How I Lived Rent-Free for 5 Months

Summer Seasonal Work in Alaska

From May, I worked a seasonal job for a few months in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Seasonal work is a great way to see the country, spend extended time in beautiful, amazing locations, many in national parks, and save money.

For me personally, I feel it's the only way I've been able to save most of the money I make while living in the US.

If you work a regular 9 to 5 in a city somewhere, you know what I'm talking about. The high rents, the costs of having a car, insurance, gas, health insurance, food. For the average person, these things are going to devour most of your paycheck.

I've been working seasonal for the last 5 years (and on and off over the years at some different short-term situations).

My monthly rent on average, has been $300 or less.

Just think about that, in this day and age, in these times we're living in. I think most people are paying at a minimum $1000 a month, but more likely $1500 per month, and up. In comparison that's money I'm saving each month. Who knows, $1000-1500 a month that's going into my pocket.

And if you work a season for 4,5, or even 6 months, you can do the math on that. And you're living in a place that most people can only afford to visit for a couple days, if at all.

In my opinion, the national parks are the best places in our country. And I'm getting to live in them, and really get to know them.

Many jobs will offer rent-free housing for the season. For the most part, it's going to be a shared room, dormitory style.

For me personally, I can't do that. I have to have my own room, my own space. That's always what I look for when job searching.

I think everyone really wants to have their own space. Even if you like your roommate and you get along great. But if you don't mind sharing for free rent, there's many of those situations available.

And some jobs will offer free space to park your RV for the summer, and free hook-ups. Some will offer your own private living space, completely free. And that was my situation in Alaska.

And the really great thing for this job, I got to live in my own camper. It was my first time getting to try that out, see what it's like. It had running water, a shower, a full range stove. It ran on propane, and the job gave everyone two free tanks, which lasted about a month. You learn how to conserve the propane, take short showers, don't use the oven so much, and you can get through the month on one tank. At our local store it cost about 30 bucks to replace the tanks.

Everyone who works there gets their own camper. The job has about 8 or 9 campers and a tiny house in their camper village for the seasonal employees. The incredible thing as well about the location, it is right next to a salmon stream and a wildlife sanctuary. We were seeing black bears almost every day, eagles every day. In those two months I saw more bears than I've ever seen in the rest of my life.

So the main point is, these situations are out there. Free housing for a few months while you are working certain jobs.

The tour sales job along the docks, working the busy cruise ship season, wasn't really my cup of tea, so after a couple months I ended up putting in my notice. The pay was good, and you do get to work outside. Which is a good thing and a bad thing when you're living in a rainforest. But I'd still recommend it. Great opportunity to experience Ketchikan, see lots of wildlife, see humpback whales, orcas, harbor seals, an absurd number of eagles. The joke is that they are called the "pigeon of Alaska".

And the native Alaskan culture is on display in Ketchikan. The largest collection of Totem poles in the world is in Saxman Totem village, and Totem Bight State Park.

So at the beginning of July I was offered a new job in North Dakota, near Roosevelt National Park. Now sometimes you'll find these situations. A job posting on Coolworks, and they need late season help. They desperately need someone to be there and to finish the season. In this case, early July until the end of September, about 3 months. And they will often sweeten the pot by offering a rent-free place. And sometimes you can maybe negotiate for a higher salary, a higher end-of-season bonus.

At this job, I'm working at one of the employee housing buildings. They offered a full one bedroom apartment, non shared, completely rent-free. It's a nice amount of living space, and a full kitchen. I've really enjoyed being able to cook all my meals here. And a few blocks away there are hiking trails and a bike path. I rented a bike for the entire season for only $50 dollars.

And the job allows me to walk about a mile between the buildings on most days. I love to walk, and I'm getting paid to walk. Not a bad deal. This job suits me more. I work independently. And they leave me alone, just let me do my thing. To me, that's a good job. Just leave me alone and let me do the job. No micromanaging. So I've really appreciated that.

So once again these situations are out there. I got lucky with this one, to have my own full apartment provided, and rent free, is pretty amazing. In this economy we're in, in this era we're in, with people living in their cars, and having roommates to save money.

Or just looking for alternative situations. A way they can reduce living expenses and be able to save more of their paycheck each month. It's pretty awesome to find these situations. Good timing and a little bit of luck worked out for me this year.

The money I save, for not having to pay rent, that's my travel fund. It's going to set me up for the winter, where I'm planning to travel overseas. Most likely to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.

Hope you found this helpful, if you're considering seasonal work. Just wanted to give an idea of some of the possibilities that are out there, in these crazy expensive times we're living in.

If you’d like to watch the Youtube video I made on this topic, here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--XXTRys25c