In short, I’ve been reading up on “living in your car” b/c it’s a matter of time before I’ll have to do that myself – full-time, on my own. I have tons of questions and concerns about the arrangement and how it’s going to work out for me. I figure I’ll just keep reading blogs and stuff.

I chuckled to myself after reading that someone described your living arrangement as a “situation”. Unfortunately, I would have probably said that same stupid thing many, many years ago. But luckily I am slowly but surely moving away from the “educated fool/lackey” paradigm I used to be part of towards a “humbled spirtualist/universalist(non-theistic)” person (which I am learning to be more and more each day).

Anyway, good luck in whatever it is you want to do/achieve – I hope you become that best “person” you can and should be.

DomD.

I agree. If all you need the house for is to sleep then there’s no point in having one. I think the last couple years have pretty well proven that a house should be thought of as a living space and not as an investment. If you’re not living in it and fulling utilizing it, what’s the point? Go with an apartment or a van/car. I wonder if there’ll be a surge in younger people choosing to live in vehicles over the next year or so.

You write interesting posts. Been all the way back to entry one. :) Actually started from yer old blog.

@Joe,
Riverside Cali? All of inland empire is a pretty small (read not much to do) place. Although Riverside is still more fun than the surrounding Redlands, Yucaipa or Loma Linda.

However, go to Barnes and Noble during the day and just read books. You will enjoy. They have some collection! Plus you could have a cup of joe (bad pun), and sit around reading. You could meet other people as well. It’s well air conditioned and no one will be upset if you spend more time there. They want people to spend more time there.

The Coffee Bean also allow free wifi, so you could sit there and surf teh internets.

Good luck.

Second, I tend to ignore people who question other people’s lifestyles.

J

http://adventuresinvoluntarysimplicity.blogspot.com/

Like I said before, I’ve never been a journal type of person but do you have any suggestions about what to write in the posts?

My journal website is http://livinginthecar.livejournal.com

I’ve got no real solution for coolers during the heat. I have a little cooler that plugs into the cigerette lighter, but it’s no real good. After a while, I just give up on having anything stay cold, and buy things as I need/want them.

Things are going alright. I’m struggling to find things to do, plus I live in Riverside, which is constantly over 100 degrees everyday. The temperature makes it unbearable to stay inside the car. I tried to leave the cooler in my car, but since it is so hot, the ice melts too fast. So my solution was keeping it in my storage unit. That way I wont be spending too much money on ice. Right now i’m just constantly bored because I have nothing to do until my school starts. Once school comes around and the temperature cools down, I think things will be easier. I’m pretty committed on doing this and it is saving me a lot of money each month, which is great.

Joe – Sorry I’m not very good with the daily posting! Glad you’ve liked the website. I have a couple new things I’m working on for it too. How’s the car living going for you so far? Have you found ways to make it work?

Luke, glad it went well. Organization definitely comes with time. You might want to check out an article I wrote for the Indie travel podcast a while back with a list of good places to park. I have written a future article about modifications I recommend for making a vehicle livable.

Screens with velcro would definitely solve the ventilation issue, thanks for the tip!

I was like, um.. thanks?

To people I don’t see very often (our volunteers, for example who I see only for a couple hours a couple times a year) I wouldn’t be surprised by this reaction.

I thought it was clear without me having to constantly say that I’m doing living in my car because I want to. In fact, I feel that if you do constantly say that it’s because you’re not doing it because you want to.

Despite my comment about commutes and rent, I totally get why that works for some people. I’m not a vandweller who hates the corporate lifestyle. For the right job I’d go back. It has pluses and minuses just like living in the car does. Right now, this is what I want to be doing, but I have no expectations of doing it forever.

Luke – I don’t really do anything to handle it, actually. Just keep my windows up, but I don’t often stay in really hot muggy places where I’d really want to have a breeze. But I heard of making screens though and it’d be pretty easy. The wonders of Velcro once again. ;) One side around the car windows the other on a piece of screen material, (when I worked in a glass and screen shop we sold it for something like 50 cents a square foot). It’s the sort of thing I’d only want to use if I were in a camp ground, though. Not super stealthy. I’ve heard of people putting vents in the bottom of their vans, but I don’t know how to do that. More construction than I have ability or desire to do.

Good luck tonight! Come back and leave a comment about how it went.

I’m about to start living in a Jeep Grand Cherokee, tonight’s the first night actually, and one issue I can’t quite come up with a solution for is what to do about keeping airflow coming into the vehicle at night but keeping bugs out. How do you handle this, especially when you’re in campgrounds?

Of course, I know why you’re living in your car, so it doesn’t seem crazy to me. And I’m definitely jealous at times (although not enough to give up the lifestyle I have – yet!).

Heather – I’ve never even owned a dog so I’m not the best person to ask. There’s plenty of vandwellers who have dogs (I recommend Hobostripper.com) You should also check out Daniel’s Big Trip. He just finished a big trip around the country with his dog in a station wagon.

My brother has a friend who lived for a short time(I think month or two over the summer) in her compact car with her dog. As I recall she said the biggest issue was what to do with him during the day when she was at work because she couldn’t always take him in with her. If you’re planning on traveling though this wouldn’t really be an issue. I’ll try to get a hold of her and see if she has any tips.

As for your second question about some tips, I’m actually working on an article for the Indie Travel Podcast about this. It’s only about half done, but I think it’s going to end up being my article for next month. The one that’s coming to my mind right now is the importance of both tinting your windows AND making some curtains, at least if you’re planning on living in it for a while. Tinting keeps people from noticing you’re in there and the curtains keep you from being bothered by them. It’s amazing how secluded my car feels when I’ve put the curtains.

I’ll come up with some good ones later.

Elizabeth – Heh. I try to mask it as best I can by thinking of the silver lining. Only 5 months of work a year at a job I like, vast amounts of time to do what I want and money in the bank. It’s tough, but I struggle on.

So I actually have two questions for you, and possible ideas for posts.

If I made this trip, it would be with my dog, my best buddy of the past 8 years. He’s gone on shorter trips (3 hours LA -> San Diego, and 3 days LA -> Seattle) so I know that he is a good passenger. Do you think car living is possible with a pet? I ask because it can be hard to find hotels that even allow animals.

Second question: What are some things to avoid doing or perhaps, what do you wish people had told you before starting out? Things that maybe wouldn’t occur to someone until they started trying car living.

Thanks for a very interesting and well-written blog.