Triaging homeless humans

Essential things to complete while you’re housed:

🏡 Purchase a Post Office Box
🏡 Get your car serviced
🏡 Upgrade your roadside assistance
🏡 Sort out your technology
🏡 Download essential apps
🏡 Purchase secure cloud storage
🏡 Put your keys on a lanyard
🏡 Essential purchases

Things you really ought to consider but can manage once you’re homeless:

🚗 Make or update your Will
🚗 Make an Advanced Care Directive
🚗 See your GP and dentist (and any other health care professionals)
🚗 Join MedicAlert

When you’re homeless you can:

🚗 Officially become homeless (and change all of your addresses)
🚗 Purchase emergency and ‘non-essential’ items
🚗 Download additional apps

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Triaging homeless pets

If you have animals and are taking them on the road, I strongly recommend arranging all of your appointments while you still have a home you can contain your animals in. You’ll have a lot more to do but it will ultimately be easier than wrangling your pet (and you can’t leave animals in hot cars to attend appointments).

Essential things to complete while you’re housed:

🏡 Purchase a Post Office Box
🏡 Get your car serviced
🏡 Upgrade your roadside assistance
🏡 Sort out your technology
🏡 Download essential apps
🏡 Purchase secure cloud storage
🏡 Put your keys on a lanyard
🏡 Essential purchases
🏡 Make or update your Will
🏡 Make an Advanced Care Directive
🏡 See your GP and dentist (and any other health care professionals)

When you’re houseless you can:

🚗 Visit the Vet
🚗 Officially become homeless (and change all of your addresses)
🚗 Purchase emergency and ‘non-essential’ items
🚗 Download additional apps
🚗 Join MedicAlert
🚗 Join Central Animal Records

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#HouselessCats

Purchase a Post Office Box

📮 Download the AusPost app
📮 Find your PO box online
📮 Go to the Australia Post outlet prior to purchase to check the location of the PO box
📮 If satisfied, purchase in store
📮 Flag your box for your use only
📮 Arrange mail redirection

Jump online to see where you can purchase a post office box. Many locations have boxes but some may not have any available.

It’s a challenge to choose a location if you’re leaving your current area. You may end up buying a second PO box down the track when your location stabilises. You will get a refund for your existing box but they do take a processing fee.

You can also create Parcel Collect addresses and add a 24/7 Parcel Locker. It’s easy to do in the AusPost app. These are invaluable for receiving goods at a temporary location.

Arrange to receive notifications via email when there is mail to collect. When you set up your PO box, ask the staff to put a note on the box to only place mail specifically addressed to you in it. Otherwise, you’re likely to get all kinds of generic rubbish and, sometimes, other people’s mail. There is nothing worse than making a long trip to collect mail only to discover it isn’t yours.

But buyer beware: many companies will not send goods to PO boxes and post offices and you’ll have to arrange goods to be sent to friends/family or choose the Click and Collect option.

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https://auspost.com.au/receiving/manage-your-mail/po-boxes-and-private-bags

Get your car serviced

Your car is your lifeline. Treat it with respect.

I strongly recommend getting your car serviced while you are still housed and getting any necessary repairs.

It is much easier to do this while your car is empty and you don’t have it stuffed full of your possessions (or animals).

This is where you need to spend any available funds. It will be expensive but think of it this way: this is your ‘bond’ for your future home. You are investing in having a reliable and safe place.

Furthermore, you will not need another service for twelve months by which time you’ll either be housed or you will have enough experience to plan for how you’re going to leave your car at a servicing centre.

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Upgrade your roadside assistance

Imagine breaking down in the middle of nowhere with everything you need to survive in your car. What are you going to do?

Roadside assistance is critical when you live in your car.

While housed I had basic cover, but I upgraded to top tier as soon as I became homeless. I highly recommend a motoring club which covers me with a full range of benefits in whatever vehicle I am driving. My motoring club also has an excellent app.

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https://www.choice.com.au/transport/cars/general/buying-guides/roadside-assistance

Technology

Keep technology to a minimum on the road and think about how you are going to charge it.

I have a smartphone, laptop and e-book reader, but I also have solar. I highly recommend sticking to technology that can be charged via USB if you can manage it. Solar takes up a lot of space and it is an added complication on the road.

You can buy a variety of cigarette lighter adaptors. I have converted mine to a twin (with two USB ports on one side and the classic port on the other) so I can charge my phone, my head torch, and have my fridge running (or charge my fan) at the same time while I’m driving.

If you aren’t travelling with animals, you’ll be able to pop into local libraries to charge your devices.

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Download essential apps

☎️ BOM
☎️ Fires Near Me Australia (or state-based app)
☎️ AusPost
☎️ Petrol Spy (or state-based app)
☎️ Road assistance app (state-based)
☎️ Traffic app (state-based)

Knowing traffic conditions will prevent you stuck in a long queue at roadworks. You’ll save a lot of money on fuel if you track the fuel cycle and you’ll be able to see where fuel is available. Your road assistance app might have fuel prices and it’s very handy if you get stuck.

I’ll go into how to set up your emergency apps in my Emergency Plan thread. Favourite this post and I’ll edit in the link.

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Purchase secure cloud storage

Scan and upload all of your important documents to secure cloud storage.

The thing to remember about where in the cloud you store your documentation is that it isn’t a cloud. It’s a physical server located somewhere with varying levels of security. A server with poor security is like pinning your medical history to a toilet door.

I recommend Proton. I have uploaded all of my documentation to a dedicated folder and I’ve shared access to this folder with trusted people in case of emergency.

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https://proton.me/blog/business-cloud-storage

Put your keys on a lanyard

This might sound like an odd suggestion (and something you’d expect to see in a Retirement Village) but stay with me here.

You're so stressed your head is about to blow off. You're sleep deprived. You now have the cognitive function of a turnip.

You’re going to put down your keys and forget what you did with them. This is utterly disastrous when you’re really busy preparing to move out. It is equally disastrous when your primary residence is your car.

Having your keys on a lanyard also gives you both hands free when you're wrangling your animals and/or packing your car. And, I never have to think about where my keys are. They are either hanging around my neck, in the ignition when I’m driving, or in a designated spot in my tent away from public view (and one spot only, not several).

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Essential purchases

Less is more. You need very little to survive in the first few days of being homeless.

When you’re on the road, possessions are a real burden. I strongly recommend starting out with only what you need to use on a daily basis and making do until you are in a good head space and can think clearly about what to purchase. This will save you a lot of aggravation and a lot of money. It will also prevent you sending a lot of stuff to landfill. Your vehicle is a finite space and you’ll need to make an enormous number of compromises with what to carry.

⛺ Tent
⛺ Mattress & Sleeping bag
⛺ Clothes
⛺ Toiletries
⛺ Food
⛺ Water

If you are taking a pet on the road with you, life just became a whole lot more complicated. I’ll cover what you need to do in a separate thread.

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Tent

If you can cope with doing this, it is easier just to sleep in your car initially rather than running around trying to buy a tent when you have so much other stuff to do.

Always remember that tents are not designed to be permanently lived in and you will be replacing yours regularly.

I’m going to cover purchasing a tent in a separate thread but, for now, all you need to know is:

⛺ If you’re solo, you’re going to want a minimum three-person tent.
⛺ If you have pets and they’ve never been in a tent you’re going to need a canvas tent.

Do not buy a Kmart tent to live in (or anything ridiculously cheap). These tents are perfectly fine for a day or two in good weather but are not designed for the kind of weather you’ll be experiencing when you’re homeless.

If you’re desperate for a tent and can’t wait for my thread I recommend purchasing a BlackWolf tent. BlackWolf tents are well made with excellent features. Shop around for the best price.

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https://blackwolf.com.au/collections/tents?filter.v.price.gte=&filter.v.price.lte=&sort_by=price-ascending

Mattress & Sleeping Bag

There’s a lot to unpack about sleeping systems and I’m going to make a detailed thread.

In the first instance, you can make do with a cheap inflatable mattress but you aren’t going to want to sleep on it forever. Camping mattresses are designed to be used for a few days after which time you’ll be snuggling in your comfortable bed at home.

Kmart sell a range of cheap camping mattresses. Just remember that sleeping on an air mattress will be intolerably cold in winter. You can double up the single self-inflating mattress (it has studs) to make it twice as thick, but encase it in a cheap sleeping bag for warmth.

If you have the cash, buy a single swag mattress. At around $100 it’s an excellent investment in a good night’s sleep but it will take up a lot of room in your car.

Kmart sleeping bags are absolutely fine, provided you ignore the warmth ratings. I have two different weighted bags which I completely unzip. Use them as you would a duvet or blanket so you can move around freely. The benefit of sleeping bags over traditional bedding is they pack down and require less space.

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https://www.kmart.com.au/category/sport-and-outdoor/camping/?sortBy=newest&f.Subcategory=Sleeping

Clothes

You want a few changes of comfortable clothing that can be trashed with a full change of ‘nice’ clothes on standby.

Just grab whatever you have but make sure you are prepared to destroy it. Put any cherished items into storage.

Ideally, everything needs to fit in one load of a machine in a laundrette and can hopefully be tumble dried. You’ll eventually replace your clothes with sturdier and easier to manage stuff but, for now, just make do.

Keep your shoes down to a minimum and they must be easy to look after (think mud and dust). I have a pair of hiking boots, a pair of Crocs (all-purpose day to day), and a pair of thongs (showers and hot weather).

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Toiletries

Forget squishing your toiletries into a tiny travel bag. You’re not going to Bali for a week. You’re going to have full size bottles of products.

Grab a packet of wet wipes to keep yourself fresh. If you’re heading out to free camp, remember to Leave No Trace and use biodegradable products. These are expensive so I save them to use when necessary and I carry regular soap for plumbed showers and toilets.

I will cover personal hygiene later in a comprehensive thread.

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https://www.bcf.com.au/p/sea-to-summit-wilderness-wash-100ml/632544.html

Food

Don’t worry about cooking gear in the first stages of homelessness. Just buy easy to eat options from the supermarket and treat yourself to a few cheap meals at takeaways, cafes, and pubs.

Pop your supermarket purchases into a supermarket zipped bag or, if you want something slightly sturdier, you can get a collapsible cooler at Kmart for as little as $10. You'll want something zipped and insulated as it gets hot and dusty when you're on the road. It will also keep ants out of your food.

Find a travel cutlery set or repurpose any disposable cutlery you’re given with a food purchase. You can also find miscellaneous bits of cutlery at op shops for as little as 10c each and this is perfect to replace all those teaspoons that magically disappear.

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Water

Don’t worry about expensive water storage systems. Buy a 10L water cask from the supermarket (with water!) and reuse the bladder (give it a good clean between fills). They fit nicely into a 15L Kmart dry bag which provides added security so that 10L of water doesn’t end up flooding your car.

Rotate those bags. Use a black sharpie marker to write ‘potable’ once you start refilling it. After a few uses (or, if you’re unable to thoroughly wash it out), convert the bag to non-potable water storage (add ‘non’ to your ‘potable’). You can use this water for laundry and filter it for washing dishes. This bag can be used until it falls to bits. You will often find non-potable water on the road and this will enable you to prioritise your potable water for consumption.

I do, however, have one robust 10L water storage container for emergency water. I purchased this before I discovered how versatile cask bladders are but you might consider one sturdy container for emergency use. I still encase it in a dry bag as a precaution.

If you're heading to Kmart to buy those dry bags, grab several. They are brilliant to use as general storage bags, trash bags, etc.

Grab a ‘thermos’ style flask to use for hot and cold drinks. I have two: a larger one I fill with drinking water which stays cool and a smaller one I fill with hot water for tea/coffee on the road.

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https://www.kmart.com.au/product/15l-dry-bag-42485667/

Make or update your Will

It’s a good idea to have a Will. It’s also a good idea to appoint a Power of Attorney. These are particularly good ideas if you have a pet.

Life as a homeless person is precarious and, if something happens like being involved in a road traffic accident, it’s wise to have everything in place.

You can include your funeral arrangements and care of your pet in your Will.

If you have few possessions, minimal assets, and are a Services Australia client you can consider lodging your will with the Public Trustee. Eligibility varies from state to state and in some states, you can have a Will made up for free. The Public Trustee has issues but if, like me, you have next to nothing to bequeath and a hot mess of a storage unit to sift through, it’s kinder to leave that mess to an organisation rather than your nearest and dearest.

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https://willshub.com.au/succession-law-resources/public-trustees/

Make an Advanced Care Directive

Advanced Care Directives (ACDs) shouldn’t be thought of as a document for the elderly or terminally ill. They are an incredibly valuable document if you are involved in a serious accident or are incapacitated in any way.

ACDs have a tremendous amount of scope. I have included the care of my animals and my funeral arrangements. These details match what is in my Will.

Have as many substitute decision-makers as possible but make sure they are all in agreement with what you want and they can communicate with each other. Mine have a contact tree and know their pecking order.

You will need several certified copies of your ACD as you need to supply each of your substitute decision makers with a copy and your GP. While you’re getting your ACD certified, get a copy of your Will and copies of any other important documents certified too.

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https://www.health.gov.au/topics/palliative-care/planning-your-palliative-care/advance-care-directive

See your GP and Dentist

Have a full check up with your GP, discuss your homelessness, and provide (and discuss) a certified copy of your Advanced Care Directive. Update your details at Reception and supply your PO Box. If their system does not accept ‘No Fixed Address’ as your residential address, see further down the thread on how to fix that. You can call them later with an update.

If you are a Services Australia client, register with a public dental clinic. Advise the staff of your homelessness and discuss contact options.

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https://www.health.gov.au/topics/dental-health

Join MedicAlert

MedicAlert is indispensable when on the road.

If you have any kind of medical emergency, you will most likely be in an environment where you are completely unknown.

MedicAlert bracelets are now engraved with QR codes which first responders can scan. You can upload any relevant documentation and add anything you wish a first responder to know.

Your bracelet can be engraved with almost anything and it does not need to be a medical condition.

My bracelet states I have an Advanced Care Directive and that I have two cats. If I collapse on the street while I’m popping into a shop, I want my cats to be rescued from my car immediately.

The bracelets come in a range of styles and there are several accessories. I have purchased a member card holder which wraps around the top of my seatbelt. If I'm involved in a road traffic accident it's the first thing a responder will see. Inside are my member details if the responder cannot access my bracelet. And I have the fob on my keyring.

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http://www.medicalert.org.au/

Becoming officially homeless

In amongst the chaos of packing up your life, arranging for a storage unit, and dealing with all the other joys of vacating a property, you will also have to make multiple address changes.

You will need to adopt a systematic approach and speak to an actual human at several organisations as many official computer systems will not allow NO FIXED ADDRESS.

Document all of these changes with whatever system you’re comfortable with. I use an Excel spreadsheet with the following columns:

✅ Date
✅ Organisation
✅ Change to (the exact address I've used, e.g. PO box versus 'residential')
✅ Notes

This allows me to make multiple changes and I can sort my spreadsheet by date or organisation. In the notes section I document anything challenging like COMPUTER SAYS NO! and how I went about updating my address.

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COMPUTER SAYS NO!

Becoming officially homeless is time consuming and complicated. You have to adopt a systematic approach and change your status in the right order. It’s a domino effect: once you’ve been accepted as NO FIXED ADDRESS at one organisation, you can convince other organisations to follow.

Here’s the chain:
✅ Purchase a Post Office Box (in person)
✅ Contact Services Australia (by telephone)
✅ Contact Medicare (by telephone)
✅ Contact your GP and other healthcare providers (by telephone)
✅ Australian Electoral Commission (by telephone)
✅ Driver’s Licence and Car Registration (possible online but check your own State)
✅ Animal Registration (possible online but check your own State)

Of course, there are a lot of other addresses you need to change (banking for one) but these are the challenging ones. Most other addresses will accept your PO Box.

Car insurance is a whole other can of worms as you must have a physical residential address.

The only urgent matter (prior to leaving your current residence) is to organise your post office box so that you can activate your redirection and you won’t be receiving mail at your current address. Everything else can wait until you’ve vacated.

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