Lease is up in October and considering a stint of car homelessness to save money and get out of credit card debt I can pay rent but my life goals just don’t feel accomplishable if I do. Right now I work 56 hours a week 7 days a week between 2 jobs, but I was out of work for a year after breaking my leg in an accident, a lady hit me while I was uninsured. I have been without internet and utilities since march, so it won’t be much of an adjustment, if anything I will probably shower more often. I checked /trv/ and here expecting a van life general or discussion but didn’t see one.It’s not the first time I’ve lived in my car, I did it for a year 7 years ago. I know all the basics in the nomad wiki already just from experience and more. It would be nice to hear what anons think about portable batteries and car refrigerators for these purposes since I have some money to invest in my set up.Back then it was real desperation, it was fun at times but also very boring, I lost my mind a bit. This time I guess it will just be the fun parts cooking camp meals and going wherever I want, at least for the night. My car is totaled but it still drives, my goal is to get a vehicle upgrade before I worry about a place to stay. Any van life or car homeless anons lurking?
>>2878680>what anons think about portable batteries and car refrigeratorswaste of money. better use food that doesnt need cooling. also i doubt you can cool 24h in a hot car.food cansbreadenergy barssweetsjunk food
>>2878680i'm planning to do it in the next year. done it in short bursts before. it helped me limit my needs. i think there's a couple things worth noting, which you may already know.1) if you're planning to just stay couped up in your car all day, you will go nuts. i'm doing it to save on rent (save for a cabin and livestock someday), live a minimal life and experience /out/ more. if the environment sucks, you just move to a new state. probably the only situation i could see going for a van over a car for homebodying cause...2) a van ups your expenses by a lot. probably at least double. worse fuel, more to break heavier harder on body. you can do a lot with a prius or a rav4. toyota makes the best hybrids, and it's a perfect system. you can run the car all night for ac/heat/power, and the engine will just turn on to recharge the battery. just know there are 2 batteries in the car and the smaller battery does need to be charged for starting the engine so have a jumper regardless. mine never failed me. the hybrid system lessens wear and tear on brakes (atkinson cycle), engine and other parts. main worry would be catalytic converter thieves and varmints3) you can be like the boomers and snowbird in quartzville arizona (on the border of cali). like a million people go to that place a year. there's also a social media app for car dwellers to meet up on their journeys worth checking out4) i agree with the other anon about the refrigeration. if you're staying in town especially just make the runs to a market. if you're planning on disappearing in national forests for a week or 2, yeah it makes some sense. you could install a solar panel on a roof rack to keep a jackery charged up. some of the newer solar batteries are good for like 6000+ charge cycles so should last for many years before needing replacement.
>>28787155) make sure you have a really solid sleeping bag. the temp rating on bags is bullshit. it translates to, you'll survive at 20 degrees but be miserable the entire night. i use wiggys since they are cheaper for made in the us and the loft doesn't compress. they also have a 2 bag system if it gets really cold. that with a cotton/linen liner to wash so your bag doesn't get disgusting with time.6) the rain guards they sell for vehicles are a god send. they let you crack the window for air without rain getting in.7) roof racks, trailers solar panels, not covering the interior will be an attractant for someone to break in if you're staying in town.8) usually the best method to deal with rodents is killing them with water buckets. just know if you're in an area for prolonged periods you might get one that wants to settle. i've found most scents don't work (i've tried just about everything). i'm now using pure peppermint oil and douse them in moth balls/wool dryer balls. you can put them in the engine overnight but i'd hesitate to leave an oily substance like that when driving.i am in an outside job where we have to kill hundreds of varmints a year so i have a bit of experience here. seen marmonts get stuck and die in peoples radiators, build nests out of shit, eat every wire imaginable, bunnies, chipmunks, mice, pack rats (are the worst).
>>28787179) due to state law and legality of car living, could be a legal nightmare. i'd definitely carry pepper spray (don't use in the car obv). in bear confrontations (for the like 1 a year we have), it has been proven to be as effective as a firearm to stop an attack. i imagine it'd be similar with human attacks. i'm assuming you're a dude, but i usually get one weird guy a year that gets a little testy when out. the rare person becomes an opportunist if police is an hour away.10) forgot to mention this for rodents but most car companies used onions in their wires from around 2010-2015, so avoid those years for the auto makers since it will be an attractant for varmints.11) ordering shit online and residency for jobs can be a nightmare if you don't have a friend that lets you 'claim' residency at their place. you can get a po box for $. i think south dakota you can stay at a hotel for a night, bring the receipt and claim residency there too for license plate/tags.12) most people get a planet fitness membership to shower. i mostly would use a state park, river or baby wipes. i was told my grandpa only used soap for his hair. i realized most the shampoo/conditioner is a bs scam (since it didn't exist a century ago). ironically with sodium lauryl sulfate is that it strips the oils from your head which often makes you feel like you need to reapply it after 1-3 days. it took 3-6 months of not using it for my scalp to normalize. people in the past just used a boar brush to distribute scalp oils to the length of their hair so it was evenly spread.i then just use an apple cider vinegar/water mix to clean my hair. i'll only use shampoo every few months if it's over oiled. curly hair tends to run drier though.13) if you put ACV in a spritzer bottle, you can also use it to clean cookware. white vinegar is cheaper though.14) carry a spare tire, tire inflator, jump starter, fix a flat, and a multitool at least
>>287871915) if you don't want to smell, use natural materials over synthetics. i still carry fleece midlayers or areas that aren't distributing a ton of sweat but try to avoid it for direct to skin applications. wool base layers tend to fall apart too easy, so i try to use hemp/cotton mixes.16) if staying long in the woods carry a water filter. doesn't take up much real estate.17) i'd consider a costco membership. if you're trying to be healthy cheap and buy in bulk, azure standard is also solid. they are like a mobile costco that has a ton of standards for their food. they do 16 wheeler drop offs once a month all over the US. it's a great way to get some bulk non glyphosate laced non gmo lentils and other food in. a local usually arranges the dropoff and you can just contact them.18) you can get about unlimited internet with your phone and hotspotting. i'm currently using visible. it uses verizon which i've found best in rural areas. sometimes the offbrand companies that use one of the major carriers gets deprioritized in cities. i've heard you get a nasty letter if you go over like 400-500 gb a month of data, but i've never tested the limited. it's only like $25 a month when i buy a yearly plan. it's prepaid too so you can always switch without the crazy postpaid contracts.
>>287872019) good luck and remember there is a way to do this that is a lot more social. i go to the library, quartzville when seasonal jobs over, join social clubs where people still go as a third place to meet others and not phone scroll and netflix. i have a more active social life now than i ever had before.i've been doing this off and on since i had family problems at home as a teenager, so i've been in the position where i had no idea what i was doing and didn't realize it was possible longer term cause i believed the societal expectation that i'd be a homeless loser (maybe i am 8P ).the people that also do this are a lot more understanding, but the public thinks you're a drug wheeling homeless fag. it's a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy.20) going back to the 'van life' part. take those videos with a grain of salt since most those people are trust fundies. they don't actually stay in the vehicle. vans are $ and relegated to boomers. i'd even look at a sienna hybrid before that.i get to wake up wherever and see the sun set or rise in the middle of nowhere without having to lose $10k+ a year in scumville. work less, save more, travel, afford to eat well, free summer housing with seasonal work, and the people that i've spoken to that do this are a lot more interesting than standard fare.only con is not having a landwhale ornament to come home to.
>>2878680I bought a big ass freezer/refrigerator because I like cooking. I do all my cooking with toaster ovens/induction burners. Charge from solar. As far as a vehicle upgrade, I highly recommend you get an EV for two reasons. First is the ability to run the A/C all night anywhere legally and without risking carbon monoxide poisoning. Second is the ability to park legally overnight at level 2 chargers. The second one is huge. No more stressing over where to park. I stay mostly on public land, but when I'm traveling through cities, I never have to worry about parking like I did when I was in a camper van. There's also the fact that it's way easier to keep stuff charged even if you don't use solar. You can just charge at EV charging stations then use your car to charge everything including a power bank if you want. I also recommend getting a pop up privacy tent and a battery operated shower. You can just heat up water in a bucket and put your pump in there and it pumps it out of the shower head. I find a couple of gallons is enough to get a decent shower that gets you nice and clean. Also get a toilet, something collapsible. Use it in the privacy tent as well when dispersed camping on public land. Mogs having to stay in an urban area and try to find a gas station or a walmart open early to shit. Back when walmarts were 24/7 it wasn't that bad, but now it's tiresome. I only poop in public when traveling to get to my destination.
>>2878720Hotspots are sometimes extra vs just data alone so it's a good idea to get a phone with displayport alt capability so it can display to a portable monitor. That way you can watch shit on a bigger screen without using hotspot.
>>2878719Neither spray nor a gun are necessary for bears. Just stand your ground. They just bluff charge to test you out and if you don't back down they will run off. Ideally you want to keep a can of that stuff that makes a loud noise in a can. That will scare them off and is legal and doesn't harm the bear. Also the comfiest sleeping is in a tent on a bed platform with memory foam matress and an electric blanket. I use a sleeping bag on top of the blanket but just as another more insulated blanket. Also use a top sheet under the blanket. As long as the mattress is off the ground it will provide all the insulation you need from the bottom. This provides a more natural and unrestricted sleeping feeling than being in a sleeping bag. In the car I find I don't have enough room on either side to drape the blankets evenly so it also feels more restricted as one side is right up against the wall of the car. I only sleep in the car if it is very windy and rainy (just windy, I will get rid of the rain fly and it quiets the tent up enough to sleep) or if I am in an urban area.
>>2878796damn an ev would be crazy that seems pretty legit too, i've never thought about using one to live in. I'll have to look into that what car do you have?
>>2878819I have a chevy bolt EUV. It's workable but not ideal, but it was cheaper than any of the other options at the time I was shopping by a good margin and I love this car to death. One reason it's not ideal is that in park the car will turn itself off after an hour or two. There is no "camping mode" like in a tesla or something that will allow it to stay on. There is a workaround though which involves putting the car into neutral and just using the parking brake. This however is not possible to do when the car is plugged in, it will only let you shift into park when plugged in (probably for good reasons). This makes it annoying for the times I need to sleep while plugged into a level 2. Works fine for the cold, but sucks if it's hot and you need A/C. I usually wake up sweating then turn the car back on and go back to sleep. BTW I should mention another benefit, most of the time I am able to find a completely free level 2 charger to use when parking overnight. It's a huge benefit that drives down my fuel costs. A lot of times they are in very safe government areas too. Chargers in general are typically in wealthier nicer areas of town. Most free chargers these days are connected to a hotel and I don't typically use those because you're not allowed. I also steer clear of ones at dealerships. There are still enough free options outside of that that only in Albuquerque NM have I ever not been able to find a free one. I don't want to get into the specifics of my build because it's pretty unique and would dox me, but suffice it to say I have this shit pimped out better than most RVs. It's heavily modified in a bunch of ways to maximize what I can do with it. I live like a king, far better than I did when I had an actual RV. Maintenance costs are a huge benefit. Basically 0 outside tires until you hit 150k and then it's just a coolant change.
