teri

yesterday i met my neighbor teri. this is the first neighbor i've met and i've been there 4 months. do i qualify for my hermit badge? when joe was here, he talked to her for over an hour and she gave him her phone number to give to me. i called, she came over and got a tour of the van, then i went to her house and met her very cute dog named faith, an all black chow mix with a black tongue. teri lives in the basement of a very old house, and there are things she lives with--a kitchen sink that doesn't drain and every so often spits up black sludge (been like this for 3 years), and the bathroom and spare room have no electricity (8 months), but the rent is cheap and aside from never fixing anything she says the landlord is the nicest man you ever met. to get around these obstacles, she uses the utility sink in her laundry room for dishes, brushes her teeth in the dark and only uses the spare room to store a dining set she never uses. the place is sparse, clean and cared for. everything is old and the wood paneling paired with the basement window light give it a melancholy air. she wants to rent the spare room to me for 150 bucks a month, partly because she could use the extra money for bills, and i think mainly because she feels bad for me. living in a van has such a stigma.
i'm considering it because from a financial standpoint i'd be better off--my parking spot costs more than she's asking for, and i pay for a yoga membership to take showers. i'd like to keep going to yoga, but i could cut down the plan and buy a package instead of unlimited monthly access. i'd also have a kitchen, toilet and laundry at my disposal. i've learned to live without these things pretty well, but to have them at no additional cost just makes sense.
i encountered some resistance from myself to the idea. i like being a vandweller. i like the privacy of living alone. i like my little full time camping experiment. but, the reason behind this venture is to live on as little money as possible so i can get out of debt quickly. if this situation provides for my needs equally or better for less money, then it doesn't make sense to pass it by. i wouldn't have to make any commitments, just month to month renting, so i could take off as soon as i wanted for my winter of warmth.
hmmm...i will wait to see how this shakes down and make a decision soon.