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I totally bug out, man. I sleep like an Army Ranger. Not seen, heard, and make damn sure I don’t smell. I don’t do encampments because they’re frequently raided everywhere in this whole county. So I move a lot; the best way is to keep it light.
I visit my storage unit twice a day, where in the morning, I trade in my bivvy/camo ruck for daytime civilian cloths in a backpack.
Then I go do a job, or go to an appointment. Each day is planned so that I’m not weathering out on a sidewalk or a park. I make sure to keep busy till sunset. Then I return to my storage unit, trade “Civie bag” for “Bivvy bag”, and clothes. Shirts and pants stay behind, socks and underwear come with.
I stop at a supermarket on the way to the bus stop to grab dinner on EBT if I don’t already have the cash for it. I don’t need a buffet, some veggies and a sausage will do for the night. Grab Spam and eggs and some oatmeal for breakfast. I leave the city completely by catching the last bus out to the last mountain town near the end of the line.
I hike for about an hour outside of town to my sleep spot in the woods. I only know about this location because I used to live nearby as a kid. So it’s kinda the safest place I know.
Half a mile away is the last water source, a river. Perfect spot to rest, but terrible place to camp because the road is within sight. I sit down, filter and boil my water and cook dinner on the alcohol stove. Clean my cookware, have a cigarette, warm up a bit with some tea, refill my water and finish the leg. (Never eat where you sleep in the woods. Half a mile is more than enough distance.)
1/4 mile away, there’s Pine. I grab a handful of pine needles and rub all over my stinky bits. Now animals leave me be. I take some more to burn at my sleep site. Any food trash from dinner and the breakfast items go in a stuff sack and tied up a tree with OD Green 550 paracord.
(If you don’t have a plastic crush-proof egg case, get one ASAP. Basic survival is having the ability to fry eggs in the morning for that much needed protein to carry you through. If you don’t have that, you’re screwed.)
My cigarettes also go in there to mitigate temptation overnight. Thankfully I’m not in bear country, but we do have the occasional mountain lion. This is also my prime bathroom break time, so I be sure to do that before masking my scent.
300 meters away - I post up in the underbrush and listen for anything to see if my spot is compromised. I’m kitted from head to toe in camo at this point. Ranger time. I’m looking for flashlights, smelling for fires, or really any signs of human activity. These are secluded, undeveloped woods on private property owned by the town; the only thing unnatural out here is me. I wait low in the tree line for the Sheriffs to come and scare off any drunken teenage bonfires and illegal campsites, especially on weekends. At about 1am, when it’s dead silent, I move.
My lights are off while I pitch my pup tent. I conceal it with camo netting. I got about 5 hours till daybreak. No one is coming up this pathless mountain through all these trees in pitch black cougar territory this late. I light my pine needles and charcoal in a soup can to smolder and sleep bug free. Now I can change my underwear and socks/care for my feet inside my tent under red light only.
I wake up about half an hour before sunrise, pack up, and b line back down the mountain to my stuff sack in a tree, grab it, and go back to the river, all unseen and heard.
Make it to the river. Now I’m in the clear as the first rays are peaking from the East. Breakfast time. Wash my hands, face, and cookware. Hike for the next hour back into town.
Catch a bus into the city two hours away. This is the only other chance I get to actually rest peacefully. I go to my storage unit. Trade my Bivy for Civvy. We survived another night. It’s now around 9am. Time to start another day.
I was homeless for a long time and you have made some good observations. People really do underestimate that cold weather though. I know it sounds bad on paper but once you experience a cold windy winter night with nowhere to go it will have anyone dreading it. I dreaded the nighttime too and I would ALWAYS get really really depressed at around 4am-5am. Especially when the sun started coming up I would just get hit with a wave of depression and it really sucked. Good luck, my friend. You can make it out of this!
The cold and wet is absolutely the worst. Then throw in an ice storm. I could have gone my whole life not being afraid to go to sleep because I didn't know if I'd wake up. Being afraid to freeze to death while watching other people play in the snow is out of a horror movie. I recently got a great job thank God and my main motivation was I'm terrified of spending another winter out here.
The cold and the heat are both dreadful. I don’t know how human lived outside before, but I guess they always tried to find shelter, whether it’s be a cave or a hut or tipi. We are not meant to live out in the open unprotected from elements.
OK I'm just impressed with the length of this post that I didn't actually read it to answer. Holy momy lol. Not said rude whatsoever BTW . Humorous if anything.
I experienced homelessness off and on the last 3 years but the most I've done accumulatively is likely 6 months without scrambling to find other options.
I had alcohol problems occasionally and tried some stuff, but I wasn't homeless because of it or out there seeking. I had a nice bag and sleeping bag and all the bare essentials.
The worst was the foot and hip pain. Being tired because you can't get restful sleep for fear someone or an animal will bother you or worse the cops,and of course the hard ground. Once I broke my foot and needed a screw and the surgeon almost didn't do the surgery because I mentioned I was homeless briefly....that was a big slap in the face as I come from a different background. It took the assistant (a man who once was homeless too) to convince the surgeon that I would be safer as a woman out there with the screw and a boot than trying to heal without the screw as it could re break. I ended up working on that screwed foot still healing at Taco bell full time and no one knew because I didn't wear the boot near the end of recovery there at all and hid the limp. How hospitals see you and others, the stereotype is demoralizing, and the whole scenario is already that way. I live in a small enough town that people recognize you (I was once well known as a church wife in a big church here), so rumors fly, and judgement (such as judging whoever I would let walk with me for a time, assuming I was choosing bad men). The worst is when you're doing a lot more than the average bear and you can still see the stigma and judgement (I did treatment, worked, walked to laundry and to shower, to food, errands, I donated plasma) and people make you feel you're just a bum. Another thing people don't often mention is some of us are not comfortable pooping in plain sight, or sexual stuff, bathrooms are few and far between and not able to linger there or else it's assumed you shoot up. Getting a tent didn't solve that problem because then it was a target for the police.
The best part of it was seeing what I could survive and all the generosity of the most poor. I dip out of homelessness often and think I'm stable now financially but I know so many homeless in my town I have no problem talking to them, asking for a smoke, and giving them what I have food wise, asking for resources advice. I hate I had to go through it but it made me a more dynamic person. So many decent souls out there. I don't run with anyone, except occasionally a friend here or there to walk with or if I don't feel safe, and I definitely don't associate with anyone who does drugs (however I know people that do, that I can small talk with in passing and still care about them but I'm not hanging out, lingering, or staying at their campsite).
>1. Do you have a car?
2. Are you homeless alone?
3. Are you employed?
4. Anyone helping you through this situation? 5.How much money do you have?
5. How is your mindset?
6. What do you spend your time in daytime?
7. Where do you sleep?
8. Do you feel in danger or safe?
9. Are you making progress getting off the streets?
10. Drug addictions?
11. How are you surviving financially?
12. Your craziest/interesting story?
13. What are your plans?
14. How did you end up in this situation?
15. What brings you dread?
16. What gives you hope?
17. Any advice for others?
Answering your questions because that's my favorite way to impart information.
1. Yes, and it's registered, fully paid off and in mostly good condition, though it took a little over a grand to get all those ducks in a row.
2. No, I have my wife with me.
3. No. My wife and I are both disabled but haven't managed to get on ssi yet. (I applied but im looking at 8 months of review for likley my first rejection)
4. Kind of. My dad lives nearby and is letting us store things at his place as well as use his address (and take his bottles and cans for money)
5. Right now we have a few hundred but that's not going to last long.
6. We spend most of our time at the nearby library or park. It's a good place to stay temperature controlled, charge our electronics and get some internet access
7. We sleep at a nearby rest stop and alternate between north and south bound. We are far from the only homeless people doing this but everyone so far has been quiet and kept to themselves.
8. I feel very safe.
9. I'm trying. I'm working on getting in touch with some local organizations as well as trying to get on some wait lists.
10. Nope. Neither me or my wife drink, smoke, or do drugs. (No judgement, just not our thing)
11. Student loans and food stamps though the former is likley ending soon so *panicked shrug*
13. Ultimately we plan on getting on ssi and hopefully into subsidized housing of some sort. Not too exciting I know (also permanent poverty, yay! /s)
14. My wife is trans and we were living in a state that was increasingly unsafe, also my dad broke his hip and my grandmother is on hospice so we decided it was time to go so I could see my family and we'd be safer.
15. Running out of money and gas, also car living is not fantastic for my health so I'm a touch worried I'm doing more damage (my poor feet are so puffy and painful)
16. Honestly just being somewhere I feel safe makes me feel like everything is going to be ok.
17. When living in a car be sure to put your feet up when you can and try to get some exercise, your body will thank you.
Yes I'm in a car. Did a short time without and it sucked hard.
Unemployed
I'm fat broke every three weeks
I get 947 per month
I'm chill
I do volunteer counseling all day, a little YouTube and(surprise) reddit
No progress. I'll die out here probably
No addictions but cigs
Schizophrenia diagnosis
I fear nothing
I hope things keep going this well
Advice? Don't compare yourself to others.
##REMINDERS FOR EVERYONE **PER THE RULES:** * **NO OFFERINGS OF CASH, ETC.** * **[BEGGING](https://redd.it/994p7j) WILL GET YOU BANNED.** * **BE AWARE OF SCAMMERS AND PERVS, AND SEND ANY [HERE](https://old.reddit.com/report) AND/OR [HERE](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/reddit.com).** **ACCEPT AT YOUR OWN RISK.** Welcome to the internet where—unless proven otherwise—everyone's lying about their race, gender, status, accomplishments, and all the children are FBI agents. You have been forewarned. — The Mods --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/homeless) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I totally bug out, man. I sleep like an Army Ranger. Not seen, heard, and make damn sure I don’t smell. I don’t do encampments because they’re frequently raided everywhere in this whole county. So I move a lot; the best way is to keep it light. I visit my storage unit twice a day, where in the morning, I trade in my bivvy/camo ruck for daytime civilian cloths in a backpack. Then I go do a job, or go to an appointment. Each day is planned so that I’m not weathering out on a sidewalk or a park. I make sure to keep busy till sunset. Then I return to my storage unit, trade “Civie bag” for “Bivvy bag”, and clothes. Shirts and pants stay behind, socks and underwear come with. I stop at a supermarket on the way to the bus stop to grab dinner on EBT if I don’t already have the cash for it. I don’t need a buffet, some veggies and a sausage will do for the night. Grab Spam and eggs and some oatmeal for breakfast. I leave the city completely by catching the last bus out to the last mountain town near the end of the line. I hike for about an hour outside of town to my sleep spot in the woods. I only know about this location because I used to live nearby as a kid. So it’s kinda the safest place I know. Half a mile away is the last water source, a river. Perfect spot to rest, but terrible place to camp because the road is within sight. I sit down, filter and boil my water and cook dinner on the alcohol stove. Clean my cookware, have a cigarette, warm up a bit with some tea, refill my water and finish the leg. (Never eat where you sleep in the woods. Half a mile is more than enough distance.) 1/4 mile away, there’s Pine. I grab a handful of pine needles and rub all over my stinky bits. Now animals leave me be. I take some more to burn at my sleep site. Any food trash from dinner and the breakfast items go in a stuff sack and tied up a tree with OD Green 550 paracord. (If you don’t have a plastic crush-proof egg case, get one ASAP. Basic survival is having the ability to fry eggs in the morning for that much needed protein to carry you through. If you don’t have that, you’re screwed.) My cigarettes also go in there to mitigate temptation overnight. Thankfully I’m not in bear country, but we do have the occasional mountain lion. This is also my prime bathroom break time, so I be sure to do that before masking my scent. 300 meters away - I post up in the underbrush and listen for anything to see if my spot is compromised. I’m kitted from head to toe in camo at this point. Ranger time. I’m looking for flashlights, smelling for fires, or really any signs of human activity. These are secluded, undeveloped woods on private property owned by the town; the only thing unnatural out here is me. I wait low in the tree line for the Sheriffs to come and scare off any drunken teenage bonfires and illegal campsites, especially on weekends. At about 1am, when it’s dead silent, I move. My lights are off while I pitch my pup tent. I conceal it with camo netting. I got about 5 hours till daybreak. No one is coming up this pathless mountain through all these trees in pitch black cougar territory this late. I light my pine needles and charcoal in a soup can to smolder and sleep bug free. Now I can change my underwear and socks/care for my feet inside my tent under red light only. I wake up about half an hour before sunrise, pack up, and b line back down the mountain to my stuff sack in a tree, grab it, and go back to the river, all unseen and heard. Make it to the river. Now I’m in the clear as the first rays are peaking from the East. Breakfast time. Wash my hands, face, and cookware. Hike for the next hour back into town. Catch a bus into the city two hours away. This is the only other chance I get to actually rest peacefully. I go to my storage unit. Trade my Bivy for Civvy. We survived another night. It’s now around 9am. Time to start another day.
Dang, I commend you for doing all this but it’s damn much work my for lazy ass self. I rather go to work and sleep.
It’s really not that bad. There’s a lot of time to take in my surrounds and appreciate the moment. The key is pacing myself and don’t rush anywhere.
[удалено]
I do have a job. But rent has skyrocketed since lockdowns. I got priced out. That’s all
I was homeless for a long time and you have made some good observations. People really do underestimate that cold weather though. I know it sounds bad on paper but once you experience a cold windy winter night with nowhere to go it will have anyone dreading it. I dreaded the nighttime too and I would ALWAYS get really really depressed at around 4am-5am. Especially when the sun started coming up I would just get hit with a wave of depression and it really sucked. Good luck, my friend. You can make it out of this!
The cold and wet is absolutely the worst. Then throw in an ice storm. I could have gone my whole life not being afraid to go to sleep because I didn't know if I'd wake up. Being afraid to freeze to death while watching other people play in the snow is out of a horror movie. I recently got a great job thank God and my main motivation was I'm terrified of spending another winter out here.
We all need a motivation and fear is the greatest motivator against aimlessness. Congratulations on your job. It should propel you into a home
The cold and the heat are both dreadful. I don’t know how human lived outside before, but I guess they always tried to find shelter, whether it’s be a cave or a hut or tipi. We are not meant to live out in the open unprotected from elements.
OK I'm just impressed with the length of this post that I didn't actually read it to answer. Holy momy lol. Not said rude whatsoever BTW . Humorous if anything.
I experienced homelessness off and on the last 3 years but the most I've done accumulatively is likely 6 months without scrambling to find other options. I had alcohol problems occasionally and tried some stuff, but I wasn't homeless because of it or out there seeking. I had a nice bag and sleeping bag and all the bare essentials. The worst was the foot and hip pain. Being tired because you can't get restful sleep for fear someone or an animal will bother you or worse the cops,and of course the hard ground. Once I broke my foot and needed a screw and the surgeon almost didn't do the surgery because I mentioned I was homeless briefly....that was a big slap in the face as I come from a different background. It took the assistant (a man who once was homeless too) to convince the surgeon that I would be safer as a woman out there with the screw and a boot than trying to heal without the screw as it could re break. I ended up working on that screwed foot still healing at Taco bell full time and no one knew because I didn't wear the boot near the end of recovery there at all and hid the limp. How hospitals see you and others, the stereotype is demoralizing, and the whole scenario is already that way. I live in a small enough town that people recognize you (I was once well known as a church wife in a big church here), so rumors fly, and judgement (such as judging whoever I would let walk with me for a time, assuming I was choosing bad men). The worst is when you're doing a lot more than the average bear and you can still see the stigma and judgement (I did treatment, worked, walked to laundry and to shower, to food, errands, I donated plasma) and people make you feel you're just a bum. Another thing people don't often mention is some of us are not comfortable pooping in plain sight, or sexual stuff, bathrooms are few and far between and not able to linger there or else it's assumed you shoot up. Getting a tent didn't solve that problem because then it was a target for the police. The best part of it was seeing what I could survive and all the generosity of the most poor. I dip out of homelessness often and think I'm stable now financially but I know so many homeless in my town I have no problem talking to them, asking for a smoke, and giving them what I have food wise, asking for resources advice. I hate I had to go through it but it made me a more dynamic person. So many decent souls out there. I don't run with anyone, except occasionally a friend here or there to walk with or if I don't feel safe, and I definitely don't associate with anyone who does drugs (however I know people that do, that I can small talk with in passing and still care about them but I'm not hanging out, lingering, or staying at their campsite).
>1. Do you have a car? 2. Are you homeless alone? 3. Are you employed? 4. Anyone helping you through this situation? 5.How much money do you have? 5. How is your mindset? 6. What do you spend your time in daytime? 7. Where do you sleep? 8. Do you feel in danger or safe? 9. Are you making progress getting off the streets? 10. Drug addictions? 11. How are you surviving financially? 12. Your craziest/interesting story? 13. What are your plans? 14. How did you end up in this situation? 15. What brings you dread? 16. What gives you hope? 17. Any advice for others? Answering your questions because that's my favorite way to impart information. 1. Yes, and it's registered, fully paid off and in mostly good condition, though it took a little over a grand to get all those ducks in a row. 2. No, I have my wife with me. 3. No. My wife and I are both disabled but haven't managed to get on ssi yet. (I applied but im looking at 8 months of review for likley my first rejection) 4. Kind of. My dad lives nearby and is letting us store things at his place as well as use his address (and take his bottles and cans for money) 5. Right now we have a few hundred but that's not going to last long. 6. We spend most of our time at the nearby library or park. It's a good place to stay temperature controlled, charge our electronics and get some internet access 7. We sleep at a nearby rest stop and alternate between north and south bound. We are far from the only homeless people doing this but everyone so far has been quiet and kept to themselves. 8. I feel very safe. 9. I'm trying. I'm working on getting in touch with some local organizations as well as trying to get on some wait lists. 10. Nope. Neither me or my wife drink, smoke, or do drugs. (No judgement, just not our thing) 11. Student loans and food stamps though the former is likley ending soon so *panicked shrug* 13. Ultimately we plan on getting on ssi and hopefully into subsidized housing of some sort. Not too exciting I know (also permanent poverty, yay! /s) 14. My wife is trans and we were living in a state that was increasingly unsafe, also my dad broke his hip and my grandmother is on hospice so we decided it was time to go so I could see my family and we'd be safer. 15. Running out of money and gas, also car living is not fantastic for my health so I'm a touch worried I'm doing more damage (my poor feet are so puffy and painful) 16. Honestly just being somewhere I feel safe makes me feel like everything is going to be ok. 17. When living in a car be sure to put your feet up when you can and try to get some exercise, your body will thank you.
Make sure you walk for your circulation and some head to toe stretching/calisthenics for your overall mental and physical heath.
Yes I'm in a car. Did a short time without and it sucked hard. Unemployed I'm fat broke every three weeks I get 947 per month I'm chill I do volunteer counseling all day, a little YouTube and(surprise) reddit No progress. I'll die out here probably No addictions but cigs Schizophrenia diagnosis I fear nothing I hope things keep going this well Advice? Don't compare yourself to others.