@lillycoyote, all I meant was that my initial response (above) seems to have been borne out by the article, which said that first you need something to carry your things in (a backpack, it said, although I did not specify). A blanket and toothbrush were high on the list. I didn’t mention a hairbrush, but the toothbrush was an example that stood for personal toiletries.
Focusing on the question as asked, my answer listed the things I thought I could get without money and concluded that the first thing I’d need to buy was a container for my belongings, and what those first belongings would be.
Reading the article, I felt oddly comforted by the notion that if I were unexpectedly homeless I would probably be able to do it fairly well. Realistically, I probably wouldn’t last very long without certain prescriptions, but it is still worth thinking about what the real basics are and what it would take to obtain them.
I also found myself thinking that I’d like to print out copies of the article and hand them out to homeless folks in town along with a hundred-dollar bill. I wish I could afford to do that.