How I Afford My Lifestyle

Hey guys, it's Darwin, here to answer a question that I get asked all the time, which is, how do I afford my lifestyle? Alright, so I get the question all the time, whether it's through an email, it's a comment on an Instagram photo, I'll get a message on Facebook, or a comment on one of my Q&As or one of these videos, and it's, how do I afford to live this lifestyle of hiking all the time and traveling from national park to national park? Where do I get my money? How do I make my income? What magical job do I have? Now most times people are generally interested and just kind of want to know, hey, what do you do for work? But a lot of times I actually get very negative and hateful comments of people that just don't understand and think that I'm some sort of a trust fund kid or that I live off the government. I must be independently wealthy. So I figured I would finally make a video answering that question to kind of put it at rest, maybe help inspire some, and maybe put some of the naysayers and the negative comments at bay a little bit. So first off, let's dial it back to 2014. My wife Snuggles and I owned a house, we both had careers, I owned a recording studio, we had two cars, we were trying to live this American dream like most people are. We were trying to achieve great things, have a good job that we could be at for 30 years and then retire, and then go do the things that we wanted to do after we retired. Early 2014, something happened that I never thought would happen, and Snuggles got bit by the backpacking bug. Now I had always been into hiking and backpacking, but Snuggles was kind of on the fence about it. We went on a couple trips, I got my love back of it, and she got hooked. Then we started thinking about hiking the Appalachian Trail. Now we knew if we were going to take five to six months off to go hike a trail, we weren't going to be able to afford to have a house and cars and careers because it just wouldn't allow it. So we spent the better part of 2014 simplifying our lives, getting rid of our house, getting rid of our cars, getting rid of all of our toys, and essentially 95% of the things that we own so we could go live a more simple lifestyle. We knew that whenever we got off the trail, we didn't want to come back to our hometown, we wanted to continue to travel, and maybe go find some new place to live. So we did. We set out to do that, we saved a ton of money, we pinched every penny that we had, and when it got to the end of 2014, we quit our jobs, we traveled a little bit, and then we set out to hike the AT. When we got off the AT, we realized that we loved that lifestyle. We loved living more simplified. We knew that we could live without having all these extra things, and we didn't mind living like hobos. Our goals changed. So because our goals changed, so did our lifestyle. So we made a plan that we would stop in certain places, we would work small jobs from six months to a year, we would save up as much money as we could, living a super simple lifestyle, and then we would take off and we would go travel. And for all of 2015 and 2016, that's what we did. And it was great. At the beginning of 2017, we started thinking, are there ways that we can make alternative income off the internet, and can we save more money? Is there a way that we can constantly travel, constantly hike and do the things that we want and still have income? And we figured it out. Through an Etsy store, through YouTube, through an eBay store, working little small jobs for some companies online, we were able to simplify our lives even more and continue to travel and live the way that we wanted to live. Now life is all about figuring out what makes you happy and what you're willing to sacrifice for that happiness. Now some people, happiness is having a family, having a house, having a nice car, a big flat screen TV, coming home and enjoying all that in your off time. And the sacrifice that you make is going to work every day, 9 to 5, punching a clock and working for someone else. That is the sacrifice. So your comfort is the things that you have at home, and your discomfort is going to work and working for someone else. Now Snuggles and I have kind of a different concept on life. We're willing to be uncomfortable living in a 5x8 cargo trailer, eating really simple cheap food, living for free in national forests, not taking a shower for a week, and just overall not having those comforts of a home for our comfort and our payoff, which was hiking and exploring the world. I don't live off the government. I'm not a trust fund kid. I have no magical job that allows me these massive times off to go do what I want. So how do I afford to do it? I live a super basic lifestyle. I own everything that I have. I don't buy anything that I don't need. I'm not paying anything off. I have no kids, and I essentially choose to live like a hobo so I can do the things that I want to do. And like I said, that's not for everybody, but it's how I've chose to live my life and how a lot of other hikers and a lot of other people that live this alternative lifestyle have chose to live their life. They're willing to make sacrifices to get the things that they want and see the things that they want to see, and that's just more important to us than having that American dream. Alright guys, so I hope that all that makes sense, and I hope that maybe that puts a few naysayers at bay, and maybe it even helps inspire others that are looking at living the same type of lifestyle that Snuggles and I have decided to live. Maybe you're sitting there thinking, well, holy crap, I can do the exact same thing. I can simplify my life. I'm comfortable with living in a 5x8 cargo trailer. I can easily pay my bills off and get rid of my house, and I don't need an extra car. Or maybe you'll watch this video and not agree with a word that I say and think that I'm crazy and I'm a hobo, and you're probably going to thumbs down it. You might leave kind of a snarky comment because you don't agree with that lifestyle. That's totally cool. Everybody should be happy with the life that they choose for themselves, whether that's living the lifestyle that I've chose or having a family, having a house, and having a career that you can retire from in the future. Reach for those goals and achieve what you want out of life so you are happy, because that is the number one main thing about life, is to be happy with whatever choice you decide and whatever you make of life. If you haven't had a chance yet, go over and check me out on Instagram. I've been posting a lot of new photos lately of some of the things that Snuggles and I have going on throughout the week, plus some pictures from some past hikes. If you found any value in this video, go ahead and hit that like button. Subscribe to my channel if you haven't already, and as always guys, thanks for watching.