Homeless vs. Cheap apartment

That is freaking brilliant!

 

Okay, I look to other lands and shores too, but I am going to attempt to milk my 'paying-less-than-market-rent' situation for a bit longer.

I wish I could sleep in to 3am--try midnight or 11:30pm starts. It is not every day I report, but well over half. It throws my body clock off--start midnight one night, then start 3 am the next day. Only getting off before 7pm on Fridays. I can see why some leave local to go over-the-road because gigs like this one I am in do not have much value.

Are you sure you want the People's Replublic of New Mexicofornia? That may be the one state that is even worse off than Illinois.

 

Before you do anything drastic give yourself a good 4-6 months out there over the road before you decide on what to do with your living situation. If you decide that this career is for you and you are going to pursue over the road driving then personally I would recommend getting rid of your house or apartment etc... Have a yard sale and get rid of all the crap you don't use on a day to day basis and try to keep only the most valuable and sentimental items. Then you can either rent a small storage unit or what we did was divide our stuff up and stash little amounts at friends and relatives houses. This saves on storage fees and usually people won't mind storing your stuff if its minimal.

We would only go home every 3-4 months or so and often we would take days off when we were out on the road wherever we were at the time. We live in Florida and when we did come home we would either stay with relatives or just rent a nice place on the beach for a week or so. We also did the hotel thing, much cheaper!

As far as providing a mailing address, you can go to the UPS store and rent a mailbox and they will actually give you a real mailing address instead of just a p.o. box. This is sufficient for your license so it won't be a problem. You cannot do it with a regular p.o. box!

Enjoy having no mortgage or rent and watch your bank account swell quickly!

Good luck man...

 

I believe one must be a resident of a given state to get an UPS box in that given state. When I tried for an Indiana UPS box, they declined me because I had no way to prove I lived in Indiana.

 

That's brutal. I once did a job like this for company out of the west suburbs. They would run me to death until I finally quit after a few weeks. Just couldn't handle it any longer I was a walking zombie. My body clock just could not handle being up all night. I was falling asleep at the wheel and had a day cab. "Napping" over a steering wheel doesn't work, trust me. I drove a POS old Freighliner FLD that was used and abused. Meanwhile the dispatchers that slave drove me went home at 5 sharp after "working hard" in a comfy office for 8 hours. If you can try to get your six months experience and move to a better job. If not look for something now you do not want to drive exhausted.

I'm moving there for the geography and weather. If the law makers in Sacramento want to pander to illegals that is their problem. Not really my problem. Plus for this line of work So-Cal is a great area to live. You can do a regional gig and stay strictly in the southwest and never deal with mountains, chaining, winter storms, etc.

 

I know guys who do both examples. The ones who live out of their trucks are always broke and miserable. There is just something about having a place to call home. I would suggest finding some property somewhere that you would like to settle down. Preferably in a state that does not have a state income tax. Buy an inexpensive trailer or even a camper and put it there with the goal of possibly building a home later. In the end you will at least have somewhere to live when your driving career is over.

 

homeless would be best to save money.. but if you need storage just get a storage unit... 1200/yr....100$/mo. (or less).. maybe there's family you can stay with when you're in town as well..

 

Something is wrong there. They must spend all their money on casinos and truck stop prostitutes.

 

You are probably right about that.

 

Talk to Navajo. The company has a terminal in Chino,CA

Lots of choices for Southwest regional; many companies do that.