I'm not a big reddit guy (I just signed up actually), but this is really interesting/entertaining/informative. Show's you that people really do survive with little to nothing, especially the guy who lived in a Canadian city at 16 then decided he was a backpacker and moved to a national park. Long story short, fourteen years later he's living a descent life in continental Europe a "regular guy".

Pretty cool

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/byd08/by_request_i_lived_in_my_truck_for_8_months_ama/

And the original thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/byaac/im_25_my_marriage_just_ended_i_have_no_job_and_am/

Interesting, thanks. Living out of my Miata would have been impossible, my Honda Element is much more doable.

Camping has been most instructive to me on focusing on the essentials of survival.

Shelter, water, food.

Comfort is another matter. For that, I also need a comfy bed, clean clothes and a shower every day.

If I had life to do over I'd have less stuff. Most Americans are encumbered by stuff and debt.

Addendum on the "less stuff" vow. I'd probably have more firestarters, more knives and fewer high heels and less furniture.

Dagny - Always thought you were male! High heels?

Re less stuff - I'm about to graduate from grad school my plan for weekends during my first few weeks off is reducing my number of worldly possessions. I'll still have a lot, but less than I do now.

Your high heels actually bring up a concern I had about living out of a car. I like to get dressed up, and that'd be tough living out of a car...but I think I could figure it out.

Have your dress up clothes be the kind that are dry clean and just drop them off and pick them up at the cleaners.

Yeah, no matter how carefully you pack, suits always need a good press or steam iron after packing. When traveling I don't even worry about trying to keep dress wear unwrinkled anymore, just head straight to the dry cleaners once I reach my destination.

When I travelled a lot for work, I would actually pack my dirty suits and shirts and get them dry cleaned where I ended up. When you don't care about wrinkling your clothes, you can always fit more items in the suitcase!

"Have your dress up clothes be the kind that are dry clean and just drop them off and pick them up at the cleaners."

And choose a cleaner that has a changing room.

Sue

I have this one blue blazer, not a suit, I know, but I pack it in eagle creek folding things and for whatever reason, it always comes out looking great. I think it has a little bit of magic in it or something.