Help Jumpstart Kaitlynn's Stealth Van Plan

Hello friends!  

I'm Kaitlynn and I am fundraising for myself to supplement the money, time, and energy I am already committed to investing into my new housing/transportation/business. I need to be out of my home by the end of September when my lease ends(start date today is July 26th) and my master plan is to save moving costs and quit throwing money away on overpriced rent by trading in my car to finally live in a van down by the river!!!! Okay, okay, I won't always be parked by the river chillin with Chris Farley. In fact, I have a very specific plan in the works that I will execute no matter what, however upon making the trade/purchase I'll be left with a completely bare bones cargo van with a VERY short window of time to knock out the conversion, or at least make it livable. And, for reasons explained in the FAQ below(or the novel below that), I'll have next to no budget or at least no savings to invest in this conversion right out the gate so it's going to be relatively no-build to start.

So why am I fundraising if I've got such a beautiful, worthy plan? Glad you asked! What I do have are a LOT of wonderful friends in my corner who want to see me succeed and have already volunteered their time, tools and driveways with enthusiasm but I'm trading my rent payment for a hefty car payment so no upfront savings, therefore I'm soliciting all of the help I can get for the purchase of the most critical infrastructure that's needed sooner rather than later, specifically:

1)solar panels & inverter ( I might be able to get by with my current Goal Zero 500X battery)

2)MaxX Air Fan

3)Dometic Sant-Pottie

4)Yeti-style cooler until I can afford Dometic fridge

5) proper wiring for the solar/inverter/fan,

6) lumber for my bed platform.

7)floor/wall covering & insulation 

I plan to source as much as possible from non-new sources be it discarded or second hand. If I can't buy new then I have a great employee discount that will be super helpful for some essentials. I also plan to be as modest as possible with my conversion and all donations will be stretched to maximum capacity!!

The Long-Winded Section

If you don't know me all that well, I am a very spirited human with a humble dream and the goals and plan to support it. I dream of living long, full life of adventure, ups and downs and learning curves, through waves and storms, breaking down walls, building bridges and ladders and trails to new experiences. I want to learn enough meaningful things that I can in-turn become a teacher of meaningful things and continue to be a life-long helper in the communites of which I am part. I want to appreciate all of the pure, wild, and beautiful things this world has to offer. I seek acknowledgement of and peace with all the dirty, harsh, and difficult aspects that are part and parcel with the good.

I have a very detailed plan to drag myself out of poverty and set myself up for success while helping people, visiting friends, and teaching others new things. I wrote a very long story explaining myself but I know not everyone cares for the long-winded version so here are some Frequently Asked Questions I've already received:

FAQ & A

"How will you shower?"

My full-time workplace has an employee shower especially for those commuting to work by bicycle, which I likely will be doing a lot, plus shower access at my landmate’s place & my house-sitting gigs.  As with all of my plans, I have multiple shower options. At least 3 friends who have offered me parking have offered their shower when I come visit. Finally, I hope to get a gym membership to Planet Fitness or Rock Solid which offers 24/7 access AND showers.

"Where will you park?"

Another softball. First of all but actually the fall-back plan, most Walmarts offer overnight parking. When I hosted for 2 years on Boondocker's Welcome my guests were all seasoned guests of Walmart parking lots. I'm going to have a solid white cargo van without windows for stealth & safety reasons so looky-loos will be impossible. Second, I have started a spreadsheet of my friend contacts in/around my hometown where I have 6 and counting addresses of places I have already been invited to park when needed. Third, a major part of my success will be the continuation of my pet-sitting business which has morphed from doggy-daycare and boarding into house-sitting and drop-in services (check in/potty break) meaning I'll be parking at clients houses while I'm staying there with the pets/plants overnight.

"Why a van? Won't that add stress & difficulty to your life?!"

1)Being a functional, working nomad is a concept I've been dreaming about, religiously researching, and making plans and taking small actions towards over 4 years now. I waited until I paid off my car so I can walk-in, title in hand, and trade in my Hyundai, Denise, for a new set of wheels that is large enough and safe enough to house myself and my fur-babies. The difficulties are challenges that I welcome and WANT to experience to help shake me out of my comfort zone, spur my creativity and help me grow!

2)I can no longer afford traditional housing options any longer. As a single-person with untreated medical conditions working below the poverty line in a housing market that has been assaulted by the pandemic and over-run with out-of-towners moving here from wealthier areas like California with CA work-from-home budgets, the cost of living here is almost impossible. There aren't better paying jobs for me right now and I'm genuinely happy where I work. It is a great job! But to pay any more in rent than the $500 + utillities that I've been paying for the last 4+ years will mean I'll work 40 hours a week and pay HALF or more of my monthly income for housing. Add in food, phone, vehicle maintenance & insurance, and there is nothing left for self care, savings, or debt, LET ALONE any $ left to address my untreated health problems. I can't afford a crappy apartment anymore!! That is the bottomline.

"But what about roommates?"

No. Been there, done that. I'm not a teen in college, I'm a 32 year old adult who followed most of the stupid mindless consumeristic advice I was ever given which left me here, soliciting friends and strangers for money on the internet. Back to the critique, I've met some really, really wonderful people from roommate situations but I have also been stolen from by one and very recently I was repeatedly sexually harassed by a roommate in the home I paid rent to live and could not get out of any sooner, and I've also had to live in conditions that I would not accept for myself with people who are unwilling to compromise or treat common spaces with respect. Get better roommates you say? Well, aside from not having the luxury of knowing the person well before moving in with them and having to navigate that experience for better or worse, roommate situations are also usually TEMPORARY! Bouncing around from place to place comes with an enormous price tag, and has ALREADY further degraded my financial situation to the brink of homelessness. This is my chance

Why not wait until you can save up more money?

Perhaps it bears repeating when I explained above how/why its so difficult to save and experience life in a way that does not feel akin to indentured servitude. That is not what life is about and I think most of my loved ones undestand and appreciate that. There is no better time than NOW for me to invest in my future and in my dreams. The sooner I start, the sooner I will be better off. The sooner I start the happier I will be. The sooner I start, the sooner I can start using my experience and my position to help others in new and better ways.

My story...

None of us knows how much time we will have to spend with the precious gift of life we have all been given. Part of who I am is a trauma that was never my fault. I have been telling people lately how my mid-life crisis is going. Most people laugh at my dark-humoured joke thinking a) that I am several years younger than I really am and b) that twenties (in reality I'm 32) is too young for a mid-life crisis, not understanding that I have a strong genetic likelihood of having inherited both of the conditions which left my parents permantently disabled in their 40s, Carpal Tunnel Syndrom from Dad and Alzheimer's Disease from mom, and that my mother did not live to see 60 before she succumbed to this virtually untreatable, degenerative killer. My best hope is to marry a millionaire or to get a government job with a good retirement after having played right every single card I'm dealt from here on out. The game thus far has not proven very lucky until recently. I found the secret to making my own luck but its taken many years to cultivate.

I live a rather thoughtful and intentional life these days. A few years ago I seized an opportunity to leave the profit-driven rat-race behind and employ myself as a home-based dog sitter. This was a fantastic and welcome change in my life which gave me many blessings and taught me many many invaluable lessons. After about 3 years I sensed a great shift and followed a hunch to seek out additional income. I was offered both of the only two jobs that I applied for but I ultimately turned down the seemingly obvious path of park ranger because while it is totally a dream job, I knew the timing was not right for me yet. I had already accepted the offer for my beloved outdoor gear cooperative. After a few short weeks the joy bubble burst as the pandemic exploded into all of our lives. The uncertainty of Covid-19 shut down my job and ultimately caused the furlough of my entire team for literally months. Businesses around the world shuttered while society figured out how to move forward. I was not alone in this but I did not receive unemployment as did most in my position because our government does not protect the self-employed so I exhausted my entire nest-egg that I had miraculously saved over the first decent years I had since my mother died.

Thankfully I was hired back as the pandemic progressed, but I encountered many more obstacles. First the love of my life broke my heart out of nowhere but I didn't yet realize what a gas-lighting coward he is. Second, my landlord listed my home for sale while I was still living there and I was expected to open my door and welcome unmasked strangers into my home every few days while my state was experiencing the worst infection and hospitalization rates of the entire pandemic. After a few months of this disturbance with the loss of my home AND business looming on the horizon, my house actually yeeted itself when a pipe burst underground in the shed adjacent to two rooms and 75% of the interior experienced major flooding , damaging the foundation, flooring, as well as cosmetic and structural damage to the 80 year old dry rotted house frame. Not only was my home trashed and many belongings ruined, I was forced to suddenly clean up the mess and move in the winter while working holidays in retail. I started getting regular panic attacks again, and for whatever reason, stress and/or otherwise, after I got the move over with my body was at breaking point and I was admitted to the ER in early 2021 for extreme abdominal pains, UTI and constipation. Without insurance the ER did little to nothing. After waiting for hours for them to even give me a simple urine test, I was so dehydrated they gave me a saline IV and then finally, after hours of begging for supervisors, their pharmacy gave me an antibiotic for the infection they refused to test further. I have no idea if it was my kidneys as I suspect or if I was having problems with any other organs. Unfortunately they are still demanding close to a grand from me that I do not have the ability to pay. After 6 months at my new residence one of my roommates growing sexually and otherwise harrassment of me to the point that I could not stay in the home and I had difficulty moving out and finding tempory arrangments.

So why keep blabbering on and retell all my intimate struggles over the last year and beyond? Am I just another priveledged millenial trying to tug at some heart strings so I don't have to deal with my own problems like the unhelpful voice in the back of my head tries to convince me I am? Someone out there will surely argue yes, along with the stupid little voice in my head that tries to convince me I'm not enough. In all reality, I'm all of that and far, far more. There are really two audiences here. I'm not only addressing you, friends, in hopes of being authentic and relatable whilst I rally my supporters, whom I have admittedly not done a perfect job of communicating with lately. This is also my manifesto to the universe. In my own humanity, I have dropped the ball in so many scenarios where I've tried my best to juggle more than I could handle. I have let myself down, let others down, let myself down, rinsed and repeated, accepted my shortcomings, and now clawing my way up to build myself up to the person I want to be. The highlights of my life thus far are the memories that I made with dear friends enjoying the simple pleasure that comes with embracing our humanity and dwelling in the most natural of environments. I'm sharing allllllll the backstory here because context matters. All of this energy pulling back has loaded up my spirit like a catapult. I am finally ready to LAUNCH into what comes next.

And what comes next is the same calculated rebellion I have been engaging in for as long as I can remember: spreading love and challenging the systems of oppression, now with renewed focus and vigor.