofa bed but I keep telling her why would I when I’ve my own bed outside, either the truck or Babs the VW Camper! I’ve been a drifter for 13 years now.Your dad must get a bit miffed having to clear the plastic bottles from under the hedge though
too!
So you reckon house prices are about to crash? Ive been saving up for ages for a deposit, this renting is a mugs game if you ask me.
I am that “Rambling Man”
I thought young Marling’s “The Muse” was one of the most interesting pieces I’ve heard in a while. I’m coming round to this “living in” thing: no commuting at least. You sure have to be independent though.