Car-Camping When Holidaying Or Homeless
I have lived, out of my station wagon, for a total of more than 3 years.
Including, 1 year continuously.
I lived well.
If You Are Homeless
If You Cannot Afford A House.
A good reliable car, like a station wagon, that can store everything you need; that you can sleep in comfortably, fully stretched out, not cramped up; can cost about 5% of the price of a house.
If You Cannot Afford A Car
You could share a house.
Or, consider, going back to living with your parents.
Also read my, “Saving Money Without Reducing Quality: Food, Clothes, Shoes, Housing, And Other Necessities”, at:
https://goddess-christianity.blogspot.com/2023/06/saving-money-without-reducing-quality.html
If you are not homeless, car-camping while on holidays, could be fun, as well as valuable experience, for if you ever do become homeless.
How I Lived Out Of My Car
1: A Car To Sleep In Comfortably
I bought a station wagon, so I could sleep comfortably, fully stretched out, not cramped up.
2: Travel Light – Only Take What You Need – So You Do Not Look Like You Are Living Out Of Your Car
The minimum I kept in my station wagon was:
Plenty of food and water.
Clothes and shoes.
Sun shade or cap.
Large cotton towels.
Paper towels.
Sodium bicarbonate.
Scented, vegetable oil soap.
Buckets and plastic bags.
A small, water filter jug.
Mosquito repellent.
Aloe Vera leaves for sunburn.
All this fitted in about half of the back seat and floor of my station wagon.
I also took pens and paper; a mobile phone, a notebook computer with a car cigarette-lighter outlet charger [be careful not to flatten your car battery]; a debit card for withdrawing money from banks; and, a spare full tyre, oil, and coolant.
My car was insured.
I was a member of a state motorists’ organisation that has reciprocal rights in other states.
3: Security
I kept a mobile flip-phone in my pocket.
Did not park, in isolated places.
Slept with one key in the ignition and another in my pocket.
Always parked, so I had at least two ways of driving out.
One without backing or turning.
Since I slept in my car, I have everything in my car and do not need to pack.
Even if you only have to leave, without packing, once in a lifetime it is still worth being prepared.
If anyone looks, or behaves, strangely move on to a safe place.
During long trips, in isolated places, you can fill up your car at a 24 hour petrol station.
And, then stay overnight in the car park.
4: Deodorising
Keeping bags of scented, vegetable oil soaps, in your car, can deodorise your car.
Sodium bicarbonate is a very good under-arm deodorant.
And, mouthwash for bad breath, unless you are on a low sodium salt diet.
Sodium bicarbonate can also deodorise clothes and shoes.
5: Buckets And Plastic Bags
Buckets can be used to wash clothes in and to store things.
Buckets can be used to store fruit, and anything else, that might leak onto the car seat or floor.
Plastic bags can be used to store clothes, papers and other things.
And, to store rubbish until you get home or to a major town.
6: Sleeping
Sleep in your car and you are safely out of the wind and the rain.
You have no need to unpack and repack your car.
And, in an emergency, you can drive off as if you were just leaving anyway.
Take some clothes you can sleep in.
Such as cotton jeans and cotton or wool T-shirts and sweaters.
Warm cotton or wool socks.
And, some large cotton towels that can double as sheets, blankets, and pillows.
7: Where To Stay
If you live in a cold climate, consider moving to a warmer climate, at least for the winter.
Being, in another state, can also make you look more like a tourist than homeless.
Free places are getting rarer but they still exist.
Check local regulations as to what is car-camping and what is car-parking.
In parts of Australia, if you are sleeping in your car; and, have everything inside your car; and, do not have anything outside your car; then, you could be legally parking and not illegally camping.
Surf beaches.
State and national parks.
Some are free.
In Australia, almost anywhere along the Murray River.
Festivals can be good places to stay for a few days to a week or more.
The price of the ticket can be cheaper than staying at a caravan park.
Highway rest stops, if staying one night.
Do not park in places which can flood; or, where a gum tree is aiming to fall or drop a branch.
8: Entertainment
Many towns have tourist information centres.
And, check the notices along highways and in shop windows, as well as the internet, for festivals, and other attractions.
9: A Healthy Diet
For a healthy diet, I include:
1: Fresh, raw fruit;
2: Fresh, raw vegetables, including some green, leafy vegetables;
3: Nuts and peanuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, rolled oats, potatoes, lentils, mung beans;
4: Low-fat Cow’s milk, low-fat cheese, low-fat yoghurt, [very few people can be healthy, long-term, Vegans];
5: Seaweed, for trace elements in a natural food form.
Asian and Indian Groceries are some of the cheapest places to buy these foods.
10: Food And Drink – No Need To Cook
Food
My diet is based on raw fruit; nuts and peanuts; some vegetables; and, low-fat Cow’s milk.
Raw fruit; nuts and peanuts; some vegetables; do not need any cooking or other preparation; and, there is little or no cleaning up afterwards.
Similarly, with Cow’s milk, cheese, yoghurt; rolled oats; bottled fruit juice and drinking water.
Storing Food
Even in hot cars, in hot weather, food and drink, can be stored by placing them on the back seat floor, of your car, and covering them with towels and clothes.
Nuts, peanuts, rolled oats, can keep fresh in air-tight containers.
Fruit and vegetables can be kept in buckets, so they do not leak and mess up your car.
Cow’s milk can be kept cool for a few days.
Yoghurt and cheese keep longer than Cow’s milk.
Water
Bottled fruit juice can be used instead of drinking water.
Drinking water can be stored in empty fruit juice bottles.
Some water in country areas needs to be sterilised by boiling.
And, perhaps filtered.
11: Clothes and Shoes
Simple, durable, comfortable, practical clothes, that wash and dry easily.
Cotton T-shirts, sweaters, jeans, shorts, sun shade, or cap.
A warm, water-proof coat.
One set of easy-care more dress-up clothes, such as a cotton dress; or even just a jacket that can be worn with and dress-up anything else.
Water-proof shoes.
Practical and easier to keep clean.
Washing Clothes
You can use sodium bicarbonate or vegetable oil soap in a bucket of water.
Then rinse in a second bucket of water.
Drying Clothes
If the forecast temperature is less than 20°C clothes might not dry.
So wash them on another day.
On hot days, clothes dry quickly if spread out on the bonnet of a hot car.
On very hot days you can wear them to dry them and cool yourself.
Otherwise, just spread them over non-toxic shrubs or trees, in the sunshine, to dry.
Deodorising Shoes
To prevent smelly shoes, have three pairs and rotate them.
To deodorise shoes, dust with sodium bicarbonate.
Sunshine can also be a good deodoriser.
With running shoes, you can walk, in seawater, for 15 minutes with them on.
12: Washing Yourself
In hot weather, go for a swim.
In cold weather, sometimes you can just wash under your arms.
Or, wash and dry, from the waist up.
Put on a clean top.
Then wash and dry, below the waist.
I used to dry myself with a few paper towels.
Paper towels can also be used as handkerchiefs.
Since 2007, I have kept my body clean by fasting, and so only need to wash my hands and feet.
Goddess Christianity - The Holy Spirit Is Female
You can download my, "Goddess Christianity - The Holy Spirit Is Female", PDF from:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Kz9OF6s3CzRD4ZyBGgfzpoakcSVKZbEF/view
My, “How Jesus Healed People – And How You Can Too – A Scientific Explanation”, PDF from:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EOwdUgAZuyGQi6ZfiZlYL-BxA9xfOtz2/view
My Free Ebook, to Download or Read Online, “How Jesus Healed People A Scientific Explanation”, from:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/503785
And, my Vegetarian Information Center PDFs from:
https://VegetarianInformation.com
Including, “Humane, Sustainable, Healthy Commercial Cow’s Milk, Sheep’s Wool, And Hen’s Eggs; From Free-Range, Cattle, Sheep, And Poultry, Treated As Pets”.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pQRjqK7Df5f9NGRQA81M_W5w_hQXJvDP/view
