I have been living in my car for the past 111 days. I wish I could have a regular home, but my finances and credit score say I don't qualify. That's why I kept getting denied everywhere I applied. 

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The average rent in Southern California near my area is around $1,800-$2,900 for a single bedroom apartment or home. 

The average cost for utilities would be around $400 per month, which includes electricity, water, gas, and trash. 

Some apartments charge for parking, gate openers, garages, and several other fees. I'll leave that out of all my calculations for this post. 

So the average cost would be around $2,200 altogether on the lower end. Let's use that number for the rest of this article. 

Estimated monthly cost = $2,200/month

That means I would need to work almost 116 hours a month to pay these bills. That's nearly 3 full weeks at a 40 hour per week job. 

I still have to pay for my truck, insurance, fuel, maintenance, food, loans, credit cards, and other smaller stuff. 

Altogether, it comes to over $5,000/month. 

I work a warehouse job at Amazon making $22.25/hour. If I work 4 full weeks, I can only earn $3,560 before taxes. That is nowhere close to enough to pay those bills. 

If I work 50-hour weeks, then I'll earn $4,895 before taxes. Still not enough. 

If I want to make enough money to cover those bills, after paying taxes, then I need to work at least 57 hours per week. 

That is crazy. 

I can only work 60 hours per week at my job, and that's only if overtime is available. And that's only to cover the bills. That means I have nothing left to cover emergencies, vacations, dating, holiday gifts, birthday gifts, or anything else. 

That means I'm slaving away at a job simply to pay the bills. I'm alive only to work for someone to hand me money in one hand and pass it to bill collectors with the other. 

I cannot save. I cannot invest. I can’t do anything. 

Are we really supposed to live like this?

Am I not allowed to have fun or progress in life? 

What about gas prices? 

The gas price keeps going up, and so does food, rent, utilities, even the Netflix subscription keeps going up. I can barely afford a streaming service for basic entertainment to keep me distracted till the next workday.

How am I supposed to do this?

There's no way I'm going to let myself get stuck in that life. I refuse it. 

By the time my wages go up, the cost of living will have multiplied far faster than my wage increase. That means each year my budget will get tighter and tighter. 

But wait a minute. My budget would already be at its threshold. I'm maxing out my work hours and already minimized my entire monthly expenses. If life keeps getting more expensive, how will I possibly afford a home?

These are the exact thoughts that crossed my mind before making the decision to move into my car. 

I really wanted to get my own apartment. I was sleeping on the floor at my sister's house for over 2 years now, and my body was begging for a bed already. Plus, my sister gave me two years, and now it was time to move out.

I applied to several apartments and got denied every time. I wondered if I would ever get approved, or would I spend my entire down payment on application fees.

The writing was on the wall, and one lease office employee told me himself that I would not be able to qualify with my credit. 

I felt defeated. Devastated.

It was the truth I knew, yet I didn't want to believe. I knew I wasn't financially well enough to qualify. I was just hoping for a miracle, hoping someone would say yes.

So, I made the only decision I could, and that was to move into my car. At least till I could fix my credit and pay off all my debt. I need to get all my finances and credit squared away before I move into my own home. 

But what kind of home? 

Do I just want to rent an apartment?

Should I extend my time living in a car to save for a house?

Would I even be able to afford a house?

Houses around my area cost anywhere from $500k-1 Million dollars. These homes used to be all roughly around $300k just six years ago. Now the mortgage is around $5,000 - $8,000 per month. Then you throw in property tax for another $7-8k each year. 

Sigh…

It's a simple question, yet I had no simple answer. 

I lived in apartments before. What happened then was that my expenses got too high and I was forced to retreat back to my parents. But I can't do that now. I have nowhere to go. 

If I were to get an apartment or mortgage, I might end up in square one again, losing my home and having nowhere to go but back to the streets. 

I need to make a decision that allows me to pay everything off and position me to afford a home in the future. And I don’t mean far into the future, I mean as soon as healthily possible.

And how much debt do I actually have to pay? 

Well, here's my debt as of today, Oct 7, 2026

Total amount CC & Loans = $7,088

Total with truck = $41,588

All total = $65,788

It's a whole bunch of debt, and I feel this would have taken me over 10 years to pay off if I included rent and utilities. 

In fact, I think it would take me far longer, simply because I would be exhausting my body to work extra long hours, not allowing me enough sleep, and getting poor nutrition—simply because I cant afford better quality food

I played this game before, and I burned out before. I can only sustain it for so long before my body gets hurt or I get sick and am forced to miss workdays. Then at that point, I quickly fall behind on all my bills.

So, I figured, what if I don't have to pay rent? What if I used my extra money to pay down debt faster and move into a home sooner? How long would that take? 

If I don't include school loans, it could be 2 short years, or long years. It all depends on perspective. 

But 2 years sounds far better than over 10 years. A decade long campaign would open me up for lots of rainy days that can set me back even further. 2 years feels manageable. 

Well, I have a dream of building a self sustaining mini farm. A land where I can grow fruits, vegetables, harvest rain and solar power. A mini farm where I can have some animals like chickens, goats, cows, and maybe some pigs. Something I can manage on possibly a 10 acre land. I would love more land, but ill be happy with 10 acres.

I would love to live an extremely low-cost life where the cost of living has nearly no effect on me, if any. 

If food gets more expensive, it wouldn't matter because I will grow my own. 

If electricity gets more expensive, it wouldn't matter because I generate my own with solar.

If rents and mortgages go up, it wouldn't matter because I'll have paid off land. 

I like this idea. 

I will pay off my debt, increase my credit score, and purchase some land to build a self-sustaining mini farm. 

I laid out my debt and that's what I have to pay off before searching to buy a home. A large chunk of land to build on. 

For the next two years, I will continue living in my car till I pay off that debt. I'm already over 100 days in, and got everything I need to make this lifestyle easier on me. 

My plan is to buy that land as fast as healthily possible. 

As healthily possible?? 

What does that mean? 

In the past, I tried maxing out my body to work as much as possible before. Multiple times in fact. And each time, my body would start agonizing in pain from the lack of exercise, poor eating habits, and terrible sleeping patterns.

I also went through depression and contemplated ending it all. I really don't want to go back down that dark road again. I learned my lesson, and I need to keep myself sane and happy to get through this. 

So, throughout these next two years, I plan to enjoy the journey by giving myself some strategic leisure time and plenty of time for health improvements. I will focus on small milestones all the way up to the main goal. 

I will focus on my mental health by going outdoors and exploring nature. 

I will focus on my physical health by always walking, hiking, biking, or going to the gym. 

Most importantly, I will focus on proper recovery with healthy food and good sleep. 

I know it would be faster to just work my ass off till everything is paid off. But I mentally cannot do it anymore. My mind has been broken many times before, and I just need to get through this. I don't want to see this as a race. I just need to get to the finish line. 

I might not be living in the best conditions right now. But living in my car has forced me outside and placed me near parks, gyms, and everywhere outdoors.

I am actually enjoying life a lot more now. 

Instead of sitting at home after work, I'm at a park, walking a trail or enjoying the shade under the rustling leaves. Or I'm at the gym because I need to shower, and since I'm there already, I start lifting weights.

Surprisingly, this lifestyle has forced me to acquire everything I have prayed for. I prayed for better health, better physique, better finances, and a better life. 

I think this is God's way of saying to me that it's time to get it. 

Ill continue this financial series, tracking how much debt I have paid off, how I am living in my car, how I take care of my mental and physical health, and share my journey with you every week on my newsletter.

I really hope this helps someone. I know this would have helped me. 

See you. 

Amado.