Living in my SUV

I finally got the SUV bought from my neighbor and I'm off. I've slept in the car 5-6 nights now, and its been very cozy. I still need to re-organize and send some stuff off to Goodwill, but I'm happy with the result so far.

I have a 2000 Ford Expedition - its a beast of a vehicle, with plenty of room to make a living space. The first thing I did was take out the 3rd row seat and hand it back to my neighbor to sell himself. Next, I folded the 2nd row seats down - they fold flat - making the entire back of the car completely level - YAY!

I used the folded down seats at the base for my bed. I'm short - 5'2", so I fit lengthwise the width of the car. Unlike most people I don't have to sleep the length of the car. I'm a born space saver! I went and bought a full size 4" memory foam mattress topper - best $110 ever spent. I cut it in half, since the length of a full mattress is double my height just about. So, cut it in half and doubled it up, now I have an 8" comfy mattress. Its so full of awesome. I have 4 blankets - I sleep on top of 2, and have 2 to cover me - so far this has been warm enough for me and it got into the teens last night. We also got over a foot of snow the other night and I was fine.

I bought a 4' narrow folding table and put that over a couple tubs of stuff (mostly books). The table serves a triple purpose - an extra surface to stack things on, a table for when I get to a campsite, and a table for when I do art fairs. Multi-purpose = space economy.

I got 2 sets of plastic drawers - one is for kitchen stuff & food, the other for clothes - although it is mostly holding my home brewed beer til the Superbowl party I'm going to tomorrow.

I invested in a portable powerpack 600 made by Duracell. You can get it on Amazon the cheapest. So far its been AWESOME. I have AC power in my car now. I keep it charging when I'm driving, or plug it in at a friend's place. I used it for the first time today to power up my rice cooker and make some noodles. I have about 480w continuous power - which is enough for a rice cooker, blender, my laptop, phone, ipod... and it has jumper cables so I don't need someone else around should by battery go dead. Massive bonus.

So I'm staying in Denver til the end of March to find some work, then off on the next adventure. Trying to find my April-October season position somewhere, but I just got a job at Amazon for the Christmas season, so at least I've got that set!

Theme Song

Selling a Car on Craigslist!

This is how I did it. It took longer than I expected, but not because of shady people or not getting responses.

I managed to get a response for my car within a few hours of posting it for sale on Craigslist. I conversed first through email - sent more photos, sent them the VIN # so they could order a Carfax report if they wanted it.

Then they wanted to see it. So we set up a day and time. The greatest thing was - they actually showed up! As anyone selling ANYTHING on Craigslist knows... this is the biggest hurdle.

Before they show up:

• Make car pretty - get it washed, vacuumed, dusted... the works.
• Know what your car is worth - and what you're willing to take for it. RESEARCH! Kelly Blue Book is pretty much the go to guide, and your buyers will be looking on that as well.
• Make sure you have your Title and any other paperwork already to go - in case they have the cash and want to buy it then and there. You can print out a Bill of Sale and if the car is still under warranty like mine was, see if it can be transferred and what that entails.
• Set up a meeting place if not comfortable doing it at your house, and get someone else to be with you.

Test drive - make sure they have a license. I went on the test drive with them - I definitely wouldn't let anyone test drive it without me in the car. If they have a problem with this either tell them to go away, or tell them you are required to be in the car for insurance purposes.

They want to buy!
In my case, they were financing through their credit union. This took 2 weeks - until it finally came to a bad ending, they pulled their accounts from the CU, went to another CU and it was completed within a day. So all was well in the end, and I held out so they could buy the car from me, because they were good people and I liked them.

Take cash or a cashier's check only! No Paypal, money order, personal check...  too many scams out there and they can easily slip a fake check or MO to you. And on PayPal they can file some sort of false claim and get their money back after they have your car. NO COOL.

Better yet - go to the bank with them - get handed the cashier's check or cash right there. No chance of scam, you hand over keys, everyone's safe and happy.

They drive away...
Call your insurance provider and take the car off the policy. That way you are not libel for anything. Its out of your hands. Job done.

Most importantly - if you don't get a good vibe or anything seems off about the potential buyers.

Back out. Find another buyer.

Less Stuff

Downsizing... I do this EVERY TIME I move. I'm very good at getting rid of STUFF.

What I'm not so good at getting rid of are my books - mostly text books. If I end up going back to work as an osteologist, books I will need. So I lug those around. Everything else though, gets the once over and sent to the Goodwill bag if I can't come up with a decent enough reason to keep it.

Soon, I'll be showing how I set up my SUV to live in. I'm still figuring out the logistics of that, and wrapping up the sale of my car. Fingers crossed that is happening TODAY.


Today.
Please for the love my sanity. TODAY.

Everything I owed fit in my little Hyundai Elantra... so in theory everything plus a make shift bed WILL fit in my Expedition. I'm reorganizing into drawers from big plastic containers to make finding things easier and more accessible. Separating areas. All will be revealed soon. That, and a little how-to with my experience selling a car on Craigslist. Oh the joy.

banjo art for sale

$15 OFF!

Who doesn't love a good coupon?

Among other things, I'm a photographer. I have a website over on Fine Art America that I sell prints on - they can be ordered in a just about any size you could possibly need, and you can get it matted and framed, canvas, acrylic... or just the print!

SO... the discount I'm offering is $15 off your order over there. And the best part is, you won't see these prints in everyone elses house on the block - no generic IKEA art here!

Just use COUPON CODE: JJXTFV

Going full out NOMAD

I abandoned this blog a while ago so time to pick up the pieces.

Lets do a run down of the past year, shall we?

• Moved back from the UK.
• Bought car, had job set up, moved to Rhode Island.
• Job did serious damage to my sanity, quit after a month in stunning fashion.
• Went to Virginia and stayed a week.
• Travelled to North Dakota to visit SIL/neice/brother... stayed for a while, couldn't find work.
• Moved to Denver to help friend with City Council campaign. 
• Got job, moved to Aurora for several months.
• Job slowly destroyed my will to live.
• Left Denver for Louisiana, where I am currently and got a job for the Christmas season.

Now I'm ready to hit the road again... but this time for good.
I'm selling my sedan, buying an SUV I can live in the back of, and going permanently nomadic.

This blog will be where I log my ventures. Where I go, what I see, what I'm doing.

I'll be trying my hand at workamping, going back to archaeology, photographing more to sell on my WEBSITE, keeping up with my ETSY sales, and maybe doing some freelancing.


So, task one for the week is sell my car. I've already got an SUV ready to purchase from a neighbor as soon as I do. The rest is just details.

Watch this space....

Denver

Now that my SIL has given me a shoutout on her blog An Apple and a Tree I should probably blog...

Admittedly I am terrible at keeping up with blogs - tried to have one when I moved to the UK, I think it lasted a few months at best.

So, true to my name I have up and left my SIL and brother's house in ND for the sunny city of Denver. Its not the first time I've lived here, and I'm not sure how long I'll stick around. I mostly came to help my friend run for city council - I help run his campaign and he lets me sleep on his couch. What a life.

I've managed to make a few stamps in the mean time - all custom orders. I did one for a fellow etsy shop owner which turned out great! And I'd show you a pic if blogger would let me upload it... apparently blogger doesn't feel like cooperating! Next time... new england art vintage art kitchen art boats art