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I moved out of my mum's basement to live in my car – it's helped me save £45k in six months because I work in here too

I moved out of my mum's basement to live in my car – it's helped me save £45k in six months because I work in here too

The Sun04-05-2025

A MAN has revealed how he ditched his parent's house to live in a car instead.
Michael Hickey, from the US, took to social media to reveal he was spreading his wings to make his own way in life.
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The 24-year-old revealed he had moved out of his mum's basement as he was 'too old' to be doing that anymore and decided to live in his tiny car.
While living in the tiny car, he also took on a job as delivery man, meaning he works, lives and sleeps in the tiny space.
He used a large sleeping bag to keep himself warm and had a fan to cool him down.
Taking to TikTok he said: "I'm living in my car trying to save $60,000 in six months.
"It's day 143 and so far I've saved $57,300, (£45,000).
After waking up in his car and taking off his window covers it was time to start work.
"After I take my window covers down and get my car driveable, it's straight to doing deliveries," he explained.
He first went to do an Instacart delivery and he also works for DoorDash and Uber Eats.
Michael revealed he was spending his day constantly working, as well as earning money through social media, so that he could buy himself a tiny home.
He also revealed he planned to buy his mum a new car once he got his tiny home.
*SINGLE USE* Watch as couple living in a tent reveal they've saved thousands
"I've decided for my next money-saving challenge, I'm going to buy my mum a car by DoorDashing every day and living in my car," he added.
"Once I'm done with the tiny home build it's right back to the grind."
The clip posted to his TikTok account @ themichaelhickey has since gone viral with over 7 million views and people were quick to support him in his journey.
The rise of tiny homes
By Jonathan Rolande
Property expert Jonathan Rolande told Fabulous: The reason we are seeing more creative ways of finding a home: super-high property prices and rents. Younger people are remaining in the family home later in life to avoid paying high prices and to save for a deposit. With increasingly busy lives, staying within a larger family group makes sense, chores such as gardening and housework can be shared.
Garages are rarely used for their intended purpose as cars are far more reliable and less prone to rust and so are perfectly happy outside. On the other hand, the amount of property space per person has been shrinking – converting a garage can make great sense.
Things to consider. (the boring stuff)
Usually easier than building from scratch but still a lot to do to turn a garage in to a habitable space.
You'll need to check if you need planning (more likely to be required if the garage is detached).
Building Regulations stipulate many things to make homes safe and secure. Consider
Walls, are they cavity?
Roof height
Windows
How will you get plumbing, electrics and drainage connected
Insulation – it will be cold!
Fire safety
Damp proofing
Also consider if, by converting, you are adding or deducting value from the main home. Garages can add value in busy urban areas where parking is limited.
Another commented: 'doordashing sucks so bad I can barely make it 3 hours a time, 12 hours is insane."
"Commenting so you make money," penned a third.
Meanwhile a fourth said: "Seriously, I showed this to my son. He's 11, but we talk all the time about the importance of working for what you want. You are killing it!! I'm hanging on till I can see the tiny home!!"
"I'm so mad that I didn't think to do this before I had a kid man. I coulda been making so much loot if I just got over my pride,' claimed a fifth.
power to save."

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Primark is selling the perfect summer holiday beach bag- it's waterproof & shoppers can't get enough of the sparkles
Primark is selling the perfect summer holiday beach bag- it's waterproof & shoppers can't get enough of the sparkles

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Primark is selling the perfect summer holiday beach bag- it's waterproof & shoppers can't get enough of the sparkles

Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) PRIMARK has the perfect beach bag for your summer holidays, and shoppers can't get enough of the sparkles. Now that summer is finally upon us, and with temperatures set to ramp up again next week, many of us are likely making plans for trips aboard. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Primark has launched its new summer bag range Credit: Getty 3 The bag is perfect for your summer essentials Credit: TikTok/Primark 3 Shoppers are obsessed with the sparkles Credit: TikTok/Primark And what better way to get yourself excited for summer than treating yourself to a new accessory. Primark is one of the best-loved brands on the high street, and is constantly wowing us with its stylish but affordable fashion. From cute dresses to on-trend work attire, the supermarket fast-fashion range always hits the mark, and its new summer collection is no exception. Posting to their TikTok account, Primark recently shared a clip of a brand its new jelly tote bag being carried by a fashion fan on a pebble beach. "Packed up and beach ready", Primark said. The stylish silver bag is large enough to fit in all your summer essentials, such as a towel and sun cream. It's made from a waterproof material, so it will keep your belongings dry, and its super lightweight. Plus, the bag is just £10, so is perfect for penny pinchers. Primark said: "Add a playful twist to your everyday look with this jelly tote bag. "Made from a flexible, wipe-clean material, it's lightweight yet roomy enough to carry your essentials with ease. I tried Primark's designer 'Farm Rio range' on a size 16 body - I loved their colourful coords for summer "The open top makes grabbing your things quick and fuss-free, while the sturdy twin handles are designed for easy carrying. "Whether you're heading to the beach, the shops or just out and about, this bag brings a hint of fun to your outfit." The lightweight bag is available in store, or via click and collect on the Primark website. And it's already proving popular with fashion fans. Why Primark is great for looking expensive on a budget By Clemmie Feildsend, Fabulous Fashion Editor AS someone who's no stranger to grabbing a last-minute outfit from Primark for a night out, it's about time that celebrities started catching on too. For as long as I've been heading out, Primark has been my go-to for those 'I have nothing to wear' moments, rushing in at the last minute to find something perfect. And I'm definitely not alone - on any Friday or Saturday night, you'll find plenty of shoppers doing the same thing, right before closing time. But no matter what, Primark always delivers. Now, Rita Ora is leading the charge, showing that you can snag a designer-worthy look without spending a fortune at high-end stores. While Rita's not rushing in last minute for a red carpet outfit, she's proving you can achieve the same high-impact style for much less. Looking stunning in her tailored suit alongside her mum Vera, Rita fit right in among the other A-listers dripping in Prada, Dior, and Victoria Beckham - if anything, she looked even better than some of the guests at The Fashion Awards. With Myleene Klass and Roxy Horner already jumping on the Primark bandwagon, I'm sure more stars will be following suit soon enough. Commenting under the TikTok video, one person beamed: "The sparkles!" Another said: "Love!" Shoppers have also been raving about Primark's new statement beaded bags. Not only are there two colourful patterns to choose from, but it's super stylish and will make the perfect holiday accessory. Not only are there two colourful patterns to choose from, but it's super stylish and will make the perfect holiday accessory. Some savvy fashion fans noticed that the bag, which went viral in a leopard and cherry print last year, is a dupe for an £88 version in Anthropologie and £285 one in Staud.

Skintight leggings or baggy joggers? What your gymwear says about you
Skintight leggings or baggy joggers? What your gymwear says about you

The Guardian

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  • The Guardian

Skintight leggings or baggy joggers? What your gymwear says about you

Around me, a group of women in skintight gym sets are side planking. Some are wearing full-coverage unitards, others leave slices of midriff bare. No one is wearing a baggy T-shirt from 2008 with a naked Rufus Wainwright on it, and hardened flecks of damp-proof paint. Except me. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. If TikTok is to be believed, my gym-mates must be millennials, born between the early 1980s and the mid-1990s; gen Z would find such skin-tightness a bit retro, or basic, or even 'jurassic fitness'. Another generational schism has opened online – to add to socks, jeans and boundaries – this time over what millennials and gen Z are wearing to work out in. Tight-on-tight outfits supposedly single you out as a millennial – it is 'giving middle school', said one gen Z user witheringly – while gen Z prefers something baggier. Looking around me at pilates and in the park, though, I suspect some of the women wearing a second, seal-like skin are younger than 30. And here I am, days after turning 40 – squarely a millennial – wearing an enormous T-shirt. It is a muddled picture. Kelechi Okafor – at 38, a millennial – is a fitness professional, a former personal trainer and the owner of a pole dance studio. She used to wear tighter clothes to exercise but now wears baggy joggers and tops, in the reverse of what TikTok might have you believe. 'The way that the tailoring is done for a lot of gymwear does not have my body size in mind,' she says. 'There was something liberating about saying: 'Actually, I'm not wearing this any more. I'm going to wear baggy things.'' Michelle Carroll, a 29-year-old (millennial) body image coach and nutritionist based in Edinburgh, who typically wears leggings and a vest or cropped top, says that at her gym: 'Younger people tend to wear brighter, shorter and tighter clothes.' She sees it as 'in part, influenced by 'fitness culture' we see online – it's almost a uniform'. Lauren Crowder, managing director of ELEVEN:ELEVEN Studios in Liverpool city centre, says clients in their 20s and early 30s 'tend to embrace the trend of matching activewear sets – brands such as Adanola, Bo+Tee, or Gymshark are really popular' – whereas clients in their late 30s and up 'generally prefer a more relaxed fit'. Georgie Burke, founder of the Barre Fitness Studio in Bristol, says the younger clients there like 'plain colours, white grip ankle socks and tight vest tops' – what she calls the 'Adanola aesthetic', referencing the British activewear brand that seems to be everywhere now, while the 30-plus crowd opt for 'a print legging but with a looser style top'. Farther afield, in the Canadian city of Guelph, Samantha Brennan, a professor of philosophy and co-author of Fit at Mid-Life: A Feminist Fitness Journey, has also noticed young women wearing beautiful sets – the kind of 'workout bikinis' that some men have been complaining are 'intimidating'. It is not so much that they are tight that Brennan notices – though they probably are – but that they all match. Where she sees the gym as 'a place where you get to take a break from fashion', she says, 'they're wearing things I recognise as outfits, and they're specifically bought for wearing at the gym'. It makes a lot of sense that gym wear is being given as much attention as it is. The gym now has such gravitational pull that for many it is seen as – and this is very much gen Z's sentiment, not mine – 'the new club'. It is a place for socialising and dating; some are calling it 'workout-wooing'. A raft of newer brands, such as Toronto's Literary Sport, founded by creatives Deirdre Matthews and M Bechara, and Los Angeles's set up by former American Apparel employees, may be behind the looser lines, popularising casually-fitting track pants, among other items. Some more longstanding, millennial-coded brands, such as Lululemon, are also now offering baggier fits or 'away-from-body styles', as Lululemon's chief merchandising officer put it. But, given the often hefty price tags, they appear to be aimed at older exercisers, who are generally more able to afford them. Meanwhile, other brands, such as Sweaty Betty, have been explicitly marketing the idea of wearing tighter, skimpier clothes, at least as part of an exercise ensemble, and disregarding body hang-ups: 'Wear the damn shorts' is the tagline from a campaign last year. While the generational divide may feel over-egged, what we wear to exercise reveals a lot about where we are at with body image. Several brands, for example, now do bottoms with 'scrunch' designs at the bum, to accentuate curves, because Kardashian-esque glutes remain idealised. It is a style that unites twentysomething 'TikTok gym girlies' and celebrities such as J-Lo. What you wear to exercise also depends on what exercise you are doing. Reformer pilates – the hyper-expensive and highly engineered full-body workout – makes more sense in cinched styles that won't get stuck in equipment. A jog in the park, less so. Subtle flares are becoming a thing for yoga, but they would be annoying on a treadmill, and a trip hazard on a squash court. There are also other, shall we say, external factors. 'There's a fear of people taking advantage and hypersexualising and dehumanising folks, particularly women, in these spaces,' says Samantha Noelle Sheppard, a Cornell professor who writes about sport. What she often sees is a 'mix of tight and baggy, like really tight shorts' with an oversized shirt, as a way to keep unwanted eyes off bodies not looking to be objectified. Shakaila Forbes-Bell, a fashion psychologist, has been seeing more conversations among gen Z about wearing baggier clothing for the gym tied to 'what is for the male gaze and what is for me'. Again, though, this doesn't have to be generational. Navi Ahluwalia, an editor at fashion and sportswear site Hypebae, is a millennial who typically goes for 'leggings with a baggier top'. While she loves 'the way the tighter gym clothes look', she also hates 'the feeling of people looking at me while I exercise, so I personally don't want to draw any attention to myself – particularly not from creepy men'. I would hazard that most, if not all, women who exercise in public will have had similar thoughts. 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Looking like a 'gym person', then, perhaps particularly for a younger gen Z crowd, comes with cultural capital. It is not the first time gym gear has been loaded with meaning. In an article in 2019, New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino posited athleisure as a uniform that represented the principle of 'optimisation': 'the process of making something, as the dictionary puts it, 'as fully perfect, functional, or effective as possible''. Athleisure, she said, was designed to optimise your appearance at the same time as your performance. But not on everybody. Lululemon founder Chip Wilson made this explicit. 'The definition of a brand is that you're not everything to everybody … You've got to be clear that you don't want certain customers coming in,' he said in a 2013 interview. As Tolentino wrote: 'Athleisure broadcasts your commitment to controlling your body through working out.' You create – if indeed you can and you want to – a body that fits athleisure rather than the athleisure moulding to fit you. Okafor looks back to her days of trying to make ill-fitting, tight gymwear work. No matter 'how high I pull up the waistband, no matter how much I try to shuffle about with the sports bra, it still doesn't look right to me'. Clothes seemed to have been designed in a way that wasn't 'honouring' her shape. 'It's just like: 'Oh, you're not skinny?' It's the thoughtlessness of how these things are made that reinforces that I wasn't being considered.' A host of brands now make exercise clothes constructed with different bodies in mind. Okafor cites Grrrl as one (tagline: 'We make real clothes for real women who simply don't care'). Forbes-Bell says the brand Curvy Kate has created 'sports bras for larger-chested women at more affordable prices', something that has been a battle for her since she was a teenager. And Gymshark is 'creating a lot of more inclusive clothing: size-inclusive, more modest wear as well. For gym clothing, that was very scarce before.' With all the new and improved tight gym gear out there, if younger women in their 20s are still opting for baggier styles, could it be for other reasons? Okafor sees 'all manners of bodies and ages' at her pole studio and thinks that, in general, younger generations are 'giving themselves more space'. Sheppard sees this as a response to our times. Young people 'are living in a period of global crises that make the focus on themselves seem too indulgent … It's like, just put on clothes. We've got bigger problems.' Ultimately, if there is more room for divergence from a workout uniform, then it might have benefits for all generations. 'How many people would probably want to go to the gym and work out if they could wear clothes that didn't make them feel embarrassed?' asks Okafor. 'It's about questioning the motivations,' says Forbes-Bell. 'And I think that's empowering, whether it's baggy or whether it's tight, that idea of: 'Why am I actually wearing this? What am I trying to achieve?''

Lionesses legend Chloe Kelly shows off dance moves with Man Utd star after jetting off on holiday ahead of Euros
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