This 28-year-old pays $62 a month to live in a dumpster he built for $5,000—take a look inside
This 28-year-old pays $62 a month to live in a dumpster he built for $5,000—take a look inside
After struggling to find an apartment rental in London on a budget, Harrison Marshall turned a dumpster into a tiny home for $5,000. Here's a look inside his "weirdly comfortable" 25-square-foot space, where he now lives for $62 a month.
Micro-houses are cool. The minimal cost and maintenance is really appealing. Having to do it because everything else is unaffordable is not.
153It's even worse now that boutique builders are making tiny homes with aged cheddar wood and once in a century nails and crap. Houses in general should have never been made financial investments. It's shelter.
74It's normal to me, I've been living in a van for 3 years, I love everything about it, in fact I read your comment which reminded me this is a novel atypical lifestyle, which then reminds me that many people take exception to it, are uncomfortable that we exist, which is the only thing I don't like about this lifestyle, that mainstream society stigmatizes us.
But for those of us who get a thrill out of living tiny, and living anywhere/everywhere, and freedom from rent/mortgage, aaah this is FREEDOM
26I'm glad you're happy. However, virtually no one else would be. I mean a statistical blip of humanity would be happy living in a van.
The reason I'm uncomfortable that you exist is that people I know who live out of their cars are mentally ill individuals who have convinced themselves that they enjoy something which is, very clearly, sad and terrible.
That may not be you, but I'd be willing to bet it's a majority of van-dwellers. It's just not a healthy lifestyle for most.
5
This has so much more context needed. Like the dude is getting the land for free as a sorta art piece and doesn't, or didn't plan to do it long.
55Kinda dystopian and depressing, but honestly some parts of it seem nicer than the houses he's neighbours with. I like how it's designed to not interfere with the skip lorry's cab.
E: How much is the porta potty rental?
39How much is the porta potty rental?
I watched the video through and he says he gets it free and they empty it every week or so. I suppose it's good advertising for the company.
12
Good for him, I guess, but ... I wouldn't want to live in that POS even if you paid me. These stories are so frustrating because they start to normalize that living in a shoebox is normal. It isn't. It's terrible.
37Well considering the Western world's comforts are here for us at the cost of poverty everywhere else. Hum idk maybe this should be a start in a moderate society.
One that has no rich fucks but also doesn't have poverty
5
Why am I worried that some asshole developer is going to buy that little triangle of land out from under him, kick him off, and then just leave it unused for years. Maybe that sort of thing doesn't happen in the UK, but it sure AF would happen in the states.
34From the article
"The land was granted to him by an arts charity called Antepavilion"
He owns the land. Doesn't stop the government from doing an eminent domain claim I guess but if they do he's going to get more than it's worth
25
Everything about this is a nightmare.
23I never thought watching Sesame Street when I grew up that Oscar the Grouch is the future.
21He’s got a nice sized lot there - could fit any number of more conventional options, including multi-family
14He can't get a permit. He doesn't need a permit for a dumpster. That's the whole story.
16The lot isn't his, full stop.
3
So cool. I’m worried my house will be burgled. Surely he worries his house will be stolen? 😁
11You just need to make it slightly harder to steal your house, when compared to the house next door.
3
It's not a dumpster it's a skip they're different things.
A dumpster is basically something you put trash in. A skip is what you put building waste in (rubble, bits of drywall), so firstly it's larger than you're thinking, if you're thinking of a dumpster. Seriously if you get in one it's kind of hard to get back out again without somebody helping you, they go at least five foot up. Secondly he's doing this to prove a point, and the point he's trying to prove is that he's a belligerent idiot, and he's proving it very well. It's not that homes in London are expensive, although they are, his "problem" is that what he wants to do isn't legal (he wants to live in a caravan on that plot of land and it isn't zoned for that), so he's doing this instead as a loophole. It isn't some protest against home prices in London or anything noble like that.
However the media lap it up and he's quite happy to make use of it to further his cause of being an annoying pain.
9Bro just live in a van. You can drive to different places and park for free.
7It's an art project.
Plus if he lived in a caravan, people would just assume he's a traveller and have the council move him on.
6
If he really wants to help out, he should build 3 more of those with 3 more portable toilets and find a better source for water. That plot of land is more than enough to hold more density.
4Indeed, the only way this could be improved is by having more people share that honey bucket
2
he's incredibly intelligent & handy to think this up, get all the bureaucratic approval, and build it from raw materials, INCREDIBLY CLEVER, so I sincerely hope he finds companionship with a kindred like-minded activist, because at the end of the day, nights get lonely.
I wonder what kind of woman would be attracted to a man who lives in a dumpster, would want to be his companion living in there with him, and fucking each other in a literal dumpster.
Because hear me out, I understand he's incredibly intelligent & handy to think this up, get all the bureaucratic approval, and build it from raw materials, INCREDIBLY CLEVER, so I sincerely hope he finds companionship with a kindred like-minded activist, because at the end of the day, nights get lonely.
4🤨
12sure you scowl or whatever but I'm a woman and I live in a van and this is a very real concern. not throwing shade at him. empathizing with him, in fact he's doing much better in life than I am. Because he has a great mind and great skills and a great job, He's industrious, he's going to do great in life.
every day there's this underlying angst in my mind replaying over and over again, "I would not be attracted to the kind of person who might be attracted to me living this way."
You know what I mean?
10
Hahaha this comment got me
1
Why didn't he build a house instead?
3A few years back i remember reading on quora that you can rent a single bedroom apartment for $400 easily there. looks like times have changed
3It's so great that our society has declined so much that it's basically like living in a third world country like, the Bahamas.
3Imagine collecting and counting those $62 each month. The sense of accomplishment and contribution to society that must confer.
-2Americans pretending other countries don't have their own currency.
-3