How I Afford My Lifestyle

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Tags: Appalachian Trail,AT,AT Thru Hike,Van Life,UL Backpacking,Hiker Trash,PCT Thru Hike,PCT,Pacific Crest Trail,Full Time Travel,Alternative Lifestyle,Thru Hiking,UL Backpacking Gear,Full Time Rving,Life on the road,Camping,Hiking,Adventure,Arizona Trail,AZT,Living For Free,Backpacking,Long Distance Hiking,Cargo Trailer Camper

Video Transcription

hey guys it's Darwin here to answer a question that I get asked all the time which is how do i afford my lifestyle [Music]

all right so I get the question all the time whether it's through an email it's a comment on an Instagram photo I'll get a message on Facebook or a comment on one of my cue A's or one of these videos and it's how do i afford to live this lifestyle of hiking all the time and traveling from National Park to National Park where do I get my money how do I make my income what magical job do I have now most times people are generally interested and just kind of want to know hey what do you do for work but a lot of times I actually get very negative and hateful comments of people that just don't understand and think that I'm some sort of a trust-fund kid or that I live off the government I must be independently wealthy so I figured I would finally make a video answering that question to kind of put it at rest maybe help inspire some and maybe put some of the naysayers and the negative comments at bay a little bit so first off let's dial it back to 2014 my wife snuggles and I owned a house we both had careers

I owned a recording studio we had two cars we were trying to live this American Dream like most people are we were trying to achieve great things have a good job that we could be at for 30 years and then retire and then go do the things that we wanted to do after we were retired early 2014 something happened that I never thought would happen and snuggles got bit by the back packing bug now I had always been into hiking and backpacking but snuggles wasn't kinda on the fence about it we went on a couple trips I got my love back of it and she got hooked then we started thinking about hiking the Appalachian Trail now we knew if we were gonna take five to six months off to go hike a trail we weren't gonna be able to afford to have a house in cars and careers because it just wouldn't allow it

so we spent the better part of 2014 simplifying our lives getting rid of our house getting rid of our cars getting rid of all of our toys and essentially 95 for some of the things that we own so we could go live a more simple lifestyle we knew that whenever we got off the trail we didn't want to come back to our hometown we wanted to continue to travel and maybe go find some new place to live so we did we set out to do that we saved a ton of money we pinched every penny that we had and when it got to the end of 2014 we our jobs we traveled a little bit and then we set out to hike the 80 and we got off the 80 we realized that we loved that lifestyle we loved living more simplified we knew that we could live without having all these extra things and we didn't mind living like hobos our goals changed so because our goals changed so did our lifestyle so we made a plan that we would stop in certain places we would work small jobs from six months to a year we had save up as much money as we could living a super simple lifestyle and then we would take off and we would go travel and for all of 2015 and 2016 that's what we did and it was great at the beginning of 2017 we started thinking are there ways that we can make alternative income off the internet and can we save more money is there a way that we can constantly travel constantly hike and do the things that we want and still have income and we figured it out through an Etsy store through YouTube through an eBay store working little small jobs for some companies online we were able to simplify our lives even more and continue to travel and live the way that we wanted to live now life is all about figuring out what makes you happy and what you're willing to sacrifice for that happiness now some people happiness is having a family having a house having a nice car a big flat-screen TV coming home and enjoying all that in your off time and the sacrifice that you make is going to work every day nine-to-five punching a clock and working for someone else that is the sacrifice so your comfort is the things that you have at home and your discomfort is going to work and working for someone else now snuggles and I have kind of a different concept on life we're willing to be uncomfortable living in a 5x8 cargo trailer eating really simple cheap food living for free and national forests not taking a shower for a week and just overall not having those comforts of a home for our comfort and our payoff which was hiking and exploring the world don't live off the government I'm not a trust fund kid I have no magical job that allows me these massive times off to go do what I want so how do i afford to do it I live a super basic lifestyle I own everything that I have I don't buy anything that I don't need

not paying anything off I have no kids and I sexually choose to live like a hobo so I can do the things that I want to do and like I said that's not for everybody but it's how I've chose to live my life and how a lot of other hikers and a lot of other people that live this alternative lifestyle have chose to live their life they're willing to make sacrifices to get the things that they want and see the things that they want to see and that's just more important to us than than having that American dream all right guys so I hope that all that makes sense and I hope that maybe that puts a few naysayers at bay and maybe it even helps inspire others that are looking at living the same type of lifestyle that snuggles and I have decided to live maybe you're sitting there thinking we'll holy crap I can do the exact same thing I can simplify my life I'm comfortable with living in a 5x8 cargo trailer I can easily pay my bills off and and get rid of my house and I don't need an extra car or maybe you'll watch this video and not agree with a word that I say and think that I'm crazy and I'm a hobo and you're probably gonna thumbs down it you might leave kind of a snarky comment because you don't agree with that lifestyle that's totally cool everybody should be happy with the life that they choose for themselves whether that's living the lifestyle that I've chose or having a family having a house and having a career you can retire from in the future reach for those goals and achieve what you want out of life so you are happy because that is the number one main thing about life is to be happy with whatever choice you decide and whatever you make of life if you haven't had to change it go over and check me out on Instagram of them posting a lot of new photos lately of some of the things that snows and I have going on throughout the week plus some pictures from some past hikes if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already as always guys thanks for watching [Music]

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