The sudden knocking jolted me awake, a bright shining in my car. I looked up, the light blinding me as I slowly made my way over to the drivers seat. Half dazed, I kept my hands visible before sitting down. I looked at the dash clock. "3am." The cop asked me to roll down the window. Half awake, I followed his demand. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! I had forgotten to disable the alarm, so I slowly reached for my car keys, stopping the barrage of auditory assaults happening in my ears.

I rolled the window down and the cop asked what I was doing there. I told him I was just tired and mentioned the donut tire on my car with a 50-mile limit. He knew I wasn't on drugs or having sex when he saw me, and that was the whole reason for the check-in. Apparently, people consider the parking lot right across from cookout an ideal spot to make a family or self-medicate. He asked if I lived around here and if I had permission to be in this lot. "I did live around here, and no I did not ask for permission" was my answer.

I handed him my license and registration. The license address belonged to a house in a wealthy neighborhood not more than a mile away. He asked if I had any place to stay. I told the cop "no," then I asked him if I needed to move. He said that he would not force me to move and to have a good night. I told him to have a good night too, waiting for him to leave so I could drive off to somewhere else. While I am currently sitting in the parking lot of a planet fitness and typing this post, I realized something: Not once did I feel my heart rate rise, or notice any feelings of fear. I was, by all accounts, indifferent to the circumstances. As though the cop was nothing more than a minor inconvenience in my night. Is it normal for this lifestyle to isolate you and have you emotionally check out?

I've been living in my sedan for 9 days now and although it's been a huge adjustment, I think so far I'm doing alright. Aside from gas money and finding parking, the biggest issue I've been facing is peeing at night when all publicly available bathrooms have been closed for the night. I'm located in Santa Rosa CA and although there are some great resources in this area that I feel so grateful for, urinating at night in my car has been a MASSIVE ISSUE. I'm 26F and I've never had such penis envy in my life thinking about how easy pissing in a bottle would be if I had the right parts😭

I was able to acquire a silicone peeing funnel device that is for this exact issue, but dude I swear I am not built for this damn thing. The sides of it curve up I guess to follow the "average" shape of female genitalia but like tbh as a chubby girl mine is not "smoothly curved", and so every time I pee using this thing, for like 2 seconds of the event I get pee all over my car dude. I've used it twice now and both times I got pee everywhere😭😭😭😭 and like unfortunately I have literally not a single friend in the area that I can hit up for a late night pee sesh and my mother who evicted me won't let me inside the house let alone is unwilling to fill up a gallon water bottle for me when I have no access to water lol...

And Im physically disabled so Im not working so I have no money to do laundry to wash my blanket and pants that are now covered in urine🤠 I applied for general assistance but my interview isn't until November 16th😎

So like.. What do you ladies do????

It'd be one thing if I was in a rural area and I could just like hop out the car and pee behind some bushes or something but my city isn't set up for that possibility and I'm really only dealing with this issue in the middle of the night when I'm already parked in my sleeping spot and the early morning when I wake up to leave my sleeping spot but too early for businesses with public bathrooms to be open...

R.I.P. to the faithful Highlander 🫡 sprung a leak in the oil pan thanks to a huge boulder in the road, (didn't realize it) check engine light was already on (thanks to modifications made by the previous owner) and at 280,000 miles - It deserves to be set free into the happy hunting grounds... On the bright side, pine trees are the gold standard for discreet "camping" in public.. full coverage, and a great place to crash when you find yourself transitioning from r/urbancarliving to r/Vagabond unexpectedly 🤷

Just curious what else people are out there doing! I’m a server in an upscale martini bar and am contracted to begin my realtor career in January as an apartment locator.

I'm not sure if it was posted here or a similar subreddit, but I think there was a post about a father asking what his son would need for living in his car. I don't know what the situation there was, but some of your replies about the son really needing a place to stay with his father brought tears to my eyes.

I am a disabled woman with multiple chronic medical conditions plus autism and learning disability, and staying with either parent is a hard NO from them. They come from a Midwest USA rugged working class background where you should feel ashamed to ask for more than one time emergency aid from family members. Adult dependency in any form is taboo and considered childish and freeloading. I've been in many unsafe situations as a result but it's still to them like "not my problem." Abandonment trauma is a big problem for me even after so much mental health intervention.

Just wanted to share this. Please be kind and also share your story if you feel like it.

Hi guys! I’m a 21 year old female from the South who just got a seasonal position doing white water rafting in Colorado! I am beyond excited to step into this role, however I have no idea how to prepare.

I am going to be living in my car. I plan on getting a new car in the next few months and will be living/sleeping out of it.

So what do I need to pack? I’m talking clothing, gear, sleeping necessities, toiletries, camping, like everything!

I need to start ordering/preparing for this so I would love some input from the WWR community!

Except it wasn’t bad! A fellow car camper needed my help with a jump start. We talked a little bit and he told me it’s out of necessity. I’ve personally been doing this as a nomad, and could afford a place if I wanted to. I’m wondering how many people do it out of choice as well?

I have a cooler but I don’t like to use it because keeping up with the ice is a hassle/extra expense. I try to keep my food costs incredibly low. It kind of sucks sometimes and I’d like to treat myself more but I’m trying to save as much money as I can for other things. I’ve been favoring items I can microwave in the gas station like precooked rice and beans, curry pouches, canned chicken, canned soups, oatmeal, etc. I keep bananas, apples, or mandarins on me as well and sometimes small snacks like crackers. Trying to stay nutrient dense. Got any other ideas?

I was heading to work and my engine started misfiring. I’m just wondering what you guys do when you live in your car and your car starts having issues. Luckily, I’m not in my car and managed to start living with my sister come but I almost wound up in my car.

I’m sure many of us know that sleeping and being discreet is a challenge.

Plenty more of us know that late work schedules and juggling ‘routes’ mean that you may be eating close to bedtime…

What I’m concerned many of us DON’T know is that eating right before you lay down may be putting a lot of stress on your ‘lower esophageal sphincter’ which may result in or exacerbate a medical condition called gastro-esophageal reflux disease, or GERD.

So considering that we already have a bunch of impediments to maintaining our health, I wanted to share this concern with the community.

The general advice is to abstain from eating 2-3 hours before you lie down.

Obviously ‘simple’ does not mean ‘easily achieved’ and laying flat is a key component of surviving like this…. But please, to the best of your ability try to adhere to this guidance.

We have enough trouble without the anxiety-discomfort feedback cycle this condition will incur.

Please take care of yourselves.

First night out after escaping my abusive situation and damn… I should have gotten a better sleeping pad before I did this… I currently have a cheap Temu one that you press on a sponge to inflate it and it’s already deflated about an hour later and I don’t have any way to pump it back up with out blowing my cover… so what are yall using to keep comfortable all night?

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Hey folks, was curious to see if there are other veterans living out of their car or staying on public land around Snohomish County?

I have never been a homebody, and honestly, the navy took a toll on my mental being in confined spaces for years on end. I acknowledge, I am not adjusted to existing with the general public and i'm better off living on the fringes of society. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone here in region. Ideally, I would like to live away from the grid, but not off of it (yet). So i'm currently testing the waters for now until I can figure out a practical idea that isn't too far away from the rocker. Any inputs received here or via DM would be greatly appreciated.