And so it begins.

[SoulRaven]

Jumping in with both feet here - hope you all don't mind!

I don't quite feel safe sleeping in my car yet. Particularly when I haven't yet figured out how to be anywhere close to stealthy, with obvious Reflectix in every window and laundry hanging around outside. Hey, it's been less than a week, cut me some slack. Even though I'm parked on a relative's vacant property and thus have the stability of a "right to be here" the stockily built neighbors' pit bull puppy raising, drunken parties and the police cruiser's notable surveillance has me on edge.

Still, sleep must happen. I've hardly slept at all the past few nights. Just the night before I'd finally resorted to earplugs after dawn, wary of using them at night for fear I wouldn't hear a break-in attempt and have a chance to react. But the sleep was so much improved, I'd determined to use them last night as I settled in.

Approx. 2:15 am I was woken by a piercing shriek.

I bolted upright and hit my head on the car ceiling as the scream came again. It was close by. I tore out an earplug in a split-second thought to confirm what I was hearing - repeated shrieking that sounded like it was right outside my car.

Only a second had passed since jolting awake and I was already diving for clothes. Figures this would happen the very first night I use heat in the car and end up sleeping nearly naked. I crouched down, clutched something to my chest and pulled aside the Reflectix to peek out.

Wait a minute - no one there.

It was obvious what direction the sound was coming from. It was unmistakeable through the night's rain, loud enough to wake neighbors down the street in any direction. occasionally garbled...but, I realized, too consistent to be human.

SHRIEK SHRIEK SHRIEK - SHRIEK SHRIEK SHRIEK - SHRIEK SHRIEK SHRIEK

I snatched away the Reflectix and searched the night in earnest - and the moment I saw it it all came back to me. The alarm. I'd set off the smoke alarm in the vacant house earlier, and placed it outside to make it shut up. Then forgot about it. And when the rain came...

Oh God - people. People will come. SHIT!

So this thing is shrieking away and I'm now scrambling in a mad panic to find something decent to throw on. Lacking my reasonable faculties, I opted for only my rain jacket, which reaches past my waist, checked carefully for people and decided a mad dash partially clothed was the way to go.

Please tell me living out of a car won't always be this colorful.

Barefoot in the mud I quickly retrieved the digital screaming baby and my only thought was to make it shut up. Fast. Stop attracting attention. The water-logged movement was affecting the sound and it now more closely resembled a dying walrus than a digital source. Shut up, shut up, shut UP. I partially buried it in fabric while scrambling for the battery compartment, bare legs hanging out of the car and...nope, this isn't going to work.

Jumped inside and slammed the door behind me, creating a hurricane of a mess inside my newly organized setup as I did so. STUPID BATTERY COMPARTMENT. I buried it in fabric again while feeling around for a flashlight amidst the newly created chaos surrounding me. Found one. My torn nailbeds screamed bloody murder as I recklessly yanked at the piece of plastic and - at least, the 9 volt battery was exposed and I pulled it out.

Silence.

A moment of relief.

Then shock.

It took me a while to realize I was trembling head to toe, and had remained frozen in a half-seated fetal position for some unknown length of time. As my senses checked back in, I became aware of details such as wearing only one earplug, my rainjacket on bare skin, the wet and chaos around me and I had no idea what objects I was on top of but it was uncomfortable.

Peeking out the windows on every side, I realized no one had come to investigate the noise, and then slowly set about making myself comfortable again.

---------------------​

Morning's observations: my only pair of shoes is soaked right through along with some laundry and my car looks like a tornado happened inside it with a generous lacing of dirt to boot.

I will figure this out.

 

[sassypickins]

ROFLMAO -- Ohhhh, Bitty, you make a wonderful addition to this forum.

 

[cyndi]

Oh Bitty! What a night! I'm glad you're documenting this. You're a great writer and I see a funny book in your future.

A primary rule of car dwelling...sleep in jammies that can double as real clothes in a pinch.

 

[SoulRaven]

Day 2 of round-the-clock efforts to dry my car out.

I hate water.

Two, possibly three different water-logging events occurred. Only one of them was my fault. Which is to say, of course, that only one was a stupid rookie error and the rest I'm clueless about so I'm presuming it's something else's fault. I keep telling myself to stop being such a novice but it doesn't seem to work.

I was bedding down for the evening atop my carefully stacked storage bins of possessions the night after my smoke alarm event when a distinctive CRACK let out beneath me.

Uh oh. Something's broken. Only question is what?

Grabbed the flashlight, my preliminary investigation showed everything intact. I tested the makeshift platform with my weight again. Everything seemed sound. Exhausted and sleep-deprived, I determined to sleep now and for 7 hours hold my peace until the problem presented itself again in the morning.

Waking found me busy patting myself on the back for having the first semi-restful night's sleep in my car. YAY!! I was feeling so confident and good about myself I moved right along to solving more setup issues, like figuring how I could fit a fridge in here to address my unusual food and medication requirements. I developed a plan, got dressed, began pulling stuff out...

And then I saw it.

Double-take.

What the...why is all this water here? Sitting around in the footwells merrily enjoying itself. Water several inches deep. Just there. And obviously having been there a while.

My eyes drifted to locate a source, and settled on my hard plastic water container. Oh no...nearly empty. I picked it up and the rest began gushing out of the generous crack beneath.

The immediate priority was to get the water out. I soon realized this wasn't a sponge job....this was bailing out a boat. No... no no no no no no was all I could keep saying as I thought of how this was NOT my car and cannot allow it to be damaged.

Sooo once I had as much bailed and sopped up as I could, I turned a heater on it and walked away - only to return to another small lake of moisture. The heat made even more water appear for hours.

So now completes day 2 of a heater, paper towels, and airing everything out and it's FINALLY almost dry.

As to the rest of the water...it keeps appearing in the back of the hatch. I keep thinking I've got it taken care of, but inevitably find more the next day. Could be a leak, or could be from one day of leaving the hatch cracked open in a downpour and I just didn't manage a proper clean up with all the rain. Who knows. In any event, the continuous discovery of soaked gear there hasn't been cool.

In other news, today I got the fridge in, after having removed the front passenger seat yesterday. Figured so long as I'm on grid may as well throw in the dorm fridge I've already got. Rebuilt my bed platform without the water container, coming up with my most stable solution yet. I'm pleased.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

Re the car alarm: I have a co detector. When im at work i leave it in the van and sometimes when charging my batteries it goes off...i guess the gasses from the battery? Anyway, i went out and heard the noise once i went outside, and i finally figured out what it was, and pretty much had the same panic moment you did trying to get it to shut up, especially once i opened the van door and it was deafening lol


Could the (new) water be condensation? If you use heat in there youll get a lot. Even breathing gives a good bit. Maybe crack windows a tiny bit if its not coming down.

 

[LeeRevell]

Sounds like a major 'learning experience', but then life always is!

 

[caseyc]

I've had not one but two faulty smoke detectors. One was in my old apartment which would sound in the middle of the night to wake me up. Trashed that sucker. Another was a brand new combination smoke and carbon monoxide detector inside the van. Stupid thing would sound while driving or simply parked for no reason. Trashed that sucker too. It's best to trash things immediately that are obviously defective. That's also another reason why I have duplicate items for backups and even more to backup the backups, hah! Anal and OCD, I know.

 

[SoulRaven]

...pretty much had the same panic moment you did trying to get it to shut up, especially once i opened the van door and it was deafening lol

Nothing quite like that panic, is there?

Could the (new) water be condensation? If you use heat in there youll get a lot. Even breathing gives a good bit. Maybe crack windows a tiny bit if its not coming down.

I actually had the most condensation before using a heater. The area I'm in has extremely high humidity, and even "cracking" the windows a good 3 inches with no rain had every window (even the immovable ones) dripping water. Caused me quite the panic when I realized my cotton bedding and clothing was so damp from humidity alone that it was failing to insulate me. Middle of the night, very cold, nothing dry to wear, no way to warm up...oh yeah that was the night before the smoke detector incident. I'm still waiting for the part where this new living arrangement stops being more adventure than I bargained for!

Using heat and cracking the windows a bit is keeping them plenty dry, except it's possible the back hatch is still getting condensation. I can only crack the front windows, there's no way to open the back except to leave the hatch open. I'm also getting more rainy days than not so for example last night my stuff got wet just from the cracked window.

I understand now why people refer to "battling the elements". It's one thing if you're just camping for a couple nights and can return to the safety of a solid structure. It's another thing if every stinkin' day you're fighting water in some form or another just to maintain basic warmth, cleanliness, and prevent your stuff from getting ruined. :-/

 

[Stargazer]

Cheaprvliving.com "How to live or travel in a car, van or RV ... and love it!"

Are you loving it yet?

 

[SoulRaven]

Cheaprvliving.com "How to live or travel in a car, van or RV ... and love it!"

Are you loving it yet?

Getting there.

 

[jeanontheroad]

Get a sweat shirt and sweat pants you can use in the day and at night to sleep in. If you don't like the matchy - matchy look during the day, Walmart had some nice fleecy tops last time I was there, puffy enough so it would not be immediately obvious that you were chilly and braless. No ideas about the shoes except getting a pair of flipflops or beach shoes. Both are easy to rinse off and quick drying.

 

[SoulRaven]

It would seem I just can't stop attracting attention to myself.

This time I happened to be in a grocery store parking lot just finishing up shopping when my car refused to start.

The engine wouldn't even begin to turn over.

You've got to be kidding.

My lights hadn't been on. Nothing's been plugged into the car for days, same for the radio. I was just driving it, for crying out loud! There's absolutely NO reason the battery should be dead.

The car remained unconvinced.

A phone call later I got out my jumper cables and set about deciding which random stranger to beg a jump from. My windows have no tinting whatsoever, and while I'd tossed a dark sheet over my setup in the back there was no way to conceal the dorm fridge now residing in the passenger seat's former spot, or the microphone attached to the now defunct passenger seatbelt, or a host of similar homey-related touches peeking out here and there. My concealment wasn't intended to stand up to close inspection.

The first person I worked up the courage to ask just so happened to be boss at the place I'd just shopped. Of course, I didn't know this. All I saw was a nametag and that was enough for me. "Oh sure, let me clock in first and I'll bring my car around."

He pulls in beside me with some fancy-schmancy brand new car with space-aged innards contrasting my 1980 Corolla's. I'd retrieved the jumper cables in the meantime, cursing under my breath when they emerged from their compartment partially wet. I knew I'd dried out the rest of the car but I hadn't thought to check inside the plastic casing of the car itself. Last (and first) time I used them was 3 weeks ago after the dumb mistake of leaving something running off the car's electrical for a couple hours. That one was my fault. This one? No clue. But out came the cables for the second time in a month.

All hooked up, and...it didn't work. Someone else stopped by. Advised a few things. We kept trying I called and texted more people. A third person stopped by. Everyone trying everything. And three men all standing around my car, too polite to comment on the state of its interior, nor on the glaringly obvious headgear I wear related to my disability. I could have died of embarrassment at the scene I was causing just outside the store, but I focused on maintaining composure. At one point the other two had disappeared to get things and I lightheartedly asked the first guy if I was making him late to work or if he was getting paid for this, which is when I found out he's the boss "so it doesn't matter, besides it's all about customer service anyway, isn't it?"

I made sure he knew I'd just patronized the store.

Someone returned with their own set of jumper cables, which ended up being the magic bullet. Apparently the ones that came with my car are no good, at least not anymore. Did I mention my hatred for water and it's destruction capacity?

"You can have the cables" he said casually, I have another set at home."

Upon discovering he was actually serious I was too shocked to refuse. As the battery charged I stood there a minute soaking in the scene of those beautiful thick coppery-shiny cables that actually had all their insulation intact, hooked up to this ridiculously high end car and wondered what the heck me and my scrappy little converted hatchback are doing in this picture. All too soon the moment passed, the engine was chugging away merrily and I was cleared for takeoff. Left only with Mr. Boss, I inquired whether Jumper Cable Guy worked there and upon hearing the affirmative slipped him some cash, insisting that I couldn't accept the cables for nothing, would he please make sure this gets to him?

While driving off I smiled at the idea of writing a phone number on it, but I'm not quite that forward. Even if he was pretty cute. :shy: And even if I was a little impressed that he managed to figure out what the rest of us couldn't.

I didn't dare run more errands, but instead drove straight to a relative's house who knows a thing or two about mechanics, where my car obligingly played dead again, full battery charge notwithstanding.

So here I sit.

Breathe in, breathe out.

On the bright side, I know where I'm spending the night...

 

[LeeRevell]

Sounds like you need a new battery. I've had that same thing happen too. I carry a portable jumper unit in each vehicle now, and have used them.
Check the date code on your battery, and if it's three or more years old it's likely done for. If newer, maybe the warranty will work? I always keep the receipt for batteries and tires.

 

[Theadyn]

Oh goodness Bitty... many adventures!!!!

 

[SoulRaven]

I cannot begin to adequately articulate the incredible relief and delight I experience in at last having sufficient warmth at night. A $50 "0 degree" synthetic sleeping bag has been my ticket to toastyness the past 2 nights, prompting me to turn off the heat entirely and downgrade my grid system from two lines of extension cords to just the one I own as I switch locations yet again.

I'm getting there.

5% slap-on "decal" window tinting over several of my windows now means I can pull a bunch of Reflectix off in the morning and observe the world around me in privacy. I never got to enjoy mornings before - I like this part.

Seeing as the rest of my car is cold, and damp, I've been uninspired to wriggle out of my fluffy microclimate to pull on my cotton clothing (working on it). Instead, this morning I decided to test whether I could go about fixing myself a hot meal dressed in my sleeping bag. Whadayaknow - hotplate plugged into the grid, beef and potatoes out of my refrigerator, and I've got myself a hot meal in bed without so much as opening a door.

No one told me this could be so lazily luxurious.

I'm learning the importance of downsizing. A 2-door car simply doesn't leave room for "stuff". My suitcase and computer bag are gone, leaving just my two backpacks and a few pillowcases alongside the plastic bins for storage. A hanging toiletry case completes the setup, which I sewed a loop on to fit.

Also got myself some gloves and a hat. First of each I've ever owned! Spent a few nights modifying the gloves so they fit. I love them. Fingerless gloves that convert to mittens with magnetic snaps to keep everything in place. It makes me feel I'm prepared for the weather.

As if.

I don't yet own any baselayers or insulating clothing, and the only waterproof item I've got is my rainjacket. As you can probably guess, this doesn't work so well in the rain capital of the world. I'm working on it.

In the meantime I sit here bundled up in my sleeping bag, with my hat, looking out the windows from the privacy of my own little cozy cocoon, and feel that everything's okay for now.

 

[cyndi]

So good to hear you're doing well. Thanks for keeping us posted!

 

[akrvbob]

Breakfast in BED!!!! You're living like a Queen!!!

You are amazing!
Bob

 

[Oberneldon]

Bitty,

Your story writing is very good with a honest grounded approach. It's refreshing. Such things happen to many of us, but men often don't share such detail for fear of embarrassment. A male thing. I think everyone who is following you are rooting for your Cheaprvliving experience to be a success.

Brent

 

[SoulRaven]

Third time in the past week my electrical connection to the grid has gone out. Silly me always thinks it'll be a quick issue to solve even though each time it's taken forever to solve. And it is always raining when it happens. Always. No exceptions. I think Someone Up There is enjoying this little show a bit too much.

I'm careful to not overload the system. The only thing connected to it was my refrigerator when it went out this time. That's it. Nothing else. And I know no one else uses that circuit. It has to be the rain getting into the connections, which are admittedly exposed to the weather...I'd have to purchase another extension cord to fix that.

If I could afford half the items I need I'd be sitting pretty right about now. Unfortunately since I can't even be prepared for the expected right now, "expecting the unexpected" seems a bit silly to reach for. Lots of ways a person can go nutters when shoved into this lifestyle without their feet on and that's one of them, I'm discovering.

The weird thing is - and this is where my log gets personal - I didn't even have sufficient outdoor gear to start with because I haven't spent more than an hour tops outdoors in nearly a decade. I only obtained any street clothing at all in the past year - prior to that it was all PJs because I was too ill to be out of bed long enough to change out of them. The average person forced to live in their car has some basics already in place like more than one pair of shoes, a heavy coat, sufficient undergarments, etc. I don't. In order to obtain these things I need the funds, I need to get to the store, and I need to be well enough to drive to a store that has them which means being able to park closeby which means I have to get my stealth system in place in order to have any reasonable hope of personal safety and sleep. So everything is going towards being capable of doing that. Everything.

It is shocking to me that I am in this position. I'm not well enough to do personal hygiene when living in a house, how the heck can I manage it on the road? I'm not well enough to fix sufficient food for myself in a house, and restaurant food is out of the question, how on earth will basic sustenance happen? If I let myself think of how things could actually work out, the numbers don't add up. I'm short a few hundred.

So I don't think about that.

Instead, I think about today. Can I get some food in my system today? Can I figure out a little bit of how to do something else today? And as long as I keep making it through another day, I'm accomplishing it. It's not pretty. It's not up to standards. But it's happening. And slowly, surely, I'm getting somewhere.

---

So good to hear you're doing well. Thanks for keeping us posted!

Thanks for the support! I feel a bit badly I haven't managed to keep up with everyone else's journeys yet because my own is taking up all my focus. One of these days...

Breakfast in BED!!!! You're living like a Queen!!!

You are amazing!
Bob

Oh yeah! And you are amazing for starting this site!

Bitty,

Your story writing is very good with a honest grounded approach. It's refreshing. Such things happen to many of us, but men often don't share such detail for fear of embarrassment. A male thing. I think everyone who is following you are rooting for your Cheaprvliving experience to be a success.

Brent

Thanks for the kind words, Brent! I so much appreciate the support here. Now I'm curious what embarrassing stories you have up your sleeve.

More than likely, the wire that is crimped in the old batt cable alligator clips have corroded due to the water...

Thanks for the tip, next time it's problematic I'll see if I can pass that along to whomevers manhandling the battery for me.

 

[SoulRaven]

There's something morbidly fascinating about observing your own decline into insanity.

Maybe it was the shattering of my cell phone last night after one too many attempts at holding it just outside the car window to get signal (why yes, I know there are antennas out there, I've simply spared you the several week long saga of ill-fitting patch leads and such).

Dumping an entire saltshaker onto one's dinner can also have that effect. It was dark, I was in a hurry, and it just so happened the lid had broken so as to fall off entirely the next time some idiot (me) turned the thing upside down. I still managed to make the food edible, though. I am not without my charms.

Maybe it was my parents threatening to get rid of my beloved pet rabbit that I haven't managed to take along with me (yet??) but still visit often. And the ensuing scramble dance with a tape measure as my partner, attempting to find a way to live full time inside a 2 door car WITH A LARGE RABBIT - hey, where there's a will there's a way, right?

...right?

Stop looking at me like that.

Maybe it's the unpredictable gusts of wind here that are blowing away everything that I leave outside, like my pee container that I had rinsed and left to air dry and only remembered when I heard it skittering across the driveway at like 2 am. (Which, as a side note, I was only alerted to because my ears kicked up their plug protests to a violent level, forcing me to relent to their demands last night at the expense of restful sleep. That's no doubt contributing, too.)

Anyway, there I lay there in my warm comfy sleeping bag, listening to my pee container - and lid, and bag - merrily blowing away into the ether and calculating the potential consequences of waiting until morning to retrieve them. After log deliberation I figured so long as they didn't end up in the lake, I'm good.

Morning found me catching sight of the plastic bag just about to enter the lake and employing my trademark frantic barefoot madwoman dash (complete with an unusually spectacular iteration of madwoman hair) to retrieve it in time. I trudged back, finding the lid and container along the way. As a passing car slowed to observe the glorious wreck of a show I was providing free of charge I found myself wondering why I don't just go crawl into a hole somewhere and die.

Oh, that's right, it wouldn't be entertaining.

This is probably at least the hundredth time I've mentally apologized to vandwellers everywhere for contributing to the stereotype of irresponsible/lazy/unhygienic vehicle living. Some days are flops. Actually most of my days are. But that's true of anyone learning a new skill, particularly those thrown into it "sink or swim" style. I might only be doggie paddling in a ridiculously pathetic and inefficient floatation effort but hey wouldja look at that my head's still above water and I've got a smile to boot. The rest should follow, I figure.

Something's gotta work out somehow.

Depression is a relatively new and strange sensation for me. This morning I made sure to get a bit more light exposure, but I don't think it helped much. And as I've been typing this post the rain has taken up its relentless song once more mere inches from my head. The sound used to make me happy. Now it's like being forced to listen to a dirge on repeat. Isn't that officially classified as torture or something?

Anyway, time to go kick myself in the butt to get some exercise and find a happy space. There's one lying around here somewhere, I swear.