Dear Readers,
I hope your summer is starting off the way you want it. Currently, I am housesitting in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Another great housesit about to come to an end. Great location, wonderful space, beautiful cats. It was been a pleasure to catch up in-real-life with friends too.
Helpful Hint about Substack Email
Before we dive into today’s topic, I thought a bit of Substack knowledge sharing might be helpful for some.
You can turn off Substack newsletter emails.
If receiving Substack newsletter emails gets overwhelming for your personal inbox, you can use the Substack app or website instead. They have a feature to turn off direct emails. Then you can view them exclusively in the app inbox. It was a game changer for me. I hate seeing a cluttered email inbox. Drives me nuts.
Tales from the Road
Since I will be mostly stationary for the summer, I thought now would be a good time to do a car set-up tour. When I packed up for my last week of car dwelling this month, I took a few pictures to share with you. Let’s get into it.
The Tour
It took me many months of being on the road to settle on the current set-up. I found myself constantly thinking about how to make the space more efficient as well as easy to access daily items and still be comfortable for everyday.
My trigger points were:
Moving stuff off my bed every night
Where to store the 1 pot and 1 pan with lid that I used almost daily
An easily accessible place for everyday clothes
Voila! I give you the inside of my chariot.
It looks a wreck I realize to an outsider. To me it’s fairly organized. The back shows my bed and kitchen area.
From left to right:
A grey washcloth resting on a spray water bottle that I use for dish washing and hand washing. Behind the water bottle is a 6-pack grocery store wine carrier that comes in handy. It holds spare butane tanks, small container of powdered laundry soap, dryer balls and dish soap. You might be able to make out the one pan that is crammed against the side of the car with a green cutting board holding it in place.
Thin grey thing with cord coming out - This is my portable solar panel that charges the power station which powers my 12v refrigerator. I went with Bluetti for the power station and solar panel. I have found both to be very functional at a good price point. If you are in the market for said products, I highly recommend Bluetti.
Next are containers holding food, dishware, cooking utensils, silverware, spices, my morning tea stuff.
Behind those containers are a folding footstool, a Coleman butane stove, and a two drawer plastic container which holds my clothes (shorts, tops, underthings) and food supplies that I only need once in awhile.
On top of the drawers is a clear plastic container that holds my daily hobby items that I wanted easy access to
Next, my bed which is made out of couch cushions wrapped in a bottom sheet with several blankets on top then wrapped in a top sheet with the top blanket on that. The whole thing is very comfortable. I have multiple blankets as extra cushion as well as for use as warmth, if needed.
Unfortunately, I was unable to get away from moving stuff from my bed daily. Luckily, I was able to narrow it down to that black narrow packing cube which holds some cool/cold weather clothes. It slides nicely on top of the food container and helps hold the back window cover in place at nighttime. I also have to move the one pot I have to the same place. I could only figure out how to easily store either the pot or the pan. Ugh!
Under the wooden board (which my dad custom made for me), I store my travel backpack which has extra cold weather clothes as well as other random stuff.
When I initially packed the car back in August, I had no idea how long I would be away from my hometown or where I would be going. Therefore, I packed extra things that I thought I might like to have with me. I also realize there are stores everywhere and I could buy stuff as needed. I wanted to avoid buying items I already owned so I brought them with me.
Moving on to the back sidedoor:
This looks like a clusterf*@k. At the moment I remembered to take the photo, it was. I left it “as is” so you could see the state of the car at different times. At this time, it was after dinner and time to do the dishes. I was at a park so I could take them into the restroom to wash with running water versus my spray bottle. The black bag holds washclothes and dish towels that I take with me. After washing, I use the seat as the drying rack.
From left to right:
The red curtain that divides front and back at night or whenever. The purple/blue curtain I sometimes use to block sun or have privacy if I’m laying in bed with the side door open. It covers where the side door window is.
Underneath the curtain is a black bucket with lid (toilet), a jug of water and a very small garbage can (it’s actually an old cashew nut container from Costco) Reuse, repurpose, reduce!
Behind that there is a white-ish cloth bag that hangs from the passenger side headrest. It holds snacks. This is a new discovery and I like it.
On the floor behind the passenger seat, sits the power station, my shower/gym bag and a container of books. Priorities! The thought of traveling without a supply of physical books is simply unnecessary.
Oh, I forgot to say, the red curtain is hiding a behind-the-seat organizer that holds random stuff: herbal tea bags, small containers of flavored honey, hand sanitizer, silverware, tape, scissors, bookmarks, etc.
Next up, the front:
I’m giving you a view from each side.
First photo, left to right:
Container holding a hot bag: this is what I use for food delivery
Under it are two pink containers which hold breakfast items I eat everyday and food storage containers that I use in my refrigerator or if I need to make a giant container of food into smaller more managable containers of food. By separating food into smaller containers, I can store them more easily as well as get rid of the wasted space created once I start eating whatever it is. Does that make sense?
Under the black towel is my refrigerator. It is small but mighty and I love having it. What a difference it makes to camping. Having a refrigerator was one of my Must Haves when I started this car dwelling lifestyle.
Second photo, top to bottom:
Black curtain that joins the red one from above for privacy. There is black on both facing forward and red facing the back.
The blue thing is my outdoor folding chair
A tv tray table. I thought I would use this more than I do. I’ve contemplated getting rid of it. It’s not in my way at all and the few times I have used it, it was handy so I don’t know.
Disassembled box. This has been very handy carrying stuff in and out of housesits as well as holding firewood when needed. I am very glad I thought to bring one.
On the floor, extra butane containers, water jugs (this spot holds 4! so I’m able to travel with 5 gallons), soda box (I love how it fits perfectly in this little spot). There is also a yoga mat.
In the door, slippers for when I’m housesitting, extra wet wipes, and quickdry towel that I use for outdoor sitting as it easily shakes off dirt.
There you have it, readers, my home on wheels. Hope you enjoyed the tour.
Let me know if you have any questions about any of it.
Keep on trying,
Patricia
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I’ve been dreaming of van life living so this is very timely. I could imagine using the gym for showers etc. I think parking in a safe spot is my only concern. How are you finding it?
I'm so glad I found this post, again! I was reading it when I accidentally closed the app and lost it. And I didn't know who it was from or how to find it. But it popped up on my stream again, luckily.
Thank you for sharing your car tour. I really enjoyed it.
(As for email notifications, I have an email I use just for Substack. I get all my notifications there, and I keep it open in a separate window where I have Substack opened and tabs of writings I'm working on.)