Whether you’ve fallen upon hard times or are in between moves, living in your car is always a viable option when you have nowhere else to turn. Whatever the reason, there is no shame in living out of a vehicle until you can get back on your feet; even pop culture icons like Chris Pratt and James Cameron did it at some point in their lives.
Living in your car without proper preparation can easily lead to disaster, but don’t worry: we have you covered. From what you should eat to where you should park, this article will cover everything you need to live in your vehicle for as long as you need to.
Questions to Ask Yourself Before Living in Your Car
Before you leap to fully living in your car, there are a few things that you need to consider first.
Do I Have a Car That Is Suitable for Living in?
Ideally, you want a car with enough space to contain you and your possessions without making you feel cramped, so a van or similar vehicle would be the best option. Not everyone has the funds or foresight to live in a van: just make sure you have room to sleep and keep your food and essentials.
Do I Have the Proper License and Registration?
As you will be living in your car for an indefinite amount of time, it is of utmost importance to have valid and up to date insurance as well as a valid driver’s license.
Do I Have an Address?
If you plan on getting a job or receiving mail, you’ll need an address regardless of whether you are living in your car or not. The United States government recommends asking to use the address of a friend or family member who is willing to help you or use the General Delivery Service.
Another viable option is to register a PO Box since most workplaces will acknowledge it as a valid address. For information on how to register for a PO Box through USPS, check out this section from their FAQ.
What Should I Do with My Current Belongings?
Aside from the essentials, you should not be storing anything too valuable in your car. If you only plan on living in your vehicle for a month or two, then the safe deposit box at your bank should work just fine.
For more substantial or long-term storage, consider investing in a private storage unit. Alternatively, you could sell any unnecessary items online or at a local pawn shop.
Is it Legal to Live in Your Car?
The answer to this question is that it depends. In general, most cities don’t have an outright ban on living in your car, but many have prohibited it in certain areas. A report from the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty found that “57% of cities ban camping in particular public places,” with camping meaning sleeping in public.
The best advice that I can give is to check your local laws and follow them as carefully as you can. If you think that the requirements in your area are too strict to abide by, then consider moving to a more lenient area or find a different method of shelter.
Finding a Suitable Parking Spot
An essential part of living in your car is having somewhere to park your car when you go to work or sleep. As a rule of thumb, you want to find a location where you would logically leave your vehicle for extended periods that also have many other cars parked there.
Community college or university can be a good option if you have a parking permit and know that security isn’t too tight. Schools usually have the basic amenities you need, such as a bathroom, gym, and a library. Parking at a university is also very convenient if you also attend it as you don’t have to commute to school every morning.
If you don’t attend a college or university, the parking lot of a 24-hour supermarket works fine as well as long as you don’t stay at the same one for more than a day at a time. Church parking lots are also generally safe to park at as long as they aren’t conducting service at the time. Other 24-hour establishments like hospitals can also work if you’re very careful.
Depending on where you are, campsites can offer a great place to sleep without being bothered by security or employees. The fees vary, and you’ll have to reserve them in advance, but campgrounds usually have bathrooms as well as water and electricity. To find campsites near you, use this free tool from Go Camping America.
If you still can’t find anywhere to park, try asking a family member or friend if you can sleep in their driveway for a night or two while you find somewhere better. You should also try offering a small amount of money as a form of rent.
Working While Living in Your Car
If you ever want to get back on your own two feet, you need to obtain a consistent source of income first. If you already have a job: there isn’t much you have to change, but if you’re unemployed, then you’ll need to start the process of finding a job.
Methods to Learn Skills While Living in Your Car
Even for the simplest jobs, you’ll need some level of expertise to get hired. It can be hard to learn new skills and trades while also living in your car, but you don’t have to do it alone. Your local homeless shelter most likely has free programs to provide you with the skills to find and keep a job.
If you don’t have a job, you’ll have a lot of free time, so use this to your advantage and practice the interviewing process aloud. Write down a script or find one online and rehearse it until you are comfortable with the questions and answers.
Before you go into an interview, go over the questions one more time in your head, and reassure yourself that all the practice you did will help you get the job.
Methods to Find a Job While Living in Your Car
Many charity organizations, homeless shelters, and churches are likely to have programs that can get you in touch with employers. The main goal of these charity programs is to get you some experience, not a long-lasting career, so the rest is up to you. Use your connections to your advantage; see if your boss or coworkers can help you find a job with more hours.
In this day and age, an excellent way to find work is through the internet. With sites like Indeed and even LinkedIn, you can enter specific jobs and conditions to narrow down your search. In addition to these websites, you also want to look at the job listings in your local newspaper as well and compare them to the jobs you found online.
Once you get an interview, you’ll need at least one set of nice clothes. You might live in your car, but you don’t want your future employers to know that! Once you get a job, you’ll need another outfit based on the level of professionalism in your new workplace.
If you’re just doing manual labor, then a t-shirt and jeans are fine, but if you’re a cashier, you’ll need to find something nicer.
One job that is becoming more and more popular is food delivery services such as Doordash and Uber Eats. For these jobs, all you need is your car and a phone; as soon as you get approved, you can start working. These jobs are better than being a taxi service because you can deliver while also not having to drive people around in your car full of supplies and valuables.
For more information on Uber Eats, check out this article from their website.
Important Supplies to Have While Living in Your Car
When living in your car, there are some supplies that you’ll need almost every day.
Cooler or Ice Chest
You’ll need this for storing perishable foods and drinks that you want to keep cold. You will need to buy ice occasionally, but it’s better than just leaving everything in your hot car.
Sunshade and Black Blankets
If you value your privacy, you’ll need to invest in supplies to cover up your windows and windshield. For your windshield, you can use a sunshade to block out the sun and also to conceal the insides of your car. While sleeping in your car, the last thing you want is to be visible to the outside; drape some blankets over the windows to maintain privacy.
Waste Management Supplies
Unless you want to use a public bathroom every time you have “go,” you will need to pick up some waste management supplies. If you’re in a pinch, you can use spare bottles to contain your urine and use a bucket as a toilet.
If you can spare a little extra cash, you should invest in a portable toilet. These make it easier and cleaner to use the restroom in your car. With all waste management supplies, empty them frequently.
Car Maintenance Supplies
When you live in your car, you need to treat it like your house. Just like you need supplies to maintain your yard, you need supplies to maintain your car as well.
Aside from the regular maintenance checks that you should be doing anyway, you should always keep the following on hand: an extra battery, a portable air compressor, a tire gauge, and a few spare tires.
Toiletries and Hygiene Supplies
You’ll most likely already have most of the essentials when it comes to hygiene supplies, but just in case make sure you have the following: toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, soap, deodorant, a hairbrush, razors, and feminine hygiene products.
To keep all of your hygiene supplies clean and orderly, sort them into plastic bags, and put them in your glove compartment or trunk.
Flashlight
It would be impractical to use the overhead light in your car every time you needed some light, so investing in a flashlight or electric lantern is a must. A light source can also be helpful if you’re staying at a campsite or need to go outside to empty your waste.
Staying Hygienic While Living in Your Car
If you want to hold a stable job and live a comfortable life, you’ll need to meet your basic hygienic needs, even if you’re living in your car.
Showering
There are many places that offer public showers, but few are free. One option is the gym; while you will have to pay for a membership, you will have access to all of their equipment and have a place to shower every morning. Alternatively, most community centers with gyms also have showers.
If you are a student at a university or college, you can use their showers every morning. It may be worth it to only enroll for one class in order to access a community college’s amenities.
Public swimming pools also usually have showers, but in some communities, these pools are only accessible to residents. You may be able to ask a resident to let you in every so often so that you can shower.
Keeping Your Car Clean
If you want to smell nice and stay healthy, keeping your car clean at all times is a must. Always have a bag for trash that you regularly empty and clean up any spills or messes as soon as they happen.
Always check to see if your food has gone bad, and dispose of it immediately if it has. Just to be safe, cover the area of your car that you sleep on with a sheet, and regularly wash it with your laundry.
Doing Laundry
You always want to have at least one clean pair of clothes that you go to work in, and one clean pair that you work out and run errands in. Always make sure to keep your clean and dirty clothes in two separate bags, respectively.
Your best bet for actually doing your laundry is a public laundromat. These services are relatively cheap and are much safer and easier than handwashing. If you’re short on money, try asking someone else at the laundromat if you can throw in one of your shirts or pants in with their load.
Morning Routine
Every morning you’ll need a spot where you can go and freshen up without being bothered. Most public bathrooms will serve this purpose quite well, especially family bathrooms, because you can get ready without bothering other people.
If you happen to have a gym membership, you can use their locker room in the mornings to get ready after you shower. The same goes for community colleges and universities.
Foods You Can Eat While Living in Your Car
There are three types of foods you can eat while living in your car: fast food, dry goods, and perishable goods.
Fast Food
Generally, you’ll want to avoid eating fast food too often as not only is it unhealthy, but it can also be a drain on your funds. Having fast food every once in a while is okay, but relying on it for every meal will not do you any good.
Other forms of fast food besides chain restaurants would be things like Ramen and TV dinners. Most of the time you won’t be able to eat these because you’ll have to boil water, which is pretty hard to do if you’re living in your car.
Occasionally, treating yourself to a pizza or other delivery food is fine as long as you don’t overindulge. When ordering delivery, give the driver the address of a public location and wait out front to pick up your food.
Dry Goods
Dry goods will be your main source of food while living in your car. The main advantage of dry goods is that they never spoil, and they don’t require an appliance to prepare. Dry goods include foods like bread, peanut butter, crackers, dried fruit, and cereal.
The most important dry good to have is bread, as you can use it for sandwiches, which will become a staple of your diet. For snacks, stock up on protein and granola bars as they are healthy and small enough to store easily.
Perishable Goods
Perishable goods are those goods that will spoil if they are not kept at a certain temperature or if they are not used by a certain date. Perishable goods will be stored in your cooler or ice chest. While living in your car, you’ll want to avoid stocking up on more perishable goods than you can eat in one week to avoid wasting food.
Perishable goods that you should consider are milk, lunch meat, yogurt, fruits, and vegetables. Over time you will get an understanding of how much of each perishable good you will need each week, but at first, only buy the bare minimum.
Water
One of the main reasons you don’t want to buy a ton of perishable goods is to make room in your cooler for water. The best way to stock up on water is to buy bottles by the bulk and put them in your ice chest as you need them. You can also buy water in gallon jugs, but these usually take up more space and are heavier than individual water bottles.
Sleeping in Your Car
Before you can sleep in your car, you’ll need a place to park. The best places to park while you sleep are those where it wouldn’t be suspicious to park for a long time, such as a 24-hour supermarket or a hospital, but it isn’t always that simple. Places like universities, supermarkets, and hospitals often have security that patrols the parking lots, looking for loiterers.
By using blankets and a sunshade (as mentioned before), you can conceal the fact that you are sleeping to anyone who may be patrolling the parking lot, but this in and of itself may cause suspicion. If you have seats that recline all the way back, you’ll be able to sleep without drawing suspicion or having to conceal yourself.
You don’t want to sleep in the same parking lot for more than one day at a time because the security will start to recognize that your car is there every time they check. Make a list of locations that are safe for sleeping and cycle between them every day. The minimum amount of locations you want to have is three because this way, you’ll never have to sleep at the same place for two nights in a row.
If you’re going to sleep at a hospital, you should park in the middle of the night and leave early to avoid arousing suspicion of security. If security does approach you, tell them you’re waiting on a patient, and they will usually leave you alone.
For a college or university, security is only checking to see if you have a parking permit, as long as you have one they are unlikely to suspect that you are sleeping in your car. Again, as long as you have your seats fully reclined, you will be fine.
If you ever do get approached by security, just be honest and tell them that you are sleeping in your car. Most of the time, they will understand your situation and leave you be. It is illegal to sleep in some public areas, so always be sure to check the homeless laws of your city before sleeping on public property.
Safety Precautions to Take While Living In Your Car
Living in your car can often be dangerous since you’re essentially at the mercy of your environment. Before living in your car, assess the safety of your local to see if it is viable to be safe and live in your car. For example, the LAPD reported that there were 25 homicides and 1,259 cases of motor vehicle theft between January and February of this month alone.
Looking at the statistics for Los Angeles alone, living in your car does not seem safe enough to do for a long period of time. However, this is only for LA; I advise you to research the crime statistics of your own city and assess whether living in your car is worth the risk or not.
One thing you can do to protect your car is to buy a steering wheel lock. A steering wheel lock will lock down your steering wheel so that if someone breaks in, they cannot drive away without the keys to the lock. The lock that I recommend is The Club 3000, as it is fairly cheap and extremely reliable.
Since your car contains all of your essentials and is where you live, always exercise caution when leaving your car unattended. Place valuables out of view of the windows and windshield at all times. Except for when you’re working, try not to leave your vehicle unattended for more than an hour at a time.
When looking for places to sleep and park, never just park out in the middle of nowhere. Sleeping in a car with no one else around leaves you vulnerable to burglary and auto theft, and with no witnesses around getting help will be difficult.
In order to preserve your car’s battery, be attentive to how much electricity you are using. Only charge your phone when you absolutely need it.
One thing you need to be wary of while spending any extended period of time in your car is carbon monoxide poisoning. If you leave your car on for a long time with the windows closed, carbon monoxide from the exhaust may build up in the car. Extended exposure to carbon monoxide can cause fatigue, fever, nausea, and fainting. If you suspect carbon monoxide buildup in your car, leave immediately and have your car inspected.
For more information on carbon monoxide poisoning, its symptoms, and what to do if you’re affected, check out this article from the Ohio State University Medical Center.
Closing Remarks
Living in your car is not right for all, but it certainly is a viable option for some. The important thing is that you are able to fulfill all of your basic needs, no matter what type of shelter you live in. If you’re reading this article because you’ve fallen on tough times: don’t worry about it; it will get better if you put your head down and work as hard as you can.
Only resort to living in your car if you don’t have any family or friends that can help you. While it may be embarrassing to ask those close to you for help, they are your one and only support system. No matter what, your family and friends will understand if you need a little bit of help; everyone does at some point.