A (very) belated experiment in living independently

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I find myself in the position of “starting over” in life, to some degree, having discovered at age 53 that I am solidly on the spectrum. This is something that I suspected starting about 15 years ago, but discounted as unimportant, given my then extremely limited understanding of the scope of autism. I now know that it has affected me in innumerable ways, and I now think I have a much better understanding of my capabilities AND my limitations.

To that end, my life goals, never extensive or set very far into the future, have now been somewhat refined. I hope to spend the next years getting my very old, dilapidated house here in a tiny town in the boonies of Northern Nevada into livable condition.

I am in the process of moving the last of my “stuff” out of the house in which I have been living for the last few years. That house (and another next door) belongs to my girlfriend, and it will be listed for sale as soon as I am out of it, and we can complete some needed pre-sale repairs.

To start with, I will be living in an old camper on my own property, a two-third acre parcel that my girlfriend of 12 years has graciously given to me. I hope to have a connection to grid power there within the next few weeks or months (This process has already been started).

My first major goal is to build a small house on a 10’ x 16’ concrete slab, through which a geothermal well was bored many years ago. The well water is just hot enough to heat with, so that takes care of one significant living expense. I’m hoping that my father (who is in his late 70s, but still active) will be able to assist me in the construction of the tiny house, as he and I have built other houses from the ground up, together, and this one will be VERY technically simple. It will cost perhaps only $2,000 - $4,000 in materials to build.

After I’m in that house, my project longer-term will be to completely refurbish a larger, but still quite small old house that’s been on the same lot since perhaps the late 1930s. I dubbed it "The Hovel", and it needs EVERYTHING, having been open to the critters for decades, and uninhabited since the late 1950s.

I'm hoping to make this “compound” the first (and hopefully last) home I've ever owned. It will be refurbished by me, to my own (ahem) "unique" standards of what's important and what's not, with no consideration needing to be given to who actually owns the space I occupy, since that’s now ME! This will be the first space I've ever had with this level of freedom, and I REALLY am looking forward to it.

My major source of income will be, at least for a while, the proceeds of “flipping” various things on eBay and Craig’s List. I already have quite a vast collection of stuff collected from various sources, and 28 years of experience selling stuff via the Internet, so it’s just a matter of “keeping my nose to the grindstone” to generate a semi-steady stream of revenue.

This little town is a nearly ideal one in which to live a minimal life on minimal income. Weather is moderate, energy is cheap (or free!), and despite the small, quiet nature of the town, it’s right on Interstate 80, and only 20 minutes to a town large enough for most basic shopping needs (and, of course, the US Postal Service, UPS and FedEx come here every day!).

I now look forward to the future, perhaps for the first time in my adult life. I hope to never stop learning, about myself, the world around me, and those that I care about.

Darron

My "Hovel" in early 2017, before any work had been done to it:


And the very gracious and beautiful woman who is making it possible for me to live a better life:

Sounds fantastic! It's great to build something yourself that is focussed to your needs. My girlfriend is looking at property at the moment as we are wanting to move further from town. So looking forward to living in the country again.

That sounds amazing. I'm quite attracted to quiet towns and minimalism though my husband and i aren't as minimal as we could be, thanks to his job, not mine, but we still live more simply than most people we know.

I can relate to never having had much of a future plan, and I'm also hoping to gain a better understanding of my own true capabilities and limitations now. Sounds like a great place to be. Good luck with your plans!