The wiki is great but it's kinda weak when it comes to useable beds and containers.

I'd love to hear if people have found useable "homes" other than inns or purchased houses.

Some of the spots I found:

• My newest character (Shadie, a pure thief) lives in the Market District sewer. The hollowed out stump near the sewer grate is a safe container and she puts all her stuff there. There are three beds and some beer in the first room. There's even a nice fire going. I'm testing the containers in the room but the jury's out. The down side is its a bandit spawn location, so she has to be careful everytime she enters. Also, there is a door from the room to the rest of the sewer that can only be opened from the other side. The adjoining room has to be cleared of mobs before the beds can be used.
  
• My healer/alchemist character used to use the little island south of Bravil where the ghost from some quest spawns. It is a camp with a good bed and a safe chest. The only problem is the two mudcrabs that spawn. Otherwise its a nice spot for the outdoorsy type. The ghost is harmless.
  
• Now the healer lives at Shetcombe Farm. I don't think any of the containers are safe unfortunately, but I'm testing them. It's great for the extensive gardens with alchemy ingredents all over the surrounding areas. Downside is there are a couple of close dungeons with mobs that spawn very close to the farm.
  
• My main character (Dirge, Dunmer agent/assassin) used to live in the Serpent's Wake ship docked at Anvil. After completing the quest, the captain's chest and a couple of the sacks are safe. Plus there's lots of space on the lower deck to just dump stuff. It's also just a cool place to live. I set up torches all around the perimeter of the ship (up top) so it looks cool at night. Only down side is the permament puddles of blood in the captain's room, but there are several other beds on the lower deck if you don't like the blood.

During her very long time as a student at the Arcane University, Buffy lived in the Chironasium. There are 9 safe containers there and two available beds. All a girl needs. :dance:

Book fort.

Fort made out of books with a shield as a door. No safe containers (that I trust) but it is pretty safe just to drop stuff. Built around a Bandit camp with 3 bedrolls and a fire.

Also made a retreat in every city around beggars rolls.

Wait, so you actually made a fort of books that is stable?
I demand screenies for that

I have it on PS3 and don't trust online image sights.

Who said stable? I don't have a roof and books get knocked around if any one attacks them with magic. Most are no bigger than the bedroll (except my main camp).

But it is possible. Look for either book fort or pillow fort online and look at some videos.

When I enter the Talos Plaza District in the Imperial City. First door on the left. "Ignore the dead Kajiit in the corner. Trust me, I bought this house."

Ah using items not used for their original purpose to make a fort...
Reminds me of my childhood

Surprised no-one talks about this... The little 'island' of sorts that is right at the bottom of blackwood. It's got a house frame, and a hidden (safe) container.

The platform above Fort NoMore. It has a safe chest, and inaccesable to others.

Cyrodiil is very short of safe campsites. Almost all of them are inhabited by Bandits. The wiki lists Atrene Camp as totally uninhabited, but Bawnwatch, Bogwater and Troll Candle have no hostiles living there. There are a few unmarked ones as well, but they're in out-of-the way locations and some are again in use by non-hostile NPC's. No wonder there are a a number of "portable tent/camp/bedroll" mods around.

lol. So can you sleep in the bed?

Usually you can't sleep in beds when trespassing or in owned beds even if the owner is dead.

If you kill the owner of a house while you are trespassing, you are forever trespassing whenever you are in that house and will be unable to sleep, even if one of the beds is unowned. If you are not trespassing when you kill the owner, you will never be trespassing in that house. This won't help if the bed in question is 'owned'. For many NPCs, sometimes when they are home, you can enter their house to visit and it is not trespassing.

So. . . if you can find a house you can enter without trespassing (varies) and kill the owner, you can sleep in the bed as long as it is not owned. If that all makes sense. Lol.

Oh, another nice place is Cropsford after it is all build up. You can sleep in the Dad's house - he has a spare bed and a few open top (safe) grain sacks. And he is a very nice guy since you are the hero of his little town at that point.

Oh, and the barn at Gottshaw Inn has a safe lecturn and a free bedroll.

Oh, and Walker Camp has friendly thugs there who won't attack you.

And. . .

There is an unmarked camp site just a little north west of Anutwyll, outside of Bravil. It is up the slope a bit, and a little overgrown, but has a bed you can sleep in and no one lives there.

For some reason, He doesn't care if you take anything, or the fact that you picked his lock. He also just turns his back to you without thinking twice. That makes it awesome to one hit him.

I don't know if it's ok to mention mods but Angel's favorite place to sleep is her portable campsite.

Gnoll mountain has a nice campsite with a burning campfire and lots of game meats being dried on rocks. There is a closed sack next to the tent, and I'm pretty sure its safe. I was gone for like 6-7 days and came back and my stuff is still in there.

kill the inhabitants of the house you want and then use console to reset ownership to yourself :-p problem solved. at the moment shaie his house is the inn of ill omen. killed all the inhabitants in a moment of aggression. :-p

Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He waits.
In Fort Alessia

Applewatch farm. nice, modest farmhouse. Just one room, but fairly spacious--I guess you could call it a great-room. Nice vaulted ceiling. I love the friendly dog, Jake, who hangs out in the house with me.

The matronly Draconis lady who lives there is very nice too. She's so nice she'll even share her bed with you. It's a pitty that a bandit followed me to the farm one day and murdered her in her garden. I was so mad, I killed the bandit in revenge. But, on the bright side, now I have the house to myself.

There are three open sack containers that should be safe. I'm not sure about the other containers, but I'm testing them.

One of my characters is a pretty regular guest at the Bastion in the Imperial City. The bedroll down in the dungeon's starting to get quite comfy now that it's got his groove in it.

Bainlin/Caenlin house.

I say no more due to spoilers.

Gweden Farm, after the associated quest is beautiful. Nicely decorated, beds to sleep in and plenty of safe storage. The only problem is that it took the PC command console to pop the door open.

Buffy has an alchemy bag, a magic bag of holding, two sets of saddlebags for her horse, a portable camp site and she doesn't collect anything really except clothes. Add all that together, with her loads of friends all over Cyrodiil, and she finds she is spending much of her time living out of her saddlebags and rarely visiting her little home in Bravil.

I was just reading the discussion for the houses in the wiki, wow there are alot of houses that they don't want to put because, 1.) there alot of houses, 2.) they do not consider it a house because it needs to have all safe containers. Which svcks, right now i can't find the list with all houses/camps/forts, that were on the list , anyone perhaps have a list of safe houses?
But anyway...
The Guard house in the imperial city, it has two containers that do not respawn. I think its in the elven district, there is another house whos name escapes me its i belive in the talos district, you can share it with a khajjit, and it has some safe containers.

There are simply too many to list. Some have been sprinkled into earlier posts in this thread. Since you mention the IC, here is another -

In the Waterfront, is a shack called 'Abandoned Shack'. This is not the house that you can buy. This Abandoned shack has two useable bedrolls, one chair, a fireplace, a couple of ocassional roommates, and all seven of the sacks in the shack are safe. Everything a girl needs to live modestly in the IC. :dance:

An alternative in the IC is the Market/Arena districts. Every single sack of every type outdoors in these two districts is safe with one exception (the beggar's sack by Simplicia's bedroll in the Market District). Sleep? Join the Arena for a free bedroll, or take the 30 seconds or so it takes to earn 10 septims and spring for the Merchant's Inn.

But if you're running my mod, it gets a bit crowded in there, so much that Tsarrina has to open a larger one next door.

Wow! I looked at your mod. How neat is that!?!

Buffy hasn't had much luck with the ladies of Anvil. http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv43/Acadian6/ScreenShot585.jpg