Home On Wheels

I am currently in a pretty annoying sleep pattern, which has resulted in a 3:20am blog. Last year was a very big year for me, it saw me leave Melbourne, moved back home, re-enter the education system, land the one job I told myself I would never do, forged new friendships, work two jobs at the same time, sleep in my car for the better part of two months, fail at house-searching, pretty much lose two jobs and found the cheapest rent paying place ever (Aside from home).

I could write a big blog about my house searching experience, which was very different to Melbourne's, but this blog is to pretty much blog about my experience living out of my car. Just to clear up, I'm sure when you read this you think "Cool, you have a van?" or "Every night for two months?" Firstly, no it was a van, it was a sedan, and secondly, it wasn't every night, but on average 3-4 nights a week.

Without going back through facebook status' to find record of the first night spent, it was in July when I spent the first night in my car. Now we all know what July is famous for.... Being the middle of winter, and it was a spur of the moment, after work/tafe next day thing.

For the last couple weeks beforehand, I was couch hopping while looking for a house, however there came a time when everything bottled up inside me just broke and I gave the world a big "SCREW YOU" I had the pressure of working late, TAFE, house hunting (which is a whole new blog) and what was the worst was trying to repair a friendship I wrecked earlier.

So after work I originally planned on driving home, which takes a bit over an hour, then drive back in the morning for TAFE. Now I finished work usually around 1-2am, so it would have been a waste of time, energy and petrol driving home that late and back again. Towards the end of my shift I realised it, and just went 'F it', knocked off, and drove to the TAFE.

I don't know the policy or whatever about sleeping in your car, but the car park was deserted, and seemed the safest place to pull up shop. I park as far away from the street as possible, I think this was to avoid any police. I always carry my laptop with me, as I just don't know when I might need it, so for a half-hour or so I was using the TAFE wireless, in my car, just passing the time and trying to forget what exactly I was doing.

Now I didn't really plan ahead, so I kind of only had a shirt, jumper and trackies, and when you are in a car in the middle of winter, it kind of isn't enough. I spent the better-half of the night unable to sleep due to intense shivering, and I eventually fell asleep.

I woke up a bit before 9, and realised where I was. My car was surrounded by other cars, and first thing I thought of is what people thought if they looked in to see my curled up in a ball sleeping. I went to class and acted like I had a normal nights rest, and went home that night. Not going to lie, the bed was a much better sleeping arrangement.

Now hating my life at this time, I continued this trend of sleeping in my car, and as time went on, I learnt from mistakes.

Mistake #01 - Lack of clothing
Solution - Pack clothes

My first experience taught me I had a lack of clothes, which made the sleep cold, uncomfortable and un-bearing. Me being ever-so-clever, I thought "What if I just pack some heavy duty winter clothes and stack the layers on". So for some time I would go to work, come back, change from my work clothes to the following....

2 x Pairs of socks
1 x Leggings (This took a couple nights to realise I should pack them)
1 x Trackies
2-3 x T-shirts
2 x Jumpers (One hooded to keep my head warm. At one stage was wearing three jumpers)

So I had some clothes on, some nights I was warm, and some other nights it wasn't enough. I remember waking up one morning, and unable to see out the window because of the frost, and I was curled up shivering and thinking "Wow, I'm so cranking this heater"

So if I had a heater in my car, why didn't I use it? Uhh simple, the car would have ran out of battery and petrol, and that was the reason why I was sleeping in the car. However, after work, while driving to my sleep destination, I would crank the heater up to full speed in hopes of warming the car enough to sustain me at least 15 minutes.

Mistake #02 - Sleeping in the car park when an event on campus was going on
Solution - Find a new spot

One night there was an event on campus, and it could have been my eyes playing a trick on me but I kept seeing figures out in the distance. Of course it was dark, and I was sleep deprived, but this was enough to scare me into finding somewhere else.

I needed to find a place which was quiet, away from prying eyes and somewhere close to TAFE. When I would drive into TAFE I noticed a little parking area, most likely for trucks, just off the freeway on McKoy St, so I thought to make this my spot.

My night would usually go something like, work, drive to TAFE and use the wireless internet until my battery was low, or I'd watch shows on my laptop. I then would drive to my spot, pull the seat back and the rest I don't need to go on.

Mistake #03 - Still got freaking cold
Solution - Pack my doona

I can't believe it took me a while to figure this out! I do feel rather stupid, as I spent a few good weeks shivering myself to sleep. I thought of the brilliant idea of packing a pillow and my doona, and turned out to be the smartest thing I thought of all year. Combing the doona with my layers of clothing, the harsh cold winter temperature became quite bearable and actually tolerable.

No longer was I shivering, I was quite warm under the doona, and the pillow made it feel like sleeping in a bed. I was no longer dreading the cold nights ahead, and the nights became somewhat manageable.

Mistake #04 - Chilling in my car on a public road at 1am
Solution - Don't do it anymore

For a brief period, instead of entering the TAFE car park for internet, I'd just sit out on McKoy St, which still gave me access. One night I was watching Family Guy and a light shined into my car, I got out and realised it was a policeman. He questioned what I was doing, and not knowing if it was illegal or not, I bended the truth slightly. I showed him I.D, and saw my old address of Heidelberg Heights and was surprised when I answered that I never been involved with crime. I explained I grew up in a small town and not in the 'burbs, and once he left, I hit a bump on where I was sleeping. I told the officer I was waiting for a friend to finish work so I could sleep at his, so I couldn't sleep in my normal spot in case he patrolled that area, saw my car and busted my lying ass.

That night I went over to Albury and found a spot at Nourial Park (Or however you spell it), and then after that night, I just went back into the car park to use the internet.

Mistake #05 - Sleeping in a car
Solution - Find a house

I eventually found a house to live in, and gone were the days of sleeping in my car. A couple weeks leading up to moving in, I started to swallow my pride and allowed mates to "look after" me. He offered a bed whenever I needed it, so I took him up on that offer and had comfortable, cozy bed than the backseat of a car. I think I stayed there a couple nights for two weeks, than it was moving day into my new place, and this is a personal reminder to buy him some beer for his hospitiality.

You are all probably wondering, "Why didn't you just stay at his place for all the time you were sleeping in the car?" Well, I often felt like a burden to the friends I was staying at. I think I would have crashed on at least 5 different people's couches/spare beds I slept on, and every time I stayed I felt like I was a hassle. I didn't want to make people feel obligated to say yes to me staying at theirs, so I stopped asking and took life into my own hands.

It was a true eye-opening experience, and I still slept in a bed a few nights a week. Just remember, while my story may seem silly to some, there are people of all ages out there living on the streets. Some don't have the luxury I had of having an enclosure to protect me from the elements and other people. There are people sleeping on benches, under bridges/overpasses, alleyways and basically anywhere they can and they do this every night. Some might have blankets and warm clothes, others might not. I look back and I find it hard to feel sorry for myself when there was people in way worse conditions than me.

So that is my story, yes okay, sleeping in my car a few nights a week for a few months sucked, and something I don't want to do again, but I could have been worst off.....



From The One They Anthony, This Is The Life & Times