I lived in cars for eight years – now I have enough cash to buy a home outright and never have to work again
A MAN who lived in a car for eight years now has enough money to buy a house and claims he will never have to work again.
Nicholas Bauer from Arizona made the drastic decision when he was in his 20s so he could pay off all of his debts and save some money.
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Bauer, now 32, told the Arizona YouTube channel Big Super Living: “When you don’t have to pay rent and bills, the money just piles up.”
The channel’s programming highlights some of the most affordable housing options in the United States.
Bauer brags that he saved so much money that he was able to buy a house right away and no longer needed a job to make ends meet.
He said he started living in cars in 2015 when he worked as an automotive engineer earning $11.50 an hour.
Bauer added that he had accumulated significant debt at the time.
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 driven since high school, in the parking lot of his job and set up an RV in the back.
His boss allowed the unconventional arrangement because Bauer was often needed “for night owls” and used the vehicle for off-road driving.
After a while, the self-confessed “full-time desert resident” moved into his next vehicle, a Unimog 404 series.
This was equipped with a bed, wooden floors, internet access and even a 40-inch flat-screen TV.
However, there was no bathroom and he had to urinate into a water bottle.
For more serious bathroom needs, he scheduled his bathroom breaks at work since there was no 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 combination of two military trucks with a 1987 Fleetwood Prowler trailer in 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 repair the dragon wagon, he upgraded to a Chevy pickup.
The pickup, parked in front of a Planet Fitness parking lot, ran like a work camper and had a fold-out bed, a heater and surveillance cameras.
Bauer gave up his car life 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 lives in a mobile home on Bauer’s two-acre “paid-off lot,” which includes all the cars he used to live in.
In the recordings, Bauer neither says how much the property cost nor how much money is in his bank account.
Although he said he recently lost his job, he added that he is not worried about providing for his family, especially because he has saved for many years and is debt-free.
Bauer said: “I don’t really have to worry about anything because there is no rent and no mortgage.”
One thing remained in his life: his love for cars.
Even now that he’s living a more down-to-earth lifestyle, he still dreams of “living in the woods with 50 trucks.”
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