What are the sketchiest living conditions you've ever had?

[AreaCode707]

I've been lucky in life; I haven't ever had anything too sketch. For about three months I rented a room in an old modular home from a crazy gal who thought me being her roommate meant we were best friends. I moved out as soon as I could afford something where I was sure I wasn't going to get locked in my bedroom as my roommate's "pet".

At one point me and six friends rented a bit 3600 sq ft house that had an unfinished basement and needed a total overhaul upstairs - we had a BLAST, even though the place was pretty dingy.

Just thinking on this because of a link a friend posted on her Facebook.
http://chrisinhaiti.com/?p=520

This is so far removed from my experiences in life that it is hard for me to even fathom it. I mean, in the worst of the worse case scenarios my life could possibly ever encounter there would always be a car, or a homeless shelter or an actual tent somewhere.

Meet my friend Ti fiyèl. She lives with her four children under these sheets.

I'm not usually very emotionally affected by the third world ads (though I do love me some KIVA Team Anandtech) but maybe because this was posted by someone I know it really stopped me in my tracks and got me thinking.

Anyone on OT ever been homeless? What did you do, where did you live? If you've never been homeless, how sketch of a place have you lived?

 

[FoBoT]

1985-1986 while attending Univ of Idaho in Moscow, ID i lived in an old 16 ft trailer about 1 mile from campus
i don't remember the rent, i'd guess ~$200/month maybe?
i was living on $100/month stipend from a scholarship and a student loan to pay the rent/gas money
one week i was out of money and only had rice in the kitchen. plain rice gets old, but isn't that bad, it fills the tummy

so not that bad really

looks like the trailer park is still there
http://g.co/maps/3byug

 

[Doppel]

Never had them.

 

[Matthiasa]

In a tent during a bad thunderstorm while in the woods are pretty sketchy.
The kind of storm that knocks down trees or at least branches and all.
The tent also leaked.

But as per the actual meaning of the question no, I have not.

 

[J-Money]

I once didn't have cable or internet for a whole day.

It was a nightmare!

 

[rudeguy]

I once didn't have cable or internet for a whole day.

It was a nightmare!

Lurker. MINE!

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

I lived out of my car for 2 months. Up until it began hitting freezing temps.
I would have stayed in the shelter, but I just can't trust those junkies & homeless, when I have computers & such expensive shit in my car.

 

[DCal430]

I grew up in a real sketchy area, it wasn't so bad when my parents first bought the home, but after 20 years it went way down hill. It came to the point that we could hear gun shots being fired in the area almost on a weekly basis. Lived there for 27 years of my life. So glad when I bought my own home and moved to decent area away from the shootings.

 

[Farang]

I lived in a basement of some friend's house for $400/mo. The room was covered in rat crap (I didn't know what rat crap looked like and didn't realize it at the time), had ceilings too low to stand up in, and I found out later the guy who 'owned' the place was actually a squatter collecting rent from us.

Unlikely enough this is where I met my first serious girlfriend and dated her for a year thereafter.

 

[waggy]

I moved out of my dad's house at 17. First apartment i got was a just a room in a house. the guy in the back "apartment" was a drug dealer and the guy in front his main buyer..

but hell it was $100/month wich included all utilities and it 3 blocks from my school.

 

[n7]

Homeless shelter for a few nights while i was looking for a place + job.

Then shortly after that, a super cheap tiny suite with shared bathrooms for the entire floor.
Pretty much everyone in the building was on drugs or drunk...landlord loved me because i kept to myself and didn't cause trouble.
I'd get random people trying to get buzzed in all the time, and random knocks on my door (which i didn't dare answer...)

Fun times.

 

[Svnla]

Never been homeless but I or I should say our family did lose a lot of financial items/possessions due to circumstances (long story). From that experience, I am always good with money and finance (self taught).

 

[darkxshade]

My sketchiest living conditions was when I was in the 707 area code

 

[vi edit]

Two years ago when we were building our house we had a terrible time finding a rental place to crash at. Finally found a place from a realtor we worked with in the past. It was a cute little house but was in what I lovingly call the "DMZ" of Peoria, IL. We were one block north of total gangbangerville. There was a utility shed in the back that was riddled with gang logos. The BBQ joint a block away was held up at gun point a couple times. The liquor store a couple streets over was shut down after a sting operation finally got enough evidence of drug selling of prostitution being run from there. Also that same store had some guy randomly beat to death in front of it.

I heard gun shots while living there. After we moved the neighbors we knew moved away after having bullets hit their house. Other houses near it had forclosure notices and unkempt yards with weeds several feet high in them.

Cetainly a humbling experience.

 

[DAGTA]

I was homeless for a few years but, thankfully, I never had to live in a tent. Friends and family gave me a couch, a floor, or a bed to sleep on. I moved around, but I had people helping me until things got better. I'm very thankful for their help and now try to help others when I can.

 

[Specop 007]

I came home one day to find the locks changed and every damn item I owned sitting out front.

That was an interesting time. Fortunately I scrounged out a 6 pack in the mess and took the opportunity to sit down and have a beer while I contemplated my newfound homelessness.

 

[alkemyst]

I moved out of my dad's house at 17. First apartment i got was a just a room in a house. the guy in the back "apartment" was a drug dealer and the guy in front his main buyer..

but hell it was $100/month wich included all utilities and it 3 blocks from my school.

wich ekals free drugs, amirite?

BTW most refer to school a bit differently after high school.

I am curious though, what was your study?

 

[waggy]

wich ekals free drugs, amirite?

BTW most refer to school a bit differently after high school.

I am curious though, what was your study?

at 17? girls. hell i was still in high school.

and no i didn't do drugs. never had a reason to.

 

[alkemyst]

I think your use of drugs today skews that.

Why'd did your family kick you out in high school?

 

[Lifted]

I once rented an apartment downtown, near Union Square. I was soooo out of there after few weeks. Had the movers pack my things and take me back to the UES. I don't think I had a full nights sleep for almost a month during those dark days.

 

[Joepublic2]

In a tent DOWN BY THE RIVER (4 realz). Wasn't too bad because it was during the summer. Couldn't find a place after dickhead roommate got us evicted. Always had a place to wash up, too.

 

[Via]

A bizarre series of events left me basically homeless for about 6 months. I mostly rotated sleeping on friends couches, but occasionally I slept at the train depot. Some days I would sleep there, buy a round trip ticket to the next town (it was very cheap, like $15) stay in that town for a few days and then return.

I had no money and survived on a single credit card that had about a $2000 limit, mostly buying gas and stuff for people in exhange for the cash.

And then one day, it was over as suddenly as it had started. Life can be very strange.

 

[waggy]

I think your use of drugs today skews that.

Why'd did your family kick you out in high school?

who says they did? and considering i don't use drugs the personal insult is not needed.


as it happened. my dad wanted to move out of the area we lived (to move in with a women. though they married and still together so meh) and move to Rockford IL (sucky area didn't want to go to school there or live in it) i have moved a LOT in my youth. my dad would buy failing car lots turn them around and then sale them. I was a JR in high school and tired of it i had money from my Granddads inheritance so i said i was staying to finish school with friends. Main thing is i had a steady girlfriend and didn't want to leave the nookie i was getting heh. So i found an apartment. shrug

 

[busydude]

The first apartment I rented when I first came to the US, it was a shit hole infested with bed bugs.

 

[djnsmith7]

The actual apartment & complex itself wasn't all that terrible, but the neighborhood was & is even worse today. I grew up in the heart (worst part of East Salinas - often referred to as South Central, LA). Gunshots heard daily & drive-by shootings done nightly.

The place is even worse today. I don't know how my family & I survived that place for almost 15 years, but fortunately we did.

What's crazy is, even to this day, East Salinas makes the San Jose Mercury News on a fairly regular basis (usually teens shooting teens).

If you or someone you know is familiar with East Salinas, then you should know where Las Casitas is & that's the area I'm referring to.