Whether you’re out of work and lose your house, in a natural disaster, or SHTF scenario or are one of the sole survivors of a zombie apocalypse (an election in California), there may come a time when you find yourself unexpectedly living out of your truck. Preparing your truck ahead of time so that you can live out of it will save you frustration in an already stressful situation. It will also prove invaluable should you breakdown somewhere that seems like the end of the world, like Interstate 10 between El Paso to San Antonio.
This guide will explain to you what you need to do to prepare your truck in case you’re one day stuck living out of it.
Invest in Shelter
Once upon a time, living out of your vehicle meant trying to get comfortable in a reclined seat while your steering wheel dug into you. Luckily, when you own a pickup truck, this doesn’t have to be the case. On this website you can find truck tents which will provide you shelter in the bed of your truck while letting you actually lay out. Pairing a truck tent with a couple of roll-out camp mattresses can bring you from surviving in your truck to living pretty comfortably.
You should also invest in some of the little things that make a shelter feel more like a home, such as a small pot and pan and utensils so that you can make real food while living out of your truck.
Keep Emergency Supplies in Your Truck
One of the best ways to prep your truck in case you have to live out of it is to keep emergency supplies in your truck at all times. Your emergency supplies should include a first aid kit and enough food and water to last for a while. A lot of stores offer 72-hour kits which include everything you would need to survive 72 hours, from flashlights to food. If you don’t have any other emergency preparedness items in your truck, a 72-hour kit would be a great place to start.
Other emergency supplies to keep in your truck include a couple of changes of clothes, winter gear, and emergency blankets.
Take Care of Your Truck
If you’re going to live out of your truck, you want to be sure that your truck is in tip-top condition. That’s why it’s important to pay your truck off as soon as possible so that the bank can’t seize it from you. If times are tough and you find yourself making a call between paying rent and paying your truck off, choose the truck: You can live out of your truck, but you can’t drive your home to and from work.
Meanwhile, regular maintenance on your truck can keep it from deteriorating quicker than it should. Make sure that you get your oil changed and your fluids topped off on a regular basis. And consider investing in premium gasoline. Just like your body, your truck runs better when you give it the right nutrition. If you want your truck to be able to withstand anything, you need to feed it from the top shelf.
Know How to Repair Your Truck Yourself
In today’s world this is a skill to be envied. You can’t fix them with a set of rackets and a timing light anymore. They are as complicated as any other machine in the 21st century, but doing the basics of fluids and tires is a must skill.
Let’s be real: If the apocalypse comes, AAA isn’t going to fend off the golden horde to change your tire for you. If you really want to be prepared for any eventuality, you need to know how to do at least the most basic repairs on your truck yourself. Source out YouTube videos and practice changing a tire, jump-starting your truck, changing your own oil and fluids, and replacing windshield wipers and bulbs. The more that you can take care of yourself, the less you’ll have to rely on–or pay–other people to do for you.
Practice Makes Perfect
If you want to know what it would be like to live out of your truck–and whether you could really pull it off if you had to–your best bet is to try living out of your truck for a period of time. Take a weekend in the woods to practice just living out of your truck, and take note of what was hard for you and what things you weren’t prepared for. Then, correct any issues and try again. When you get good at it, you can try camping out of your truck for longer periods of time to prove to yourself that you would be able to do it in a pinch.
Living with modern amenities is great, and we’re not going to tell you to give those up. But it’s important to realize that our homes and our luxuries are just that–luxuries. Thinking about and considering a future without those can not only prepare you in case of unforeseen circumstances but can also teach you to appreciate what you have now. By practicing and preparing for a time when you might need to live out of your truck, you learn gratitude for your current lifestyle. And if something does come down the road, at least you’ll be prepared.
source :theprepperjournal