Known for his tech skating, high-end fakie skills and heavy wax usage, the world will soon be able to feast their eyes on some new footage from Stacy Gabriel in Kitsch's soon-to-be-released Bric-A-Brac.

Originally from Kamloops, BC, the 24-year-old partially credits his skills to not be held back by a job or paying rent in the high-priced Metro Vancouver area for about six years. "How the hell did he do that?" was the question that immediately popped into my mind, and it's the subject of this Push.ca Q&A. Stacy had the couch surfing, light wallet lifestyle down to science.

"It's definitely not something everyone can do," he says. "But I liked living that way. Sometimes it was really shitty, but I toughed it out. The most appealing part about that lifestyle was just being able to do what I wanted each day. And once you actually acquire something under those circumstances, like a little money or whatever, it's so much more rewarding because you don't really have anything."

In April 2011 he got his first steady job doing kitchen clean-up and bussing tables at The Ascot in Vancouver, where he has the ability to delegate his shifts to friends when skate trips come up. Stacy also got his first steady apartment this year, and gets sponsorship support from OGIO, Brixton, RVCA, Etnies, Kitsch, Destructo, and Autobahn. Let's go back in time, shall we?

How did couch surfing the great wave begin?
My older brother Sean moved here from Kamloops when he graduated high school. I graduated two years later and he invited me to stay in his spare room so I could keep him company. He let me live there rent and pretty much bill-free for three years. Sean would buy groceries for the both of us and he was basically like a dad [laughs]. It was amazing. I don't think I'd be where I am if I didn't get to stay with him.

Why did you insist on not having a job for so many years?
The whole time I could've got one, but I was so caught up in skating. I couldn't just get a job and leave whenever a trip came up. Next thing I knew, years went by. I've learned so much from living that way, so now I'm not even spending the money I make. I'm just saving it because I know buying most things is so pointless.

How did you manage with little to no spending money in a pricey city?
I didn't really go out at all. Even with the little spending money I did acquire here and there from contests or GST cheques, I could make it last.

I remember you telling me about how you could make $20 last at least a week. How would you go about doing that?
You just spend the least amount of money possible. I would say eating breakfast is key because breakfast food is the cheapest. So I'd fill up on that to keep me going. I'd buy and apple and banana for 50 cents or whatever, and most of the time I probably didn't eat lunch. Then at the end of the day after skating I'd get a 5-dollar sub from Quiznos, dollar-slices, or make some noodles or something. If I was staying with my brother, I'd eat whatever he bought for us.

(keep reading for more of Stacy's thrifty ways)