Heed your guidance counselors’ words: scholarships are everything! The last thing you’d want is to be in debt well into adulthood when you could have gone to college for much less. Regardless, we’re Magnet students, and we’ll apply to the best, most expensive schools, and probably forget to apply to more than a few scholarships. If one day you find yourself a Harvard grad who’s fallen on hard times, this is for you: my complete guide on how to live out of your car.

To begin, I prepared, both physically and mentally. I drive a 2004 Honda CR-V, aka a large, boxy crossover SUV. I have a large trunk—not quite large enough to lie down, but large enough to lounge in—and a somewhat spacious second row.

Although I don’t plan to sleep, eat, dress, etc. all at once, I do plan to try them each over the course of this series. My car leaves (hopefully) enough space for most of these actions. Where I do foresee an obstacle, however, is electricity. I have researched battery-operated appliances for cooking to no avail, so I have come to my secondary conclusion: an outlet converter. Hopefully, I can plug my toaster oven (fun fact about that: my family’s toaster oven broke, but instead of actually letting them use mine, I haven’t told them I have a personal one in my room) into said converter and enjoy toaster strudel in my trunk. Another obstacle I foresee is water. How will I shower in my car? How will I brush my teeth? I have yet to answer these questions, and will likely begin my journey having still not answered them. Lastly, I worry about storage. This isn’t the first time I somewhat lived out of my car. Last year I kept my clothing in the car while spending the night at my neighbor’s house, and I noticed that my clothing took up a considerable amount of space. Hopefully, throughout this series, I will not only answer these questions and overcome these challenges, but also discover what I really need to live my daily life. Not that I plan on being a minimalist, but this should give me a good idea of how to pare down what I waste. 

Stay tuned for the rest of this series in the coming issues of The Talon, and if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to reach out to me and I may add it to this series.