Sudden unemployment can really help you think creatively. The OC Register has a profile of a guy who lost his condo after being laid off from his 6-figure corporate development job — and is now living out of his leased BMW and a storage unit — and using his rewards points to survive.

“I’m not going to claim I was cheated out of my house,” Kennedy says several times. “I didn’t pay my mortgage.”

Now the former frequent flier from his days working in IT and finance is living off those rewards – airline loyalty programs and hotel points. His clothes and everyday supplies packed into his leased BMW, the single Kennedy stays a few nights here, a few nights there, always running the numbers of how many points he will use and trying to stick to a self-imposed $5-a-day food budget.

His life is up in the air.

“I’m on hold but time keeps going. That part’s frustrating,” Kennedy said. “I should be in major-dollar earning years and I am losing major-dollar earning years, which I will not get back. That part is frustrating and a little scary.”

This week, Kennedy is at the Holiday Inn Express in San Clemente, where he converted his United Airlines miles. He brought down the 7,000-points a night cost to 5,000 by adding $100 for his four-night stay, so it costs him $25 a night. But there’s an added benefit because he can expand his food budget with the free breakfast. It’s also convenient, as he can drive up the 5 Freeway to get his mail at the Mailboxes Plus in Irvine – he has a post office box because he has no address. It’s here he gets his unemployment checks, which he and 147,000 other jobless people in Orange County are using for survival.

He seems to be keeping a positive attitude and isn’t giving up. We wish him luck!

Homeless man lives off hotel points from former life [OC Register] (Thanks, kimdog!)

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