Over the past five months that I've tried this experiment of living in my car, I've become much more aware of the space around me, not to mention the space that my possessions occupy.
In my earlier post, I mentioned that I moved the remainder of my possessions into a storage unit. Of course, that was after a thorough cleaning-out process of all the things I had accumulated. I had to go through books, magazines, electronics, and other miscellaneous gadgets. Going through all those things made me realize that I don't use most of them, and if I hadn't used them in over a year, then I didn't need them. And if I didn't need them, then I'd be better off selling them or giving them away. So that's what I did.
After the 'purge', as I call it, I still had some things. But I had a lot fewer things. Since I wasn't going to be owning a house anymore, I didn't need all those lawn tools or a lawnmower. I got rid of all the clothes that I couldn't fit into anymore. Disposables were either used up, donated, or disposed of. Furniture was sold, with only a bare minimum put into storage.
I decided to simplify my ownership of 'things' down to a bare minimum. I kept a small wardrobe of clothes, necessary toiletries, the most important books and documents, and some useful electronic devices that would help me keep in touch with the rest of society.
That purge of possessions was important for me. At that point earlier this year, I had realized that accumulating material goods was really of no value; I had already lost one of the things that was truly important to me when I lost my wife.
My decision to start living in my car was a lesson to me that even reducing my possessions to a bare minimum would sometimes fill my car with seemingly unnecessary things.
So I learned to organize! I could only store an extremely limited amount of food, and even that would only last a very few days in the trunk of a car. So food always went in the same small cooler, always placed in the same corner of the trunk.
I bought two large - but shallow - plastic containers for trunk storage. One would hold clothing for 4-5 days at a time. The other would hold books, documents for my work, and other papers that I needed to keep dry. In a separate plastic container, I kept all my nighttime necessities: pajamas, a sheet or two, a blanket, with a pillow nearby. With a duffle bag as a makeshift hamper, a backpack for my electronics, and a small rolling briefcase for sundries and toiletries, I was ready for just about anything.
Still, it felt like a lot of stuff.
Living in a six-year-old Buick will test your use of space like little else will. After a week of sleeping curled up in the back seat of the car, I learned that the back seat itself was just a waste of space. I was living alone, and I would obviously never actually sit in the back seat while I was driving, so I found a wrench and took out the backrest of the seat, leaving the bench and leaving an easy connection between the back seat area and the trunk.
With the back seat out, I could now lie stretched out on my 'bed', extending my feet into the trunk area. Add a sheet and blanket and, voila! I had a comfortable place to sleep.
Everything had to be in its place. Just like moving into any new home, if things aren't in their proper place, it wastes time and energy to look for them. So I quickly learned to get organized. I never tossed things onto the floor or passenger seat of the car, just assuming I'd find a place for it later. Everything had to be put away the right way. Every night, I had a place for my shoes, wallet, and keys. And I made a personal rule that when I ate in my car, I'd never leave the empty packaging lying in the car. Drink cups and food packages would go into my tiny trash can or directly into a dumpster.
My very small living area was starting to turn into my new home, and it was getting to be, dare I say, comfortable. It only took me two weeks to figure it out. I had become a minimalist and had hope of succeeding at this experiment of living in my car.
The only main problem I had left was an obvious one, though. My Buick had untinted windows, and my 'home' was essentially exposed to anyone who as much as peeked in my car window during the night. I was going to need privacy to be happy living in my car, and I had an idea.
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