How to be Compsci/Math Hobo?

[Nyarmith]

Hey ERE,
Question*:
A friend and I want to spend the summer just learning a bunch of fundamental material that isn't covered in our classwork for some reason as well as work on projects that may or may not take off.
However, we don't think living with either of our parents would be good for our work environment or mental health in general.
I was thinking we could potentially travel and visit some friends, but ultimately want the ability to work in a constant environment for at least two weeks at a time, since that's when the magic actually happens. Perhaps buy a cheap plot of land and just camp there? Cooking and desks are an issue to be resolved in this scenario though.
So, what are the best ways we can live and be productive on the cheap?
*I treat most forums with the stackexchange question format in mind.

[JamesR]

Makes me think of http://lackingambition.com/?p=423 .

Building a temporary structure somewhere might be feasible. You may not even need to buy land, might be able to ask the land owner permission to stay on their land temporarily for a year.

Don't underestimate the amount of time that it would take to live this lifestyle, building & maintaining the structure, plus dealing with food, distance from town, lack of electricity, etc. You would have surprisingly little time to do your coursework, and it would require a fair amount of discipline. Regardless of what approach you take, you probably want minimum-must-get-done daily homework goals (of 50% difficulty to reach).

[almostthere]

Great idea. I applaud you (probably b/c it is what I really like doing too.).

Here are a couple ideas:
1) Look to the the great ones who did it before you Thoreau and Joseph Campbell. They way they did it can still be done. Find a super cheap cabin in the mountains or other low cost area like the dessert. There stories are inspirational and deserve a good review.
2) Do it abroad. Same idea but just in a country that has cheap exchange rate. Go look up the Economist's Big Mac Index to get an idea of whose currency currently buys the most. I once met a guy that would work three months a year and then live in Andean villages the other nine months. I am not sure if you are in the US but you could even save money just taking a bus to Mexico. The exchange is very good right for dollars.
3) Think about the Peace Corps. I had hours a day to do my own self study when I was a volunteer. There is really not much to do in a village and if you are self directed, you could easily get in four to six hour a day on weekdays and all day long on weekends. I used to read a novel every Sunday. Volunteers now all have laptops and kindles and some even have internet.

[susswein]

There's plenty of public land in the western US where you can legally camp for free for weeks at a time, so there's no need to buy land. If you want to be a bit more of a hobo than you can stay at national forest campgrounds for 2 weeks at a time. Another alternative is to volunteer as a camp host somewhere. You get a free campsite plus a food stipend in return for a few hours of work per day. Similar options at some hotsprings.

[Scott 2]

Imo if your goal is productive learning, you'll be far better off seeking out the most capable mentor you can keep invested in you, then doing whatever takes to live by them.

[taemoo]

If you are in the western US, you can head over to New Mexico and can get the annual state park camping pass for $220. Campsites usually have a picnic table and fire pit so that should cover the desk/cooking issue. Some have showers so can get more comforts than BLM land or National Forests. This is on my post-FI to do list.

[akratic]

I would just rent a cheap room on craigslist. Scour craigslist from a bunch of different places.

I just found three different listings with rooms in a big house with roommates in Maine for $250/mo, $280/mo and $284/mo, but you'd probably need a car to get to these.

In VT, I found a furnished 24'-16' off-grid cabin with solar panels for $300/mo.

I'm sure in the midwest it'd be even better. I did a quick search search in OK and found an entire 1BR/1BA for under $300/mo.

You might start with a list of cost of living data and then intersect that with the places you can cheaply get to from where you are now. Try searching craigslist for some small range like $200-$300 but then put this in the text search: "-week -weekly -wk" to remove all the weekly listings.

[Nyarmith]

Yeah, I want to emphasize that this is only three months and not a year. If it were a year, I'd definetly go for the land and build-base option but in this case that isn't time-efficient. Maybe asking friends to visit for 2 weeks at a time?

This is indeed something I've thought about doing for a while, I would like to take a year off but I have the nest two semesters to graduate and people will probably pressure me to get a job immediately post-college. Ugh the pain.

Imo if your goal is productive learning, you'll be far better off seeking out the most capable mentor you can keep invested in you, then doing whatever takes to live by them.

I'd be willing to do this if I had any options in that realm. This is a clear sign that there is demand for math dojos for mentor-style learning and kung-fu.

Compsci/Math guys tend to underestimate the amount of effort envolved in such a project.

Ouch breh