KARBYTES_JOURNAL_2023_ENTRY_112
04_FEBRUARY_2023: (Update) I updated the membership tiers of my Patreon page such that the payment amounts are more realistic in terms of what I think people can generally afford (and I removed the membership names which suggested that higher amounts of money communicated more interest and that I expected to depend on such donations for covering my rent, utilities, and other living expenses (luxuries included)). To see what the old membership tiers looked like, see the OLD_HOME_PAGE of this website. (The only membership tiers that currently exist on my Patreon page are bit ($1/month), byte ($8/month), and word ($16/month)).
See the two screenshot images at the bottom of the journal entry body for more information about the recent DONATIONS_PORTAL home page section update.
03_FEBRUARY_2023: (Update) I have decided to cancel renting a Public Storage unit because (a) I do not have enough stuff to justify needing an extra place to keep it and (b) I do not like to be without the things in my backpack because I use them often and I worked hard to make my lifestyle as portable and minimalist as possible. Unfortunately, I lost at least $30 (and probably more (but probably not more than $100)) in that “impulse buy”. For small items which I order on Amazon, I will try to have those things sent to a local Amazon locker such as at the Safeway in Castro Valley which is across the street from the Lucky’s. For other items, I will try to have them held at UPS offices. What I mean to say is that I think it is a waste of me at this time to rent a Public Storage unit or a UPS mailbox because I do not have enough stuff nor incoming mail to justify paying the recurring fees necessary to subscribe to such services. (I am not having a very good time at this hotel because people are talking loudly and playing loud music next door. I am afraid that leaving my laptop on all night to play noise generators through my headphones while I rest (and I think it is a good idea for me to do so because I have recently gotten sick and have been getting sicker (i.e. slight fever, sneezing and runny nose, slightly sore throat) and I rarely get the opportunity to relax indoors alone. I think it would be a much better use of my money, for now on, to save at least $100 per week and to spend as little of my money as I can stand so that I have enough money saved up to replace my ~$500 laptop and ~$100 phone (which are my most valued possessions because they are the tools which enable me to do what I most value about existing: (a) using the Internet to do research, to shop, to get errands done, and to participate in social media, (b) developing software applications, websites, and digital art, and (c) archiving digital artifacts). If I did not have such tools, I would feel severely crippled and severely deprived and probably default to being a minimalist “monk-bum” if forced to go without such things for longer than a day.
03_FEBRUARY_2023: Today I rented a hotel room at the Motel 6 near East Dublin BART station for one night (and I am typing this note inside of that room right now).
Rather than extend my hotel stay for one more night (which is approximately $100 per night), I decided to start renting a small unit at the Public Storage near the Trader Joe’s grocery store on the border of Castro Valley and Hayward for approximately $70 (and apparently I am legally required to pay insurance to keep my stuff there for approximately $15 per month). My move in date for that Public Storage unit is tentatively set for tomorrow (and gate access hours are between 6AM and 9PM daily).
(Documents related to my Public Storage unit rental have been uploaded to one of my private GitHub repositories for future reference. I do not feel comfortable sharing my Public Storage account data publicly online because I am afraid someone will try to impersonate me with that data and possibly steal or vandalize property).
I am also going to experiment with using the public laundry mat near the the UPS store in Castro Valley in the Lucky’s grocery store shopping center region as an alternative to going to my parents’ houses to wash my clothes. Today I bought some “quick dry” clothes (i.e. black shorts with a skin-tight chartreuse inner layer and a black T-shirt) from the Walmart about half an hour’s walk from where my hotel room is so that I have something to wear while my other clothes get washed and dried. I figure that I can get by showering no more often than once per week at a hotel. Probably closer to the end of the year I will rent a mailbox at the aforementioned UPS store.
The purpose of this journal entry is to document the ways I can effectively move out of my parents’ houses without having to rent a housing unit (as a “professional homeless person”). If I implement the strategies which I documented in this journal entry, then it is possible for me to be functionally homeless such that I can hold down a job, not have to carry all of my material possessions with me at all times, not have to let my hygiene deteriorate to an “unprofessional” level, and not have to depend on friends and family instead of on commercial and government services.
(For the record, I do not plan on bringing any of my stuff which, last time I checked, is located in “my” room at my dad’s house (or in “my” mailbox at my dad’s house) to my new Public Storage unit. It will appear that I effectively vanished from that neighborhood perhaps forever. It is possible and likely that I might never go to either one of my parents’ houses again).
This web page was last updated on 04_FEBRUARY_2023. The content displayed on this web page is licensed as PUBLIC_DOMAIN intellectual property.
KARBYTES_FOR_LIFE_BLOG 