Extreme Measures
I slept in a tent for nearly six years. At the time, I self identified as "homeless" which was true but also less drama than self identifying as "on a long, strange healing journey" which was also true. It was PLENTY enough drama just calling myself homeless.
While homeless, I fantasized about having enough money to buy a patch of land in the middle of nowhere and camp in a tent and build a FEW amenities without building a full house so I could have running water, the ability to shower and wash hands, etc.
So I wasn't in a tent because I was poor. I was poor and in a tent because I was ill and trying to get better and if I had had money, I would have still been in a tent but they would have called me eccentric instead of homeless.
Salt is drying, but salt water is generally pretty healing for the skin. When I was regularly taking hot baths to treat my health problems, I found that adding salt to the bath water was the BEST means to avoid having dried out skin.
It's possible to find brown spray bottles of peroxide in a few stores but not common. You CAN rig a spray bottle by buying a spray nozzle and inserting it into a brown bottle of peroxide.
Peroxide comes in a brown bottle because it degrades to water when exposed to light, so you NEED to keep it in a dark bottle. You cannot just pour it into most regular spray bottles which are often clear or semi-translucent, not opaque.
We typically used BOTH hand sanitizer AND spray peroxide to clean our hands after eating or toileting in the bushes (or taking the trash out of our campsite, among other things). IF you can regularly arrange access to a sink, spray peroxide and a spray bottle of diet tonic water are still useful but you can skip the hand sanitizer.
So be careful where you sit, what you touch, etc. Just try to NOT GET DIRTY as much as possible.
Even before I was homeless, when I had a corporate job, I sometimes wore outfits once or twice and then threw them out because no amount of washing made them STOP MAKING ME SICK. I don't know what I was sweating out but I don't think it's JUST ME.
I stopped participating on CF lists in part because I was routinely throwing clothes out and on some list someone asked about what to use in the wash to kill the smell of the clothes from their child with CF and I refrained from saying "THROW THEM OUT" because I knew that would be a case of "THROW HER OFF THE LIST." So I decided This SHIT is POINTLESS. People don't want to hear good advice that actually works. They want to hear "How can I keep doing the same stupid shit and somehow magically get different results."
From elsewhere on this site:
He was afraid someone was going to call the police or call an ambulance and then there would be awkward questions. It's also not a good idea from a health standpoint to walk around drenched in blood, both because it exposes OTHER PEOPLE to god-knows-what and because blood attracts things and can make health problems worse if you don't clean it up fairly promptly.
When I was throwing clothes out A LOT while I had a corporate job, I would buy multiple copies of the same shirt off the sale rack for a dollar or two because then I looked like I wore the same shirt repeatedly and it minimized odds of people getting curious about "You never wear the same outfit twice. What is up with that?"
When I was homeless I often did the same thing but not to try to minimize social curiosity about my odd habits. When you are homeless, people don't expect much of your appearance and don't generally ask about your clothes. They figure you got them for free from a shelter or something.
Reality: I did get SOME clothes for free (or in exchange for labor at the shelter but called "free"), but I also continued to buy very cheap clothes at second-hand stores or off sale racks. I didn't generally try clothes on. I know a lot about clothes and wasn't trying to be a fashion plate.
I tried to eyeball it for size/fit and make sure I could walk into a grocery store in it without having the cops called on me.
I generally get pants with a drawstring in case I buy too large and/or my size changes overnight due to my ongoing issues with edema. I can gain or lose a size overnight, so stretchy pants with a drawstring means I can tie them up and not have them falling off me if they are too large either generally or suddenly overnight.
I wore slip-on shoes to minimize contact between my hands and shoes. Sandals in summer, those ugly closed-toe shoes with no back in colder weather to keep my toes warmer.
I RARELY wear socks. I have all kinds of crazy foot issues and socks are a problem. They grow stuff. Long before we had a diagnosis of two family members with CF, I was washing socks in hot water because two people in the family were prone to very bad foot odor if I didn't do that.
I tend to not wear jackets. They aren't very washable and in a place with temperate weather, you can probably stay adequately warm by putting on an undershirt instead of a jacket and undershirts are more washable if that's working for you, cheaper to replace if you are going through a "wear it ONCE and throw it OUT" phase of health drama.
Hoodies and sweaters are more washable than jackets if you really need an outer layer because an undershirt isn't cutting it.
I went through two periods of a few weeks or months where I wore stuff ONCE and threw it out, once in my last year at my corporate job and once during the first say eight months I was homeless. So twice during what was probably a period of 18 months or two years of the worst of my health issues in some sense.
So once every one to three months, we replaced the tent, all bedding and changed everyone's clothes in one fell swoop to try to make a clean break from whatever had gotten into the old stuff. We still have practices for "Get rid of X without contaminating the replacement for it" even though it's easier these days and we don't have to go to crazy lengths like we once did, we still try to make a clean break when getting rid of old items in the home.
Keep your STUFF in the shade and don't let it get too hot. A hot tent won't keep you cool.
Get enough to drink and if the temperature is high enough, drink Gatorade for the electrolytes. For me, that temperature is 105 degrees Fahrenheit or above but I grew up in Georgia. If you are used to cooler climes than that, it may be a lower temperature than that for you.
I also drink Gatorade at altitude, regardless of the temperature. Even in very cold weather, I drink Gatorade at altitude because you pee more at altitude, so you need more electrolytes.
While homeless, I fantasized about having enough money to buy a patch of land in the middle of nowhere and camp in a tent and build a FEW amenities without building a full house so I could have running water, the ability to shower and wash hands, etc.
So I wasn't in a tent because I was poor. I was poor and in a tent because I was ill and trying to get better and if I had had money, I would have still been in a tent but they would have called me eccentric instead of homeless.
Trash
I would find the nearest trash can to our campsite and whenever we did snacks and drinks, someone would take the trash to the nearest trash can IMMEDIATELY afterwards. Because we have toxic mouth syndrome (TM) from PA, we STILL take the trash out immediately after eating though we are no longer homeless.Hygiene
We carried hand sanitizer and spray peroxide. When our hands got too raw from using both of those, we also carried a spray bottle of salt water to use in place of the spray peroxide part of the time.Salt is drying, but salt water is generally pretty healing for the skin. When I was regularly taking hot baths to treat my health problems, I found that adding salt to the bath water was the BEST means to avoid having dried out skin.
It's possible to find brown spray bottles of peroxide in a few stores but not common. You CAN rig a spray bottle by buying a spray nozzle and inserting it into a brown bottle of peroxide.
Peroxide comes in a brown bottle because it degrades to water when exposed to light, so you NEED to keep it in a dark bottle. You cannot just pour it into most regular spray bottles which are often clear or semi-translucent, not opaque.
We typically used BOTH hand sanitizer AND spray peroxide to clean our hands after eating or toileting in the bushes (or taking the trash out of our campsite, among other things). IF you can regularly arrange access to a sink, spray peroxide and a spray bottle of diet tonic water are still useful but you can skip the hand sanitizer.
Clothes
Try to wear short sleeves or three-quarter length sleeves. Long sleeves get grimey around the cuff and it's a hygiene issue if you are washing hands a lot or sanitizing them a lot because you are seriously ill.
Clean Sleeves
So be careful where you sit, what you touch, etc. Just try to NOT GET DIRTY as much as possible.
Even before I was homeless, when I had a corporate job, I sometimes wore outfits once or twice and then threw them out because no amount of washing made them STOP MAKING ME SICK. I don't know what I was sweating out but I don't think it's JUST ME.
I stopped participating on CF lists in part because I was routinely throwing clothes out and on some list someone asked about what to use in the wash to kill the smell of the clothes from their child with CF and I refrained from saying "THROW THEM OUT" because I knew that would be a case of "THROW HER OFF THE LIST." So I decided This SHIT is POINTLESS. People don't want to hear good advice that actually works. They want to hear "How can I keep doing the same stupid shit and somehow magically get different results."
From elsewhere on this site:
Starting at the age of twelve, I was suicidal. That resolved when I was 55 years old and a cyst I had on my back for a decade resolved with incredible amounts of blood and pus and drama over the course of a week or so.Not told there: I was living in cheap t-shirts and I showered and threw out the old t-shirt every single day, treating my t-shirt like I was changing a bandage because I was bleeding all over my shirt. During the two worst days, half or more of the back of my shirt was covered in blood and my son told me to shower and change my shirt before going anywhere because I looked like I had been stabbed in the back.
He was afraid someone was going to call the police or call an ambulance and then there would be awkward questions. It's also not a good idea from a health standpoint to walk around drenched in blood, both because it exposes OTHER PEOPLE to god-knows-what and because blood attracts things and can make health problems worse if you don't clean it up fairly promptly.
When I was throwing clothes out A LOT while I had a corporate job, I would buy multiple copies of the same shirt off the sale rack for a dollar or two because then I looked like I wore the same shirt repeatedly and it minimized odds of people getting curious about "You never wear the same outfit twice. What is up with that?"
When I was homeless I often did the same thing but not to try to minimize social curiosity about my odd habits. When you are homeless, people don't expect much of your appearance and don't generally ask about your clothes. They figure you got them for free from a shelter or something.
Reality: I did get SOME clothes for free (or in exchange for labor at the shelter but called "free"), but I also continued to buy very cheap clothes at second-hand stores or off sale racks. I didn't generally try clothes on. I know a lot about clothes and wasn't trying to be a fashion plate.
I tried to eyeball it for size/fit and make sure I could walk into a grocery store in it without having the cops called on me.
I generally get pants with a drawstring in case I buy too large and/or my size changes overnight due to my ongoing issues with edema. I can gain or lose a size overnight, so stretchy pants with a drawstring means I can tie them up and not have them falling off me if they are too large either generally or suddenly overnight.
I wore slip-on shoes to minimize contact between my hands and shoes. Sandals in summer, those ugly closed-toe shoes with no back in colder weather to keep my toes warmer.
I RARELY wear socks. I have all kinds of crazy foot issues and socks are a problem. They grow stuff. Long before we had a diagnosis of two family members with CF, I was washing socks in hot water because two people in the family were prone to very bad foot odor if I didn't do that.
I tend to not wear jackets. They aren't very washable and in a place with temperate weather, you can probably stay adequately warm by putting on an undershirt instead of a jacket and undershirts are more washable if that's working for you, cheaper to replace if you are going through a "wear it ONCE and throw it OUT" phase of health drama.
Hoodies and sweaters are more washable than jackets if you really need an outer layer because an undershirt isn't cutting it.
I went through two periods of a few weeks or months where I wore stuff ONCE and threw it out, once in my last year at my corporate job and once during the first say eight months I was homeless. So twice during what was probably a period of 18 months or two years of the worst of my health issues in some sense.
Clean Breaks
I went homeless and slept in a tent so I could throw it out every one to three months. We kept minimal bedding which we were able to do in part because it was three people in a tent, so three people in a small tent generate enough heat to keep from freezing to death if you aren't dealing with extreme temperatures. I was in Southern California for most of this time -- about 3.5 years -- and then spent more than two years in Fresno California, which is a little less temperate than SoCal, but it's not like, say, ALASKA.So once every one to three months, we replaced the tent, all bedding and changed everyone's clothes in one fell swoop to try to make a clean break from whatever had gotten into the old stuff. We still have practices for "Get rid of X without contaminating the replacement for it" even though it's easier these days and we don't have to go to crazy lengths like we once did, we still try to make a clean break when getting rid of old items in the home.
Staying Warm
If you are in a tent, here are some tips for staying warm:- Set up behind a wind break and set up on dirt or pavement that was in sunlight or set up on plants, not pavement that was in shadow all day. If the ground is cold, you may need more bedding UNDER you than on top of you.
- Become very aware of microclimates. This is like when it snows a lot someplace temperate and MOST of the snow melts within 24 hours but that one snow drift in the shadow of that one building stays for several DAYS. Some spots are just warmer or colder than other spots, sometimes just a few feet away.
- Keep a window open and if necessary wear a hat or cover your head with the bedding. Cold and dry is a lot warmer than cold and wet and closing everything up tight will cause moisture from your breath to accumulate inside the tent and bedding can get shockingly damp if you do that. This can be a threat to survival in sub-freezing temps.
- Stay CLEAN. Clean clothes and bedding keeps you warmer than dirty clothes and bedding. We had many experiences where getting rid of a dirty outer layer of clothes meant we suddenly felt adequately warm when we had been "freezing to death" with more clothes on just before ditching it.
- Wool and flannel and sometimes some special weaves will keep you warm even when wet. This can save your life or at least LET YOU SLEEP though you aren't actually COMFORTABLE in cold, wet weather. On the West Coast of the US, some fool decided to schedule winter and the rainy season AT THE SAME TIME, so if you are on the West Coast, even though it may not be FREEZING, odds are good you are going to be WET much of the time during the coldest part of the year.
- If possible, pick a tent sized to allow you to develop a bubble of warm air around you. This means one low to the ground. Heat rises. A tall tent will not keep you as warm as a short one.
- Eat foods that help keep you warm.
- If it's REALLY cold, try to go pee one last time before temps fall in the evening and then try like hell to not leave the tent again until sun up.
Hot Weather
Some of the tips above still apply, such as being aware of microclimates, but you will want to "reverse" them. Instead of looking for hot spots, look for cool spots. Instead of avoiding shade, seek shade and avoid sunlight.Keep your STUFF in the shade and don't let it get too hot. A hot tent won't keep you cool.
Get enough to drink and if the temperature is high enough, drink Gatorade for the electrolytes. For me, that temperature is 105 degrees Fahrenheit or above but I grew up in Georgia. If you are used to cooler climes than that, it may be a lower temperature than that for you.
I also drink Gatorade at altitude, regardless of the temperature. Even in very cold weather, I drink Gatorade at altitude because you pee more at altitude, so you need more electrolytes.
