Keeping clean while living on the road is a bit different from what you may know from living in a conventional home. In most cases it will be less convenient.
Showers
Showers in your vehicle take a lot of space and fresh water, both of which are often in short supply. Large vehicles often have plenty of room and onboard water storage. In any case, water conservation is important. If you typically park in campgrounds with full hookups, then water usage isn't an issue. Many nomads opt to find other places to shower instead.
Sink/sponge baths
A sink bath is very simple, and uses much less water than a full shower. Put some water in a sink or large-ish container (big plastic dollar store bowls work great) and use it to wet and rise a washrag, scrubber, or sponge. Wash a small area, wet and wring the rag, repeat. Soap is not required for this process. If you do you soap, consider having a separate bowl for rinse water. When using single containers for baths, consider using the standard Army procedure: face, head, torso, arms and legs, armpits, groin, feet. The washwater can be used to rinse pee bottles, etc.
Baby wipes
Baby wipes (or "wet wipes") are relatively inexpensive and available everywhere. They are particularly useful for quick "pits and bits" touch-ups. Wipes are also useful for folks in very small spaces, like cars and minivans, since it doesn't require large, open containers of water.
Resources
| Resource | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Personal hygiene forum | A sub-forum of VanLivingForum.com | |
| Search forums and groups | Search van life discussion groups for "keeping clean" | |
| Search related sites | Search van life sites for "keeping clean" | |
| Search NomadLife.wiki | Search other pages on this wiki for "keeping clean" |
Some or all of the content on this page was originally sourced from this page on RVWiki