Any Homeless Truckers Out There?

Use a Relative or Friend for your "Home" address.

There are plenty of mail forwarding services that provide a real mailing address, not a post office box.

Pick a state with no state income tax or personal property tax, and low sales tax and vehicle registrations fees. Texas, Florida, and South Dakota are usually at the top of most lists for this.

The process is simple:

Get an account (and thereby a mailing address) from one of these services - try MyDakotaAddress.com for example. Once you have documentation for your address, you just need to show a receipt for at least a one night stay in the state at a hotel, motel, or even a campground. Take them both to DMV , transfer your CDL and viola! Your a resident of the state.

The forwarding service will send your mail to wherever and whenever you need or want it. When you schedule time off with your DM , notify the forwarding service when and where you will be taking you home time. They will send your mail to the nearest post office where it will be held for up to 30 days in general delivery. Just walk into the post office, present your ID and you've got your mail.

You don't even have to worry about delays in your home time since the post office will hold it for 30 days. Many of the services will even trash your junk mail for you and can scan the contents of any mail that you need and email it to you so you can respond to any urgent items.

Of course I'm commenting based upon my own research, not my own experience. However I intend to do just as I explained before the end of the year, so I'll let you know how it all works out for me.

I'm in the same situation as Brett. Not married and no kids. I've been in a professional trade for 20-years and deceided enough is enough. I took 2-months to decide if trucking is for me. I watched a lot of YouTube videos, read about trucking, and used all the resources Trucking Truth offers. If it weren't for this website. I'd probably be wasting away trying to figure out what to do with my life and another year added to lease my apartment again.

All in all my lease on my apartment was up and one thing lead to another another. Put my personal effects in a 5'x10' temperature controlled storage unit. Within a weeks time. Then parked my car at my parents house and got on that bus to Springfield, Mo.

From the moment I spoke to a recruiter, got on that bus, getting through orientation, on to delivering my first load as PSD. It was my best decision yet. Sometimes, you just have take the bull by the horns and just do it! Being homeless is just a formality.

"The world is your oyster" GO EXPLORE!!

That's what I did most of my career. I've never been married and don't have any kids so I just travelled for a lot of years. I didn't have a home, nor did I have a vehicle most of the time. I just lived in the truck and spent time off visiting family and friends. It's an excellent way to live and a great way to save up some money.

I'm planning on doing exactly that. i lived in istanbul for the last 6 years, crashing with family for the next couple of months until i can get my cdl sorted, but i have no "stuff" to worry about, came here with a suitcase and a small backpack, and that's everything i own. my bank account is an online account and i use a relative's address for that, i can also use their address for mail (not that i expect to receive much, if any), and everything i own will fit in my sleeper. i don't see any point in renting or buying a house or apartment if i'm only going to be there 2-3 days a month (if that), so the only bill i'll ever have is my cell phone, and if i eat wisely (keep fresh produce on the truck and restrict myself to only 1 or 2 meals a week in a truck stop) i should have no problem staying healthy. already in the process of quitting smoking (switched to a vape, down from 1-1.5 packs a day to only 5 cigs a day in less than a week), so the majority of my salary will go into a college fund for the spawn (who still lives in istanbul for now), and what doesn't go to that will be my retirement in 15-20 years. i have friends all over the country and in canada (whom i met while living abroad) so i can see plenty of opportunities to visit all of them, even if just over a meal somewhere near where they live. i've always been a bit of a hermit myself, so if you can deal with solitude, it's a great way to live

That's the plan for me and my fiance too. Sell the car, put our stuff into storage, and earn that money!

RainyD does this now I believe.

Don't you need a home base for tax purposes?

Don't you need a home base for tax purposes?

You need some sort of "stated residence" for tax purposes.

If you're playing homeless - you want it to be one that has zero or minimal state personal income tax.

Also - if you are getting paid, or taking the PER DIEM DEDUCTION - by IRS Rules, you are "supposed to have" a real residence to "go home to" in order to take the "Away From Home" deduction.

Which is why it's better to have a relative/friends whose address that you can use for a "home address of record" - in case of an audit where you have to prove to the IRS that you had a "home".

You DO WANT TO TAKE THE PER DIEM DEDUCTION on your income taxes - ESPECIALLY IF A PORTION OF YOUR TRUCKING PAY IS IN THE FORM OF PER DIEM. Otherwise, you might end up owing the IRS for the UNTAXED INCOME you were paid Per Diem.

Now - the suggestion of using a "get me an address" service is a good one - but the IRS is probably hip to most, if not all of these. Chances are - you'll never get jammed up by the IRS, but there's always a chance.

Rick

Go to the UPS store and rent a mailbox. I think they will forward the mail to you, where ever you are for a fee.

I've been wondering about this topic too. One question not addressed already is how do you maintain an address if you're truly "homeless?" You have to have an address for a bank account, filing income taxes, credit card, voting, cell phone etc.

Odd question I know. I am wondering if anyone does not keep a house or apartment and just keeps traveling.

I will be moving out of my house in a few months and do not have a wife or kids.

To me it would be ideal to just stay on the road. If I had a week waiting for a load or something I would just enjoy the adventure of where I was at (if it was an adventurous place -haha) Or vise versa - if i needed to just keep working for weeks I could do that.

Taking a few days off I could stay in a hotel even upgrading it since I save money with no mortgage.

In my situation I could work for a few years and just save. I have no debt.

Might help the company since I would not really care where I was based out of…or not even having a base. To me it is time to work hard and save for retirement in 20 yrs.

Oddly it sounds perfect to/for me. I am not the type to get lonely (in fact prefer it), I do not mind small places like the sleeper (looks perfect to me). No family to visit at least not for more than a few days a couple times a year.

Store my F350 truck (4 wheeler) and my stuff in my cargo trailer, park it at my relatives farm so no worries about my stuff.

Roll for 10-15 years OTR....or whatever and just save my money

Anyways just a dream I have always had and soon will be free to pursue it.

Of course I would spend a couple of years (my early learning) making sure that is how I want to work.

I do not heard of many guys doing this so I thought I would ask in case I am missing something.

I did that my first year driving, then I got sick and spent 4 months in hospital and could not go back to driving right away. (Flesh eating bacteria left leg). So I was homeless and got the VA to help find housing, section 8, almost didn’t happen because I technically did not meet guidelines, now my lease ends Aug 1st and I will decide wether to do that again...