Urban Survival: Do's, Don'ts, & Questions

[sodak]

If you’re fortunate enough to have a home, job and loving family, don’t forget that a little charity and helping hand to someone in need goes a long way to helping your own soul and mental health.

ROCK6

I'm re-reading this thread, this is a great quote, thanks! In addition to being absolutely true!

 

[stabman]

I'm re-reading this thread, this is a great quote, thanks! In addition to being absolutely true!

Agreed.:thumbup:
If we get nothing more than that out of this thread it was worth it.

 

[Acetylene]

This was a very good thread. It caused be to reflect upon more than my ditch bag. Thank you.

 

[Mistwalker]

This was a very good thread. It caused be to reflect upon more than my ditch bag. Thank you.

Thanks for that...as this was the whole point, to provoke thoughts.

 

[Codger_64]

Thanks for that...as this was the whole point, to provoke thoughts.

Provoke some thoughts? OK, how about this. It has been a few days since you have eaten, but you have been picking up cans all the while. Finally you have all you can carry (don't crush them because many recyclers won't take them crushed). You cash them in and now have five or six dollars.

Walk on past Micky D's, Sonic, etc. Head to the closest discount food store and buy a bag each of generic store brand rice and mixed dry beans, and a pair of Always Save or Cost Cutter salt and pepper shakers. Now check the meat counter for the cheapest cuts such as chicken necks, pork trimmings or jowels. No luck? Find the generic store brand sausages and wieners in the cold cut cooler. Still no luck? Often mini-cans of chunked meat such as ham, chicken or beef can be found. Anything to add taste to the rice or beans. Many stores have mark-down baskets too with dented cans and crushed boxes. Look for bottles of off-brand sauces, generic soups, dry instant mixes. Five or six dollars can keep your belly full for several days if you work at it.

"Back in the day", I boiled up a small pot of chicken necks, saved the broth to cook and flavor rice, tossed in black pepper and the meat I had picked from the necks while the rice was cooking. A can of soup added to the rice works too, and can be found in store brand dent cans for as little as 25-50 cents. True, you will have to keep it warm and eat it for three meals in a row to not waste any, but your belly will be full.

Tummy is full but no alcohol? Fruit coctail makes a decent pruno if you let it ferment!

Want to help out a homeless guy the next time you see one holding a sign or pushing a cart? Hand him a one or two pound bag of rice and a fifty cent can of soup.

 

[Hawkings]

One thing I wonder about.
The people who give money and then frown when the person buys alcohol later that day.

Why ?

Homeless people might need alcohol more then food at times to keep up moral/mental health or some other reason. But the NEED is there for them, and it's legal.

So unless your are trying (And willing to spent the time and effort.)to help them out long term. why be upset about them meeting a need that is more urgent then food or cloth. (There is calories in beer to, lets not forget that, there is a reason for calling it a beer gut.)

We all do things to make our life easier/more pleasant, that is not good for us. (Get fat/smoke/watch TV or spent time with our family, instead of going for a run/eat bacon instead of broccoli and so on.)
Why frown on homeless people who do the same.

 

[sicily02]

Codger 64, right on with what you said. Rice an beens and some flavorings can really go a long way maybe keep you going till your traps and fishing work out for providing some food.

Since mistwalker posted this thread I have really been thinking about what I would do if I happened to find myself with out a job and no home.

What would I take from my home before it was taken back from me to the bank?
I do not own it out right yet.
I have lots of camping gear and have been into learning survival skills since I was a kid. Grew up on a farm where we hunted and fished and trapped.

So getting started I think I would start out better than some one who did not have that stuff or even Practice camping and survival skills.

But as time goes on if I did not find work or a place to really stay and get back on my feet so to speak. Stuff gets lost and broken, wares out or even stolen.

Where to go? I would head back to my family farm to start out with, But just maybe My family would be having just as bad of times as me. Who knows.

There is some thought provoking going on now lol.
It is a scary thought is a way.


Heck maybe I would just go and visit Mistwalker LOL Then I could learn straight from him. Brian, any thoughts on that?????? LOL



Hawkings, I think you have a point there. I think for myself like codger 64 suggested, if I were to get some money rice and beans and flavoring like salt, pepper and stuff like that would be my first thoughts, but for the ones that Need there fix that is what they are thinking of. Well at least I think that is the way it goes.
I do not Drink or smoke, chew or do drugs and as far as I know I do not have any real mental issues ( That could be debated though LOL), so I would be trying to get food not those items, But for those that are hooked on that stuff it seems to be a need for them over food. When I walk out of the house I make sure I have my PSK, and my steel water bottle and that is the minimum, (I normally carry my Noatak gearslinger that is full of survival and camping gear) , but most of the smokers I know will grab there smokes and there lighter before thinking of grabbing a PSK or a water bottle. There needs and thoughts and my needs thoughts are different.

Bryan

 

[sadiejane]

dumspters behind grocery stores are another good source for free food. of course, leave be the animal scraps and throw aways. but many stores toss those dented cans of food, loafs of bread that are "day old" you would be amazed at what you will find. sometimes entire cases of food at a time.
the new seasons in portland puts all animal sourced foods in a locked dumpster, to prevent disease issues, but they put all their still edible(but unsellable) produce and other goods, cannedgoods, bread etc in unlocked containers. some stores even go so far as to really seperate food stuffs, bread in one container, produce in another, canned goods in another, boxed goods(cereal, rice etc) in another....bakeries, food manufacturing places, all these can be great sources of food. of course, you have to use a little sense in this process. but i know entire households that make regular runs, and eat almost exclusively from these sources.
the mexican bakery in my hood tosses all their handmade tortillas that dont sell at the end of every day. all packaged up and ready to eat.

on a different but similar note, the local halfprice bookstore also tosses hundreds, if not thousands of books away. have found numerous great reads, including wilderness/survival texts.
if a bicycle is yr means of transportation, no bicycle shop can store all the used parts that come thru the shop. and not every shop can or will find a local bicycle kitchen sorta set-up to donate these items to. perfectly good wheels, tires, tubes, cables, the list goes on and on.
i would think a bicycle would be a very useful tool in urban survival, along with a trailer if you can find/make one. they can easily be made from revamping a baby jogger. another easy to find curbside item.
many thrift stores also dumpster lots of clothing items, the local goodwill has a large distribution center and they have a dozen of those large semi-truck size dumpsters. bicycles, clothes, backpacks.

as with most any urban scavenging, it takes making regular stops at these resources to find the items you might need. i even know folks who make their entire living dumpster diving and reselling on craigslist!

im sure there are a dozen more examples i cant think of right now.

 

[benajah]

I truly feel sorry for any homeless person. I really can't stand people who judge others who are down on their luck when they come from a pampered upbringing and suffer from the SSS ARSS "silver spoon syndrome". I wish all crooked rich A-holes and their prissy wives would have to spend a day as a homeless person without food and in crappy weather. I have seen a lot of rich people treat and talk about homeless people this way and they stop when I give them a dose of their own medicine.

True. Most of us are just a month or two unemployed away from being homeless.
Besides drugs or alcohol, the biggest thing that makes people homeless is when they have some sort of financial issue, but they don't have close friends or family to help them out either with a temp place to stay, or financially. There are a lot of people who are pretty alone out there and one little bad run of luck can put them on the street pretty easily. I think we have seen a lot of that recently with the economy.

 

[Joezilla]

Thats the nicest homeless setup I've seen. Organization, coolers, an actual lean to. I don't have any pictures to show of the ones I used to know, but there was CARDBOARD, CARDBOARD, CARDBOARD and TRASH TRASH TRASH everywhere. To tell you the truth, though he has a bunch of stuff that would impede the nomadic life style, there is still some interesting things to point out. Though the place is trashy, he still bags up some of the cans, he is protecting his shelter from UV degrading in the sunlight with the Tarp, there is an actual bush lean-to up where he tried to use some of the natural surroundings. As far as camp organization and the nastiness that comes with being homeless, alcoholic, etc, I would give this guy a thumbs up as far as what to expect from a destitute guy. I completely agree that he isn't really thinking about if he had to move, etc, and his need for a bunch a stuff (two lanterns, one battery, one kerosene) kinda surprises me too. Still though, considering the nasty piles left by the alternative which you can smell when you go near bridges, etc"

(Note: These aren't my pictures but they are almost spot on with what I've run into)

 

[stabman]

Want to help out a homeless guy the next time you see one holding a sign or pushing a cart? Hand him a one or two pound bag of rice and a fifty cent can of soup.

Or take them for a meal.
One time my dad had a guy ask for money for food, so he offered to buy him lunch (he had the time; work was done for the day).
The homeless guy took him up on the offer; some of them really ARE hungry.

 

[Nightshifter]

Last year where I work we had to go in to such a "camp" and take a dead hobo out of there. There was another camp a few yards away and that party didn't even know the other guy was dead. These camps were found by workers from a nearby BJ's store.

 

[Mistwalker]

One thing I wonder about.
The people who give money and then frown when the person buys alcohol later that day.

Why ?

Homeless people might need alcohol more then food at times to keep up moral/mental health or some other reason. But the NEED is there for them, and it's legal.

So unless your are trying (And willing to spent the time and effort.)to help them out long term. why be upset about them meeting a need that is more urgent then food or cloth. (There is calories in beer to, lets not forget that, there is a reason for calling it a beer gut.)

We all do things to make our life easier/more pleasant, that is not good for us. (Get fat/smoke/watch TV or spent time with our family, instead of going for a run/eat bacon instead of broccoli and so on.)
Why frown on homeless people who do the same.

I think there are different reasons for this. I think for a lot of people who do not have these habits themselves the thought is that if the person can spend the money on these items rather than food & drink, clothing, soaps and what have you then they weren't really in as much need as they said they were. For some it is simply being lied to that is the problem. There is a bit of sting that comes with having been told a sad story about hunger and how long sense someone has eaten only to see them a few minutes later coming out of the liquor store. For some the issue there is a perception of screwed up priorities, and others that feel like a "habit" isn't a worthwhile cause. People who have realized the waste of financial resources of their own habits and have quit them will usually have an issue supporting someone else's.

Codger 64, right on with what you said. Rice an beens and some flavorings can really go a long way maybe keep you going till your traps and fishing work out for providing some food.

Since mistwalker posted this thread I have really been thinking about what I would do if I happened to find myself with out a job and no home.

What would I take from my home before it was taken back from me to the bank?
I do not own it out right yet.
I have lots of camping gear and have been into learning survival skills since I was a kid. Grew up on a farm where we hunted and fished and trapped.

So getting started I think I would start out better than some one who did not have that stuff or even Practice camping and survival skills.

But as time goes on if I did not find work or a place to really stay and get back on my feet so to speak. Stuff gets lost and broken, wares out or even stolen.

Where to go? I would head back to my family farm to start out with, But just maybe My family would be having just as bad of times as me. Who knows.

There is some thought provoking going on now lol.
It is a scary thought is a way.


Heck maybe I would just go and visit Mistwalker LOL Then I could learn straight from him. Brian, any thoughts on that?????? LOL


Bryan

Well, I think if things got that bad out that way...then likely they would already be worse than that here. That said I do have woods out back plus a small piece of land on the side of Signal Mountain that I have let a couple of friends camp on over the years. As long as I still own my land you'll have a place to camp here if you need it.

There is an upside and a down side to living in the open Midwest. While there is fewer aid resource options in the smaller towns out there in that area, there is also a lot of open land and fewer two legged predators to deal with.

True. Most of us are just a month or two unemployed away from being homeless.
Besides drugs or alcohol, the biggest thing that makes people homeless is when they have some sort of financial issue, but they don't have close friends or family to help them out either with a temp place to stay, or financially. There are a lot of people who are pretty alone out there and one little bad run of luck can put them on the street pretty easily. I think we have seen a lot of that recently with the economy.

I am sure it has been worse in other areas than it has been here, but I think there is a big increase in that here too.

Thats the nicest homeless setup I've seen. Organization, coolers, an actual lean to. I don't have any pictures to show of the ones I used to know, but there was CARDBOARD, CARDBOARD, CARDBOARD and TRASH TRASH TRASH everywhere. To tell you the truth, though he has a bunch of stuff that would impede the nomadic life style, there is still some interesting things to point out. Though the place is trashy, he still bags up some of the cans, he is protecting his shelter from UV degrading in the sunlight with the Tarp, there is an actual bush lean-to up where he tried to use some of the natural surroundings. As far as camp organization and the nastiness that comes with being homeless, alcoholic, etc, I would give this guy a thumbs up as far as what to expect from a destitute guy. I completely agree that he isn't really thinking about if he had to move, etc, and his need for a bunch a stuff (two lanterns, one battery, one kerosene) kinda surprises me too. Still though, considering the nasty piles left by the alternative which you can smell when you go near bridges, etc"

I didn't post all of the pics I took, but yes even with his mess the camp is much better than some others I have seen here and a whole lot better than some of the homeless camps i saw down in Miami years ago.

Or take them for a meal.
One time my dad had a guy ask for money for food, so he offered to buy him lunch (he had the time; work was done for the day).
The homeless guy took him up on the offer; some of them really ARE hungry.

I have done that before, and I have gone to the park here and cooked food on the grills there in the winters only for the purpose of sharing the food with some I knew were camping in near by woods...though I never told them that.

.

 

[Sparljo]

Neat thread.

There are a couple guys living in a peice of bush I occasionally take a poke at.

I had a lengthy conversation with a man at the first site I found.

He had been homeless for quite a while, but was basically pleased. His site wasnt scattered with trash, he was getting by with a bare minimum of gear. Had built a basic log cabinish shelter out of cedar. His firepit was the inside of a washing machine. He didnt want a snack, but he did take a smoke.

I asked what he would do for the winter, and he said he might go out "west."

As far as I can tell, he is still living in the same spot for over 2 years now, although he has not been home when I have gone to visit.

Thought this was pretty neat until I started finding more of these guys out there. Im not sure how I feel about it now.

 

[hung-solo]

homeless camps i saw down in Miami years ago.
.

if this is too personnal then obviously dont answer. why were you homeless? personnal decision? bad decisions? also what got you out of the homelessness?? that last question should be on all of our minds in case it does happen to us and all you see is a long dark tunnel. obviously you saw a light at some point that led you out of your situation

 

[Mistwalker]

if this is too personnal then obviously dont answer. why were you homeless? personnal decision? bad decisions? also what got you out of the homelessness?? that last question should be on all of our minds in case it does happen to us and all you see is a long dark tunnel. obviously you saw a light at some point that led you out of your situation

Well...parts of it are of course personal and i won't go there...but, mainly I suppose it could be said I chose to be on the streets. It was in my opinion choosing the lesser of two evils. When I was 15 my mother was murdered by my stepfather and it was really close for me. This left me with some trust issues and I already couldn't stand my step mother for multiple reasons...a severe lack of honor, loyalty, and morality being among them. Finally after a few months and several incidents of sheer stupidity on her part I had taken all of her I could stand and I left walking and never went back to my father's house to stay, I did go back to visit in my twenties.

Getting off the streets for me was easy, once I became an adult I just got a job and went from there, the economy was a bit better then though,...although I was sort of stuck in a rut for a while and didn't realize that I could do that till I had legally been an adult for nearly 5 months. The habits of the previous three years became such a habit I almost forgot what I was waiting on. Then one day I was sitting outside a restaurant eating a hamburger, saw a sign saying help wanted and it all clicked into place in my head. It probably helped a bit that I seldom drank and never did drugs...I much prefer a clear head in a dangerous environment.

 

[hung-solo]

Well...parts of it are of course personal and i won't go there...but, mainly I suppose it could be said I chose to be on the streets. It was in my opinion choosing the lesser of two evils. When I was 15 my mother was murdered by my stepfather and it was really close for me. This left me with some trust issues and I already couldn't stand my step mother for multiple reasons...a severe lack of honor, loyalty, and morality being among them. Finally after a few months and several incidents of sheer stupidity on her part I had taken all of her I could stand and I left walking and never went back to my father's house to stay, I did go back to visit in my twenties.

Getting off the streets for me was easy, once I became an adult I just got a job and went from there, the economy was a bit better then though,...although I was sort of stuck in a rut for a while and didn't realize that I could do that till I had legally been an adult for nearly 5 months. The habits of the previous three years became such a habit I almost forgot what I was waiting on. Then one day I was sitting outside a restaurant eating a hamburger, saw a sign saying help wanted and it all clicked into place in my head. It probably helped a bit that I seldom drank and never did drugs...I much prefer a clear head in a dangerous environment.

gotcha and thanks. i think part of the survival in a homeless situation is the constant (maybe not constant) thinking of how to get out of this mess. maybe come up with a game plan and stick to it.. i am only speculating bc i have never been in this situation. it seems as if an escape plan, if you will, would be something on everyones' mind right?

 

[Mistwalker]

gotcha and thanks. i think part of the survival in a homeless situation is the constant (maybe not constant) thinking of how to get out of this mess. maybe come up with a game plan and stick to it.. i am only speculating bc i have never been in this situation. it seems as if an escape plan, if you will, would be something on everyones' mind right?

I suppose an "escape plan" of some sort should be at the forefront, but for me there was a major delay. At 16 I was just over 6 feet tall and weighed 200 pounds. Finding under the table work and making money was easy, finding any sort of real residence not so much.

 

[martoonisotu]

Homelessness touches on so many issues. A few that come to mind are economic cycles, substance abuse/addition, domestic violence, personal property rights, mental illness, nuisance laws, veteran affairs, natural disasters, personal crisis, chronic medical conditions and on, and on...

Here's how I approach things:
-Excercise gratitude that for today, I have shelter, a loving family and financial resources
-Treat them both humane and as humans.
-I buy a case of those peanut butter and cheese cracker snack packs when I have a few extra bucks and hand them out to people panhandling at intersections. Skinny people get two.
-I donate (mostly clothes) to GoodWill, Salvation Army and local charities.
-I don't take crap from bullys and predators, no matter what their housing status.

I used to interact with a lot of indigent patients when I worked in an ER. It strikes me that for some, it is not a very pleasant way to go through life.

 

[Preacher Man]

This is such an informative and thought provoking thread!! :thumbup:

As a minister I've organized or participated in food and clothing ministry to the homeless. In Fort Worth we have our share of homeless individuals, but most are either alcoholics or victims of the economy trying to get back on their feet. I've had interesting conversations with some of them, and for the most, they are decent people going through very rough times. Some take responsibility and acknowledge making bad financial decisions, basically spending all they make (and sometimes more) thinking that their finances will stay as they are. Then they lost their jobs with no savings and no family close by.

Most of the ones I've talked to live in an urban setting (shelter, car, library, or squatter in an abandoned building). For those I talked too, their most important pieces of equipment are blankets, cooking utensils, bags for item collecting, personal hygiene items, and several changes of clothing. The last two are essential to help them find and maintain employment. I guess this would be a different subclass of homeless people when compared with others discussed in this thread, since I guess those are the ones on the verge of getting out of the streets. One thing I noticed is that those also become leaders in their "homeless communities" and are willing to identify which homeless are really trying to get back on their feet, and which ones aren't.

One thing I've learned from some of those stories, is that it doesn't take much for anyone not making 6 figures to find themselves in a similar situation. Like someone posted here already, "... but for the grace of God." For a while I was totally disabled by Lyme Disease. I'm back on my feet, but not 100% yet. For a while we survived out of family help and the charity of others since my church salary isn't enough to cover all expenses, I couldn't work my research/ghost writing business, and medications were $600/month. Things are better now, but in helping those who are down and out we find ourselves to be blessed in what we have and where we are, because it could have easily been my family out there.

I guess that what I'm saying is that we can't paint all homeless with the same brush and that in this economy, many individuals and families are susceptible to end in the streets as the result of one or two serious crisis. Count your blessings and help those who are trying to get ahead.

Proverbs 31:8-9
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."