Heeeyho Readers! Are you prepared to survive after losing everything?
This post seem to miss the outdoor aspect of the Outdoor and more community, although, in my viewpoint, it is somehow connected. Outdoor and survivalism go hand in hand and not always hit the extremes. In that regard, we've talked about preparedness for war, natural disaster, economic collapse, medical emergencies, camping in extreme conditions, et cetera. However, are we prepared for the number one cause of homelessness?
Finding oneself surviving on the streets could happen in different ways: Statistics vary according to the websites I consulted before writing this post, but bankruptcy (loss of job plus debt) generally stand in the top one cause of homelessness, followed by substance abuse and jail. It can happen to anyone, anytime, and without notice, especially as inflation rises and companies lay off employees.
What's the idea of this post?
I want to discover if the Hive folks are prepared to endure what I call the urban survival. Do you think about the topic? Would you give up or run to the mountains for more safety in case of bankruptcy?
The situation is simple
Imagine you lose your income and all of a sudden life goes south (inflation, huge recession, etc). You are unable to honor your debts and the bank takes the house. Soon your fiat savings vanish and you already sold the car. No friends nor family to back you up. What would you do?
Mr.P's Strategy
My strategy is the result of experimentation. No, I've never been homeless. Not in a easily reversible way, at least. A handful of times I found myself houseless for several weeks or even months while traveling around the world. How's that different? It differs that I could go back home anytime I wanted. However, during those months traveling, I was indeed living on the streets, sleeping on the streets, sleeping under bridges, taking shower in gas stations and often depending on strangers. I believe this experience prepared me somehow.
So, bang! I'm out. Now what? Keep in mind: this is totally personal. First of all, I wouldn't seek help at a shelter (I tried this option once and failed because of internal rules and other nonsense). I'm more into using a tent for shelter. With that in mind, here are my 5 hobo rules:
1. Stay away from trouble
Let's be more precise: stay away from substance abuse and anything involved. I know drug addiction figures as one of the causes of homelessness, but assuming a clean person who happen to lose everything... It's easy to fall for that trap. I'm on the streets so why making life worst. Believe me, it's easy to recompose on a clean mind.
2. Move out of big cities
Big cities are a nightmare. What else can I say? Getting out is my top priority. Smaller communities, where people are more prone to talk, are easier to find help. This leads to number three.
Edit.: Away from big cities it's also easier to live in a tent without getting in trouble.
3. Talk to people
It's time to talk to people and explain my situation and ask for help. Several times during my 'hobo' travels people were willing to chat and even open their houses to offer a warm bed and shower. My openness and appearance played an important role, so off to number four.
4. Take care of oneself
Living on the streets does not mean being untidy. You have no idea how showering can change a person, especially morally. Gas stations, gyms, public beach showers, rivers — all tested and approved. Shower, shave (if possible), wash clothes. That way I feel a lot better to move on and try to find a gig to raise some money.
5. Be prepared to work with anything
Finding work won't be impossible if following the above, but I gotta be prepared to do anything. In most countries the pay won't be enough to rent a place, but will at least cover food expenses. A filled belly definitely boosts our morale. I can move on from there.
The next step is to continue to talk to people until I find a solid shelter and better-paying jobs (I call gigs, tasks, etc).
The key takeaway
Believe me or not, but there are more good people than evil in this crazy world of ours. If you stay clean and sane, sooner or later someone will help if you are genuine and proactive.
Do you get the idea? I feel like I'm already wandering with this post and it's unlikely someone's gonna read this far. If you have, congratulations and an immense thank you! I'd rather read your plans than writing a bunch of personal rules.
Have you ever thought about the topic?
leave your post in the comments
Peace.
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Access Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/6500272773?
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~Love ya all,
Disclaimer: The author of this post is a convict broke backpacker, who has travelled more than 10.000 km hitchhiking and more than 5.000 km cycling. Following him may cause severe problems of wanderlust and inquietud. You've been warned.
That´s interesting. You I know I regularly go work out to an outdoor gym, right? Here in Prague. I often meet this dude there. An ordinary looking dude who works out there too a few times every week. We chatted a bit sometimes. One day, we chatted a bit more and he told me that he was "living out" for 3 years already. I was like: "What do you mean, living out?" I still didn´t get it. He said: "I´m homeless, I live under a bridge." Wow. I would never ever guessed that. He is always clean, tidy, shaved, well mannered. But he is homeless. He even goes to work quite often (he has some gigs) and they of course have no idea that he actually goes there from under a bridge and not from an apartment... Btw according to what he said last time, he should have enough money soon to be able to afford renting a shared room. Fingers crossed for him.
Sounds like an interesting person! So, it's an example that surviving on the streets is indeed possible if we stay clean. I'd love to know more about this dude: his shelter, how he showers, washes clothes, etc.
Most people don't realize how a tent and other equipment can save our lives.
He said he takes videos of his everyday life but he doesn´t post them anywhere, he just keeps them in his phone. I will try to bring him here on Hive :)
I'm sure he'd have a lot to share, and it's also some extra income for him.
I found this post so informative. I never thought of using gas stations, but that makes total sense.
Staying clean, especially when in the slums is key. Once you get caught up with taking substances, it's all downhill from there.
This was a good post man:)))
Precisely! When I was living in London I became friends with a bunch homeless guys. We used to chat after I was done working. There was a guy, I could see he wanted to do better for himself; he asked about finding a job etc etc but his meth addiction would suck his energy so bad. It's really sad. Substance abuse is the number two cause of homelessness.
There's some good points here. You know what I'm like with being prepared and survival, so yep...good stuff. Prepping isn't just about putting 300 cans of baked beans in the cellar.
You know, I was thinking after writing this post that it ended up sounding too easy... to be prepared to recover after bankruptcy or losing everything for whatever reason.
I guess the mental preparation is the hardest, especially if we have family and kids. Our mind is the weak point and the reason why ppl fall for substance abuse. No equipment and supplies will save us if our mind fails.
Yeah, it's not easy at all.
Also, @mrprofessor please make sure posts are strongly related to the outdoors. Financial stuff isn't welcome here.
I thought so. I've been struggling to write lately and feeling like my blog is losing its essence. Gonna improve that soon.
I know what you mean. My advice? Take a break for a few days, I mean from posting; go fishing, hiking, riding. You'll come back better for it. Forcing it will only serve to diminish the quality and enjoyment.
That's the problem really, not going out to do what I like. But will work on that 🙃
Man, that level of bankruptcy is horror. My family went through one but thankfully the house wasn't seized but our other assets. That's why growing up, I know that I should never ever borrow from banks and get myself in a position where I have to do that. After that, my parents took any job they could and I had to stay in school. At the same time, it's what got me hustling and build things on my own. I also think that such thing sort of minimized where I am from because people who went through such usually have families who can back them up and the community helps them but most importantly, it's either distant cousins, family etc unless you don't have family then those things or what I say, extreme rare cases happens.
Going through hardships certainly makes us stronger and united. See the situation with Ukranians and now our fellow Turks. I repplied galenkp that our mind is certainly the weak point, even if we prepare beforehand with equipment and skills for what may happen, if our mind fails...
As you said, keeping our relatives and friends close together is one way out. Most of the ppl I met on the streets who ended up homeless and alone were in that situation because of substance abuse. Staying the hell away from drugs and bad i fluence is a huge leap forward.
I truly believe that this statement is true. I think about 9/10 of the world are good people that will help others if the need arises. In my own community there was a single homeless dude that popped up in the median outside of Wal-Mart one day and the community came together to not just give the guy food or money, but we organized a job, some clothes, and a simple apartment for him. At first he was problematic because he was definitely on drugs but thankfully we were able to work past that and now he is a fantastic member of the community that is always trying to pay it forward.
That's awesome to hear! Drug addiction is hell and definitely ppl end up homeless because of it; or end up doing drugs is they lose income etc. Is your community a small town? I believe big cities are problematic for those surviving on the streets.
We are a small community near the coast of North Carolina. This was our first homeless person that was sitting somewhere with a sign about working for food. People weren't keen on just handing a guy money to sit in the road fearing that it would encourage others to do the same so we found out if he was legit homeless and then when we found out that he was we came together to help him out. This is one of the reasons why I really like my small community!
The problem with the big cities is likely that the problem got out of control a long time ago and now it simply isn't possible to fix it. We would prefer to avoid ever getting to that point.
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