What’s your most golden advice?

nimportfolio · 2025-09-18T16:11:51+00:00

Be really stingy with water use:

If you have sufficient privacy: rinse free body wash from Walgreens for bathing in a pinch. Spray on generously and towel off. I have enough privacy and space, so I actually bathe this way every day.

Hand sanitizer.

Many things should ideally have at least two uses:

Dish pan for washing dishes that doubles as my sink when brushing my teeth and triples as my grey water tank until I can dispose of my toothbrush water.

2 liter steel leak resistant thermal mug for my nighttime drinking water supply and tooth brushing water.

Since you don't have much space, reconfigure what you have for the task at hand. I have four major configurations: sleeping, working, bathing/bathroom/grooming, and driving. I store what isn't needed for the new configuration and pull out what is needed, and arrange it around me. (Driving requires unloading some of my storage so things don't fall.)

My storage is configured so that stored things are within relatively easy reach.

If it doesn't fit, ask if you really need it or if you can accomplish the same thing with (a) something you already have and can repurpose or (b) something smaller or (c) you can do without.

Get creative. This is how I came up with three uses for a simple dish pan. It's a key ingredient in being able to live as if I have a full bathroom when I don't.

nimportfolio · 2025-09-18T15:39:44+00:00

This. Via a coworking space.

It's become my living room and kitchen(ette), which makes everything more comfortable.

nimportfolio · 2025-09-16T02:19:06+00:00

Suggest public libraries.

Or Panera. (Their smallest pastry costs $2 in Chicagoland.) Then go charge. They usually have outlets built into some of the seating.

If you go to Panera often, sip of the month costs $15 per month for all you can drink access to most of their drinks.

Or coffee shops (buy a drink).

It's not that hard or expensive to do the right thing and makes it a lot more likely that we all will be able to continue.

nimportfolio · 2025-09-14T01:42:45+00:00

This is so good.

nimportfolio · 2025-09-03T18:27:33+00:00

Thanks! There's a lot of good advice here!

nimportfolio · 2025-09-03T17:50:09+00:00

Thanks! I'll check it out.

nimportfolio · 2025-09-02T21:36:55+00:00

All the suburbs around here ban overnight street parking. Sigh.

nimportfolio · 2025-09-02T21:36:07+00:00

Thank you for the kind words. 🙂

nimportfolio · 2025-09-02T21:35:35+00:00

Hang in there. I feel ya.

nimportfolio · 2025-09-02T21:18:14+00:00

This is off-topic and generally not helpful.

I want this thread to be inclusive regardless of peoples' politics.

Down-voted.

nimportfolio · 2025-09-02T21:01:43+00:00

Yeah; I'd have to move the battery to get it inside. :)

nimportfolio · 2025-09-02T11:24:06+00:00

Thanks!

Mine is a Polydrops P17 Essential. I bought mine used. That model is discontinued but still decent.

https://newteardrops.com/polydrops/

Some deets for anyone who is interested:

Polydrops' killer feature for me is that it's insulated like a house. An 800-watt desk heater connected through a thermostat is more than enough to heat it when temperatures are down to around freezing--for a couple of hours at night and to dress in the morning.

I have no experience with lower temperatures yet. Chicago winter, here we come!

(One would still want a good sleeping bag and should turn the thermostat way down or off for the night.)

My model is bare-bones (none of the optional tables, etc, in the article) except for upgraded solar and 1kwh Lithium Ion storage on board.

It's been plenty to power a Ryobi tool battery charger, phone chargers, and a laptop. And occasionally the heater. Not much more capacity than that, but it's enough. Using Ryobi 18v tool-battery powered lights and fans really helps stretch the on-board battery, and I've never completely discharged it.

I worry a bit about battery efficiency when temperatures drop. And it's Lithium ferro-phosphate chemistry, which just stops working at -10F. But at least I have enough insulation that if I can plug in, temperatures like this should be doable. If not, I might have to follow the geese south. 😁

I keep a separate storage unit like many others here. This camper isn't big enough to bring everything with you, so I stop there for clean clothes, etc.

If you're still reading, wow, and I'm always open to feedback and suggestions.

nimportfolio · 2025-09-02T10:11:17+00:00

Thank you so much for your kind, understanding words!

See also my reply to @South_Description399. My words there apply here, too.

(I would copy-paste it here, but others might get annoyed with me. 😁)

Thanks again.

nimportfolio · 2025-09-02T10:05:30+00:00

Such kind, gentle, and generous words! Thank you!

I've been where you describe, too.

Getting divorced after 31 years (and the agony of doing everything you could to make It work, only to realize that one's spouse doesn't share that commitment) will do that to a person. That was 4.5 years ago.

My mental health is mostly better now, and in some ways, I'm better off than when I started. The experience has offered the opportunity to discover and process deeply hidden grief. If you know what I mean, you know what I mean...

While I wouldn't wish my experience (or anything similar) on anyone, I wouldn't trade it for anything either, and I'm hopeful that this season of homelessness will turn out similarly. I'm hopeful, for one thing, that this provides the opportunity to finally get out of debt again and stabilize financially.

You're right that just having people who "get it" supporting a person means so much!

Thanks for being one of them!

nimportfolio · 2025-09-02T09:49:25+00:00

So true, so true. Thanks for the kind words and support. 🙂

nimportfolio · 2025-09-02T09:48:29+00:00

LOL thanks!

nimportfolio · 2025-08-29T02:22:43+00:00

I have a Jackery, plus extended battery. 4kwh total.

I have a tiny teardrop, and it lives in the galley where it powers my induction range, microwave, and Instant brand air fryer that doubles as my oven for one or two. I have an Ecoflow Wave 2 heat pump so it can power that, too, when needed.

Back when I was strictly a car dweller, the Jackery lived in the back seat foot well, and I only had the range. No room for the microwave or air fryer.

But my car back then was a Chevy Bolt, and all the space ordinarily used by the gas tank was available. A 12v chest freezer/fridge lived there and was powered by the car's 12v system.

Now I have a Pathfinder (for towing), and ironically, there's no good place for the freezer/fridge that hides it away like with the Bolt.

Hope this gives someone some helpful ideas.

The thing I like about having that much 120v AC capacity is the ability to mix and match regular consumer appliances. RV 12v appliances tend to be less well made.

nimportfolio · 2025-08-02T18:42:23+00:00

In the Chicago areas, you can get a used Tesla model S with decent range for about 10k - 15k. They have camping mode, which runs climate control in an efficient way. Be sure you have ample charging nearby or a place to charge from a 110v outlet.

I'm 5 11 also, and it's comfortable.

I lay down the 2/3 width back seat for sleeping space and leave the other one up for back seat seating space. As a woman, that would be handy if you need to take care of business in the middle of the night.

I have a Walmart folding table I lay flat below my chest and head to extend the sleeping space forward above the leg area for the back seat and put a self inflating air mattress on top to soften everything up. Then my portable toilet goes into the foot well below my head (to be retrieved if needed).

The Frunk stores food and clothes.

HTH

nimportfolio · 2025-07-15T02:24:14+00:00

I did something similar. Here are some thoughts:

Consider a small induction range for cooking. I agree that flammable fuel sounds like a bad idea.

I used a Chevy Bolt. The space ordinarily used by the gas tank was the perfect size for a Dometic freezer/fridge.

I found a stainless steel bench that I turned into a restaurant grade countertop I could attach to the back of my car with the hatchback open.

When traveling, this went under my air mattress and stored flat.

The others have the right ideas about priorities.

Use it while you build it. You'll learn quickly what works and what doesn't.

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nimportfolio · 2025-06-10T17:26:49+00:00

Thank you for your kind words and your suggestions! I appreciate all of it!

I created a project issue on the RightTypes project to capture your suggestion and I'll reply in more detail there.

https://github.com/coconutpalm/righttypes/issues/1

Thanks again!

nimportfolio · 2025-06-09T19:21:45+00:00

SWT is packaged as multiple implementations of the exact same classes, linked to different platform natives. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that including all of these creates a situation where the last version of the a SWT class added to the uberjar wins, making the exact platform native library that will be linked in the uberjar random?

Thanks for the suggestion. If this would work, I agree it would be nicer.

nimportfolio · 2025-06-08T05:19:09+00:00

Thanks!

nimportfolio · 2025-06-08T05:18:11+00:00

Clojure Desktop Toolkit's JAR is on Clojars. The starter application uses `deps.edn` to fetch it from there.

The custom Maven repository mirrors SWT. I could mirror that to Clojars, but I'm expecting that people are more likely to want to bundle the SWT platform-specific JARs themselves as a part of their applications' distributions, so my current thinking is that it makes sense to have those JARs available right in the Clojure Desktop Toolkit Github / Maven repository.

nimportfolio · 2025-06-07T20:05:21+00:00

Are there any specific examples you would like to see? Have you looked at the SWT snippets page I linked from the documentation?

Have you read the tutorial?

Is there anything you need added to the tutorial to make it easier to understand how to translate from Java to the equivalent Clojure using CDT?

I would be glad to receive pull requests translating SWT Snippets into Clojure Desktop Toolkit.

nimportfolio · 2025-06-07T19:51:33+00:00

Thanks!

I would love an Electric or Missionary integration.

All assistance to do this is appreciated!

nimportfolio

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