My name's Mike. I'm a 27 year old living in Minneapolis, MN. Before I explain my motivations for deciding to become homeless over the next 6 months (February-August), I should first give a little background about who I am and what my financial status currently is.

I am a veteran of the USAF, I have a 4 year degree in psychology (graduated about 4 years ago), and I currently work full-time as an "awake overnight staff" at a group home (7 days on, 7 day off rotation of 63 hours) and part-time as a janitor (25 hours per week M-F afternoons). So one week I work 88 hours and the next week I work 25 hours. The awake overnight job is pretty slick, I "get to" sleep, watch movies, shower, do laundry, grill, basically whatever I want because the residents in the house are sleeping. The janitor position I've just recently started. It seems okay. I clean a floor of a hospital building. There's nobody there to bug me and it's all completely independent. I listen to music and podcasts and clean from 5:30pm-10:30pm during the week. It's good exercise too, so I don't mind it all that much. I make $2,100/month after taxes from both jobs. Not a whole lot, right? Right, so....

I decided to go back to school so i can make more money and get off the work grind. Over the last year I've applied for 8 graduate programs, which I find out in March if I've been accepted or not. I've put a lot of work in during the last year doing things like taking the general and subject GRE (scored well, like 80th percentiles) and all the other assortment of things that's required of prospective applicants. Aka lots and lots of bull****.

One of the programs I've already been accepted into, so I'm for sure going back to school this September. I'm going for School Psychology. All of the programs have 100% employment placements (will make around $55,000 starting, with summers, weekends, and holidays off, so a step up from where I am now). The programs will cost me around $30,000 program costs and $15,000 life expenses. Right now I have about $14,000 in students loans. So when I graduate, I'll have around $60,000 in student loans. Besides that, I have a $2,500 credit card maxed out and nothing else. I own my own car, don't owe anyone money. I enjoy my jobs, I'm supporting myself, and I have a little extra every month. I have a plan for my future to get a better job and a clear sense of direction, so minus the lack of a girlfriend, I feel okay with where I'm at.

I live right now in a place that costs $600/month. I don't pay any utilities, wireless, cable, electricity, etc... it's all covered in the $600. The area I live in has one of the highest costs of living in Minnesota, so in some cities where $600 can get you your own 1 bedroom apartment that's 800 square feet, $600 doesn't get me that far where I am. As a matter of fact, it gets me in the lower level of a crazy lady's falling over house.

To give a few examples of why she's crazy, she's quite literally threatened to call the police on her dog multiple times for barking (who loves licking my feet every time I walk in and has had the audacity to **** in my level/tear open my trash on a number of occasions), somehow gets into an argument with every repair man who comes over - there's been repairs for a number of things...recently it was a leaking water pipe which saturated half of my carpet with water - and never leaves her house. I swear if she isn't bitching at a repair man or a relative on her LAN line - which rings so loud it wakes me up - , she is watching TV 24/7. My toilet flushes every other time and her house wreaks of old people. The "hm, I wonder if there is a dead rat in the walls" kind of a smell. Oh yeah I can also hear every movement she makes since the floor boards are hardwood and her living room is above my bedroom. She also randomly comes downstairs to do things, like decide to replace the furnace filter at 9 in the morning. She used to be a teacher but was kicked in the leg by a student. As you can tell, I have a lot of built up anger about my living situation and the lady I live with.

Okay, now that that's covered...what do I mean "voluntary homelessness for 6 months?". Well, besides being sick of my living situation and certain small reasons (like having everything packed and organized far in advance of my fall semester starting) there are 2 main factors which have motivated me to do this:

The main one is for the "freedom". When I start school in September I am pretty much going to be going nonstop. I've had a desire for freedom for a while now. Some of my heroes I look up to are Christopher McCandless (from "Into the Wild") , Matthew Moore (from Two Plus Two), and Carlos Welch (from Twitch). Once I begin school I'm going to be "indebted into society", if you will, with student loans and such, having to live a "normal persons" life so I will be able to afford my way. I guess you could say this is the last chance, for a while, for an anticultural atheist to escape the sometimes claustrophobic cluster **** of civilization.

Secondly, for the last 10 years I've had a pipe dream of becoming a professional poker player. I haven't covered my background in poker much and this is my first post on the two plus two forums, but I've been playing poker for around 10 years. I play online cash and live tournaments. My poker bankroll is $0. I haven't won any huge tournaments. That being said, I feel like I'm a decent player. I feel like I haven't been able to give myself a fair shot. I've lived on my own since I've been 18, went through 2 long-term unsuccessful relationships, served a 6 year term in the military (went on deployments to a number of places, Afghanistan/Kuwait to name 2), have moved 6 times in the last 4 years, and have struggled to get myself to the point I am now. I haven't ever really had the money to separate my poker winnings from my life expenses. Not paying rent for 6 months will help with that.

After a 6 month storage locker and USPS mailbox rental, a trailer rental for moving, $100 to a friend to help me move, and boxes and **** I'll save about $3,410 in those 6 months. So I have $3,410 dispersed over 6 months to put towards playing poker. This is only 17 buy-ins at the local Canterbury Park $2/$100 spread game I'll be playing in ($1/$2 blinds, $100 max bets, but can reraise as many times as you'd like, so it plays a lot like NLHE game), so if I run bad that can go real fast. Point being I recognize that's not enough money to really "test to see if I could be a professional poker player", but that's not really what I'm trying to do with this whole experiment.

Worst case is that when August rolls around, I'll be right where I was before, but perhaps with a fresher, less "**** society" mindset, or have some extra money going into graduate school (or be living in the opposite side of the world as a sex slave, dead in a ditch, or freeze to death... lol). By the way, the reason I plan on keeping my jobs is because I still need some guaranteed income (still have bills to pay and still need like $4,000 in savings going into September to make graduate school doable). So this isn't a travelling around the world for 6 months kind of homeless, this is a sleep in your car, pass time at the local library, play cash games like a degenerate kind of a homelessness. The later being much less entertaining. That being said, I do get every other weekend off, so may take a quick weekend trip to Florida for the weather or to Vegas just for the hell of it - depending if I start winning at poker.

Being homeless in Minnesota during the coldest time of the year is nothing to mess with. Sometimes it can be 30 below zero, so you have to know what the hell you're doing. I'm no expert, but I feel like I'll manage. I've been a bit of an outdoorsman most of my life (go to the boundary waters each year and have lived in the frigid winters all my life), so I know how to prepare for the cold weather. It'll only be a few months until the end of March, the time it starts getting warmer out, so it should get easier as time goes.

Being voluntarily homeless will not be nearly as exciting as it might seem. It'll probably get boring as ****. I'll be spending a lot of time at the local library, at work, or hopefully grinding some live cash games. I plan on showering/working out/reducing my manginess at LA Fitness, where I have a membership. I'll be sleeping out of my car mostly. As of now, I don't want to crash at a friend's place or couch surf, so this is my plan starting out.

I figured making a thread would help pass some time by and it could be a cool experience worth sharing. I'll do daily updates starting on January 15th. I'll post everything poker related (hand histories, daily bankroll updates), and any weird experiences, random thoughts, concerns, etc...

Once again I'll be playing out of Canterbury Park for live games and over BetCoin (WPN Network) for online cash and tournaments. Depending on how good of a wifi connection I'll have access to I will probably stream here and there too (have everything set up to stream on Twitch I just need a little better internet so I don't have to stream at 480 pixels...makes it hard to see numbers lol)

Kinda in a similar spot minus the jobs and bigger starting BR than you, and living out of a basement instead of homeless (also started a PC&G but I lack my updates at times)...keep on this man and post, and see how it goes. A lot of pipe dreams have failed but there are plenty that either became dreams do come true stories or lead to other dreams coming true. Go for it man, and **** having a girlfriend...have a best friend who (if you are straight) happens to be a girl and you just happen to love her and make love with her and enjoy the sexuals...she will come along when it is time

Damn, you are going to have some cold nights.

GL, will be rooting for you.

Thanks for the encouragement!

I tested the internet at work last night and I get 7 mbps of upload speed which will allow me to stream at much higher video quality than what I was able to from my apartment (only .7 with a wifi extender...lol). At the library I get a little less, but still plenty, so I think I'll stream when I play online.

So here's my twitch link http://www.twitch.tv/lovestarsz ... I plan on streaming starting the 31st.

This thread will be my primary though. See you on the flip side

Home for the next 6 months:

Can you fit comfortably in that? I hope you're not planning on sleeping in the front seat. If you're going to live in a car you absolutely have to be able to lay down and you should be well hidden, below window level. Otherwise you're a sitting target for thieves, cops, store employees, middle-aged c*nts, and anyone else who wants to **** with you. Have you picked out 5+ places to sleep yet? Big box stores, fairly full parking garages w/o security, neighborhoods where street parking is common, etc. Don't ever park somewhere without any other cars. The key is to hide in plain sight and you've got to rotate places so no one notices the same car in the same place every night.

No matter how prepared you think you might be, you're underestimating the cold. It's going to be a brutal first couple months. One of these heaters would be well worth it to you. They're safe to use in vehicles.

Good luck, just make it through the first few months and the rest will be easy, fun even.

I went to grad school at the U, I can tell you that sleeping in your car during Minneapolis winters may be one of the worst ideas ever. If you really want to do this, then you should consider moving.

sick gl with this nice read for sure

You forgot to mention Kingkrab as one of your heroes, you’re basically just copying his journey.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/174/poker-goals-challenges/kingkrab-homeless-poker-pro-1578521/


I have a few comments. Some people have no other option and that’s why their homeless. It seems that you have a choice, and seem to have a “lets experiment, it’s like camping everyday lol” mentality. I mean you have a decent wage job that you could live off of.

Also, why’d you choose school psychology? Does your military background transfer well into being able to counsel young kids? You think what you learned in Afghanistan will help you in your new endeavors?

"Comfortably" yes, for a car. The backseats fold down, if I lay diagonally I can be almost completely straight. I'm 6 feet tall, so there won't be a ton of space or anything, but it'll be alright. I've slept in my car a few times, once for a week straight when I was a freshmen in college.

I don't want to list any names for obvious security reasons (I'm not paranoid but you never know), but yeah I have 4 pretty solid places picked out. Two parking garages and two big box stores, both attached to 24/7 facilities with lots of vehicles in them. I think I'll rotate between them and then maybe add a few more later on.

I actually did look into getting a Mr. Heater. I hear the small propane tanks don't last very long and can get expensive, but it has connections to hook up to a 20 lb propane tank, which is supposed to last about 5 entire nights. That setup is about $100 though, so I will just go with the 4 comforters and a high end sleeping bag certified for below zero temperatures method. If I get cold I will need to buy the heater or crash on a friend's couch. Right now the temperature isn't too bad (like mid 20's, which is a hell of a lot easier to manage than 30 below).

Moving isn't really a viable option. I mean I could probably make it work, but I like the jobs I have right now and I need the $2100/month. The schools I'm applying for are in this area. Moving across the country to a place that's warmer is not only expensive and time consuming, but it would also be expensive and time consuming again in 6 months when I have to move back to the area for school. It's manageable as long as you're smart about it. Sleeping in a sleeping bag on top of 2 thick blankets with another 2 thick blankets on top of me, wearing sweatpants, wool socks, a hoodie, and gloves I think I'll be good. If I'm not, there are more options. Like buying the Mr. Heater that was mentioned earlier or crashing on a friend's couch.

Lived 4 years in Minnesota good luck youve got right now with the so far mild winter

also fwiw i know somebody who survived 18 months in a late '70s RV thru two minnesota winters (not attatched to power) so its deff doable

Yeah for sure. I read Kingkrab's thread a while back. Haven't checked it for a bit, which reminds me I should do that because it's definitely worth the read. I'm for sure not the first one trying anything like this and I'm sure I won't be the last. I guess the people I mentioned were just a few of a long list of inspirations in my life.

I do have a choice between living in the situation I'm in now or being homeless. I'm not trying to make the comparison between being voluntarily homeless with a person whose forced into homelessness. I admit there's a big difference there. I have more leverage and at any time I could simply say "okay this was fun and all, but I think I'll just move back into a cheap studio", where a homeless person is either forced to live in a shelter or wherever. I'm choosing to be voluntarily homeless to give myself an opportunity to chase a dream on a scale I haven't before at an age I'm able and a time I'm able (no children/wife and about to start a career tied to certain financial obligations), for the experience, and to reinvigorate myself with a sense of freedom I don't have at the moment.

My military background as a C-130H engine mechanic won't directly transfer into school psychology all that well. I mean I'm sure I strengthened character traits through that process and learned certain principles, like selfless service, work ethic, and honor, which are a part of who I am now that could help. That could also just be from growing older, or it could have come from my experiences in the military, it's hard to say. Though I'm not trying to sound like because I'm a veteran I can do anything.

I have more work experience outside of what was mentioned. I was a counselor for a halfway house that sought to teach at risk youth independent living skills and I was also a house manager for another group home that helped adolescents with special needs. I think that experience will probably translate more than anything.

A school psychologist does many things outside of just counseling. Mostly they do assessments on children that are thought to have some sort of learning disability to see if they qualify for special needs programs. There's a bunch of reasons why I want to do that - I think it's a meaningful pursuit that would add value to my life, I think it makes sense from a financial standpoint - working less, earning more, having benefits, etc..., it would challenge me as a person which is important for self development. I've put a lot of thought into it and I see myself being a good fit.

No kidding, hopefully though all my run good won't be used up on the nice weather we've been having. Go Packers by the way.

Day 1/180: A Shriveled Donger and a Big Dream

Life tip #1: Never, ever, poop in the shower....especially if it's move out day and you live with a crazy lady, which leads me to life tip #2: Never, ever, rent from a lady off Craiglist who threatens to call the police on her pet dog when you see the place...which leads me to life tip #3: never, ever, poop in the shower. Don't say why, just say thank you. You're welcome.

Everything's good to go. Laptop broke #fml. Sent it into Walmart repair center, they claim a few weeks. Bought a Mr. Heater because it's been below zero the whole week. Bought a men's urinal - yup. Got a twin size futon mattress. How could this possibly go wrong? $200 and a dream.

Poker bankroll: $200
-from jobs: +$200
-from poker: $0.

Pics to come. That's right....Pics.

^Well

I dont agree either with the freedom or being a poker player homeless arguments

If indeed you are homeless this will make it quite hard when it comes to both those obj

gl

Day 2/180: When you're at Rock Bottom, Up is the Only Direction to Go

What started off as an idea in my head has now become a full blown reality. It’s hard to articulate what I feel at the moment. About to embark on a 6 month adventure, sitting in a library desk looking out the window at the 5 degrees of temperature, I feel a strange contradiction of hope and despair, exhilaration and nervousness. The conservative side of my ego lambasting a series of choices which has dramatically transformed my existence. I’ve chosen to become homeless in the middle of winter in Minneapolis – the coldest city with a population above 250,000 people on the planet during the coldest time of year – in the hopes of chasing a boyish pipedream of becoming a professional poker player and an ever fleeting notion of freedom that’s granted as often as a bad beat jackpot.

I believe a lot of the things that we use on a day to day basis are extraneous to what we actually need. Meanwhile the things we do need for our basic survival are taken for granted. I look forward to simplifying some of that uselessness and experiencing things on a more sincere level. That’s not to say it won’t be a royal pain in my ass. I think that once people accept the reality of their situation though, they are capable of way much more than they realize. Let’s hope that holds true for me.

Last night was pretty miserable. I was warm enough, which is the most important thing, but it's going to take a little getting used to before I'm able to fall asleep for more than half hour increments. I think that had a lot to do with being paranoid over sleeping in a parking garage, once a few nights go by I think it'll get easier.

Jason Somerville would have been proud of the dirty basement I moved out of. I remember when I moved in and was rearranging the furniture, I found an old slipper under the couch. It looked like it had been dipped in a bucket of dust. A few days later I woke up and nearly stepped on a dead mouse, laying in the middle of the kitchen floor. I’ll never miss the freakishly fast house centipedes that would randomly zip under my feet – or over my shoulder once when I was lying down. Or how when I moved in the lady knocked on my door - as I was not only in the process of being past home plate with my x girlfriend but on the way to the dugout - to complain “you had just spilt water all over my $400 rug, you think you’re getting something with a person but end up with something completely different”. I wish I had responded “A unique spot to place such a valuable item”, perhaps even amplifying the passive aggressiveness by sarcastically looking around at the hoard of useless items around me - the piece of dog **** next to our feet with considerable emphasis – walking away after saying “My name’s Mike by the way, nice to meet you too”. I’ll remember these things when my toes are freezing tonight.

It took a bit of thinking to figure out a decent way to hang sheets over car windows. There wasn't anything for me to tie them to. I thought of painting cardboard cut outs the dimensions of the windows black, but I think that would have looked really weird to someone walking by – like “oh there’s someone in that car sleeping”. I prefer being more discrete, where someone wouldn’t look twice. I have 5% rear window tint, which is pretty dark in itself, but if someone were to shine a light through the window I wouldn't want them to see me sleeping. With the front tint being light enough to see through fairly easily, I don’t want someone looking back into the vehicle either. I thought about screwing a few “innie” snap fasteners to the interior plastic and fastening the “outties” on the sheets so I’d be able to clip them on and off – but that would have been more expensive since there’s tools and **** and it would have been more permanent.

So I decided to insert metal binder notebook clips in between the plastic sides of the vehicle and the upholstery on the ceiling where there's a little gap where the clip pinchers can rest in. The flat metal part of the clip then faces out. Before inserting the notebook clips in the gap I wrapped a piece of the sheet in it, so the clips hold the fabric in place. So I'm sleeping diagonally in the back of the car in a rectangle with 4 "sheet walls" with the back seats folded down, completely concealed from everything. Even if you were to walk past the vehicle, it wouldn't look suspicious.

For my bed there is a sleeping bag certified for below zero temperatures, inside one of those common fluffy sleeping bags, on top of 2 blankets and a fold up memory foam mattress. I have a Mr. Heater, a carbon monoxide detector, a 20 lb propane tank, a workout bag for showering at the gym, a bigger bag to swap out clothes, and a dirty laundry bag. I'll post some pics of the setup in a few days. I rented a 10 x 10 storage unit for $50/month to keep my stuff in temporarily and a mailbox rental for $4/month so I can still get mail and receive packages if I need to order anything.

To give a better perspective of my lifestyle over the weeks to come here’s something similar to what my 6 month budget will end up being (financed through 2 jobs mentioned in OP):

$550 – Poker
$450 - Grad School Savings
$350 – Food
$123 - Car Insurance
$114 – Student Loan Payment
$110 – Credit Card
$100 - Gas
$100 - Recreational
$50 - Storage Locker
$75 - Clothes
$52 - Gym Membership
$50 - Random Items
$25 - Miscellaneous
-------------------------------
$2,160

That includes literally everything I’m paying for. Anything extra will be put towards poker, with the exception of a few things like tax returns (~$500) and extra paycheck months, which will be put towards graduate school savings.

My original plan for the first few weeks was to play small stakes online to build up my roll a little, get used to my living situation, and gain confidence in my poker game. However without a laptop that isn't possible. I don't want to hop into live games with only $200. I probably would if I could, but my reality right now is that I am insanely busy. I probably should have waited for a few more weeks to start because I have a ton of stuff going on right now with graduate school applications. I have a 15 page paper to finish for one of my apps that's due in a few days and a few interviews coming up next week as well. So I think it'll be smartest for me to wait until some of that stuff is handled, wait until I can get another $550 for next month before hopping into the live games.

My mindset at the poker table is very important with results. Sitting in a live $1/$2 game right now with $200, under a lot of stress, isn't going to end well - so give me a few weeks to figure out graduate school and then I'll be more comfortable unleashing the inner degenerate. Lots of poker to come.



Poker bankroll: $200
-from jobs: +$200
-from poker: $0

its possible to die in a car with 41°f outside buddy be prepared!

Best of luck sounds like quite a challenge. About five years ago a guy had a blog/2p2 thread about travelling around living in his camper van and playing online at FT. It was called the wandering something....

AFAIR there were quite a few good blogs with advice about living in your car - the stuff about having several low key parking spots to avoid hassle was something they all emphasised.

Day 24/180: Back in Action

Last 3 weeks have been pretty busy. I decided to put a hold on poker until I finished graduate school interviews and got accepted into a program, which I did. 10 out of 80 applicants were accepted and I managed to get in somehow, so for that I'm grateful for.

Sleeping in a car has been getting easier, laptop still broke so using a phone to type. Weather's been tolerable with Mr. Heater.

Started playing poker Friday night with an $800 bankroll. Went to Canterbury decided to take a 1 buy-in shot at the $1/$2 game ($2/$100 spread). One cool hand about an hour into play at a reggyish table. I'm in position from HJ vs UTG preppy asian and UTG+1 upper 20s white guy, effective stacks $200. UTG opens to $6, UTG +1 calls, I raise $24 with aces. They call. Checks to me on a 4 7 K rainbow flop. I c-bet $36, UTG min check raises to $72, UTG+1 folds. I have blockers to AK and I figure he is just calling with KQ/KJ, K10s even, with a player behind and my action. Chance he 4 bets pre with ak or at least takes longer than he did before calling. I fold, he shows 77s for the set.

I leave up $70 after about 5 hours of grinding. Pleased considering I had raised AK about 3 different occasions pre and check folded when I missed. Going back today and playing 10 or so more.

Poker Bankroll: $870
-from jobs: $800
-from poker: +$70

keep it coming, buddy!

I am horrible at cash, but is 3bet on flop not a set in like 90% of the time (that's how it feels at least)

Day 26/180: "I have the nuts"

Some may say angle shooting is unethical at the poker table, but I say when you are sleeping in your car every night to take a seat at that table, **** ethics, everything is fair game. Sunday, 5pm, back at Canterbury. Hovering around buy in stack of $200 after 2 hours of play at $2/$100 spread...

Talkative asian having too much fun in seat 6 with heaps of chips. Has been playing lots of pots, one of them which involved calling 5x pre in the dark. I have a conservative image, for whatever that's worth at a $1/$2 game. Been card dead so haven't played many hands, folded a few small blinds, and am not talking much. Call 79 from button vs 4x asian open. Heads up. Flop comes 4 48. Asian leads $20. I call. Turn 2. Asian bets $20. I raise to $40. Call. River 10. Asian checks, I max $100. Asian asks me what I have, I don't say anything. He is about to call, so I go "I got the full house", loud enough for the dealer to hear, then act like I'm about to flip up my hand. Dealer goes "no he hasn't called yet". I go "oh ****, oops". Asian thinks about it a little and folds. Is quiet a few hands and then I hear him talking to neighbor about folding 5,4 I don't like the way I played that hand at all. Should have 3bet pre or folded, should have folded turn when he didn't check. Also bluffing loose Asians off trips is generally not something to add to a profitable poker game. Oh well. Leave up $93.

I go to the library, deposit $50 on Betcoin, sit at 50nl 6max cash. I'm in the back of the computer lab feeling like a complete degenerate homeless person doing something illegal. 3 orbits in, HJ opens 5x pre when he's been 3xing. Button calls. Pot $5.75. I'm in SB with 88. I jam $48. Button calls with J10s and I lose a flip. I leave to go grab Chinese, decide to see Deadpool by myself. Great movie.

Bankroll: $913
-from jobs: $800
-from poker +$113

don't hustle man was your decision to stay in your car.

also car > being completely homeless.

Maybe it's because I'm a sociopathic dick, but I feel like "hustling" at the poker table is okay-ish. I would say the same if it were done to me, even laugh at it. People are competing with each other for chips and bluffing is part of the game. As long as players aren't colluding or cheating somehow, I think increasing your edge by doing things like acting like you're going to call or pretending your hand is stronger than it is by what you say, is totally within the boundaries of what's appropriate. Friends at the poker table, who discuss their hands together, show eachother their cards before mucking, and check down when playing pots together - frequent events at live poker - are approaching the definition of unethical play much quicker than what I was doing. Just my opinion.

But yeah you are totally right. I'm "homeless", but I have a car and the ability to move into a place if I feel like it. A much better position than many people without a home.

Did OP die? Or busto?

No no no no. His bankroll is close to 1k, but $800 of that is from a paycheck. He is +117 at his 2-100 spread game. And if he is sleeping in his car in Michigan in the winter, being alive two days ago doesn't mean a whole lot.