One of the reasons I spent a bit over three years homeless in San Diego County is because of the great weather. I have serious health problems and wearing closed shoes causes me serious foot problems. I was able to wear sandals year-round in San Diego County, where it rarely gets down around freezing.
My sons also wore only sandals while we were there and we all still do wear sandals year-round, even though we are now in the Central Valley where temps are a lot more extreme -- hotter in summer, colder in winter. Two of us wore socks with our sandals for part of last winter when temps were routinely down around freezing at night, but we never bought normal shoes.
We always camp somewhere remote and we all three take our shoes off before entering the tent and we leave them outside. This helps keep the inside of the tent cleaner, longer. Since we rarely shower, just not getting dirty to begin with is an important goal for keeping us healthy while roughing it.
We didn't always leave them outside. When we were first homeless, we worried they would be stolen and we kept them in a corner of the tent. I think this was the right answer at first because we weren't sleeping in remote areas. They might have been stolen had we not secured them.
I am not sure exactly when we began leaving them outside the tent, but it has been habitual for quite a while now. Our shoes have never disappeared.
Our feet do get visibly dirty, so we have to wash them fairly often in bathroom sinks. But they don't itch or smell like they would if we wore closed shoes.
My father was in the military for a lot of years. When he was in Vietnam, he spent something like a month trapped behind enemy lines. He never took his boots off. He slept with them on and with his eyes open.
I was a toddler when he returned from Vietnam, but it is my understanding that he was medivaced out of there and spent 6 weeks in Walter Reed Hospital. When they removed his socks for the first time in about a month, the skin of his feet came off with them.
From what I have heard, foot health is a big problem for infantrymen in the field. I get the impression it is also a problem for many homeless people.
I haven't had serious foot problems. Wearing sandals and rinsing my feet with plain water in a sink a few times a week -- daily, when possible -- even though I rarely shower has kept them in relatively good shape. (Yes, I have callouses and they could be cleaner and no one with a foot fetish would want me. But they are basically healthy -- healthier than when I first went homeless.)
If you are homeless (and not in a wheelchair already -- it is sadly common to see homeless individuals in wheelchairs), you need to be able to do a lot of walking. So, you really need to stay on top of your foot health somehow. Walking a lot has been good for my foot health. Wearing sandals has also been good for my foot health.
My sons also wore only sandals while we were there and we all still do wear sandals year-round, even though we are now in the Central Valley where temps are a lot more extreme -- hotter in summer, colder in winter. Two of us wore socks with our sandals for part of last winter when temps were routinely down around freezing at night, but we never bought normal shoes.
We always camp somewhere remote and we all three take our shoes off before entering the tent and we leave them outside. This helps keep the inside of the tent cleaner, longer. Since we rarely shower, just not getting dirty to begin with is an important goal for keeping us healthy while roughing it.
We didn't always leave them outside. When we were first homeless, we worried they would be stolen and we kept them in a corner of the tent. I think this was the right answer at first because we weren't sleeping in remote areas. They might have been stolen had we not secured them.
I am not sure exactly when we began leaving them outside the tent, but it has been habitual for quite a while now. Our shoes have never disappeared.
Our feet do get visibly dirty, so we have to wash them fairly often in bathroom sinks. But they don't itch or smell like they would if we wore closed shoes.
My father was in the military for a lot of years. When he was in Vietnam, he spent something like a month trapped behind enemy lines. He never took his boots off. He slept with them on and with his eyes open.
I was a toddler when he returned from Vietnam, but it is my understanding that he was medivaced out of there and spent 6 weeks in Walter Reed Hospital. When they removed his socks for the first time in about a month, the skin of his feet came off with them.
From what I have heard, foot health is a big problem for infantrymen in the field. I get the impression it is also a problem for many homeless people.
I haven't had serious foot problems. Wearing sandals and rinsing my feet with plain water in a sink a few times a week -- daily, when possible -- even though I rarely shower has kept them in relatively good shape. (Yes, I have callouses and they could be cleaner and no one with a foot fetish would want me. But they are basically healthy -- healthier than when I first went homeless.)
If you are homeless (and not in a wheelchair already -- it is sadly common to see homeless individuals in wheelchairs), you need to be able to do a lot of walking. So, you really need to stay on top of your foot health somehow. Walking a lot has been good for my foot health. Wearing sandals has also been good for my foot health.