A 23-year-old Google employee moved into his 2006 Ford truck in the company parking lot rather than pay overpriced rent in San Francisco, according to Business Insider.
The Massachusetts native moved to the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this year, in May, to work for Google, noted the Massachusetts newspaper Newton TAB. The Google employee, Brandon, witheld his last name and photo for privacy reasons.
Brandon first thought of the idea when he interned with Google last summer and he lived in expensive corporate housing. Last summer he paid about $2,000 monthly to share a two bedroom apartment designed for four people, Business Insider reported.
"I realized I was paying an exorbitant amount of money for the apartment I was staying in - and I was almost never home," Brandon said. "It's really hard to justify throwing that kind of money away. You're essentially burning it - you're not putting equity in anything and you're not building it up for a future - and that was really hard for me to reconcile."
The software engineer blogs about living in the truck on his blog, "Thoughts from Inside the Box: Because home is where the heart is you park it." On his blog, he explains his decision to "live out of the back of a 16' box truck."
If you're wondering where the 23-year-old showers, Google has a campus with showers, a corporate gym, and a cafeteria that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
As for savings, the software engineer saves 90 percent of his income after taxes, reported the Newton TAB newspaper.
"I'm going for a target of saving about 90 percent of my after-tax income, and throwing that in student loans and investments," Brandon said.
"As a conservative estimate (and taking bonuses into consideration), I expect to have them paid off within the next six months, saving thousands of dollars over the standard 10-year, or even 20-year plan," Brandon said. He has paid down $16,449 of his $22,434 student loan debt over the course of four months of living inside the truck rent-free.
Living inside of a 16' truck gives Brandon financial freedom. While he is living outside of his comfort zone, he is paying off his debt, saving money, and preparing to travel the world in the future.
"If I do plan on traveling the world, I'll need to be comfortable, with unconventional living situations, and this is certainly a good place to start," he blogged. "Plus, there is never going to be a better time in my life for me to try this. I'm young, flexible, and I don't have to worry about this decision affecting anyone else in my life."
How long the 23-year-old will live in the Ford truck, only time will tell. "It's been five months so far, and I don't see it stopping soon for any reason," the Google employee told Business Insider.
