Home Is What You Make It

The backseat and cargo area was made into a bedroom.

Public Storage is for the personal items to alleviate clutter in the car.

How does a single 52 year-old mom with two young adult children go from middle class to a car dweller? What makes me any different than the rest of the dwellers that have told you their stories? I am here to discuss mainly the emotional side of being a car dweller. Walk with me in these shoes. Are you with me? Good, grab your car keys and tag along with me.

FROM HOUSE TO CAR

Moving from your house to your car is like a relationship breakup for some people. By force or choice, the separation can leave you feeling overwhelmed, which may create anxiety. Going from all that space to such a smaller living area makes it hard to move on because a car and a house are both significant emotional investments.

In 2016, I secretly started entertaining the thought of living in my car because I was desperate to relocate from Illinois to Florida. Florida had been a life long dream of mine since I was a teen and for me, living in a car in the warmth is much better than shivering in the cold. Once my daughter (my last kid at home) graduated from high school in May 2018, once she attended college in June 2018, I was completely moved out the house that I rented, and I lived in my car in Illinois from June 28th, 2018 to August 13th, 2018 as a test run. I dove my daughter to college in Saint Louis. I drove five and a half hours back to Illinois with no where to live. I didn’t want to live with any of my relatives so I made it back to Illinois at around midnight. I didn’t have a solid plan, other than I knew for sure that on June 29th, I was going to be sleeping in my car until my transfer from Chicago to Florida was finally approved by my job.

From June 29th to to August 13th, I slept overnight in my car. I woke up on work days at 8:00 in the morning, went to the gym at 9:00 until 10:30. I showered and put my suit on for work. I worked from noon until 8:30PM five days a week. On my two off days, I kept the same ritual, except after working out, I took a ton of baby wipe baths because I just didn’t feel like showering on my off days. Afterwards, I went to write at Starbucks for about four hours.

MY DAILY ROUTINE

The key is to save money and reduce gas mileage. My Public Storage is 2.7 miles from the gym. For my writing and internet needs, there are four Starbucks near the Public Storage and all of them are within a five mile radius from one another. The Library is 1.2 miles from the Public Storage. There are three 24 hour Walmarts where I rotate my sleeping time and all of them are less than five miles from the public storage. The Publix grocery store is approximately one mile away from the Public Storage. The gas station is 1.7 miles away. There is a Target, Laundry mat, and several restaurants a mile in a half away from the Public Storage.

During the weekdays, I work a government job from 7:00 to 3:30. From 4:30 to 5:30, I workout at the gym. Because I need to use the shower, it’s more of a motivation for me to exercise while I am at the gym and get in shape and besides $42 a month shower would seem rather a bit expensive, wouldn’t you think? I leave the gym showered. I arrived at the Public Storage unit about 6:15 ish. I eat whatever I prepare that’s simple or whatever I have in my portable cooler that I keep in my car and most of the time I keep it plugged into my cigarette lighter. Tell the name of the cooler right here! I stay there there and tidy up the storage unit. I pick out my work clothes the next day and pack them on the right side of my suitcase until about 8:00-ish, then I write at Starbucks until 11:00 or midnight on Friday night. I pick out my pajamas and exercise clothes and place them on the left side of the suitcase to create a sense of domestication and organization, then I hop in the back where I lay my head, think about what I’m going to do the next day and I fell to sleep peacefully in my minimalist lifestyle.