Nicholas Bauer, from Arizona, took the drastic decision when he was in his 20s so he could pay off all his debts and save up some cash.
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Bauer, now 32, told the YouTube channel Big Super Living in Arizona: “When you have no rent and no bills to pay, that money just stacks.”
The series of programmes on the channel highlight some of the United States’ most affordable housing options.
Bauer boasts that he save up so much money he was able to buy a home outright and no longer needs a job to get by.
He said that he started living in cars in 2015 when he was working as an automotive engineer, earning $11.50 an hour.
Bauer added that at the time he had racked up extensive debts.
In an effort to find a “solution to the housing crisis,” he decided to permanently “live a debt-free lifestyle by living in vehicles”.
He parked his Dodge Dakota truck, which he had been driving since high school, at his workplace’s car park and attached a camper to the back.
His boss allowed the unconventional arrangement as Bauer was often needed “to pull all-nighters” and would use the vehicle for off-roading.
After some time, the self-confessed “full-time desert dweller” then moved into his next vehicle, a 404 Series Unimog truck.
This was fitted out with a bed, wood flooring, internet access and even a 40-inch flat-screen TV.
However, it didn’t have a bathroom and he would be forced to urinate into a water bottle.
For more serious bathroom needs, he would plan his toilet breaks at work since there wasn’t one a home.
The need to schedule his bathroom breaks led Bauer to make another upgrade.
He then moved into what he called “the dragon wagon,” – a merger of two military trucks with a 1987 Fleetwood Prowler trailer on the back, complete with solar panels.
Bauer described the vehicle as a “Frankenstein contraption” and it eventually fell apart during a road trip to San Francisco.
While he saved up to fix the dragon wagon he moved into a Chevy pick-up.
The pick-up, which was parked outside a Planet Fitness lot, ran like a work camper and had a fold-out bed, heater and CCTV cameras.
Bauer gave up his car living when things got serious with his girlfriend, who became pregnant with a baby girl, and they decided to settle down in a permanent home.
The family of three now live in a mobile home on Bauer’s two-acre “paid-off compound” which also includes all the cars he used to live in.
In the footage, Bauer doesn’t say how much the property cost, nor how much money is in his bank account.
He did say though that he had recently lost his job but added that he didn’t have any worries about providing for his family, especially having been saving for many years and was debt free.
Bauer said: “I don’t really have to worry about anything because there’s no rent, there’s no mortgage.”
One thing that has remained in his life, is his love of cars.
Even now, living a more grounded lifestyle, he still dreams about going to “live in the woods with 50 trucks”.
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