Just put a deposit on a new place!

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
11/27/2019 at 14:39 • Filed to: None

I will officially be a resident of Malibu, CA next week and living out in the middle of nowhere where I can work on my cars to my hearts content and be living in a driving paradise full time. Just renting a room, I am not baller enough to afford to really live there. But at least for the short term I will be living the dream! This is just a sneak preview as I didnt take any photos of the place yet and google street view was done on a foggy day so that wont do it justice either. My commute is going to go from ~1hr down to 15 minutes and my price of rent is exactly the same. The gas savings alone though will make me rich, assuming I dont canyon carve all of my gas money away instead...

Its crazy I was just thinking about it and since I go through two tanks of gas per week (one per car generally) that is easily $100 a week at ~$4+ per gallon of 91. Meaning that is somewhere around $400-500 a month of gas! Even if I drive more on the weekends, its bound to at least cut in half which is a big chunk of coin.

Starting move in on Wednesday and looking forward to making some of y’all jealous with the photos! Here is a street view shot from 2012 since that one had sun:

DISCUSSION (25)

Future Heap Owner > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
11/27/2019 at 14:47

That sounds awesome. Congrats! No more trying to rotate wheels without security guards noticing ;)

CompactLuxuryFan > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
11/27/2019 at 14:49

This sounds like my nightmare, actually! Congrats, though! Your gas spending is definitely nuts!!! I thought you lived with the gf for some reason?

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Future Heap Owner
11/27/2019 at 14:59

Haha well my plan is to earn some good will for a few months, pay my rent, maybe do some cleaning around the property, and be a good tenant. And then try to start my junkyard collection, move the other broken miata there so that I can pull the engine. Do more work on the good miata. Part out what is left of the trash heap. But for now at least I can have both cars at home and do any work I want. I will be much closer to the hobby shop I use though too so itll be easy to go there when I want to use a lift or need some tools. The hill from the ocean to the house though is a solid 1500 foot climb in 2 miles with sheer drop offs and no guard rails so I better have working brakes any time I go down it! It is freshly paved though so its actually a fun road.

slipperysallylikespenguins > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
11/27/2019 at 15:01

Congrats, every time I’m near LA I hit up those roads. Very jealous you get to drive them every day.

superdave847 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
11/27/2019 at 15:03

Damn this is dope. I used to motorcycle there and camp on the beach

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > CompactLuxuryFan
11/27/2019 at 15:05

The miata is a bit cheaper per tank at $40 versus $50 generally. But its also much smaller of a tank and doesnt actually get that much better mileage (25 versus 20 around town). But yeah I never really think about it much since driving is life as far as im concerned so spending money on gas is as important as paying rent or buying groceries, if not moreso. It will absolutely be nice to not feel like im wasting it on commuting alone though!

I do live with my girlfriend but she is moving to Amsterdam for work. And Im kinda in limbo for now, waiting it out to see if she wants to stay over there or come back some day. I’ll be traveling there a ton next year but when im home at least my commute will be short and home will be beautiful.

What part of it is a nightmare?

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > slipperysallylikespenguins
11/27/2019 at 15:13

Well I already do drive them every day but it kinda gets tiring to do an hour each way of it every day. Especially in the winter when its just dark so I dont even get to see anything and its like 30 degrees in some of the canyons. And thats an hour with going about 70 at all possible times and not getting stuck behind a dump truck for a half hour of it. Now I just get the best highlights of it and can just go drive further if Im feeling it rather than being required to just to get home and eat dinner.

M.T. Blake > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
11/27/2019 at 15:15

You get to host the next get together and take everyone on a drive since you’ll be the local.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > superdave847
11/27/2019 at 15:15

its crazy how expensive camping is at the beach on the PCH. Like $50 a night for a patch of dirt with no fresh water ! Yeah a scenic patch of dirt but come on, I usually call $20+ a night pricey even if it has flush toilets and nobody else in the whole campground.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > M.T. Blake
11/27/2019 at 15:17

Already planning on it! Nice bbq pit in the backyard with the same view as the google street view I posted. Definitely a good spot for a post cruise lunch.

CompactLuxuryFan > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
11/27/2019 at 15:19

Living out in the middle of nowhere is my nightmare, and possibly the renting a room part but that can also be awesome. I just don’t like feeling so disconnected from humanity tbh Always been a city guy. Since I’ve also generally shied away from inconvenient commutes, I end up living and working in the city.

slipperysallylikespenguins > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
11/27/2019 at 15:28

That sounds good. This was last time I was down there. I would love to live there if it wasn’t California.

Kinja'd!!!

Nom De Plume > slipperysallylikespenguins
11/27/2019 at 15:43

I would love to live there if it wasn’t California.

Harsh truth exposed.

I would love to live there if the rest of California self quarantined in Colorado where they could more easily be contained on all sides. Just so as long as their filth was kept out of the Colorado River water supply since it’s natural course would be restored.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > CompactLuxuryFan
11/27/2019 at 15:50

I figure I am my best self when im out camping and enjoying nature, its only bound to be better to live basically there. I cant stand city life, it just bothers me. Where im at now in the valley is suburban enough to work for me but theres always complications of living like that. I have to pay $60 per month per car to park at home, I have people living below and around me, and I still cant just walk to wherever to eat or get around. Moving out to the country is conveniently closer to work but also just peaceful. Im still only like 20 minutes from a real town with walmarts and every imagineable fast food and other stores so its fine. The best part is no damn traffic. The only traffic I will hit is summer beach traffic (not that bad way out that far away from LA) and car commercials filming at mugu rock (at least a once per month disruption ive seen).

Renting a room could be sketchy, idk never done it. I figure its like airbnb but all the time. Only thing is the landlord seems very chill and its a very nice house. So I will definitely put up with it since I have a private bathroom, a decent sized room, and a private balcony the size of my entire apartment right now. And in the end, its month to month with a minimal security deposit so I can leave any time if it bothers me eventually. Ive never lived away from a city this much so its going to be a new experience.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > slipperysallylikespenguins
11/27/2019 at 15:55

The “this place is awesome to visit” vibe hasnt worn off on me after two years so I find it pretty alright. Id hate to be involved in politics anywhere but here probably seems especially unfun . I dont concern myself with any of it though. The pecularities of smog law are about my only direct problems but I dont have any aspirations of LS swapping my miata (although there are CARB legal methods for that). Its just expensive I suppose but ive never lived in a cheap place to be able to compare.

slipperysallylikespenguins > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
11/27/2019 at 16:07

The tax happy politicians are all the same from Seattle to LA, that’ s just the West Coast and I’ve come to accept it . I like my old cars, guns, and lack of wildfires. California seems to have a problem with all of those. Luckily Washington is actually discontinuing its emission program as of Jan 1st. so that is one less thing for me to deal with.

If the state ever split I would move to Crescent City in a heartbeat.

M.T. Blake > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
11/27/2019 at 16:51

Nice!!! Epic view.

Cash Rewards > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
11/27/2019 at 17:31

We all need to go pro our commutes. Mine will be voted Most Suck

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Cash Rewards
11/27/2019 at 18:33

Ive already done that:

Will be nice to just do from 47:30 to the end now instead!

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Cash Rewards
11/27/2019 at 18:45

I cross the Golden Gate Bridge, which can be pretty in the morning. I hate going to the city though.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
11/27/2019 at 18:47

Yeah gas adds up, I got a gas card but I’m skeptical how many rewards you can actually get. I got an Acura TSX wagon and I can go all week on a tank, premium of course so a bi t higher than my previous Honda.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
11/27/2019 at 18:54

I bet its pretty while going 3mph the whole way, watching bicycles fly past lol

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
11/27/2019 at 19:03

I think its annoying how few gas stations actually report as gas stations for the rewards cards. Grocery store gas stations are the absolute cheapest stations and thats before factoring in rewards for shopping there. Before rewards they are a solid 5-10 cents cheaper than even Arco. But then Arco I also cant use the rewards card since they are debit only plus fees anyways. And then the stations that do actually report as gas are easily 10-20 cents more than Arco. So I am paying a 15-30 cent premium just to use my rewards card. I could fix this by going to costco but my rewards card is an amex so im screwed there. And its not like I want to wait on those lines anyways. But its not worth it to me to pay extra to get rewards. Meanwhile I can use gasbuddy to flat rate save 20 cents a gallon on 40 gallons, and 5 cents per gallon infinite every month, including at the grocery store. And with grocery rewards saving me 10 cents/gallon per $100 spent (along with bonuses making it not quite $100 to get there), im easily saving 40 cents on a gallon for a couple fill ups per month.

I still use the amex on gas if im traveling outside the home area since then its usually normal stations. But its also usually 50+ cents higher than home anyways since im going to the middle of nowhere usually. I just wish grocery store gas stations counted as fuel. Or even counted as grcoeries, i get the same bonus for that. So instead it just counts as nothing!

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
11/27/2019 at 19:40

Yeah it’s a labyrinth, which they do on purpose. The Amazon card is the only one I know gives me money back.

Cash Rewards > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
11/27/2019 at 20:39

I commute on the dc beltway. Should be 35 minutes, usually an hour, sometimes hour and a half