Reddit reviews Knox Electric Cooler and Warmer for Car and Home with Automatic Locking Handle - 34 Quart (32 Liter) – Holds 30 Cans - Dual 110V AC House and 12V DC Vehicle Plugs

First things first, contact your state's marketplace and find out if, due to your income loss from the illness and your homelessness, you can get on your state's Medicaid. Your income might be low enough to qualify you, if only to give you a few months' break from that $250 a month.

You can get a free "survival" phone. They will even transfer your number. https://www.safelinkwireless.com/Enrollment/Safelink/en/NewPublic/index.html

It's sounds like you're on a phone plan now - call your provider and see if you can switch to a prepaid plan with them. Those are $40 to $50 a month and maybe you can afford those? That way you can get/keep a SmartPhone.

To save $$ on food, go to the Food Banks. The Food Banks are also a place where you can ask questions about homeless shelters in the areas. But I have not read good things about a lot of shelters. People get their stuff stolen while they're sleeping. That's why a lot of homeless people hate the shelters, and wouldn't any of us feel the same way?

It depends on the weather in your town. If it's not too hot, sleeping in the backseat is not a problem and good for you for getting that $10 gym membership so you can shower. Turn your trunk into clothing storage so your clothes can stay neat, backseat is for sleeping and food. Or, if you're tall, passenger seat laid back might be better.

If you can afford it, obviously a cheap motel will be nicer.

Where to park? I've done a lot of YouTube watching on alternative lifestyle living in RVs and some reading about where to park when living in an RV or your car. Never had to live in my car, but I've done this for worst-case-scenario planning. Some homeless shelters WILL let you park in their parking lots so that might be a good option.. Police won't hassle you and you can lock your doors. If you have an RV some Walmarts let RV livers park in their lots. Talk to the manager.

Some churches will also let you use their parking lot. I'm assuming you're in AA - if they want references they can talk to your sponsor. Scope the church out first, see if it has a lighted lot, maybe some shade trees, and then call them and ask.

Be grateful you're a man. There are so many more low-skilled jobs open to men. If you can handle construction work and like it, that's a good field to get into. Later on, you could go to community college and become a Construction Supervisor. They make good money and we're in a building boom in many parts of the nation now. More secure than Construction Supervisor is Plumber, HVAC person, or Electrician. They always have work, even in recessions.

You are also, as a man, more likely to be promoted to management than a woman. So if you like retail or the food industry, as soon as you get settled again, you could start taking some business courses in management at a community college. Many are offered online now.

Good for you for staying away from your addict friends! That is so hard to do - so very hard to be alone, start over, and learn a new way of life.

I would suggest getting into counseling as well as 12 Steps, but the copay is probably more than you can afford. But call the homeless shelters and ask them if they have any special mental health support programs for the homeless. Most places do not, I know, but you can ask.

Food banks!! Find them in your area now. Google "Food banks (name of city or town)".

OH - for your mail - get a PO box right away. $8 a month, pay 3 months at a time. That way, when you go to the Food Banks you have proof of residency (that address) and will be able to get your closing utility bills which are also proof of residency and proof of your homelessness.

I'm sorry - I wish our nation were not so cruel. I think simple housing is a basic right. Oh that our political leaders could be swayed to agree with me.

Wait, one more idea - Because you can't eat fast food all the time - it's expensive and bad for your health - I've seen much ingenious camping cooking equipment online. I once saw a video of a guy living in his Prius and he had a small piece of plywood on the passenger seat for his "cooking counter". On that he made coffee and warmed up canned soup and canned veggies ($1 ea. at the $1 stores) on that board over a little propane single burner. Coffee maker ran off of his car.

Here's an adapter thing for your car so you can plug in household stuff. Just have the engine running when you do this so you don't kill your battery. https://www.amazon.com/BESTEK-300W-Power-Inverter-Adapter/dp/B004MDXS0U/ref=sr_1_8?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1501341161&sr=1-8&keywords=12v+adapter

So go to Amazon, and look for all the ingenious stuff you can plug into your 12v in your car. There's also battery lanterns for safety at night, single burner electric cooktops, and even an electric cooler that plugs into your 12v.
https://www.amazon.com/Knox-Electric-Cooler-Warmer-Liters/dp/B01DMVV282/ref=sr_1_3?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1501341051&sr=1-3&keywords=camping+cooler+plug+in

Good luck to you. You have a good plan, and at least there are jobs out there now. They don't pay well, but it's better than the Recession.

Does a light bulb even put off enough heat/is it remotely energy efficient? What size light would I need?

It does, certainly for a small freezer. I use a similar setup in a homemade yogurt maker, where I use a 40W incandescent bulb with a temperature controller + thermocouple like this to maintain the inside of the incubator (a cooler in my case) at 46C/115F. You'd have to modify the fridge/freezer to mount the lightbulb and thermocouple inside and get the wires out as well, but it could be done.

On the other hand, there are already commercial products that do what you want. This of this for example.