Author Topic: How to become nomad?  (Read 2811 times)

Financial Ascensionist

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How to become nomad?
« on: October 28, 2016, 05:39:26 PM »
Expert Mustachians,
After I leave my current job, I am looking to spend the first year or two on the road, going from one short term Airbnb to the next with plenty of extended stays in campgrounds and national parks in between.  Is there a good resources on how to make that happen somewhere?  I am particularly curious about what people do to declare some state as their residence and how they deal with physical mail.

Thanks!

JoJo

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Re: How to become nomad?
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2016, 07:25:40 PM »
I plan on doing this next year.  There are loads of blogs on this - both for the international traveler and with in the US (RV'er sites are good).

As for mail, I want to keep my Washington state address (current resident for 10 years) so a state taxman doesn't come after me so I'm going to put everything I can on e-delivery, and opt out of offers and change my address to a friend's house.  I'll pay him something.   My driver's license doesn't renew for 5 years so we'll have to deal when that time comes.  Perhaps move back for awhile and stay with said friend.

Another alternative is get a PO Box (cheap) or UPS store box (expensive, but is a street address that you may need for residency.  they can also forward mail for a fee).

I'm not keeping my car, but tab renewal would be a little challenging - would need to at least forward mail with tab to you.

Lake161

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Re: How to become nomad?
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2016, 07:34:12 PM »
Regarding mail, this article may be helpful: http://www.gocurrycracker.com/snail-mail-paper-checks-21st-century/

Just be aware that if you forward your mail to a business, the USPS will not let you later file a change of address from that business back to your future residential address.

You might be better off using a friend or relative's address and leaving them some prepaid mailers to forward things to you periodically.

When we were traveling during our first year of RE the biggest hassle was credit cards. The banks kept issuing new cards that we had to forward. Almost everything else we were able to do online.


boy_bye

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Re: How to become nomad?
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2016, 07:46:46 PM »
Before our bit of nomad-ing my husband and I became residents of South Dakota. You only need to stay there one night and there's no state income tax! Check it out

http://www.interstellarorchard.com/2012/11/12/setting-up-south-dakota-residency-for-rvers-1/

Financial Ascensionist

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Re: How to become nomad?
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2016, 11:43:17 AM »
These are all really good resources.  Thank you, everyone, for sharing!