Would you live in an RV or even a car?

[Physics of Math]

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Long story short, our most recent pre-med meeting had us discussing extreme ways to save money both as pre-meds and medical students.

One of the ideas was to live in an RV. Shortly thereafter someone quipped that a car might work too...

So, would you live in a car/RV (assuming you save money)?

Also, feel free to chime in with other extreme (legal 😎) money saving measures.

 

[BlueElmo]

No way, I can't live in a freakin car!

 

[GoSpursGo]

Living in a car seems highly, highly unsafe.

 

[FloatOn]

My belongings won't even fit in a car...and that's the stuff I actually need.

You can go on a "diet," as in you skip occasional meals to save the money. Take note that ice cream is a staple item and can never be skipped.

 

[Contrarian]

.

 

[sustentacular]

Long story short, our most recent pre-med meeting had us discussing extreme ways to save money both as pre-meds and medical students.

One of the ideas was to live in an RV. Shortly thereafter someone quipped that a car might work too...

So, would you live in a car/RV (assuming you save money)?

Also, feel free to chime in with other extreme (legal 😎) money saving measures.

I know someone who tried to live in a car to save money and ended up getting really sick.

I could see living in an RV that was equipped with small kitchen and bathroom but even if you found a campsite where you could hook it up I bet the per day fee for the site would end up being comparable to what you would pay in rent..

What about getting a 2br apartment and sharing with 4+ people? This might not be legal depending on the area you're living in but it would be economical.

 

[Yudid]

Long story short, our most recent pre-med meeting had us discussing extreme ways to save money both as pre-meds and medical students.

One of the ideas was to live in an RV. Shortly thereafter someone quipped that a car might work too...

So, would you live in a car/RV (assuming you save money)?

Also, feel free to chime in with other extreme (legal 😎) money saving measures.

We live only once, and i dont wanna live my only one life in the car even if it is going to save money...

 

[sustentacular]

We live only once, and i dont wanna live my only one life in the car even if it is going to save money...

You could also make the argument, you only live once.. why not live in a car for a little while? Think of the weird/interesting things you'd experience. It would certainly be quite a story to tell years down the line.

 

[randombetch]

Would I be homeless to save money?

No. lol

 

[Contrarian]

.

 

[sustentacular]

I guess some people might not have parents/guardians who are doing well enough to lend a helping hand (though I doubt any of them live in a car). But for the most part, your parents would have to be pretty callous to not even extend a discounted loan so that you don't end up living in squalor.

Sometimes people just don't want to have to depend on their parents anymore.

might be interesting if you have no gpa-related obligations, no job, and plan on smoking pot all day.

otherwise, I doubt you're doing anything helpful to advance your career.

I'm sure you could find it amusing without "smoking pot all day," and I meant reflecting on the situation years later.

 

[Contrarian]

.

 

[FloatOn]

You could also make the argument, you only live once.. why not live in a car for a little while? Think of the weird/interesting things you'd experience. It would certainly be quite a story to tell years down the line.

If you do this as a pre-med, you'll definitely have the stories to stand out during you interviews.

 

[Zona Pellucida]

The longest I could live in an RV would be like a month.

Car... never.

 

[Zona Pellucida]

....only if that RV had wi-fi.

If not, I would last as long as my Blackberry Battery held out.

 

[FluffyRabbit]

How am I going to cook? Eating out every meal would probably make this nowhere as cost effective as it seems...

 

[brooklynblunder]

i spent one summer sleeping in the library, going to the gym in the morning (showers, working out, brushing teeth etcetc) and then worked.

i had a locker in the gym and the library though. protein shakes and being in nyc its pretty easy to find mad cheap food and making it last.

if you work in a lab, you would have access to free printing and everything (and maybe a fridge)

 

[starl3tte]

I don't watch reality shows, but suddenly I'd be curious to watch a special pre-med edition of Man vs. Wild...

 

[JJMrK]

There's a HUGE difference between a car and an RV. RV's have a stove/oven, a shower, a bed, and in some cases TV/internet.

 

[psipsina]

Eh if you really want to save money there are better ways to do it than a RV. Live in the dorms and eat rice and beans and drive a beater car and shop in thrift stores etc. With the cost of a campsite to park with water and electric hookups, plus the hassel of draining the restroom facilities it just doesn't seem like it would be that much of a bargain. A car is just plain crazy talk, you have to get good rest to be worth a darn, heating and AC are in fact necessities in many parts of the country, and where would you cook or store foodgoods (eating out every meal is way way more expensive than a dorm room).

I did u/g and am doing medschool without parental support (due to lack of parents). Yeah $$ has gotten tight at times. My husband and I share one car now (necessary to get to my rotations) and only rode bikes/buses while I was in undergrad. We've lived on some crazy cheap diets at time like only pizza for a few months when he had a job as pizza cook and got to take one home for free everyday (man he loaded it up with veggies galore!) and most recently just brown rice for dinner for a week when he got sick and we had one missing paycheck. I got my clinical clothes at thrift stores for the most part. But we've been able to maintain an apartment (if I was single I'd be in a dorm or with a ton of roomies to save $$). But you don't need to live in your car to make this happen if you are in my situation. You just have to save money where its smart and make sure you spend money on things that are important, both for your education and for your health.

 

[brooklynblunder]

There's a HUGE difference between a car and an RV. RV's have a stove/oven, a shower, a bed, and in some cases TV/internet.

yea. also parking is a different issue.

 

[J ROD]

singlewide!! 👍

 

[CoolWhipp]

I lived in my car for 3 weeks, took showers at a local gym. It's not that bad. It had to be done and it worked out well.

 

[175961]

thinking about living in a car to save money while in med school

 

[J ROD]

I lived in my car for 3 weeks, took showers at a local gym. It's not that bad. It had to be done and it worked out well.

hiding from the repo man again!

 

[Stratego]

I'm wondering if one could get away with sleeping in the hospital on-call room every night. I'm not thinking I'd want to live this way all the time, but what about for away rotations in another city? I'd hate to pay my normal rent and then have to rent another place for just a month or two.

 

[J ROD]

I'm wondering if one could get away with sleeping in the hospital on-call room every night. I'm not thinking I'd want to live this way all the time, but what about for away rotations in another city? I'd hate to pay my normal rent and then have to rent another place for just a month or two.

just find an empty bed every night!!

 

[bamtuba]

Just work Fire or EMS and do overnight shifts in an area that is never busy (paid is great, volunteering would work well too).

Find a place with the amenities (kitchen, showers, etc.) and beds/bunks.

👍

Extra curricular and free place.

 

[Mopp22]

I don't watch reality shows, but suddenly I'd be curious to watch a special pre-med edition of Man vs. Wild...

There should definitely be a pre-med/med school reality show.

 

[FloatOn]

I don't watch reality shows, but suddenly I'd be curious to watch a special pre-med edition of Man vs. Wild...

I would totally tune in every week!

 

[Poliscidoc]

I'm wondering if one could get away with sleeping in the hospital on-call room every night. I'm not thinking I'd want to live this way all the time, but what about for away rotations in another city? I'd hate to pay my normal rent and then have to rent another place for just a month or two.

There will be more than one person doing the same rotation at a time (correct if I am wrong).. I mean people do it every year I am sure there is some cost effective system

 

[Stratego]

I'm referring to Away Rotations that you set up on your own as 4th year electives and not through your school. I've heard some places help with accomodations, but that with many, you're on your own.

 

[harvman11]

If you were going to do this, why not just rent a locker and sleep in the library? Personally I think I'd be more comfortable sleeping in the library than my car, plus then you don't have to worry about finding a place to park (it's perfectly normal to go into the library and find people sleeping). In terms of food, if you're savvy free food is the easiest thing in the world to find on campus: seminars, club/lab meetings, etc.

My family didn't have much when I grew up (never had to live in a car or anything) so I don't think it would be all that bad, at least for a few months.

 

[ILikeDrugs]

I want to go to a med school that is out in the middle of nowhere that way I can squat out in the wild. Library by day, wild forest by night. 😎

 

[Sammich117]

RV, yes. Car, no. They are very, very, very different things.

 

[AngelicaPMD]

My parents moved out of their apartment and into an RV just before I started my junior year of high school. I will never go back to that kind of lifestyle.

 

[Slack3r]

I voted "no" since I would like to get laid as least a few times in med school.

 

[njbmd]

Long story short, our most recent pre-med meeting had us discussing extreme ways to save money both as pre-meds and medical students.

One of the ideas was to live in an RV. Shortly thereafter someone quipped that a car might work too...

So, would you live in a car/RV (assuming you save money)?

Also, feel free to chime in with other extreme (legal 😎) money saving measures.

Actually a plastic-covered cardboard box under a freeway overpass is the cheapest. (You need the plastic for waterproofing) You can use the showers in the gym and wash your clothes at the coin laundry.

You can also sleep in the student lounge if the weather gets too cold or bring your sleeping bag and camp out on one of your classmate's floors. They could take turns hosting you and you could chip in a buck or two towards their rent.

In DC, lot's of folks sleep on the subway grates at night. They seem to stake out their spots during the day which might cut into your study time.

 

[Algophiliac]

i spent one summer sleeping in the library, going to the gym in the morning (showers, working out, brushing teeth etcetc) and then worked.

i had a locker in the gym and the library though. protein shakes and being in nyc its pretty easy to find mad cheap food and making it last.

if you work in a lab, you would have access to free printing and everything (and maybe a fridge)

I'm actually planning to do this during exam week. 😀 I'll be so tired, and the library has a very soporific environment anyway. In terms of finding cheap food, you'll have to settle for crackers/snacks/fruit/cereal/bread if you have no fridge or microwave. Luckily I still have the campus cafeteria for exam week!

And do med students seriously end up homeless on away rotations?

 

[Daedra22]

Long story short, our most recent pre-med meeting had us discussing extreme ways to save money both as pre-meds and medical students.

One of the ideas was to live in an RV. Shortly thereafter someone quipped that a car might work too...

So, would you live in a car/RV (assuming you save money)?

Also, feel free to chime in with other extreme (legal 😎) money saving measures.

No. Want to know why? I lived in an RV, and a trailer, when I was growing up and it is disconcerting. I cannot express to you how impressive it is for me to live in an insulated, set-on-the-ground apartment now that I make my own money. Just get a roomate, for goodness sake, it's just as cheap and you still have a stable, reliable structure in which to live.