25 trashy trailers!

Where can you get a travel trailer or motorhome for less than a thousand bucks? In one word-everywhere! The following list is travel trailers you can get right now! I went to craigslist for different cities around the U.S. to see what good deals were available. Believe me I could have probably titled this 1000 trashy trailers. Unfortunately that would have taken me a month to research and list all of the good deals. But don’t let the title of this post fool you. Anything that looked too trashy didn’t make the list. Everything here has potential.

You can buy something like this and live in it if you choose or just pull it out to a dear lease or some land somewhere for a weekend- retreat. Hell buy a cheap ass trailer and get the kids out of the house without chunking them to the street! Buy one and set it up in your back yard and rent it out for an extra $300 a month or so! Use your imagination.

Remember good deals usually go pretty quick so most of these will be gone soon if they’re not already. I’m not listing the contact info for obvious reasons but if you want that information go to craigslist for the area and look it up. But the purpose of this list however is not to direct you to these particular RVs but to show you how easy it is to find something like this if you are interested. Just keep looking! Everything here was still up as of this date-6/15/2012

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So in No particular order.

1.      Albuquerque N.M. 1982 travel trailer, $1000 in great condition (They didn’t say in the ad how long it was but from the pictures posted it was about 20 feet or so. Nothing in this list is much smaller than that)

2.      Omaha NE. 1976 Layton $700 needs some work. Usable (That is what the ad said. Picture posted looked decent though)

3.      White plains GA. 1980 Winnebago $400 old, travel trailer, this certainly needs some work but for $400 it looks to be a good deal

4.      Mobile Alabama 20 ft. Layton $500 firm good tires

5.      Mobile Alabama 1993 Coachman 29 ft. fixer upper owner has title. $1000

6.      Oklahoma City Ok. 22 ft. Jayco $800 but will take best offer. Good fixer upper.

7.      Spencer Ok. 1973 fifth wheel $600 good condition

8.      Blanchard Ok. 27 ft. fifth wheel $800

9.      Clinton IL. 71 Terry $1000 good condition for its year.

10.  Orliens MI. 72 24 ft. coachman  $1000 camper in fair shape for its age

11.  Jackson MI. Holliday travel trailer $750 Needs a little TLC

12.  Fowlerville MI. Early 80’s 28 ft. $800 Inside is OK

13.  Richmond IN. 1979 30 ft. $1000 This trailer is “roomy” and has large refridgerator

14.  Fort Wayne IN. 1972 in fair shape $900

15.  Nicholasville KY. 33 ft. $750 needs tires and windows

16.  Lincoln Park MI. $800 (it looks about 20 ft.)

17.  Rochester Hills OH. 1973 23 ft. handyman special $800 O.B.O

18.  Cleveland OH. 18 ft. Banner travel trailer $500 good condition

19.  Peoria AZ. Yellowstone 25 ft. Interior needs a little work $850

20.  Lynnwood WA. 26 ft. 1984 $500 needs a little work but not a whole lot the owner is living in it now

21.  Waller Tx. Perfect deer camp trailer 22 ft. $500

22.  Portland OR. 1970’s Komfort retro travel trailer $800

23.  Portland OR. Prowler travel trailer $800 (decent condition)

24.  Portland OR. 18 ft. $500 good condition

25.  Portland Or. 35 ft. $1000 older model with wood stove

Again, if you are interested in something like this but don’t have a lot of money to work with just keep looking and you will eventually find a deal too good to pass up.

Trailer trash survival

Adventures with a $200 Trailer

After buying a small piece of land for $420 I was anxious to get some kind of shelter on it so that I could at least stay there a couple days a week if not live there full time. The first idea I had was to buy a tent from Wally-World, but a tent is not a permanent shelter and it would be a real hassle setting it up and taking it down every week. I scrapped the whole tent idea pretty quick and started looking at other more “permanent” solutions.

I considered buying the materials from Home Depot for a small “Unabomber” cabin. But after a trip to said establishment I realized that the price tag was too high for someone in my income bracket. Plus the time and trouble of building something on site was not an attractive prospect. I needed something quick, simple, and cheap!

That’s when I came up with the idea of buying a cheap travel trailer, pulling it out to my land and setting up my zombie hideout. I say that’s when I came up with the idea but in reality the idea is nothing new and it certainly didn’t originate with me. James Dakin has been blogging about this for years on the “Bison survival blog”. M. D. Creekmoore over at “The survivalistblog.net” did this and there’s even a book about it called “Travel trailer homesteading for under $5000”.

After looking through the local paper for campers and RV’s that were in my price range and not finding anything I turned to Craigslist. They have a section for RV’s but I didn’t really expect to find anything that I could afford. I don’t have a lot of money so $1000 was the upper limit on what I was willing to pay.

To my wonderful surprise however there were numerous RV’s that met my criteria. Motor homes, pop ups, fifth wheels, and bumper pulls. I checked the postings daily while I waited for my tax refund to arrive in the mail and over the course of a couple months counted more than fifty RV’s for less than a thousand bucks!

Most were fixer uppers or “dear hunter specials” as they called them but even so I couldn’t believe how many there were. While waiting for the check to arrive I missed out on some really sweet deals. One day however I came across an ad for a 30 foot bumper pull and it was only $200! “Holy crap”, I thought, as the hair on the back of my neck stood up, “this sounds too good to be true!

I called the guy up expecting it to be gone already but to my surprise he still had it. My refund check had still not arrived but luckily I had a couple hundred bucks in my pocket so I went to look at the trailer and to be honest I almost passed it by. The trailer was full of all kinds of junk and the dude selling it didn’t want to deal with all the crap so he was selling it cheap. He owned an RV park and the previous owner of the trailer just disappeared one day never to be heard from again. Perhaps the zombies got him or maybe he joined some weird new age religious cult and dropped off the map. Sorry about his luck but at least I found something I could afford.

I forked over my $200 and officially became a member of the “trailer trash” set. It’s a really exclusive club but since my trailer was full of all kinds of trash already I felt like I was a member in high standing-despite the fact I’m not into Nasscar or “professional” wrestling.

The owner of the RV Park told me I could take as much time as I needed to move it since I did not have a truck. It had already been there for over a year since the zombies got the previous owner so a couple more months wouldn’t hurt.

The first thing I did was to go through all the junk inside and get rid of most of it. I have a friend who has this homemade trailer he built himself. He took an old car dolly he picked up somewhere for a hundred bucks and built a flat-bed trailer with old lumber he had lying around. You should see this thing it’s really ugly but it gets the job done. It’s not really balanced right though so if you’re going too fast with the thing it starts to swerve all over the road. It’s really not safe but I wanted to get rid of most of the crap in the RV before I pulled it out to camp 420.

Anyway we started going through all the junk and at first I thought this guy must have been a prepper because there had to be at least a years’ worth of food in it and it was stashed all over the place. But if he was into prepping and survival how could he have let the zombies get him so easily?  Oh well.

It took several trips but we managed to get rid of all the useless crap. Most of the food was seriously out of date so my buddy took all the canned veggies home to feed his rabbits and they're still eating on it months later. Some of the crap we burned and some of it we took to the scrap yard. I had to rent a U-Haul to pull the thing out to my place but eventually I got it there in one piece. It’s really a hunk of junk but at least it’s my hunk of junk and I own it free and clear along with the dirt it’s parked on. Now bring on the zombies!

Cheap living Tips

I'm a guy who has very little money and I'm always looking for good information that will allow me to stretch every dollar to it's absolute limit. In doing so I've come up with a list of 100 money saving tips that will help you cut expenses in these troubling times. If you need to cut back (and who doesn't these days) read the following tips and see just how many possible ways you can reduce your budget.

1.      Grow a garden

2.      Cook from scratch

3.      Buy food in bulk

4.      Check the “unit” price on food

5.      Only buy produce in season

6.      Use your leftovers before they spoil

7.      Drink tap water instead of bottled

8.      Stop eating out at restaurants or at least stop eating out so much

9.      Make your own beer and wine

10.   When traveling pack a basket with sandwiches and other snacks to avoid stopping at restaurants

11.  Raise chickens for eggs

12.  Raise rabbits for meat

13.  Hunt, fish and trap animals for food

14.  Forage for wild plants that are eatable

15.  Start couponing

16.   Buy store brands

17.   Never shop on an empty stomach

18.  Always take a list to the grocery store

19.  Make your own baby food

20.  Lose weight and feel great

21.  Take lunch to work instead of eating out every day

22.  Don’t buy prepackaged convenience foods

23.  Stock up on good deals

24.  Leave the kids at home when you shop for groceries

25.  Turn water off when brushing your teeth

26.  Install a low flow shower head

27.  Install low flush toilets

28.  Capture and collect rainwater to use on garden

29.  Take a five minute shower and save more than a thousand gallons a month

30.  Water your garden after sunset to avoid evaporation

31.  Install gray water system and use for lawn and garden

32.  Fix leaky faucets and save 150 gallons of water  per month

33.  Only flush solid waste down the toilet (remember if its yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down!)

34.  Sweep off the driveway instead of using the water hose to spray it off

35.  Look for caretaker position and live rent free

36.  Build your home with natural materials found on site

37.  Build with recycled materials whenever possible

38.  Buy land from your county for back taxes

39.  Supply your own labor when you build your house

40.  Buy a travel trailer to live in

41.  Buy a van and convert it into a small motor home

42.   Share your home with a roommate or rent out the spare bedroom

43.  Use plenty of insulation in your house

44.  Install a wood burning stove in your house

45.  Close off rooms that are seldom used to save on heating and air conditioning

46.  Use CF bulbs or L.E.D’s to light your home

47.  Unless really soiled then wash clothing in cold water

48.  Turn water heater down to a lower temperature

49.  Set thermostat on eighty in summer and wear a minimum of clothing to stay cool

50.  Buy a timer for water heater and set it to only turn on for an hour or so every day

51.  Move fridge to the back porch during colder months to use very little energy

52.  Set thermostat on sixty in winter and wear more clothing around the house

53.  Cook your meals free of charge with a solar oven

54.  Use manual appliances whenever possible

55.  Hang clothes out to dry instead of using your dryer

56.  Install thermal jacket on water heater

57.  Unplug all appliances when not in use to avoid phantom loads or use power strips

58.  Burn scrap lumber in your wood stove

59.  Plan your trips before leaving the house to save gas

60.  Buy a scooter to get around and get 70 to 100 mpg

61.  Do your own auto maintenance 

62.  If you have a diesel car or truck power it with used fryer grease

63.  Use a bicycle for your main mode of transportation

64.  Avoid the car wash

65.  Pay cash for cars

66.  Use public transportation instead of your vehicle

67.  Use “hyper milling” techniques to save on gas

68.  Drop your internet service and use wireless “hotspots” from places like McDonalds, Starbucks, and your

 local public library

69.  Drop your cable service and watch local broadcasting

70.  Drop your landline and use only your mobile phone

71.  Switch your mobile phone to a prepaid service instead of a big name carrier

72.  Keep a constant eye out for better deals on cell phone and internet plans

73.  Shop at garage sales and thrift stores

74.  Dumpster dive

75.  Constantly monitor the free section of “craigslist” and “free cycle” for good crap

76.  Check out movies from the library instead of renting them

77.  Go camping for your vacations

78.  Cut your own hair or get a family member to do it. 

 

79.  Stop buying lottery tickets

80.  Give up smoking

81.  If you can’t or don’t want to quit smoking then cut down

82.  Roll your own cigarettes

83.  Find other couples with kids and trade babysitting service with them

84.  Stay out of debt.

85.  Save scrap metal to sell for extra cash

86.  Always try to fix something that’s broken instead of buying a new one

87.  If you need to use an expensive tool only once or twice borrow it from a friend or neighbor instead of buying it.

88.  Sew and repair clothing instead of throwing it out

.

89.  Grow a beard and save on razors.

90.  Wear less makeup if you are a woman

91.  If you shoot firearms a lot then reload your own ammo

92.  Use cloth diapers instead of disposables

93.  Buy wash and wear clothing and drop the dry cleaning bill

94.  Avoid so called trendy fashions

95.  Avoid impulse buys

96.  Cut up your credit cards

97.  Find a bank that offers a no fees checking account

98.  Keep track of every cent you spend

99.  Find likeminded people to network with

100 Keep coming back to Cheap-Ass-Living!

CAMP 420!

Let’s face it, paying rent to somebody else month after month and year after year really sucks! I mean you shell out hundreds of dollars every four weeks or so and have nothing to show for it. I got tired of this crap and had to find a way out!

About five months ago I bought a piece of “junk” land for $400 plus $20 “filing fee” and named it camp 420, hence the title of this article. A few months later I bought an old 30 ft. travel trailer for only $200! I had to rent a truck to move it to my new kingdom but I still don’t have more than $800 invested. In my neck of the woods you can buy travel trailers all day long for under a thousand dollars on Craigslist. Over the last couple of months Craigslist has had more than fifty trailers in my area listed for under one thousand dollars each! Finding a trailer at a price that a poor dude like myself can afford was not really that hard.

The difficult task is usually finding a suitable patch of dirt to park it on. So how did I do this? The answer my friends is tax forfeited property. I purchased a piece of real estate from the county tax office. In The great state of Texas the association that collects property taxes is called the “appraisal district”, the Dallas county appraisal district, the Harris county appraisal district, the Taylor county appraisal district, etc. Your state and county real estate taxing entity may be called something else but hence forth I will refer to any county property taxing agency as “the appraisal district”.

Now let’s say you own a piece of property and don’t pay your taxes. You get assessed certain penalties with interest. After a certain amount of time if you still do not pay your property taxes your house or whatever gets auctioned off on the courthouse steps. But the highest bidder on your property doesn’t actually get to take possession of your house or land when he wins. He (or she) has only purchased a tax lien certificate. You as owner of the property still have a “right of redemption”, which means that you have a certain amount of time to pay off the lien with interest. Here in Texas the right of redemption is two years. Depending on what state you reside in it is anywhere from six months to two years. So if you do not pay off the tax lien (with interest) before the right of redemption is up the person who bought the tax lien certificate on your place can then take possession of your property.

Wow! This is great you say, “I can just go to one of these auctions, bid a thousand bucks or so and in two years have a three bedroom house”. Slow down Amigo, It’s not quite that easy. First of all most people who own a house or other piece of property that’s really worth something usually finds a way to pay off the lien against their property before their right of redemption is up. Secondly any kind of property that is worth real money is not going to be cheap because you will have other people bidding on it, driving up the price. Thirdly you only get a “quit claim deed” which means if the bank or mortgage company still has a lien on the property for an unpaid mortgage you now become responsible for that mortgage. You must really know everything about the property you are bidding on or you will get royally screwed.

Sometimes however certain propertys come up on the auction block and no one bids on them! No one bids on them because they deem it junk land. They might not call it that but to them there is very little (if any) value to it so they do not waste their time placing a bid. Maybe the land is too small and too far out in the sticks. Maybe it’s just a vacant lot with nothing on it but rocks and cactus. Whatever the reason there is a lot of property that doesn’t get bid on at tax auctions.

Now what happens to these properties that no one bids on? They go back on the block next month or whenever the county holds their next tax lien auction. If no one bids on it a second time then it goes on the auction block still again!  Eventually the appraisal district strikes it off of their tax rolls and sends it before a judge who declares all prior liens and judgments against the property null and void. The appraisal district then places that property on their “struck off list”.  Your county and state may call this list something else. The point is that most counties have a list of properties that can be bought free and clear for either the amount of back taxes or by placing a sealed bid.

I got my personal little empire by placing a sealed bid. I just went through the struck off list in my area until I found several properties that looked promising. I googled the satellite images of these places and chose the one I did because there is no neighbors on either side of me or across the street. Even though my patch of ground is only 46’ x 80’ I am the only one on the whole block!  Plenty of piece and quite. I feel as though I am a hundred miles from any living soul whenever I am there.

Where did I learn about this? I bought a book a number of years ago called "How To Buy Land Cheap" by Edward Preston. It was published by Loompanics unlimited. I think I heard somewhere that the author passed away, and with Loompanics now defunct the book is more than likely out of print but you can probably still get a used copy from Amazon. It might be a bit on the expensive side but I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to buy a cheap place that they can call their own.

If you can’t find the book at a price your willing to pay then just go ahead and start writing county appraisal districts around the country in places that you might be interested in. Write them a friendly letter and explain that you are interested in buying any property they might have for back taxes or any land that is “surplus to their needs”. Don’t say you are looking for “junk” land. They will respond back that they do not have “junk” land, that all property in their jurisdiction is valuable. That’s if they respond back at all!

 Remember, you are looking for land that can be bought for back taxes, or any property that is “surplus to their needs”. Expect most counties not to respond at all no matter how nicely worded your letter is. Do not be discouraged by this however because there are still properties available in most of the counties that did not respond. You must be persistent. Find the phone numbers for any appraisal districts in areas you are still interested in that did not reply to your letter and give them a call. Some counties will tell you about the properties that are available over the phone and some will tell you to send them a self-addressed stamped envelope for their list. I’ve had some real nice conversations with ladies over the phone who were more than willing to give me the run down on certain properties that were available.

 I could have bought a house that was still in “livable” condition (as she described it) in a small town in North Dakota for less than a thousand dollars! It was only 15 miles from the Canadian border making for some interesting possibilities if I ever needed to bug out, but who the hell wants to live in North Dakota? Don’t get me wrong, if you are from North Dakota or if you like seriously cold weather this might be right up your ally. In fact North Dakota has “a lot” of property you can buy for pennies on the dollar. I think that state would be an excellent place to start your search even if you don’t want to live there because you can see that what I’m saying is true. And hopefully it will motivate you to keep searching and keep digging until you uncover that little hidden gem that no one else could see the value in.

Some other states that are good bets for some cheap real estate are Montana (still cold as hell) and Arkansas, (but it’s Arkansas). In general any state or county that has lost population or had stagnant growth is a good bet. I got the land I have in the same county I was already living in and it’s got a thriving economy and has had huge population growth over the last ten to fifteen years. So if you’ve got your heart set on buying a place in your current location then go to your local appraisal district and start your search. Don’t take the word of the first paper pushing bastard you talk to if they say they don’t have anything like that. Go back later and talk to someone else. Keep calling them and searching their web site if they have one. Eventually you might find just what you’re looking for. Happy Hunting!