Have you ever been down an out and living in a cardboard box

Times are catching up with people that are aimlessly going nowhere in their life. Can you tell us stories about you or people you know in such a situation.

I'd like to say if you can afford to be homeless, go to Hawaii and claim mental disability. Go through the homeless shelter or the VA if possible.

a reply to: musicismagic

I wasn't in a cardboard box but, a metal one. I have lived in cars many times in my life and even adopted a family of kittens who were going to be euthanized. I don't particularly recommend that but, I am proud of it.

Conversely, I have lived in penthouses and swanky pads. At no time in someone's life can it be said that their lot is sussed out and permanent.

a reply to: musicismagic

I was a homeless runaway from January to May when I was aged 16. I slept in the changing block of an abandoned outdoor swimming pool centre. The dirty water in the pool was frozen over for a few weeks, wrong time to run away lol.

In the UK you can still get cash benefits if you are on the streets. I got about £25 per week, so I could feed myself and pay 20 pence for a hot shower every day at a nearby coach/bus station. The only hard bit was saving up enough money to rent a room and pay the month rent in advance. Getting a job was impossible for me with no address to provide.

My days were not too bad, wake up freezing, walk to coach station and have hot shower, cheap greasy-spoon cafe for breakfast, job centre to fruitlessly apply for work as a condition of my benefits, then the rest of the day immersing myself in books at the local library.

It was when the library closed that everything became miserable again and I returned to my cold (but dry) sleeping place. I have never been homeless since, unless you count sleeping on a mates sofa while between addresses, but that is just temporary stuff.

I value my friends deeply. They remind me that I will never be on the streets again, even if I fall on hard times.
I in turn would always offer a bed or a sofa to any friends facing the street. Just clean up and do the dishes, maybe cook a meal or two, that's all the rent I would want.

a reply to: musicismagic

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Ya, I have, except it is a car not a box.

Living it, is not close to hearing about it.

Take all hope, toss that out, take anyrhing like eating on a regular basis or bathing, toss that out, take other people giving a single grain of crap about you or your well-being, toss that out.

Only at this point, could one understand this situation.

You can't be told, you can't investigate and find out, one must live it to understand.

Where will you sleep? The cops will F you up if they see you.

What if you have to use the bathroom? Same thing.

How can you climb out of this hole? You basically can't, one pretty much needs a hand up to do so.

It is far worse than I describe, I will not utter the truth on these boards, pm me if you want to know the truth.

originally posted by: greencmp
a reply to: musicismagic

I wasn't in a cardboard box but, a metal one. I have lived in cars many times in my life and even adopted a family of kittens who were going to be euthanized. I don't particularly recommend that but, I am proud of it.

Conversely, I have lived in penthouses and swanky pads. At no time in someone's life can it be said that their lot is sussed out and permanent.

Same deal for me minus the kittens, it is 3 times now, the first was in 03, my wife moved her boyfriend in while I was on deployment, and emptied my bank account right before I got home.

No marriage, no money no place, my grandfather just got put in the ground......

I was in a very dark place for years after that.

I just can't fathom treating someone like that and acting like it is their fault you decided you weren't happy so they do this.

I wasn't a bad husband, I wasn't even cruel or harsh, in fact years later she admitted I treated her much better than any of her dozens of boyfriends since.

Meh, people just suck a lot sometimes, we all do it in our own ways.

I was on the streets for about 7 Days in the middle of winter, a few days before Christmas in fact.

I had no money or shelter as I was 19. It was horrible, cold and it felt like nobody cared about me. I had never felt so alone and vunerable.

Luckily someone took me in as a lodger and I swore I would never let myself get in that situation again.

Now I live in my own house with the mortgage paid in full, I have a car and a girlfriend and a little Siamese cat.

I think becoming homeless even for a short time pushed me into a very positive way of life in the end.

a reply to: Nexttimemaybe

Nothing motivates like an actual crisis.

The trick is recognizing one's own contributions to that circumstance in order that one may either avoid or better prepare for it.

a reply to: musicismagic

I never lived in a cardboard box but was once homeless and lived down by the river in a makeshift shack.
Alcohol and drugs had taken control of my mind; But it was during a time when ordinary citizens had compassion and honor
to those down and out and you could still eat well out of dumpsters. Eventually I was given a car and lived in that for a long time and picking up jobs from a temp agency, then Thru working for a painting contractor that went nutz and disappeared; he gave me and another bum the painting business. We both cleaned up and became upright citizens and respected businessmen and remain so till this very day.

Blessing are out there my friend....even in this age of mean spirited 'I got mine" bootstrap conservative mindset.

Hopelessness is real and crushes the human spirit.

a reply to: olaru12

Bravo and good on ya!

I cannot imagine a better outcome being arranged by a bureaucrat.

Ease up on the mean spirited comments, we have all been there, at least we have.

Some of my fondest memories were when I lived in my car, living the gypsy lifestyle, driving around the US, Canada and Mexico picking up odd jobs or busking on the streets when I needed money and meeting rich lonely women in need of companionship.
I was astonished to meet many men and women exactly like my self, homeless and traveling from place to place living a Bohemian lifestyle searching for the American dream. Most had a passion they were persueing such as surfing, trout fishing, skiing, sailing, artist and craftsmen of all types, but mainly guitarplayers/singer/songwriters seeking that existential experience to ferment their musical style.

It was a much gentler time back then; I feel blessed to have experienced it!

originally posted by: olaru12
Some of my fondest memories were when I lived in my car, living the gypsy lifestyle, driving around the US, Canada and Mexico picking up odd jobs or busking on the streets when I needed money and meeting rich lonely women in need of companionship.
I was astonished to meet many men and women exactly like my self, homeless and traveling from place to place living a Bohemian lifestyle searching for the American dream. Most had a passion they were persueing such as surfing, trout fishing, skiing, sailing, but mainly guitarplayers/singer/songwriters seeking that existential experience to ferment their musical style.

It was a much gentler time back then; I feel blessed to have experienced it!

Yeah, I have definitely had a very "interesting" life and I would do almost all of it again, almost.

Yes, and I lived in a carport cabinet at an apartment building till I got caught. Moved to a small whole in the ground with a plywood cover. that was 35 years ago or more.

Never again it I can help it.

I've lived in a van and and an abandoned third floor of a building in Galveston.
It wasn't so bad. I never went hungry.

The house life can also be overrated ..

Think about all the struggling and difficulty you have to endure to make enough money to pay the rent/mortgage of your home, and bills. It's so much difficulty that it ends up killing many people with stress. Just getting to work can be an ordeal. And then when you get home, you are either cooking, or cleaning, etc. Then you have to go out to shop and buy stuff to collect in your home, then arranging stuff, managing and organizing stuff, repairing stuff,.. it can be a real ordeal. All for what? A few moments to yourself in a home in comfort, .. but no time for rest.. back to work, leaving for work outside your home, or working inside your home. It is never ending.