I feel bad for you. I know people that have spent lots of time out on the streets. Maybe you could look into some of the programs that offer help - other places might have better programs than where you are.

 

I've made no plea for help in this thread. According to another thread of mine, I seek a brother in Christ to share housing or shelter of any kind.

I thought perhaps my technique for staying warm might help someone in "urban survival".

 

You're homeless, but you have a cell phone, internet access and post on a forum? Personally, I would be pooling all my resources to get myself off the street... no phone, no internet, no booze, just what I need to survive and the rest saved to make something better for myself. Maybe I'm clueless, so please enlighten me of your thought process.

 

I don't know his situation but if I were homeless I would make sure to have a cell phone and use the internet at the library. Both would more than likely be needed to find steady work or a place to rent.

ETA: I see what time he posted. Maybe a morning trip to McDonalds for a cheap cup of coffee and internet use to check email or look for job/apartment openings?

 

That is some shiny gear no patina. how long have you been using it?

 

It's hard to argue with success (well it works for you). I think if you aren't on drugs or get back on the proper kind if you need them, then you can get off the street. I know 2 older ladies that when on their meds do ok, but then they feel like they don't need the meds and quit taking them; then go crazy again. After a while they get lock up, dried out and put back on meds, then released. This pattern has repeated for both of them for over 10 years.

I have lived on like 10$ a day for perhaps the last 10 years. That's food, electric bill, property taxes, car insurance, gasoline, clothes, dental - everything except for the medical care the VA helps me with - which is a lot and I'm very thankful to have it. I just started getting SS and its like having twice as much money.

This might be a site for homeless tips.
https://survivallife.com/survival-tips-homeless/

 

This is the infantry squad stove I learned to make in the Army. Find an empty can. Use your P-38 or knife to make air opening around the top of the can. Fill about it about half way with dry dirt/sand. Then pour in some gasoline, not too much to puddle.

You can cook or heat water for leak proof hot water bottle to sleep with. A larger can inverted over top will put it out. Nice if that can has a lid for carrying. A gas proof bottle to carry fuel is good. The screw top Coors cans could work - might need a better gasket; a gasoline dryer Heet plastic bottle will work.

Back in my really poor days I would drain any fuel out of the hoses at the gas station - it was free. Hand sanitizer might work too.

 

How do you decide/know/find places to sleep at night that are relatively save and you won't be bothered? I ask because when I travel I often sleep in my vehicle and I am always concerned I may have accidentally that I may have picked a bad spot where bad things are likely to happen or a spot where the cops will soon be to kick me out. (this fear is worse near or in towns or cities rather than in rural areas)

 

Thanks for sharing, and stay safe out there.

 

If you're in or around Houston, PM me...

 

Tread lightly, a simple search reveals the OP is pretty much "Off his rocker"

 

You need space between the poncho and the top of your bag, or else the poncho (a vapor barrier) will cause a lot of moisture to be trapped inside your bag. Over time in winter temps, this will reduce the bag's loft and make it less effective at keeping you warm.

Especially if you're sleeping on a bench, you'll need non-compressible insulation underneath you. A sleeping bag's loft is what keeps you warm because it traps warm air in tiny air spaces inside (search: microclime). When you lay on the bag, you're compressing the loft, and eliminating its ability to trap that warm air. And on a bench, the wind blowing underneath you will steal more heat away. Cardboard or a $9 closed-cell-foam pad from EvilMart will work, and you can cut it to size.

Get an empty water bottle and find a convenience store that has a hot water dispenser for instant tea. Fill up the bottle, put a sock over it, and sleep with it against an artery...groin, armpit, etc.

Wear a beanie. Don't breath into your bag.

 

I've slept out in single digits wearing "normal clothes" and adding:
Wool sox
Winter overalls
And a down jacket with hood

All but wool sox bought at thrift store <$50 total

I have my military sleep system in the truck.
2 sleeping bags that snap together and a bivy bag.
I picked up a spair recently in a pawnshop for $10, but you can order them for $100 or less.

 

I've thought many times about going homeless in the past few years. Getting tired of being turned down for jobs, paying outrageous taxes. I'd love to get rid of a lot of the junk I thought I'd need once upon a time that now occupies a 14'x60' shop I can hardly walk through without tripping on one old idea or another.

I've got a 27' Class C RV, fully self contained, gotta tow bar on my Jeep Wrangler that I can tow behind it. Got a jon boat (one of my "projects") that'll ride on top of my Jeep with an 18hp motor and electric motor that'll fit in the back of my Jeep.

Probably have my wife drive my ole 95 F-150 with the canopy on the back and tow a cargo trailer or something behind it. Gotta heavy roof rack on the top of the canopy that'll carry some of those big plastic cargo boxes.

Anything else we think we'll want to get someday will go in a storage unit. If we don't use it in another 5 years or so, we'll sell that stuff.

There's a whole world of full time rv'ers out there and I'm not talking about the huge million dollar class A's or anything like that.

If the situation snuck up on me, I'd probably just jump in my truck and be gone. Hopefully I can haul my cargo or horse trailer so I can take tools, my boat, and whatever else I need to get a fresh start.

I'd chose that route over going to a shelter because I won't give up my dogs, cats, or birds. The 27' RV has plenty of room for us all to get along in.. even the wife.

The best thing about going full time in my RV would be no damn property taxes..

Thanks for the info ALERT.. It's always nice to hear from someone living the life.

If you want to get into the full time RV life and have a roof over your head and decent work, check out https://workamper.com/ Lot of great info there about jobs, places to stay, that kinda thing..

 

After changing jobs and residences often for about ten years, I adopted a rule that I would only move voluntarily again if I could define exactly how I would be living for the next year. I've known several people who claimed that they just "hit the road and let life happen," but the ones who enjoyed the move all had either a job waiting for them or they had substantial savings or some other means of support like a retirement check and/or Social Security.

 

You should consider getting away from urban homeless living and head out to a rural area. In 2014 I lived in my 96 Ford Explorer by pulling it into quad trails at night. I found a job, joined planet fitness for 10 bucks a month so I could work out and shower every day and slowly got back on my feet.

I just moved into my 7 figure home this year and ordered a new 2019 Navigator that will be ready in early Feb.

My point is that if you make a serious plan, keep your faith in God BUT rely on yourself to get ahead...... You can get back to the good life...... Step one is getting away from the city and into suburban/Rural areas and not looking homeless.

 

The Northwest of Alaska , while cold, has a ****on of opportuitys for those who do not own a house or have one of the limited jobs.

When faced with high rent in an high unemplyment/season work, I took to whatthe locals were doing to get by.....Hunt/Fish/trap/Gather.

My ''outfit' for hunting on foot was about 400$ (200$ south) and I built it up from there with the wife, sweat and time.

30 years later and while we do own and stay in a structured house, 3-4 months a year, we still preferr and make our living tenting around the other 8-9 months. The house is our 'retirement' as we built it and own nothing on it or the land under it.

Regardless, up this way you can live in a tent and be Mayor, Cop, Hunter, woodsman, whatever....

 

I haven't been homeless since I was kicked out of my adoptive parents home at age 14, well I do not consider myself homeless as long as I have a vehicle.

For sleeping out at night not in 50F temps it was January and getting down into the low 20's and and upper teens at night at that point. I slept inside large bushes at night, I would gather small sticks from inside the bushes and make a small 3 to 6 inch diameter fire. I was trying to keep the smoke down so that no police or neighbors would notice it, though as I found, even a tiny as little fire makes a lot of smoke especially when it is cold. I have never slept right so I wake about every 20 minutes or so and it was pretty easy to keep the fire going and thereby easy to keep warm. It worked out great except for a slight mistake of trying to dry my tennis shoes over my fire hanging from branches in the bush one night, they were high enough not to catch fire, but while I was sleeping they did manage to got hot enough that the tops of them melted a fair bit.

As for sleeping outside in 50F temps you don't even need a blanket much less a fire. Hell I prefer to keep my bedroom at about 50F in the winter.

 

As for sleeping outside in 50F temps you don't even need a blanket much less a fire. Hell I prefer to keep my bedroom at about 50F in the winter.

Some who look human are disgused with advanced liquid crystal holographic technology that protects their reptile body.

As for humans, it's normal to want to stay warm with temps in the 50s. I actually meant for this thread to be helpful to those who are subject to being cold at night, even in temps below 50F.

 

It seems many people are assuming the OP is homeless because he has no other choice, it seems to me that he has chosen to be homeless just like many others do.

 

Harb, please check out the Religion forum. He has posted in there quite a bit and talks about things that would get me hospitalized.

 

I get that he may be off kilter but he's just trying to stay warm and share it with us in this thread.

 

Sounds like a cozy suit for a reptilian. You know the ones that haven't mastered shape shifting or mind control.

 

Oh snap. Didn't see that coming.

 

You were warned!

 

 

the only way I would be homeless is as far back in the wilderness as I could get , not in a urban environment for sure JMHO! and S/FI!

 

Hey look on the bright side this is PRICELESS entertainment to say the least LOL and S/FI!

 

Yes, obviously exceptions like constant moving 'may' be exceptions.
(I was living in the airstream while working as a insurance adjuster) B

Was talking generally.

 

I sympathise with the OP. I'm in East Texas, you'd think warm, right? Rarely freezes, but man when it's wet and windy and below 50 degrees...
a person can die from exposure.
I'd say the first priority is to stay dry or get dry quickly. Some kind of shelter, out of the wind. ( not under an overpass.) A small stove like Trangia or Jetboil for warm food and drink. Appropriate clothing, wool, Goretex...Some kind of ground insulation.
A dog or a partner(s) who can be trusted.
Every time I go out in nasty weather I think of the homeless, may God have mercy on them.

 

Like many that are “homeless” the OP is homeless because he chooses to be.

You make valid points but don’t feel sorry for someone who chooses to live outdoors on a bench.

 

Cold spell in SoCal, under 40 the other night. I'm an indoor type and seek a Christian with whom to serve the Lord and share housing of any kind. I can pay rent and cover my expenses from my retirement income.

 

Yes it has been unusually cold. We even had ice covering our balcony. My home consists of my wife, young children, and elderly parent so it is against my judgement to invite strangers to stay. Have you tried the dial 211 service? The have a robust amount of resources and can also point you towards veteran-based resources as well.

Stay warm, it is almost over.