Say goodbye to extra paper!!!!

I knew there would be some logistical complications when becoming nomadic. Mail wasn’t my biggest concern – I haven’t thought enough of it to forward my mail from the other 349834038 places I have lived. But it was something to consider.

When I was moving out of my apartment, I was stuck between what to do with my mail.

Mail isn’t that important to me. Because of the awesomeness of the interwebs, I don’t get bills in the mail. Everything I receive is personal, packages of things I bought, or the occasional item like debit cards or my driver’s license (after losing it).

I was stuck between forwarding everything to my parents or using a virtual post office, like Virtual Post or Earth Class Mail. I didn’t really consider a P.O box – the post office won’t accept packages from UPS or Fed EX, and I can’t have things like debit cards or passports mailed there.

Technically, my parents are my permanent address, it’s just easier.  Until I recently lost my Arkansas license, and ended up getting a Virginia license, my license featured their address. That is also where my car is registered. My mom ends up doing a lot of things for me like trying to talk the Arkansas DMV into giving her my driver’s license and renewing my car registration. I don’t want her to have to do more. And they live in a town called Weiner. Even Jay Leno has made fun of the name (because of a headline “Flu Shots in Weiner”).

I went with Virtual Post. I can control my ‘real’ mail very similar to email. Score!

I have an address in California. It is very simple to manage. When I get mail, it is scanned in to the Virtual Post system. I get an email announcing “You have 1 new mail in mailbox #5147!”. The email shows a picture of the scanned envelope.

From there I simply log in and decide what I want to do with my mail. I choose between having it stored, opened and scanned, forwarded, recycled, or shredded. Virtual Post will mail, Fedex, or UPS something to me all over the world. It couldn’t be easier.

Friends keep asking if I’m worried about people going through my mail. And I’m not. Again, I don’t get anything that important. Any potential downside is trounced by not having to deal with paper. AND being able to forward all my 49834038 addresses to 1 place. I am so excited about this, I wish I would have done it before I stopped having a real home.

As I get further into living like a vagabond, I know I will come up against other, more complicated logistical issues – what are you interested in hearing about?

In the meantime, if you are interested in learning more about the logistics of nomadic living check out Life Nomadic and The Tiniest Mansion by Tynan. They are both short, simple, and thorough.

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