1. Gather belongings and find a worthy bindle stick

Make sure the stick is not rotten or hollow inside. And most importantly, make sure it is an SDSU stick.

“I get all my sticks from the Frisbee Golf course area. There’s a little tree shelterbelt over there,” Ben Carper, security coordinator, said. “I got my very first bindle stick, this is my second one, I got my very first one over by the campanile.”

 

2. Find a square piece of cloth

A bandana can also work nicely for this, but Carper recommends a cloth that is at least two lengths of your forearm so that it can hold everything you want.

“My rule of thumb is the bindle that the statue of Weary Will carries,” Carper said. “I try and base mine on that.”

 

3. Place all desired belongings on tops of the cloth

Make sure to nicely fold articles of clothing and place items that you don’t want to be squished on top. Carper suggests putting the clothes at the bottom of the bindle cloth to provide good base support. Place your food in a handkerchief.

“An organized hobo is definitely a happy hobo,” Carper said.

 

4. Tie two opposite corners together over the contents in a tight, double knot.

 

5. Tie the other two opposite corners once, then loop the ends over the stick

 

6. Tie the bindle cloth in a tight, double knot over the stick.

 

7. “Customize it out”

Add hobo pins, pieces of cloth or anything else you so desire to define your hobo identity.

“A moniker is your hobo name, so Barefoot Benji is my moniker, and the one shoe on the bindle sack also represents me as my character self,” Carper said. “It adds to the whole theme of hoboness. Being a hobo is kind of going your own way in a direction that you want to follow.”