Make it ‘Fit’ (Honda Fit)

[CarCampire]

Salutations!

This thread will serve as:
- Ideas for storage in the Honda Fit
- Progress on converting my Honda Fit into a stealthy home away from home.
- Random back stories you don’t have to read that lead me to this point in life.

Warning: Female perspective, sitcom moments and lots of complaining.

You can totally skip these parts.

Background:
Reasons why I chose the Fit over a other types of vehicles.

1. It’s already at my disposal.
I have a 2014 Honda Fit I drive to work and go on daily errands with. It can haul quite a load and it never ceases to surprise me on what I can fit into it. So why not kick it up a notch?

2. I’m Female.
I had originally looked at RV’s, then conversion vans, cargo vans and really liked the idea of converting a cargo van into a stealthy living quarters but THEN it dawned on me… how many women do you see getting in and out of cargo vans?

Please don’t misunderstand; I’m not trying to be shmexist. I was an assistant plumber for some months and every time I stepped out of the company cargo van or truck onto the job site; I always turned heads. This could be for many reasons but one thing’s for certain; they didn’t give the males as much attention when they stepped out and they sure as hell looked nervous or raised an eyebrow when they saw me driving the company step van. Hahaha!

This lead me to look at ‘soccer mom’ type vehicles. No one will bat an eyelash if a woman gets out of a minivan. Right now I look either JUST old enough to be a mom or just young enough to be a moms daughter who borrowed her moms van. Laundry mat, grocery shopping, parking it at work, going to the gym in a minivan would be ideal but most of them are just as bad on gas as a cargo van and less space and many more windows to tint and cover…

The GMC Safari sounded nice for a while- get it in ‘blue’ with windows and your good to stealth but even then, you can fit a bed and a few things and you’re not gaining that much in stealth or gas mileage…

Taking all of these vehicles into consideration and what would look LEAST suspicious for a female driving it, I pulled the lever to lean my seat back in my Honda Fit and removed the head rest; lost in my thoughts…

To my surprise; it was comfy. Very comfy. Throw a sheet and some blankets on me and I could take a nap in here; comfy…

3. Sleeping comfort.
Who needed a bed platform with 6inch+ memory foam when I had a seat that could double as a bed with better back support? Yes- it’s that comfortable!

The Honda Fit, would totally ‘Fit’ my sleeping needs and as long as I thought up a clever way to hide my belongings like cargo in the back- I would be golden.

…Will also want to invest in a sub zero sleeping bag and a Mr Buddy heater for the winter…

4. Boondocking Stealth
‘Shoot, It’s red! I should have got the gray or black colored one…’ was the first thing that came to mind when I considered this but so what? It was still a car as opposed to a construction vehicle or an RV parked outside someone’s house.

As long as no one could see me moving inside, it would just be thought of as another vehicle; likely one of the neighbors had ‘friends’ over and taken up another parking space. It’s not like I would park in the same place twice, that was one of the number 1 rules of boondocking.

The seat leans back low enough to almost be flat. The windows are high but all around the car so…

I would have to do the following to ‘stealth’:
-Tint all back windows limo black.
- Tint the front windows the max I could in NY. I think it’s 30% but whatever the % I would also have window covers made of black out material and shaped with reflectix, held on with magnets.
- I would need window reflectors to leave the windows a jar on or nights or in winter when I wanted to turn on the Mr. Buddy heater to warm up.

5. Gas mileage.
Self explanatory.

6. Small space- forces me to get out more. ‘Freedom’

I would really like to start the ‘old debate’ of ‘what’s the point of traveling if you stay in the hotel the entire time?’ but I don’t intend to start traveling right off the bat.

I have a 9-5 job I really like, and I like ‘my corner of the world’. I just want to get out more and live cheaper / with less responsibility.

Currently I have a 5 bed, 1 bath, 1,512 SQFT home with my fiancé who is NOT into conversion vans, ‘deadly’ motor scooters (with 50cc engines ‘scary’) or truly open to the idea of tiny house living, though he is a sweetheart for humoring me. Maybe if he had to clean the space he would think a little differently… hehehe (he does the yard work- it’s likely more of a hassle so Ill shut up and count my blessings.)

Please don’t think me ungrateful. Our house is wonderful! Oh the simple conveniences I would miss moving into my Honda fit; like a working bathroom, a bubble bath, shower, running (hot)water in general… our whirlpool laundry machine that sings when it’s finished.

This isn’t to say I couldn’t get a nice shower at planet fitness for $10 a month and have an excuse to work out even more than I already do. Or even go to a laundry mat and explore the internet while I wait for my clothes to be done. Everything has a positive and a negative. It’s like a trade off…

Prime example; I could eat out more but I would lose the ability to prepare a family meal or host a holiday event.

I wouldn’t have to pay that blasted oil (heating) bill or electric bill; I could charge my laptop at work, small things run on batteries and get a Mr buddy heater but im sure it wouldn’t be the same… Winters and summers would be tougher. Still- even then I would be going places, walking around, finding places with A/C or heated yoga classes in the dead of winter- being active…

It’s all a trade off of what you think is important = what you gain in exchange for giving something else up. I’m sure all of you already know this though, such is life.

I digress; my living situation is ok for now; something I’m grateful for but living like this (in a vehicle or small space that can move around) is my dream. This is something I’ve always wanted to try! I KNOW I must sound so ignorant. Going from a massive house with all the ‘bells and whistles’ to a vehicle I have to hide the fact I’m living in is like going from a walk in closet to a shoe box, but big dreams aren’t always better.

Especially when all these ‘bells and whistles’ are really just a temporary distraction from the 9-5 job you work to afford them all and root yourself in debt for 25-30 years to pay it all off. – Looking at it all from 3rd person really puts it into perspective, doesn’t it?

I digress- The bottom line is; less stuff- more freedom.

More to come...

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Side note: Shortly after posting the 1st thread I realized this should be in the 'car' section rather than the Misc vehicles section... cant seem to delete and re-post though. Anyone able to swap-aroo this thread into the correct section? Please let me know!

The Portable Closet:

Right now I’m in the process of collecting materials and tools to build a portable closet that fits in the back of my Honda Fit.

This is going to be a (roughly) 3’ X 1’7” X 2’5-6”; ½”plywood box with sanded down points at the top where a closet pole will run through and 6 shoe-box sized drawers on one side for underclothing storage.

Keep in mind; if my fiancé figures out what this is he will freak out and think that I’m leaving him. Such is NOT the case and I don’t wish to feed his paranoia. This whole thing is more of a Plan B than anything else but I like to be ‘prepared’ and this helps me feel like I’m a little closer to living my dream.

Maybe one day he’ll let me live out of my car a week to experience this first hand…

Until them; my ‘cover story’ / ‘actually practical excuse’ for wanting to build this ‘portable’ closet is that I want more storage space for the bottom of my closet.

The dimensions (all but length) ‘fit’ perfectly and I’ll stick a box where the length doesn’t work to make it look like it was planned with that box / bin in mind for more storage.

I have the plan:
<img src="" width="1175">

Now all I need are the materials and a circular saw.

Were heading out to a tag sale this weekend with a shed fool of tools to HOPEFULLY pick up some useful and cheap things. I’m also looking on craigslist ‘free’ section in my area to search for wood furniture I can take apart and re-use or wood scraps that fit my needed dimensions for this project.

We’re on a budget – as per norm (mortgage, bills, all the things that ‘root’ you to this socially accepted lifestyle that promote debt) – so everything has to be dirt cheap or free.

The irony here is; I would be able to afford all these tools and materials without a shadow of a doubt if I lived in the Fit but I would have no place to create this project and no electricity to plug into to use the circular saw.

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Looking at all my previous little stick-note plans I can see I really want a closet!

<img src="" width="1175">

I saw someone had sliced the rear end of a chevy extended van off and made it into a closet and was really inspired.

<img src="" width="1175">

I know most vehicle dwellers store their clothing in bins and such but having a standard 9-5 job, I need to keep some thing wrinkle free.

I also heard wrapping your work shirts in dryer sheets prevents wrinkles even when not in a dryer. Will have to look into it...

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Edited by mod to remove extra blank lines, and resized images to fit on smaller screens (see forum rule #5, "Don't waste space and be brief").
Also note that posts posted within 30 minutes by the same author right after each other, will be merged with a line between, like this​

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[bobbert]

Lot's of careful planning on your part, which is an excellent decision to do in advance...
One thing that might be of interest would be adding a Luggable Loo (a bucket with a toilet seat on it).
By placing it underneath the fold-up seat (seat-section, where you sit upon) in the rear, it will help alleviate some space for you & May help with having headroom when actually using it.
Good lurck in yer' planning! The Honda Fit was made in Japan & is capable of getting high-miles & plenty of years of service! Good choice!

 

[kyonu]

This is definitely the most thought out and publically planned system I have seen to date; great job!

Question: I am not familiar with the fit, but in the picture it looks like the seat going backwards appears to be vastly in the way of open space. How will you be sleeping? The same way you sit in it? Just curious!

 

[Fearnoevil]

Ahhh to be young again, or at least have a young back, lol. If I had to sleep in a semi-reclining position for even a night I'd be ready for a visit to the chiro ;?D

But you are so take advantage of it and do whatever your heart desires, there's still plenty of time to take life more seriously later, and probably much later in the case of yours (and future) generations. By that I'm referring to the fact that with all the advancements in modern medicine, you'll probably live well into your hundredsies , enough time to live several lives.

I did, (or at least a couple) and although now I sometimes wish I had "grown up" maybe a little bit sooner than I have, at the same time I wouldn't have missed it for the world ;?D There's a trade-off you make living outside of normal, and while your friends and family won't get it (except those that really know you, they probably will), what's important is challenging yourself, doing it and being there. In the end, it's all about the experience.
;?D

 

[Fearnoevil]

Btw, I was a plumber once. Yep, nothing like getting a service call at 11pm on Christmas Eve to fix a busted sewer line under a mobile home in 10 below weather, lol. Last service call I ever made.:dodgy:
So can you hand me that Langstrom 7" gangley wrench please
;?D

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Oh yeah, what I meant to add was that if it's something you really want, just find a way to convince your fiance (and assuage his fears) that it's something you've just got to do, that it's essential to your happiness, and if he loves you he should understand. Or plan B, tell him you've been watching Doomsday Preppers and that you really feel the need to have a "bug out" vehicle, jic ;D Good luck and hope it works out!
;?D

 

[HarmonicaBruce]

Couldn't you just get a "wardrobe" box for $8 like this:
http://www.uhaul.com/MovingSupplies/Boxes/Clothing-moving-boxes/Shorty-Wardrobe-Box?id=3269

Seriously, I think you're thinking about it too much. "Just do it". I think a van is so much better than a little car, but that's just me I guess. Until you live in something for a few weeks you won't really know what you want or need. I lived in my 1989 Dodge cargo van in Rockville Maryland (suburb of Washington DC) for a few months. It taught me that I needed something I could stand up in.

Tip: get some warm long underwear, it really helps on cold nights.

 

[kyonu]

"Just do it" only works if you want to just get in it without knowledge of what to do afterwards. I actually find the thinking, creating, designing aspect of this lifestyle very comforting. It's fun to plan it out, and gives you something to look forward to. "Just do it" only applies to those in a specific need to change something immediately. She obviously has time, so why not plan it out?

Realistic advice should be: "Have fun with it!"

 

[akrvbob]

CarCampire, I hate to pry (but apparently I'm going to anyway ) and if I'm being too nosy tell me to mind my own business, but I gotta ask:

If you have a fiance who doesn't want to live the mobile life why are you getting the Fit ready in secret as a plan B?

It sounds to me like you have a real adventurous streak that needs to be fed!
Bob

 

[Fearnoevil]

Also CarCampire, it is my humble opinion that as hard as it is to transition to even a small MH or van, I would think that it wouldn't take long before your Fit started to cause you just that, lol. But then you may be made of hardier stuff than I ;?D, and being flexible and taking advantage of existing facilities, like the showers at your gym, is an intelligent alternative to onboard facilities.

That said, I still think the bare minimum for anything long-term would be a van. I mean when you gotta go in the middle of the night, you need at least a modicum of comfort and privacy, know what I mean :blush:. I think you could probably find a used Toyota panel van, the kind florists or other service businesses use, for a reasonable price, AND to make it more stealthy you could even get a fake business name emblazoned on the side, say "Roto-Suzy's 24 Hour Plumbing Service" lol. Then, just to make sure you're not hassled when you're getting out of your vehicle at odd hours, make sure you've got a tool bag and a fake work order written up ready to go , nothing to see here, just doing my job.

 

[HarmonicaBruce]

Suz,

Your portable closet made with half inch plywood is total over kill in my opinion. You can stand on it, but it will heavy and hard to move around, and it will be somewhat costly and require a fair amount of labor to build. The cardboard ones at uhaul are easy to move, and can be assembled easily with a little duct tape.

I totally agree that a van is much better.

I also think you shouldn't be hiding your plans from your fiance!

Just my 2 cents.

 

[CarCampire]

Kyonu – Yea, I would be sleeping in the passenger’s seat in a recline position.
+ You have the right idea; right now im just in the planning stages.

Fearnoevil – Oh goodness, the hundreds? Perhaps. I think I would be falling apart at that point though. Who knows.

As for the back concerns; I still think it’s comfortable with the headrest off and my pillow where it was but I can really only tell after a few nights of sleeping in it.

I do most of my ‘thinking’ with the seat back in my car and I nearly fell asleep the other day doing so. No back pains yet but I suppose I can’t really tell unless I have a full night’s sleep in it.

Now I know what im doing when the fiancé is away in Jersey next time. Heheheh

HarmonicBruce- Thank you for the tip on thermal pjs and the moving box! Had NO idea that existed! What an easy solution! Man I could REALLY use that when moving in general!

In all honesty, the thing with this is that I have the time to plan. I read a lot of posts where vehicle-dwellers have a certain time to get out of their apartment or house based on financial troubles and just as many who made the same life choices for more freedom. Right now, it’s a dream and ‘over-planning’ lets me feel like im one step closer to it.

+ How cool would it be to create my own custom piece for my needs with free material I acquire along the way?

The more time I have to plan; the better the final thing will be when I do it:

Akrvbob – Guilty! HUGE adventurous side that craves this life style but I plan to ‘ease’ him into it slowly and right under his nose. Right now were watching the ‘Tiny House Nation’ show so he can understand the mindset of living only with what you need vs what you want. Small steps.

When I’ve finished the ‘portable closet’ I plan to pull a *gasp* ‘well, will you look at that- it fits in my car too! We should go ‘camping’ and plan a really enjoyable sightseeing trip on a vacation but Its all about the timing…

I’ve always had the mindset of ‘we don’t NEED that’ (I know, a bit strange for what’s considered the normal female standard, seeing an awesome ‘something or other’ in the mall and having the understanding that it’s not a ‘need’, it’s simply a ‘want’ I can’t use in more than one application). When hurricane Sandy hit- well… screw it; here comes a story you can all skip if you wish:

Shortly after Hurricane Sandy, we were (THANKFULLY) housed in my fiancés – mothers – boyfriends- mothers house. Now again, we had no place else to go and the old lady was kind enough to take us in. She was a good hearted woman with some terrible sarcasm, a clown painting on the wall out of crochet that would stare at you when you went up the stairs, pink carpeted bathroom flooring (to cover the moldy tiles), a basement that would flood every time it rained and so much dust… oh my goodness the dust…

We would wake up coughing and sneezing in the middle of the night. My fiancé would be choking on it, stuffed up for days. Our eyes would be red when we awoke and we would rasp for air, claw at our necks and rush to find water…

Again, STILL grateful! We would have been on the street in the dead of winter but there were a few nights I still begged my fiancé to let me sleep in my 1991 Toyota Corolla. I got the car for $300 from a friend that was moving and poured money into it to keep fixing it up. The good thing was, no matter what problem it had- you couldn’t kill the damn thing! Even to this day, the car still runs in another owners hands.

I digress; he wouldn’t let me sleep in my car – in hind sight I MIGHT have been a little cold but even then I knew about subzero sleeping bags, mr buddy heaters, carbon dioxide detectors in your cars, cracking the windows, covering the windows with reflectix / other insulation and not wearing cotton to bed. I REALLY wanted to sleep in my car… Instead I just started coming home later and later. I would find other things to do, eat out, stay at the gym longer, explore the neighborhood, see where this or that road lead, and eventually come back to the dust house…

A week went by and we procured a crappy apartment.

Out of the dust and into the smoke…

Now, It wasn’t the ‘he/she’ we couldn’t identify the gender of that lived below us with a deep voice and lipstick, I grew up in California so im used to men holding hands and walking down the street. Never bothered me. It wasn’t how the cabinets were falling off the walls with each plate we put in them, how the sink had a funky grime around it that seemed to re-grow the next day after cleaning and removing it 0.o, the tiles that the land lord asked us to fix in the bathroom that we had not broken…

Heck, on a positive note; the place was a great location! Really close to work. I remembered going in early every day to escape the terrible smell that came from the garage right outside our apartment door where the chain-smoking landlords mentally disabled son lived.

I could write a sitcom with all this material…

He nearly light the house on fire twice while we were there by throwing a light cigarette into the trash right outside our door.

We would hear them bickering constantly through the thin walls.
Her car was always dented in the drive way, because HE DROVE IT! Scary…

I once came home to one of the doors completely smashed in to a neighbors car and him yelling at the landlords son… I parked REALLY far from then on.

Oh goodness… that smell… the smell of a closed room with heavy cigarettes.

I used to smoke; I now hate smokers and the fact I used to smoke. We couldn’t even open the window because he had a fan situated outside his room window that would blow the smoke out the back and into our room. The smell was saturated through the Sheetrock and in the walls, tinted an off yellow.

Needless to say; again I begged to sleep in my car. And again, I was denied the opportunity. :/

I understood where my (at the time) boyfriend was coming from; we would suffer through it together but I would have let him sleep with me in the next seat over- we didn’t both have to suffer! To him- I think in his mind set it was just as bad…

Anyhow- long story short, we eventually used our savings to purchase a house (now when I say 'purchase'= I mean enter into a contract for 25 to 30 years where you slave away to keep up with the mortgage and and the bank holds that agreement over your head until its all paid off with interest... because that's the social norm... not ungrateful, I consider myself lucky but I hate the fact that THIS is the social norm!!!)and pulled his mother and her boyfriend in to live with us while we fixed up her waterlogged home in Long Beach.

In the mean time, I dragged my sister away from a terrible situation and she was under our roof as well.

I could justify helping family out and thus getting them under our roof. I liked the idea that we were all together but my fiance's mom and her boyfriend move back into to their fixed up beach home on Aug 18th and my sister gained the confidence to assert her independence shortly after moving in, so shes got her place to.

Now its just my fiance and I in out overly large house...

Im not having kids for at LEAST 5 years more and the wasted space is driving me secretly insane...

I digress; Im slowly pointing out things that we dont 'need', that we can live without, in the way where im TRYING not to be 'that nagging female' but applying logic when I think he can understand to get him more open to the idea...

I realize this will take time. :/

As much as I would LOVE to just buy a cargo van, get a wire brush and start scrubbing off the rust - even though I have only read how to do such things- though im TOTALLY GUNG'HO, 'LETS DO THIS!' - JUMP RIGHT IN!- he is not such a person.

He's cautious and logical, which is why im going about this in a cautious and logical way to 'ease him in'.

In third person I know it sounds like he's holding me back from my 'dream'- but from a logical social norm stand point- Im REALLY glad I have him, his perspective and I wouldn't do this without him.

Remember- my 'bed' is the passenger seat. I need my 'captain' for this 'road trip'.



Thanks for all the posts, comments, ideas, support and even questions to get me thinking! I really appreciate them!

Happy Travels!

 

[Fearnoevil]

Wow, interesting story, seriously - life can sure throw you some curve balls, and surviving them does teach us something about ourselves, good and bad. At least when you're going through those trials and tribulations you're not bored ;?)

Well keep plugging away, I think you're on the right track and with some patience you'll have your fiance trained and living tiny in no time, lol. I can see a small tape recorder whispering softly in his ear each nite, "Smaller is better, less is more. Smaller is better, less is more..."
;?D

 

[kyonu]

Sounds like you've had a long interesting road already, and you're not even in your thirties! (calculated guess here) But you also seem to have a long road still ahead of you. Good luck!

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

There are people on this very forum who lived in much smaller cars, without gagging themselves
:/ Check out suannes blog, she did it for a year or two in a prius

I think the space is more of a factor for me. There will be times of bad weather and snow storms, so you might find yourself stuck inside.

 

[akrvbob]

I know many people who live in cars and love it. It isn't for me but then we are ALL very different!

No one can tell you what your experience will be! You make it into what you want to be.
Bob

 

[HarmonicaBruce]

You could buy a cardboard u-haul closet tomorrow, pack the car, and try it out tomorrow night. See how you like it. All the planning in the world won't tell you what you'll learn by trying it out. I know I wouldn't like sleeping in a little car, but that's just me.

 

[Vic.]

suanne's Prius came to mind for me as well. Check out her blog.

http://suanneonline.blogspot.com

Good luck!

 

[CarCampire]

Salutations!

To those of you who are saying the best way to go about this is ‘Just do it’- Understand that I can’t. :-/ I'm paired with a partner who is not into this type of thing, at ALL- so I need to mentally prepare him before I can even breach the subject of living smaller, let alone camping in a car.

When I see this wonderful community and all its brilliant ideas and representation of freedom, he sees ‘my girl is leaving me to live in a van with ‘free candy’ written on the side.’

Back on topic; small steps…

About a year and a half ago, while driving to work I saw a broken dresser on the side of the road and atop the magnificent pile of rubble – perfectly balanced on the heap- lay a 40” dresser pole. I took it and forgot about it until now. So I have the pole! I just need to find it again! 

+ While assisting the fiancés parents in the moving and rebuilding process, I spotted 3 cabinet backings of ¼” wood-material. Stained on one side, the other is stain-able.

Hooray! Now I have the hanger pole and walls for my portable closet!

I have to agree with you, HarmonicBruce- even the ¼” is a bit heavy (overkill)but I need stability and coroplast / cardboard won’t hold what I’m thinking of. Want to try and make this work before I turn to the cardboard box Plan B.

Thank you akrvbob and Vic. For the Prius blog reference / link. I’ve seen the one linked at the top but seeing her blog is very helpful as well!

DazarGaidin – and everyone for that matter; If you use baking soda in a plastic container with a few drops of your favorite sent- place the container top with holes poked in it and the smell will be awesome! It also takes smells out of the air and replaces them with the sent smell. White vinegar for 2 minutes sprayed on anything else. The smell of white vinegar vanishes after about two minutes and takes the orders away from your smells items!



Thanks for all your comments and ideas!!!

Happy Travels!

 

[kyonu]

I'm guessing your account got banned for "spam"? Either way, do you use the organic essential oils or regular scents? I have a few that were purchased from an Etsy store, where they use a combination of essential oils and plants to create a magnificent scent, and I think it would go great in this concept!

And not to interfere in your personal life, but it sounds like "he" doesn't really have an open mind. Trust me when I say it is hard dealing with folks like that, especially when society has so many negative connotations with "hobo's" (as they call them). When I first wanted to live in a van (which if it were just me I would), my family would have gone off the deep end! But now that I'm looking for a Class A RV they kinda toned down a bit, but some still feel like it's "white trash". So I know whatcha mean about the whole rushing thing.

Were you wanting to live in the car WITH him or just on your own at some point? I only ask because you might endanger your relationship if you tell him you want to live on your own in a car... A lot of men who consider living in a car "gross" (stretched word here) don't want to have anything to do with people like us, even though they won't research any information about it. Feel free to not answer, I get that it's a personal matter between the two of you. Just trying to be a friendly e-neighbor!

 

[Suanne]

Hi CarCampire,

Welcome to the forums! I love how you are planning to use your Fit. Having lived out of my Prius, I know it can be done!

I've hesitated to chime in on your thread here as I was not clear if you wanted feedback or not. So now that I'm gathering that you do want feedback, I'll share some of my personal experience and preferences.

Cabinet:
- I wouldn't have one. In a small space, every square inch is valuable for storage. A rigid squared-off cabinet will make it difficult to effectively reach the small spaces on the sides of your concave/curved interior. So, not only would a cabinet reduce easy access to side storage spaces, but you'd also lose those square inches of storage taken up by the furniture itself.
- But, having retired from a professional position, I understand the need to have wrinkle-free clothing. If I had that need now, while living out of my Prius, I would install a bar as far back toward the hatch as possible and hang my clothes on that. By using that hatch space for hanging clothes I'd lose several things – a cooking space when boondocking, sight from my rear-view mirror when driving, and some stealth when sleeping in a parking lot.
- For clothing items that don't need to be kept unwrinkled, I'd store those in a duffel/cloth bag. A soft-sided bag will take up less room when it's half empty while your dirty-clothes bag is expanding.

Sleeping arrangement:
- I would not be comfortable sleeping in the front passenger seat while it's laid back. It reminds me of trying to sleep on a plane or train's economy class. I hope it works for you. But, be sure to try it for 5-7 days straight to make sure you can get good sleep before you make any investment in your Fit's design and layout. It'd be a bummer to lose any work you've done if you discover that you need a more conventional bed.

Relationship with fiance:
- My husband doesn't share my love of vandwelling. After several years of struggle, we are at a point of compromise now that seems to be working. What has helped us is being honest with each other, even when it's not what the other wants to hear. So now sometimes I live a conventional life with John where I focus on the parts that I love, and sometimes I live out of my Prius, solo.
- I would encourage you to be honest with your fiance now. Don't expect him to change, but figure out how you can both be together and happy given your differences. If you can't do that while you're engaged, I suspect that it'll be even harder when you are married.

I just re-read what I've written here and I don't want to be discouraging. Rather, I hope for you a wonderful, happy life with both your fiance and your Fit.

Suanne … who keeps downsizing her sticks-and-bricks to be more like vandwelling