Advice For Living Out Of Car?

Okay, I know this. I loved out of a car for a year and a half.

Park and rides are the best places to sleep, they are public property and one reason they exist is for drunk people to not drunk drive. Cops will still kick you out but wont arrest you and nobody will press charges. Find a few on the interstate to rotate between.

Storing food is inconsistent so eating out of the dollar tree always is good. Obviously chips and canned foods can store well.

During the cold a thermal sleeping bag will be a life saver but during the extreme heat there really isnt much to be done. Whatever you do please dont run your car with the heater on at night be cause that can kill you.

Get a gym membership for showering and a PO Box for mail and a temporary address. Starbucks is a great place to be in the day of you have a laptop, I ordered the green tea since it was cheap and made me a paying customer.

This is all I can think of off the top if my head besides be careful and remember living like this will leave a permanent impact on you si take care of yourself mentally

Dont sit in the driver's seat. Then you dont look like you are a suspicious loiterer, you look like someone left behind waiting for someone. Plus if you are drunk it will be harder to prove you had any intent in driving but regardless do not drink in winter you lose body heat even if it makes you feel warmer.

Winter face the windows toward the sun for passive heating. Summer face the car away from the sun and use sun shades. This is passive solar heating and cooling. For winter you want large canisters or jugs of water with a little vinegar in it to prevent mold, these should be black or otherwise dark in color, this is to be used as a passive heating where you store sunlight heat into the water, this is a trick used for greenhouses. Make sure there is some room for expansion from heat so dont fill entirely with water or put a balloon on the cap tied on maybe if it wont risk falling over, this is just a precaution against it bursting the lid off if it builds up enough heat. If the car has black seats have some white covers over them in summer so they dont get so hot.

Before modern A/C classic cars had straight up swamp coolers. So if you want to save on power you can try and make a car swamp cooler. It's just rags, air flow and water and a container to hold the water. Only works in dry climates though.

Sardines provide calcium and keep well. Dont over eat them since a lot of salt in them. Bakeries and donut shops sometimes let you take stuff for free instead of them throwing it out and often just a little stale.

Wear sunscreen or keep your skin covered. Car windows usually do not have filters for blocking UV light so you could easily get sunburned.

If you have it wearing wool, linen, silk, hemp. These all have antimicrobial properties and are good at keeping you warm and cool yes you can wear wool in summer in fact it's how most men dressed in the past. I've found polyester smells awful when it gets sweaty plus it has all these microplastics.

Is your car petroleum or diesel?


I heard Walmarts arent ideal. While many do allow RVs to park and stuff the stores tend to be stolen from a lot so some management are hostile or wary to people and have security guards. A Home Depot or Lowes may be better bet or if having a gym membership then a parking lot of a 24 hour gym maybe ? @Nette does this sound right? The home improvement stores have donated in efforts against homelessness so it would look bad if they were hostile to homeless people, right?

@traed

I was recommended Walmart by the local sheriffs and the police did bother me every time I was there but didn't ask me to leave. The big walmarts with huge parking lots have alot of back parking spaces that are out of the way. Most of the time I slept at park and rides though.

@Nette
Well my logic is not just the management but the "customers". My logic is people will more likely steal your stuff at a Walmart because the kind of things they carry in store. They may see stealing from a car loaded with stuff safer than shoplifting if opportunity arises. Home Depot and Lowes people shoplift from for chemicals and wiring so they will probably leave someone's car alone.

@traed

I only slept in one and left in the morning, people aren't likely to try and steal stuff from a locked car with the owner inside it. No people are just more likely to set off fire crackers by your car or bash your door because they got nothing better to do but that happens wherever you sleep. Keep it locked since junkies just wander and attempt to open doors.

Okay, I know this. I loved out of a car for a year and a half.

Park and rides are the best places to sleep, they are public property and one reason they exist is for drunk people to not drunk drive. Cops will still kick you out but wont arrest you and nobody will press charges. Find a few on the interstate to rotate between.

Storing food is inconsistent so eating out of the dollar tree always is good. Obviously chips and canned foods can store well.

During the cold a thermal sleeping bag will be a life saver but during the extreme heat there really isnt much to be done. Whatever you do please dont run your car with the heater on at night be cause that can kill you.

Get a gym membership for showering and a PO Box for mail and a temporary address. Starbucks is a great place to be in the day of you have a laptop, I ordered the green tea since it was cheap and made me a paying customer.

This is all I can think of off the top if my head besides be careful and remember living like this will leave a permanent impact on you si take care of yourself mentally

Never done that before, but I would probably park at some wind-protected place near a calm river section with drinking water quality, to have free water for drinking and cleaning. Temperatures around rivers are more constant throughout the day and year (less hot during heat and less cold during frost periods).

Food-wise I would buy lots of peeled sunflower seeds (preferably roasted and salted) because they are cheap, last for a long time, taste good, have healthy fats, proteins and dietary fiber.

@Zarutaku Can't you buy the sunflower seeds that they use as bird food?