Escapees July-August 2022

per year. Compare this to the $4,500 most Americans spend using about 1,500 gallons! Water American homes use around 300 gallons of water per day. Shocked by that statistic? Because we choose to shower two to three times per week, wash dishes in our small tubs, wash clothing only when needed and rarely use fl ush toilets, we estimate our water usage at about fi ve to six gallons per day. Financial Sustainability Getting out of debt is a major factor in living sustainably. We worked hard to pay off debt early in our lives. We have investments for the future, and continue to contribute to our retirement accounts. Getting free from debt wasn’t easy to do, but the payoff has been huge, especially while living on the road. By reducing our “life overhead,” we don’t need to work 12 months out of the year. We thrive on about $26K per year (for the two of us)! Between seasonal and online work, we can make this in about four to fi ve months. The rest of the time can be spent volunteering, traveling and visiting friends. Overall, we estimate that we’ve spent about $1,050 per year for our rolling tiny home. This includes the initial cost of the camper, maintenance, annual registration, the solar-powered system and annual camping fees. A traditional home in the U.S. is about $344K, and living expenses (mortgage/rent, utilities, taxes, furnishings, maintenance) are around $25.5K annually. Keeping our costs low isn’t rocket science, we simply go back to where we started—we examine our wants against our needs. If we don’t need it, we simply don’t buy it, and when you live in 72 sq. ft., not much fi ts. We use the outdoors as our playground and human powered adventure as much as possible when we are exploring the natural world. Having such a small space encour ages us to spend most of our time outside. Since we run completely on solar, we camp in national forests and on BLM land, instead of the more expensive options. We also do work-trade on farms, volunteer with a variety of organizations, as well as help out friends along our journey.

DAVID HUTCHISON AND SHARI GALIARDI Shari Galiardi and David “Hutch” Hutchison, together with their 1957 canned ham camper named Hamlet, are Freedom in a Can (freedominacan.com). For nearly a decade, they have enjoyed full-time roadlife, explored North America, and parlayed their higher education backgrounds into a mobile business of writing, inspirational speaking, photography, and video production. freedominacan1957@gmail.com course. We’re not sure if we have we made it there but time will tell. We know that we feel more in love with this big blue planet and more in love with each other than when we fi rst hit the road in 2012. Though there are very few regions of the country we haven’t explored, each time we turn a corner and discover something new, some place beauti ful about which we knew absolutely nothing, we feel that same thrill that spurred us to fi rst pull out of our driveway. Personal Relationships Overall, this traveling lifestyle has given us the gift of time. And it’s time we can spend more freely with those we love. With this time, we can better take care of ourselves, sleep more, pursue activities which give us energy, be outside more and give back to projects we believe in. Even during the height of covid-19 in the U.S., we were able to stay safe and still stay connected, although at a distance. We’ve also had extended visits with our aging parents. These visits help us have a closer and more real relationship, more so than only spending time with them during holidays and extended summer weekends. Also, we’ve been able to give back to them by helping with house projects and checking in on how they’re getting along. We’ve actually spent more meaningful time with our parents than when we lived in the same town. Our growing network of family and friends across the continent is helpful because we can drop in on their lives and get to know their kids, make them dinner, help them with a house project or two and maybe get a shower in the trade. It keeps the relationships strong, and the connec tions and positive love in our lives powerful! What Sustains You? We feel like we’ve gotten really close to having it all, by our own standards, of

48

ESCAPEES Magazine July/August 2022