Review: Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom

Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom by Ken Ilgunas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I chose to read this book because it sounded like an interesting story of a young man who decides to live in a van. Given a short look at the book description and subtitle, it seemed this also would discuss getting out of debt. This seemed to be a very practical direction for a book like this to take, as opposed to another tact, a philosophical review of living in a vehicle. That word “Walden” in the title suggested this might be more philosophical and less practical, but the descriptions seemed to lean toward a practical memoir. Approaching the book this way, I was not looking for wisdom, I was just looking for a good story by a young author. That’s what I got. I’ve noticed reviews that pillory the author for being a self-centered person, finding fault with every one he meets. I saw some of that, but I believe that that is how many young people think. In talking to my nephews, of a similar age to the author, I see the same attempts to “figure out” people and situations, often from a self-centered perspective, and often ending with self-satisfaction in the analysis. That’s what I found here, albeit with an interesting story about the author’s jobs in Alaska, none of which involved a van. In fact, beside a short introductory anecdote, the author doesn’t live in a van until the last third of the book. This didn’t end up being about living in a van.

Instead, this is about an almost paranoid response to having debt. The author frets about his (and his friend’s) student loan debt throughout the book. He decides early on to eliminate his debt as quickly as possible and to not take on more debt for continuing education. He does this through cheap living, low-wage jobs, and a rapid debt repayment schedule. By the time the author decides to return to school and live in a van, he has saved enough to only need free housing for a semester, which is where that van comes in. But of course, the van isn’t free, so the reader wonders if living with roommates would have been as inexpensive. The author ends up writing an article about his van living arrangements, and seems to decide he needs to keep the van despite having the resources to rent his own place. This is an odd choice, not well explained, but I suspect he had decided to write a book about his experiences around that time. Another thing that I was looking for but never found was a discussion about taking on debt for home buying. The author never discusses this, but he seems so opposed to the idea of debt that he will never hold a mortgage.

As a story about a young college graduate rapidly eliminating debt while working interesting jobs, many outdoors and in Alaska, this is a very good story. It’s also interesting in a voyeuristic way to see the lengths the author goes through to avoid spending money. I wouldn’t approach the book expecting great wisdom, though, or a commonly repeatable tightwad-like lifestyle. This seems quite extreme and, in the end, kind of silly.


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