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markc
May 14, 2007, 4:26 PM
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climbingaggie03 wrote: That's not a bad Idea cause when you are climbing full time climbing on weekends sucks cause it gets so crowded and you are used to having the crag to yourself
If you're partnerless, the only issue climbing mid-week may be finding people to hook up with. Otherwise, why compete with the crowds? If you're close to a major city, you can try to pick up work as a day-laborer on rain-days.
I don't dirt-bag it, but I try to schedule trips to maximize midweek climbing days. Weekends can be used to rest and to do touristy stuff.
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pgilroy
May 15, 2007, 4:50 PM
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What about the cost of beer? ideas anyone????
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arkhiker
May 16, 2007, 6:54 PM
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A person doesn't save to 'dirt bag'.
It's a life style choice man, needing a quirky personality. A person can either be a 'dirt bag' or wish to be, (i.e. save up money for 'the life').
Go ahead. Jump into the life.
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Norwegian
May 16, 2007, 7:40 PM
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i did this very thing about 5 years ago... finished college and began working. survived as a responsible person for about 2 years, the whold time living in my mini rv and pulling in engineer's wage. i piled up a good heap of money and then.... went dirtbag. a great journey it was, though i must admit that it has it's share of downfalls just as 'the real world' does. thats for you to find out though. food is easy - i got a box from a food bank in bishop that lasted a few months. greens are cheap - heads of lettuce and bundles of carrots. dumpster diving yields great buffets. trade work for food along your journey - work on a farm or whatever. meet some neat people and compile experiences. i survived a couple of years, then went through a inter personal change and needed to settle a little. now i have a family and a house and an intense job. don't climb much but will later on if me heart keeps tikkin.
i would recommend going light on the planning and arm wrestling of reality. head out with a pocket full of cash and see what finds you. its much realler that way.
happy travels and maybe i'll see you at my local crag
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Rocknovice
May 16, 2007, 8:30 PM
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bent_gate wrote: pancaketom wrote: Food is cheap. I usually don't spend any money on food, although sometimes I have to. Last year I think I spent under 100$. You spent under $100 on food? Or is that a typo, did you mean $1000? Even at a thousand, that is only around $2.75 a day. How do you do it? Do you eat bugs? By robbing pick-a-nick baskets? Seriously though, please share.
Ahaha, that is some funny stuff there.
(This post was edited by Rocknovice on May 21, 2007, 4:10 PM)
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climb_eng
May 17, 2007, 3:13 PM
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I also want to go dirtbag. I will have $11,000 dollars saved up by January, and be in possetion of a van. Can anyone estimate how long thats going to last me? What can I expect to spend on the road....
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Tania
May 17, 2007, 11:19 PM
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Excellent Suggestion MarkC. I will definitly do that. I thought I could get my loans deffered for a year as long as I plan on going to grad school or something. Correct me if I'm wrong please. 
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acarp
May 31, 2007, 1:21 PM
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pancaketom wrote: Food is cheap. I usually don't spend any money on food, although sometimes I have to. Last year I think I spent under 100$.
Holy crap!!! I budget $60/week. I don't always spend it, but I couldn't imagine $100 for an entire year. At my rate, that's $3120/year.
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builttospill
Jun 6, 2007, 9:37 AM
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how do you spend $60 a week on food? Are you trying to blow through money?
I average $25 per week, on the dot. And I'm not trying to save money, that's just what I typically buy and eat.....I could spend more I guess if I ate more frozen pizzas and shit, but I feel like I do alright for myself.
Me and my girlfriend spend $35-45 a week combined now that we're shacked up.
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acarp
Jun 6, 2007, 1:04 PM
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How can you consider eating blowing through money? Last I knew, it's a necessity, and I don't want to eat deli meat and mac and cheese all the time.
I cook a lot and fresh stuff is typically more expensive than frozen. Also, meats aren't cheap. If you want a rack of ribs sometime or some nice big steaks, I'm going to have them. I'm not saying I get that stuff every week, but it's nice to know that I budget for it.
I'm not saying that I probably couldn't get by cheaper, but I'd prefer some great food instead of precooked or processed. I'm mainly just surprised that someone could get by an entire year on just $100. Good for them though.
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markc
Jun 6, 2007, 1:53 PM
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acarp wrote: I'm not saying that I probably couldn't get by cheaper, but I'd prefer some great food instead of precooked or processed. I'm mainly just surprised that someone could get by an entire year on just $100. Good for them though.
You're doing your shopping in the grocery store. They're doing the bulk of their shopping behind the grocery store. See earlier posts in the thread.
I know someone that decided to not purchase food for a month. He was in graduate school at the time, and lived off of found food from different university activities, a little dumpster diving, etc. It wasn't long before he figured out the hot spots. He gained weight that month, and did a mix of scavenging and buying food from then on.
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acarp
Jun 6, 2007, 2:49 PM
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markc wrote: He gained weight that month,
Gaining weight has a lot to do with the food you eat though. Simple example... I could eat 3 meals/day that has a total of 2000. Not very difficult to do. Or, you could get a blooming onion from Outback Steakhouse that has a total of 2200+ calories. That person just gained more weight than I did eating one item. It's a very small amount since about 3500 calories equals 1 pound, but like I said, just an example. Of course that taking metabolism and such out of the equation.
I hope I didn't come off as insulting someone by the way they eat, but I think most people would be surprised that anyone could eat on $100/year.
(This post was edited by acarp on Jun 6, 2007, 2:50 PM)
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markc
Jun 6, 2007, 3:37 PM
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acarp wrote: markc wrote: He gained weight that month, Gaining weight has a lot to do with the food you eat though. Simple example... I could eat 3 meals/day that has a total of 2000. Not very difficult to do. Or, you could get a blooming onion from Outback Steakhouse that has a total of 2200+ calories. That person just gained more weight than I did eating one item. It's a very small amount since about 3500 calories equals 1 pound, but like I said, just an example. Of course that taking metabolism and such out of the equation.
My primary point was that my friend wasn't going hungry as a result of not buying food. Certainly a planned diet allows a great deal of flexibility, but you can eat on the cheap (or free) if you have sufficient knowledge, time, and inclination. How healthy it will be partly dependent upon what you find.
There's a lot of information out there about eating cheaply. A bit off-topic, but I had a contest with a friend a couple years back to see if we could eat for $3 a day for three days (inspired by Rachel Ray's $40 a Day). We had strict rules against carrying foods over from day to day, scavenging, or taking donations. Otherwise, I could have fed myself on a much lower budget.
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acarp
Jun 6, 2007, 5:45 PM
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Do tell. I'm kind of curious what you did and what you ate.
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markc
Jun 6, 2007, 6:20 PM
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acarp wrote: Do tell. I'm kind of curious what you did and what you ate.
I doubt I threw away my receipts, as I needed to present them at the end of the contest. I won, so I'm sure I put them in a high place of honor (such as the back of a drawer). From memory:
Day 1: Bagel (49¢), pasta (~99¢), two cans of crappy sauce (~40¢ each?), candy bar (25¢), and snack crackers (33¢). Total=$2.86.
Day 2: Bagel (49¢), Ramen (25¢), candy bar (25¢), mac and cheese ($1) with tuna ($1). Total=$2.99
Day 3: Bagel (49¢), Ramen (25¢), one of those pre-packaged rice deals (~1.69?), and snack crackers (33¢). Total=$2.76.
I'm pretty certain about days 1 and 2, I can't recall if the price of the rice meal was cheap enough to allow a candy bar, but I don't think so. We could cook food ahead of time, but couldn't carry food from one day to the next. I had plenty of pasta left over after having it for lunch and dinner on day one, but couldn't eat it until after the contest. The only allowances were for coffee (free at work) and condiments (so long as they weren't the bulk of a meal - no ketchup soup). I buttered my bagels some mornings.
If carry-over was permitted and the contest was longer, I would have looked at oatmeal, beans and rice, pasta, bread, peanut butter and jelly, etc. A lot of my foods were high in sodium, which I would have worked on with a longer contest. I should have had my big meal in the middle of most days rather than after work, and I wish I found a better meal than ramen for the last two days. Ultimately, I knew three days was short enough that I could just tough it out. A week or better would pose more of a challenge. Resisting the celebratory cookies my wife baked on the third day wasn't easy. I went to bed early to avoid temptation.
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acarp
Jun 6, 2007, 7:33 PM
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It doesn't sound like you hit the mark for all food groups. 
I see that it can be done, but not really a healthy diet (according to the FDA), especially for long periods of time. I know some days though, Easy Mac just sounds too good to pass up.
I think you over paid for ramen too. I think it's about $0.13 here. I love seeing it on sale for $0.09. $0.04 wouldn't make a difference on anything but ramen.
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petsfed
Jun 6, 2007, 8:20 PM
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acarp wrote: It doesn't sound like you hit the mark for all food groups. I see that it can be done, but not really a healthy diet (according to the FDA), especially for long periods of time. I know some days though, Easy Mac just sounds too good to pass up. I think you over paid for ramen too. I think it's about $0.13 here. I love seeing it on sale for $0.09. $0.04 wouldn't make a difference on anything but ramen.
You gotta think outside the box as far as what you'll eat. An old favorite is stirfry, and if you get the cheapest veggies and cheapest meats (chicken is the best), as well as cheap rice or ramen, the only thing you have to splurge on is sauce, and the sauce will last you a lot longer than any of the component parts. A chicken breast a day plus ramen and some of the bag of veggies works out to be about $1.50 for one dinner. I know, not the cheapest, but this is basic college fare here.
Better options include potato soup, tomato soup (alternately, ketchup soup, which is impossibly cheap until the McDonalds starts asking that you buy something as opposed to taking all of the ketchup), any soup you can make on your own.
Fresh fruits are very cheap and you'll go through them quickly.
Bagels are problematic unless you dumpster dive for the left overs at the end of the day. They double bag them to keep the rats out, FYI. Otherwise, a bag of bagels can be a pretty big part of your budget.
Be wary of getting too much tuna, if only from the higher mercury levels. I'd wager that the average college student, upon graduation, has consumed ten or twenty times the recommended lifetime dosage of mercury in the previous 4 years. Its a good source of protein, but its slowly killing you in a way that is a lot more direct than anything else.
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jasonkester
Jun 10, 2007, 4:21 PM
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Living cheap is easy once you leave the developed world. I budget about $500/month total when I'm traveling in Southeast Asia, Central America, or Africa. Usually, I don't even come close to spending that much.
The first year I spent on the road, I saved $12k. After 9 months and 15 countries, I got bored and came home with $5k left over. Saved another $12k, traveled another 9 months, still repeating... At this point, I could probably last 6 years on savings.
Hope to see you out there!
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sanfranpunk
Jun 10, 2007, 11:12 PM
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i just started bagging 31/2 months ago and only saved $1600 i'm getting low so im going back to work.
the best option is just leave work and go climbing. to much time to think about it will prohibit your plans. the two best places i've been to that seem like excelent dirt bag locations is Indian creek and Joe's valley(both are free camping and people go in and out all the time)
though don't listen to me fully i'm new to the life style but i'm learning on the way.
the one tip i will say works is bum rides as often as you can gas is priority one
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uzibear
Jun 11, 2007, 10:15 PM
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JiBs22 wrote: this is the greatest post ever...as soon as I get out of the Army I am rewarding myself with a year or two of traveling and dirt bagging the whole world....(yes almost doesn't make sense)...I will be camping and saving on food and cooking myself, but of course eurorail passes and flights, etc. cost money and are somewhat unavoidable...then when I come back to the states, going back to school, and living off my GI Bill and scheduling classes so I have a 4 day weekend every weekend, and easy ass classes...dirt baggin then in college for years, just climbing and shamming out of school, keep a solid bartending job and come in once a week or something at night....should be a solid 6-7 years of climbing, being poor, and loving life....responsibility is so overrated
making a million dollars suing someone isn't responsible; i think your idea is fantastic; good luck
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uzibear
Jun 11, 2007, 10:27 PM
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it all depends on your standards
you can live forever in this country with no money if you walk everywhere, dumpster dive etc, let your teeth rot, and avoid getting seriously injured
or you can do it the yuppie way and buy cheetos on sale
and everything in between; live your way
i wouldn't be beyond dumpster diving to stay living where i wanted, doing where i wanted, but i'd rather not if possible
it's amazing what you'll fnd really matters to you; all your tv's and landrovers and whatnot may not matter so much
then again, i love good food, so just do it YOUR way, period
peace
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uzibear
Jun 11, 2007, 10:31 PM
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i think the photo-taking idea is genious; if you had a laptop and a solid digital camera, DSLR would be best, you could probably convince people to let you take their picture, then email it to them when you get into a town and leach someone's wifi
btw: you can get a wifi card (pcmcia) and plug in an antenna that you put on the roof of your car; run NETSTUMBLER and drive around you can find open wifi; i know perhaps it's "stealing" and illegal, but you're not hurting anyone by using their wifi for a few minitues to send an email, at least it seems to me
of course it would take awhile to make enough even to pay off your cam an laptop (laptop can be cheap and old)
if you can get $20 from people to take a bundle of pictures of them while climbing etc. that would be great; perhaps you could find hikers and "nature" people to photograph; generally more open-walleted than grungy climbers : )
just look for the new suv's and you'll be golden
setup a webpage with some of your pics even; the travelling photographer
one difficulty would be people's email accounts limiting attachments; there'd have to be a better way to send large high quality photos; perhaps have a server setup somewhere, toss the pictures on there, let your customers download them off that server; sorry for the tangent
in fact i've got to say i'm intrigued to even try that myself
i think some form of medical insurance (atleast catostrophic type) and perhaps dental might be most needed
and always good if you have family that can save you if something terrible happens and you're in the hospital or you some such
(This post was edited by uzibear on Jun 11, 2007, 10:37 PM)
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markc
Jun 12, 2007, 1:39 AM
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uzibear wrote: i think the photo-taking idea is genious... setup a webpage with some of your pics even; the travelling photographer one difficulty would be people's email accounts limiting attachments; there'd have to be a better way to send large high quality photos; perhaps have a server setup somewhere, toss the pictures on there, let your customers download them off that server; sorry for the tangent
Dan already has his own site listed in his sig. He seems to have all the photo equipment and know-how. If he already has a laptop, he might be all set.
Again, depending upon his machine Dan has a variety of delivery options. If he has a cd burner, he could give clients discs or mail them out (depending upon turn-around time for processing). That would save the trouble of maintaining a server somewhere. Email doesn't seem like the best delivery option.
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dirtme
Jun 12, 2007, 3:54 PM
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Funny subject. When I was younger I always thought I wanted to dirt bag it. I never did but my personal image of dirt bagging is much different then this. Mine was definitely on the yuppie side, taking my Eurovan and about 50-60k for 2-3 years of freedom. I don't know if I could handle the dumpster diving and eating ramen every day. How are you going to build muscle while only eating carbs? Wouldn't you climb better if you had a balanced diet or is this about avoiding work and not about climbing your best?
If I didn't have "responsibilities", like I do now, I'd much prefer to find a job for 2 days a week and climb the rest of the time. Find a place where I'd like to climb (Yosemite for example), do a grunt job, and climb as much as I could. I don't think this would be a lifetime choice but it'd be good for a few years.
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