Staying Clean While Homeless
Tags: Homelessfamilies, Homelessness, Showers, Homeless, Clean

Woman showering SFW

Staying clean is the hardest part of being homeless. It’s really easier to just let yourself go until you start smelling like the urinal in a bus station. But if you want to maintain your mental health, stay or get employed, well, you have to be clean, smell clean, look clean. Getting those rare, real showers—whether, at a truck stop, a friend’s home, or the gym make you feel awesome afterward. So, take them every chance you get. There were actually days I’d shower three or four times. It was summer, 100 degrees in the van, and I showered before and after work, and later in the evening, or even go into a truck stop at night to cool off with a cold shower.

SHOWERS

Find a place to shower. Planet Fitness has $10 a month memberships. For a bit more, you can get extra perks like massage chair access, and tanning beds. If there’s one in your town, join. You can maintain your health and hygiene there. If you can’t afford or find a gym, find a community center, or a YMCA. Some Y’s also offer low to free memberships for the homeless, and some even have free programs (like running) for the homeless. Exercise will keep depression at bay, provide a shower, a community, and something to work towards, whether it’s losing weight, or getting in shape.

If there is no Y, or gym, or community center (you’re rural), find a McDonalds or Burger King. They have the best bathrooms because most of their stalls have real doors. You can take a collapsible water bucket in, fill it with water and take a sponge bath in the privacy of the stall, then brush your teeth, etc. at the sink. You can find them at Amazon or outdoor stores for about $10-$15 bucks. They’re lightweight, made of silicone, fold up so you can tuck them into a backpack or carry them in inconspicuously. Use them in your vehicle, or in a bathroom stall or wherever, then dump out the water and store them away.

$11 Folding water bucket.

If you’re in a rural area there are almost always streams and rivers to bathe in. I bathed in a waterfall for two months when I worked as a raft guide in college. The well at the “dorm” was always running dry, and the cool, clear river water was the only option most days.

If you live in the west or midwest, many laundromats have showers as well as washers and dryers. I used to take a shower while my clothes washed. Then I’d rent a Video and eat take-out — all from the same laundromat! These are showers mostly used by campers and hikers and hunters. You still pay for them, but the cost ranges from a few dollars to $12 or more per shower or bath at truck stops. Sometimes truckers will give you their free shower, or sell it to you for $5 bucks (they get free showers with fill-ups to their rigs.)

You can search online at:

Join a gym or visit a public pool. I know with Covid many of these places aren’t available or open, but keep looking.

I carry a couple of packs of adult-sized washing wipes with me. I like this brand. You get 40 wipes — or 10 wipes per each of the four packs. They’re thick and you can rinse them out and reuse them if you’re tight on $$. They cost $19.95 but there are cheaper alternatives too. Look at the Dollar Stores.

Washing Wipes

If you can get a temp agency job at a manufacturing plant their lockerrooms almost always have free showers. Bring your own towels and soap etc. They also have lockers (bring your own lock).

I’ve found showers in public bathrooms, usually on the upper floors. Do NOT go in looking homeless. Put on sportswear so it looks like you’re an employee showering after a run. DO NOT ABUSE these showers as offices will put locks on them.

LAUNDROMATS

Laundromats are a must-have. Try to look for apartment complexes with laundry facilities rather than public laundromats. The cost is almost always $1 to $3 a load cheaper. If you are college-age, dorm laundry facilities are the best, but security on campuses, plus parking hassles, can be a deterrent. Some day shelters for the homeless have free laundry.

If you can’t afford to wash your clothes, go into a laundromat with ONE load of clothes and explain your situation I’m betting 90% of people will pay for your wash/dry for you. I certainly would.

If you’re in a big city, you’re in luck. Many high rise office buildings have bathrooms on the upper floors with showers. I found two in Denver and used those during the day to take a QUICK, and I emphasize QUICK, shower because employees use them in the am. and at lunch to shower after running or working out and they will know if you belong in the building or not. If you’re going to use a shower in a public building wear workout gear — sweat pants and t-shirt etc., so you at least LOOK like you work there and belong.

Some major airports have showers. In Europe, I noticed there were as many showers in the airports as bathroom stalls. They were generally free, but you had to provide your own towel.

Carry a superabsorbent (and small) bath towel, washcloth, and soap with you in your pack so if you ever do happen upon a shower you can take advantage of it. Never pass up the opportunity to take a shower, even if you had one a few hours prior. Use deodorant liberally, but don’t substitute it for a shower unless you have to. Wash your pits, crotch, and face every day (not in that order tho).

If you can’t find a laundromat, but have a job interview and no clean clothes, hit up Goodwill or the Salvation Army. You can throw together a good outfit for less than $10 if you shop right. Another point, always keep at least one outfit clean for job interviews. This is easier if you have a small storage unit or car to store extra stuff in. If all else fails, get a locker at a gym, or airport, or someplace to keep your stuff. Ask a friend if you can keep a footlocker in their garage or on their property where you can keep some things. Consider buying a small rubber tool tote you can padlock to a tree in the woods and camouflage if you have nothing else. Get creative.

People laugh at me and say these are not tips for the homeless. What they mean is they’re not tips for people who are mentally ill, addicted, or chronically homeless and unwilling to work to get off the streets. If you’re disciplined or motivated to get off the streets and are working at getting a job, saving your money, and getting into a place as soon as possible, this blog is for you. As you get creative in what you do you’ll find it’s almost a game. How cheaply and creatively and legally can you live while you set goals, look for affordable housing, or find the right place for you — be it buying land and living off-grid, or moving into a van or SUV, or creating a new career for yourself by learning a trade. Don’t worry about whether this will “work for all homeless people.” You’re not responsible for “all homeless people.” You’re responsible for YOU. Get YOU healthy, housed, and doing better. Then think about the next guy. You can’t give someone a drink out of your water bottle if its empty. FILL it first, then share.