Staying organized while moving a lot

June 20, 2009 7:56 PM

I'm going to be moving around and traveling a lot for the next few years. Help me figure out how to live a responsible lifestyle as a modern day nomad.

I have been living this lifestyle to some degree for the past five months, and I've decided it’s something I'd like to continue for several years. I envision brief stays (2-6 months) in various cities in the U.S. and maybe Europe. Plus, shorter trips (days or weeks) to surrounding areas.

I work as a freelancer and my work is fairly portable, as long as I have my computer and internet connection. I also have some savings. So work and money are not a big concern.

What I'm worried about is staying organized. Without a reliable permanent address, how do I do stuff like:

--Maintain a driver's license, health insurance, car insurance. What state do I “live” in? What's my address? Life without an address is frustrating and causes way too many hassles and red tape.
--Receive mail and pay bills. Losing bills to the caprice of mail forwarding is not fun, I learned through experience a few years ago.
--Have a regular doctor who's familiar with me and my health records. I hate going to some random doctor who knows they're not going to see me again.
--Pay taxes. As a freelancer taxes are complicated enough without adding multiple state returns into the mix each year (and figuring out what I owe who).
--Maintain a paper trail. I need to keep good records and maintain a filing system, but lugging a filing cabinet from place to place with me is pretty inconvenient.
--Have a "home office" - work files, office supplies, etc don't have to go with me everywhere, but they sure are convenient to have. But again, inconvenient to lug around.
--Have physical possessions. Is it even worth it? My worry is that if I get rid of all my "stuff," the places I stay in will never feel like home to me. But transporting stuff is the most difficult part of this. The only belongings I'm much attached to are my books, but I have a lot of them.

Currently I'm staying with my parents and using their address. I have the option of leaving belongings here and staying here to regroup between trips. But getting mail here is not a great option, as they're extremely disorganized and it would probably get lost before getting to me.

Any ideas, suggestions, hints and tips appreciated, including books and websites I should read. Thanks!!

posted by crackingdes to travel & transportation (18 comments total)

--Maintain a driver's license, health insurance, car insurance. What state do I “live” in? What's my address? Life without an address is frustrating and causes way too many hassles and red tape.

What state are you currently a resident of? Keep your current license, I can't imagine you'd need to update it that often. Were I you, I'd sell your car because you probably won't use it too often (if you're going to Europe for example) and it's less of a pain that way.

--Receive mail and pay bills.

Do you have a family member or friend whose address you could usurp and who would be willing to handle this for you (mail forwarding on really important stuff?) Other option is get a PO Box. A few of these questions seem like you want to have this "nomad" lifestyle without really having it. For example, the books - sell them. Anything with sentimental value you can put in storage.

Put as much important documents in digital form as possible then mail the rest to yourself/your parents/whatever. A home office is unrealistic.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 8:13 PM on June 20

Most of my bills, including credit cards, come to me by email, and I pay them online. Only a couple of bills still come in the mail. My statements from my retirement accounts also come by email. If you're serious about a nomadic lifestyle, it may be worth rolling over any accounts that aren't in institutions that have a significant online presence to institutions that do.
posted by immlass at 8:19 PM on June 20

1. Maintain a driver's license, health insurance, car insurance.

Use your parents' address. For paperwork purposes, that should be where you live.

2. Receive mail and pay bills.

Make a list of sites where you can access online billing, and pay them online. Or rent a box at a mail services place and get them to overnight you your mail once a month.

3. Have a regular doctor who's familiar with me and my health records.

This is something you give up if you choose to live a nomadic life, as your doctor sadly does not own a Tardis. Either go home, or go local. Bring a copy of your chart with you if you feel there's anything significant in there. I used to just have a list of my last check-up baselines and dates of significant hospitalisations, etc, to give new doctors. A 1 page medical CV.

4. Pay taxes.

See #1. Don't overcomplicate this. Don't forget your checkbook.

5. Maintain a paper trail. I need to keep good records and maintain a filing system, but lugging a filing cabinet from place to place with me is pretty inconvenient.

You can get portable file boxes, both small and large. You can periodically mail back home a manilla envelop of no-longer-needed paperwork.

If you're not travelling by car, then go digital with a portable scanner and online filing system.

6. Have a "home office" - work files, office supplies, etc don't have to go with me everywhere, but they sure are convenient to have.

Just add a hanging file folder to the back of your file system. Keep some envelopes, stamps etc in there. As for stuff like staplers, tape, paperclips, etc, about a billion eight year old girls have solved this problem with the ubiquitous mini-pencil case. Tiny, has everything. Try Target.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:41 PM on June 20 [2 favorites has favorites]

I think there are services that scan your mail for you. A car-less person cannot carry much more than one suitcase and a backpack, this means very very few books and no winter clothes in summer. You should also focus on your toys for a while, like carry & use a portable hammock in summer, or other light weight sports equipment, but don't carry them in the winter. So you'll need to leave stuff with your parents, just accept it.

You must work out printing and scanning documents too, so maybe a very small portable printer & scanner for when Kinkos isn't close enough. I carry some files with me but just reprint others, otoh printing, scanning, and office space were free during my travels. You might try some ebook reader designed for professional work, like the iRex iLiad. Kindle isn't suitable for professional proof reading, nor usable outside the U.S.

Don't carry power converters. Instead, buy only equipment rated for 110-240 volts, and use light weight plug converters. Carry a power strips for both American and European power plugs, but make sure the U.S. one can handle 240 volts. I'd just avoid those ridiculous British plugs. Your phone must be a quad-band GSM for outside the U.S., i.e. ditch Verison or Sprint.

You need a serious backup regime on two external hard disks and over the internet, laptops can disappear quite easily. You may need to understand some minimal basics about VPNs, SMTP, and SIP (VoIP). Don't waist money on expensive toys, buy shit you need when you need it.

You must learn to make friends quickly, always live with flatmates, nice social ones who have nice friends. Don't waist your life looking for your next flat : don't be picky about flats, don't start looking too soon, and don't be afraid to live in a hotel or hostel for a few days if you gotta move there to find one. Learn how to get a significant other when you arrive, not when you leave.
posted by jeffburdges at 8:57 PM on June 20 [3 favorites has favorites]

I have done/do this internationally, it's not really hard at all. I agree with the others that say you're overthinking it. The main rule to living on the road is the good old Einstein quote: Keep it as simple as possible, but no simpler.

(My answers overlap the above a bit.)

--What state do I “live” in?

Wherever you give as your permanent address. Even if it's a PO box. I found that with electronic bill pay I only needed to get the mail about once a month-- if that. Most independent mail box places (NOT the USPS) will forward mail for you on request. I rent a box in the city I'm in most often and email the guys once a month to send it wherever I'm at.

Depending how much your parents are into it, just give them some big mailing envelopes and have them put mail into them whenever they get it and send them whenever they're full.

--Receive mail and pay bills.

See above. I'm pretty sure that I've gone 12 months or more without getting something important in the mail that I didn't get via online.

--Have a regular doctor who's familiar with me and my health records.

Yeah, your doctor isn't going to go on a road trip for you. But get a copy of your records (dental too) and keep your doctor's contact info with you. If you do need to see a doctor, call your hometown one and ask for a referral in [current city]. If you can get a referral they can forward your records for you and make sure you don't have to wait too long for an appointment.

Call your insurance company to get specifics of coverage while you're on the road.

--Pay taxes. As a freelancer taxes are complicated enough...

You have an accountant, right? Get one. They don't do anything that can't be done over the phone/mail/fax. They will save you money, more than they cost. Plus discuss with them how you can deduct your travel and living expenses while on the road.

--Maintain a paper trail.

Go digital with what you can. Otherwise get some accordion folders. How much do you really need? 12 months of all of my contracts, invoices, receipts, and Important Papers added up to a stack about 4 inches thick, 80% of which was travel receipts. You can get briefcase-like things that hold standard hanging folders at your local office supply store.

--Have a "home office"

What do you need outside of a pad of paper, a pen, a pencil, and post-its? And how far are you going to be from an office supply store? If it's more than that, get a big cloth pencil case and to keep your rulers and scissors in.

--Have physical possessions. Is it even worth it?

Don't carry them with you, except maybe for a few keepsakes. Leave them with the 'rents, or get rid of the stuff that's replaceable and put the rest into storage.

Things to add to your suitcase:
- An extra external hard drive that you use only for backups of your important files. Back up nightly.
- A small power strip.
- A small, powered, USB hub.

If you're going overseas Skype is the way to keep in phone contact with people. Get a local number to your main clients and it will ring you wherever in the world you are, and you get alarmingly cheap international long distance calls.
posted by Ookseer at 9:29 PM on June 20

--Maintain a driver's license, health insurance, car insurance. What state do I “live” in? What's my address? Life without an address is frustrating and causes way too many hassles and red tape.

When you pick your address (presumably a kind relative, or one of those mailbox forwarding places), choose a state that has no state income tax. Unless there is a place you intend to eventually live forever, and you feel a moral obligation to begin making those state tax contributions immediately, establish residency in a state that uses other forms of taxation (eg sales taxes) that will impact you much less.
posted by Forktine at 10:02 PM on June 20

--Maintain a driver's license, health insurance, car insurance. What state do I “live” in? What's my address? Life without an address is frustrating and causes way too many hassles and red tape.

You should live in a state that is most beneficial for you benefits/tax wise. (Tennessee and Texas have no income tax.) You choose this state, stay there for a few months and get your required documentation (Driver's License, etc). Then keep a mailbox in that state, they will forward things to you (USPS will not do this for you) if you ask them to. There are also services that you can use that will scan your mail for you. Also think about spending time in another country for the majority of the year, there is a huge tax benefit to that - that may be changing soon though.

--Receive mail and pay bills. Losing bills to the caprice of mail forwarding is not fun, I learned through experience a few years ago.

Use a paperless option, most places have this nowadays. The only paper bill that I have now is... actually none. All my bills are available on websites. But just get them mailed to you and keep all your account info and numbers so that if you miss paying a bill (you keep a spreadsheet with you next bill due dates right?) you can take care of it on the phone.

--Have a regular doctor who's familiar with me and my health records. I hate going to some random doctor who knows they're not going to see me again.

Just have a doctor that is your primary care dude, make sure he gets all your visits to other doctor's sent to him. That way you'll have continuity in care, if you happened to see someone else. He should be able to do phone consults with you if you have a specific concern. See if you can get your files but on google health.

--Pay taxes. As a freelancer taxes are complicated enough without adding multiple state returns into the mix each year (and figuring out what I owe who).

Get an accountant - mail your stuff to your accountant before each move. She'll take care of everything. Keep a shoebox, or a bin in each place that tax things automatically get put in as you come across them.

--Maintain a paper trail. I need to keep good records and maintain a filing system, but lugging a filing cabinet from place to place with me is pretty inconvenient.

You need a portable document scanner, I suggest the Fujitsu ScanSnap S300 - it's the bees knees. Also, check out Mozy or another online backup service - your hard drive will fail - it's just a matter of when.

--Have a "home office" - work files, office supplies, etc don't have to go with me everywhere, but they sure are convenient to have. But again, inconvenient to lug around.

I'm not sure what you need besides some paper, a pen and a computer. However, have a look at these "go bags," they might give you some ideas

--Have physical possessions. Is it even worth it? My worry is that if I get rid of all my "stuff," the places I stay in will never feel like home to me. But transporting stuff is the most difficult part of this. The only belongings I'm much attached to are my books, but I have a lot of them.

Scan the books that you must have, and get a Sony PRS 700 or the new kindle. Also, make your home base a place that has an excellent library (databases that you can access online and ebooks.) There are some books that I'll always have, but the majority of them, digital on an ebook reader is just perfect.
posted by bigmusic at 10:08 PM on June 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

I lived overseas for a year and used my parents address for mail. I also left my mother with a signed note authorizing her to pick up packages etc. for me. I still use her address as my 'address of record' for things like taxes because she is not likely to move and I still am in a more transitory state.

As for possessions, I remember lugging about a dozen of my favourite books to New Zealand with me, back in the day. Now, we have ebook readers and between that, an ipod and a laptop, I could be set for some time. I love my Sony Reader and it works in countries other than America, unlike the Amazon offering.
posted by JoannaC at 10:09 PM on June 20

I think it's just something you gotta do and figure it out as you go along. You can live out of state and keep your parents' address on your license. Remember, that's always your current address.. if you're asked during a traffic stop or something.

You'll realize you don't need mail much at all. It's freeing too. A mail service seems necessary for you.

Pay all bills online.

Get health insurance from a company that provides coverage in areas you're considering. You can get good comparative quotes online, just search. Call before you sign up.

Forget going to a routine doctor.. just type up as much information as you need to communicate before you go, then hand the print out it to his assistant. If the doctor seems taken aback by it, just say you're trying to be a good patient.

Taxes can be handled anywhere, just as if you were living at your parents' house.

You actually maintain a file system? Maybe I need to work on this. I just count on everything being on a computer. I have a generic "paper dump", that I really should scan.. but I know I won't, so I won't put that system into place just yet. Filing is not my thing. I survive well without one.

Forget physical possessions.. you'll pick up new ones. I have lived out of a very large suitcase. You are not saying goodbye to your possessions, they're just not with you. You'd be surprised how well you can live out of one very large suitcase and a few bags. Leave your belongings with your parents. One day, you'll be glad you did.

Sign up for an online backup service (make sure and do your research, don't just trust a slick website, as I've heard some of them don't have a good system in place to download your data, and offer no support on top of that.).

Really.. it's all quite simple and most of it can be figured out as you go along. It's just making the leap.
posted by beingresourceful at 10:33 PM on June 20

The Location Independent blog is exactly about this sort of thing.
posted by divabat at 11:06 PM on June 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

Oh and here's a tip for when you plan to go to Europe: make a travel diary of every trip (in countries, don't worry about cities) you've taken for the past 10 years and keep it regularly updated. Quite a few countries require this for visa purposes and it's worth sorting this out now.
posted by divabat at 11:08 PM on June 20

Keep your parents' address as your permanent address for your driver's license, bank, credit card, health insurance, etc. If they're okay with it, have them mail you important mail or, better, scan your mail for you. Try to arrange direct deposit of client payments, if possible, or leave deposit slips for your parents or a friend to deposit at your bank.

With no fallback parent address, I've used Earthclass Mail to receive mail and scan what I designate. They can even provide a bricks and mortar address, but it's expensive. Make sure "home" addresses and phone number for credit cards, bank, IRS, health insurance are all consistent.

Have a complete physical and dental checkup and cleaning a couple months before you hit the road and get complete medical reports, dental X-rays, etc. and scan these records.

To back up other posters, do offsite computer backup of everything every day.

Bon Voyage.
posted by Elsie at 12:45 AM on June 21

Pick a city that you feel most at home in (or that, as above mentioned, has no income tax) where you have a trusted friend or relative. Use their address as your permanent address, have mail go to them or to a p.o. box wherever you're staying. Don't take a bunch of stuff with you, if you have things you really want to hold onto then consider finding a cheap storage space. Stuff is not what life is about, stuff is just the external reflection of who you are on the inside. Choose a few meaningful books/cds/knicknacks and say goodbye to the rest.

As for files-- are you going to have your car with you? Consider investing in a small crate or box to keep in your trunk with your files (though make sure that if it's staying in your car it's not super private or important stuff) which you could also deposit wherever you're currently staying. It's worth keeping on top of, I'd say a box of necessary paperwork is reasonable to lug around with you. Find a good doctor near your new home base (wherever your address is) and maintain your insurance there. It sounds like you may be your own boss, and if that's the case then you can simply decide to have your business be based out of your city of choice.

Office supplies and all that are good to have, once again a solution is as simple as a cute little box/basket which is small enough to occupy a corner of your trunk. Pay your bills online, and during your travels be sure to stop in at your home base every few months/whenever makes sense for a doctor's visit and such.
posted by wild like kudzu at 6:05 AM on June 21

Zumbox is a paperless mail service.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 6:38 AM on June 21 [1 favorite has favorites]

I had good luck with a UPS Store mailbox. They will forward your mail anywhere for the price of postage. I had one for about 4 years of nomadic living. Finally got an apartment this year where I'm having mail delivered...quite refreshing. Anyway, I never had a problem.

The only issue is that when you move, you can't forward your mail from that address...you can maintain the box but once you stop paying them, it's over. It's never been a problem for me though.
posted by sully75 at 7:03 AM on June 21

I'll second the Location Independent Blog. They also have a "clubhouse" Ning site where you'll get additional answers to this question.

I've brought my business on the road with just one carry-on bag and plan to do it a lot more. As others have pointed out, the cloud is your friend.

Get your bills changed to online delivery, and if you're trusting, have them deduct the payment automatically so you don't even have to think about it.

Back up your data to the cloud. I use JungleDisk and Amazon's S3 servers (literally pennies per month). I also back up some things to a USB thumb drive, including a scan of my passport, glasses prescription, and other travel docs. I always have the thumb drive with me.

Get clients to pay you online or to wire the money into your business account. I use Freshbooks and Authorize.net + Dharma Merchant Services. Offer a discount for online payment if necessary.

If you think you'll need some papers, scan them before you leave and just bring the PDFs. If you go to a country that produces more papers, consider going to an internet cafe or business services place and scanning them, then send the papers home or to a mail service that is willing to forward only certain pieces of mail (see this thread).

Use a good program to keep track of your money, which helps a lot at tax time. I'm moving finances from a desktop app to online so I can invite my accountant to look at the books no matter where I am (or where he is). I'm currently testing Xero and am so far happy with it. If your business is small and you don't mind entering info manually, you might look at Outright.

I have a Skype online number for business. If I'm not online, it forwards to my iPhone as a regular call, with the caller ID saying "business line" so I know to answer in my pseudo-professional way.

Leave your possessions behind. You could easily discover that you don't miss them.
posted by PatoPata at 9:03 AM on June 21 [2 favorites has favorites]

Thank you everyone so much for your ideas and suggestions... this thread has been immensely helpful for me and I really appreciate all the practical ideas and advice.

I do realize, of course, that some of these points will likely require compromise (just trying to figure out what those points are). I haven't had a regular doctor for seven years or so, so I'm sure it won't hurt me to go without for another couple years. I've already begun taking the excellent advice to get checked out now while I'm still in town and gone to a couple doctor appointments recently, and the suggestion to type up a medical "CV" is a great one. Likewise on the "stuff" -- don't have much anyway and it's already been packed in boxes for four or five months. I was wondering if I should get rid of it altogether, but I suppose it makes sense to just leave it in storage for a while.

Thanks again for everyone who took the time to provide such thoughtful, useful answers. I'm going to spend a week or so getting everything organized and set up... then I'm off!
posted by crackingdes at 7:16 AM on June 22

I'll reiterate one thing from my comment up thread : About the one & only thing that will determine if you like a city are the friends you make there. It follows that your flatmates are the most important feature of your apartment by far. I think all my worst mistakes while traveling were choosing flats for location & such rather than people.
posted by jeffburdges at 8:51 PM on June 22