Thursday, May 29, 2008

Standards of cleanliness

I've never been a neat and clean kind of person, but I'm realizing now how high my standards of cleanliness had gotten-- and how much they've lowered since vandwelling.

For many years I've been a shower-once-a-week kind of guy-- yeah, sloppy I know-- but now I get dirtier. I'm still on the once-a-week program.

It took me only a couple days to get used to peeing in a Nalgene bottle and emptying/cleaning it.

Never been much of a floor/walls cleaner, but I'd gotten used to those being relatively clean. Not anymore-- my floors are loaded with dust, dirt, hair (I'm in my 40's-- the stuff is falling out) and bits of food and stuff. And it bothered me for a while but no more.

But I've always been scrupulous about keeping food and food preparation areas clean. But I've gotten over that. When I started vandwelling in Feburary, I tried to scrub every utensil, bowl, and food storage container. Not anymore. I wipe or rinse forks or bowls and put 'em away. I clean my pots and pans with bread, and then give them a rinse with a spray bottle and a once-over with a sponge and soap, then off they go until tomorrow. I started out rinsing and cleaning my cooler out every few days; I just cleaned it yesterday for the first time in several months.

What's starting to bother me now is the smell. I still don't have my vent in, and the van is getting stuffy. Smells kinda funky in here now. I suppose the vent/fan will help, as will a clear plastic skylight that lets UV rays in (UV is a disinfectant), and then I'll sweep the whole thing out in order to put in the floor. Once the new floor is in, I'll have to sweep it once in a while too.

1 comment:

Nemo said...

just recently found your blog (link from vandwellers) and I'm curious about this post as I read through your past.. did you ever get the skylight in? Running a 2002 E450 box truck with a passthrough to the cab, have heavy barn doors on the back instead of a rollup.

it gets dark back there!! was wondering if it's feasible to install a large skylight, preferably one that I can crank up to also serve as a vent when I'm stationary. just wondering if you've gotten to that point.

http://nemonotes09.blogspot.com/