This month November I intentionally “moved” to the highest cost of living state for 3 reasons:
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it’s beautiful and I want to live here
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high cost of living also means that jobs pay more here than anywhere else
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which is a bonus for us homeless people because we don’t have to worry about handing all that extra money to landlords/ mortgage bankers 😉 We pocket the extra money. (And before you assume I’m some drug-addled hobo, nope, I’m not. I’m saving money for new lithium leisure batteries and scheduled maintenance & so many upgrades to my already awesome van. It will take a year or two until I’ve saved up enough $ for that then I can commence enjoying this healthy spirited life again.)
okay now here’s the societal hurdle I’ve been afraid of and I think I’ve conquered it today: This is the first time since embarking on this lifestyle I’ve absolutely had to get a real W-2 job that requires employees to have a permanent address in the state but I don’t want my employer to know that I don’t have a physical address.
I don’t want my new prospective employers to know that I live in a van because they will immediately cast judgment on that because there’s an unfair stigma associated with this lifestyle and they would unfairly assume all the worst things about me which would affect their decision to hire me, so How’d I get around this??
When they weren’t satisfied with my out-of-state PO Box address, and they also weren’t satisfied with my temporary 30-day in-state General Delivery USPS address, today in my FOURTH interview I finally admitted, “All right, I’m HOMELESS but I’m fine, I’m healthy, I’m clean, have everything I need, I show up to work everyday no problem, everything is fine. I just need a job.”
She said “ok,” and stepped away for a minute but it felt like forever, I was so worried that was the end of my hiring process, but apparently everything was fine! We continued on for an hour with the onboarding documents and I’m in 🎉
Yeah I would love to know the big picture of this. Why they need so much information from their employees. They want to know where I live, they want me to give them my social security number 5000 times (I swear, giving them my social security number once isn’t enough, they want it 5,000 times), complete background check which is fine I understand, but why the fuck do they need to know where we live?
Now I’ve got half a mind to demand all my supervisors provide me THEIR home addresses 😆 See how they like it.
I’m a really sassy girl once I get comfortable but being a new hire at a job I urgently need, it’s not a good time to be sassy. “YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE I LIVE?? YOU GO FIRST. WHERE DO YOOOOU LIVE?”
Beginners start with iOverlander, but generally we constantly keep our head on a swivel everywhere we go, scoping out suitable overnight parking, and never park in the same place twice, or at least spread repeats out by a week or two, never keep a pattern. Arrive late at night, leave early in the morning. If you drive around at night, look around and you will see cars, rv’s, vans here & there.