Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
So I've seen a lot of people, especially lately, giving their two cents on how to
live in a van the "right" way. And their opinions generally center around one
or more of these six topics. So let's talk about them. Let's talk about these
oh so controversial subjects and the "right" way to live this lifestyle.
So the stuff that we're really gonna get into is the fun factor, the bad stuff, adulting, then
we're gonna talk about the rig, traveling, and full-time versus part-time. All right
number one the fun factor. So I see people all the time they're like "oh my
gosh living in a van looks like so much fun. I want to do it." And so part of me
wants to be like LOL. And then there's the opinion of like "oh van life is so
glamorized and it's it's not like that at all, it must be actually horrible,
think about what these people have to go through, they're probably all smelly they
never shower like blehhhh." So what I have to say about the idea of living in a van
being fun is... I mean it is fun, to me. But at the same time like I don't
particularly enjoy living in a vehicle. Like if I didn't have a reason to be
living in a van, I wouldn't be doing it. However, I do have a reason because I
want to travel, I want to go rock climbing, I wanna
save a whole bunch of money. So in essence, the van, or living in a van or
in a vehicle in general is kind of like a means to an end for me. It's kind of
just what makes all of the things that I want to do possible. And if I could live in
a house and do all of those things and have the same life in every other aspect
honestly I probably would. But in my reality that's just not the case. So the
van is just the next best thing. And so, the idea of like physically living in a
car ... not super exciting in my opinion. It's not the time of my life, but what I
can facilitate by living in a car... that is fun. And also, fun doesn't mean not
difficult. Now to say that living in a van is easy I think would be incorrect,
but to say it's fun is something totally different. So then we go onto the
bad stuff. And this kind of goes with the idea of like "ugh, van life is so glamorized" I just
think that- just know, like if you're thinking about getting into this... I mean
be realistic. Bad stuff happens. A lot of bad stuff happens all the time. It's
stressful, it's annoying, like literally anything and everything can go wrong,
might go wrong, but that's kind of just a chance that you have to take. I mean,
assuming that you want to do this. That's why it's like you gotta do it for the
right reasons otherwise like that stuff is just not gonna be worth it. And the
thing is too, like I just don't think it's fair to be like "oh van life is so
glamorized" just because people don't show the bad stuff. Because I mean picture
this: you tell someone that you live in a car, or ya live in a van...
almost immediately, immediately, they can picture a million and one
things that can go wrong, that probably have gone wrong, and they're just gonna
picture all this negative stuff. Like things that people think about you or
how this reflects on your character or your life or just negative situations
that you can end up in like breaking down or being you know- I don't
know they're gonna imagine all of that stuff with ease, such ease. But there are
very few people who when you say "hey, I live in a car, I live in a van" that are
gonna be like "wow, so many good things can come from that." So honestly, just my
personal opinion, but I think it's really good that people show all of the fun
stuff, all the good stuff that comes with living in a van because it's kind of
like common sense: there's gonna be a lot of bad stuff and it's not instinctive
to want to turn on a camera when you're freaking out or your car is getting
towed or you know all those things that could be completely going wrong. And of
course, that stuff would be interesting, or entertaining, or valuable, for some
people to see. Yeah, for sure. But I just think that- I don't know, I think it
doesn't freakin matter if you show the bad stuff
or not at the end of the day. I think showing the good stuff outweighs it,
it becomes more important just solely based on the fact that so many people
can- they already know all the bad stuff that can go wrong. They already know. But
what they don't know, what people- a lot of people aren't aware of... is all of the
good stuff that can come from living that lifestyle.
So I'm not saying in a sense that like van life isn't or is glamorized.
Honestly, I don't freaking care. My only point is that bad stuff happens...
duh. So be prepared for that if you're trying to do this, but good stuff happens
too. So yeah. Adulting! So you're either adulting like a pro... or you're not. The
common opinion of people living this lifestyle
it's gonna vary from one end of the spectrum to the complete opposite
pretty much. I think based on what people see they're under the assumption of like
"oh you've got your life together. That's how you're able to live in a van." Which
is really funny because then there's a lot people who think that like "oh you live in a van, you must be a failure at life." But anyways, a lot of
of people see this idea of being able to purchase a vehicle, to be able to fund
a conversion, to be able to live a traveling lifestyle, they interpret these
factors as equating to being able to adult successfully and be on top of
everything. And just know that people who live in vans... we're not special,
we're normal everyday people, just like you. Like you don't have to have your
life together to be living in a van and you also don't need to have your life
falling apart to live in a van. I mean to be completely honest like I have student
loans still, I am by no means rich, there's- not that long ago I was making
seven thousand dollars a year okay. Like I went in one time to do my taxes and
the lady at H&R Block looked at me and was literally like "how are you alive?!" You
know, I was alive because I was living in my car that's how I was alive. But anyways,
it's just like, even under those circumstances I was able to take my
first steps into living this alternative lifestyle. So that that's all I'm really
trying to get at is like whether you are financially stable and
secure whatever or you're not ... like they have no bearing on whether you you can
begin this journey of moving into a vehicle or some sort of RV or any other
kind of dwelling that you want to try out. Just because it really is a matter
of prioritizing. Like in my case I wasn't gonna wait until I paid off all my
student loans cuz thats gonna be awhile or until I could buy a brand new van or
even until my friends and family were accepting of this idea that like I
wanted to try living in a vehicle. I just wasn't gonna wait for the "right time", the
"right moment", because honestly there's never a right time, there's never a right
moment. I just took what I had, the situation at hand and did the best with
what I could and I made it work and so that- you know that's what I'm trying to
say. Is like you can too. You don't have to have a checklist and
have steps 1 through 10 completed before you can start living the life that you
want to and I mean this this applies, I think to everything not just like
vehicle dwelling or whatever, you know it's a matter of prioritizing. If you
really want it, you can do it, you can make it work. Figure it out, I believe in
you. Okay next let's talk about the rig. So I'm gonna break this up into two
parts kinda, we're gonna talk about the nice ones and then we're gonna talk
about the not-so-nice ones. So with the nice ones, there's kind of
this like "oh it's so easy. Just you know go out and get you a van, convert it in
one month, and then move in and go traveling, and live the life of your
dreams and blah blah blah" and it's like okay let's be realistic people. The
reality is is like you have to work, you have to work really hard in order to
make this happen. You have to really think about it and figure out how you're
going to make your lifestyle remote if you want to go traveling all the time. I
mean your job is something you have to incorporate into all of this. And your
finances, I mean it takes a decent amount of money to be able to get a new van and
on top of that being able to have money still for the actual conversion process.
And I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with having a nice van, definitely
not. If you can make that happen, kudos to you. What I am saying though is
that it's not EASY or REALISTIC for EVERYONE to SIMPLY go out and buy a van,
convert it really fast, and then hit the road. So then that's when we get on the
topic of like "ghetto vans". So I personally don't think there's anything
wrong with slummin it. Like I mean you already live in a van like how
nice do you really need it? And I'm for real because I mean of course like preference
wise like most people would prefer to have one of those like Instagram
picture-perfect vans, but do you need that? Do you really need that? in order to
make this happen for yourself. And in reality, probably not. Like people tell me
all the time like "oh you you can't live in that van you don't have insulation"
or "you don't have a solar panel that's impossible" like bro people live out of
way less on the streets in tents or less so I can take a mattress, throw it in the
back of a van and be completely fine. It might not be
everyone's ideal, but it works. I mean heck, is not even my ideal, but but it
works. Because in my situation it really comes down to like "where do I want to
spend my money?" Do I want to take all my money and spend it on having this like
really nice van or do I want to make do with what I have and then spend my money
on going on adventures and doing the things that are really important to me?
So don't get me wrong, like I said, I definitely would like to have a nice van
and I plan on building it out more and fixing it up really nicely, but it's it's
gonna be a work in progress. It's not going to be this like overnight
conversion. Because again it's just my mentality, like I'm not gonna wait until
"I have enough money" to go traveling, I'm not gonna wait until "my van is finished" or
"I have the perfect van" like I'm just I'm not gonna wait around on other things so
that eventuallyyyy I can go live my life. Life is happening right now dude, I'm
gonna go live it. Even if my van is not the best
it'll be fine. So I mean people can live in rigs that have barely anything, they don't
have to be super fancy. Because the truth of the matter - it's like not everyone
can afford to build out a van or to buy a new van and again like I said, there's
there's nothing wrong with that. Like if you can do that ,that's probably the way
to go cuz it's gonna be a bit more reliable and it would be nice to have the whole
thing finished first. But, but, even if you CAN'T do that, living in a van or
living a travel lifestyle in general is still attainable on a variety of
different levels even as far as income goes. You just have to adjust your
standards and make it your priority. And then there's the travel aspect. Some
people are like "oh yeah I wanna live in van. I wanna wake up in a nice new
super scenic location every single day!" It's like lol bro... me too. That would be
great, but living in a vehicle doesn't- it's not some fairy tale travel story. I
mean it's a lot of "oh my gosh, where am I? I lost signal, my Maps not working, where am
am I going? what is this road? HELPP!!" Okay really like it's not always bad and
super scary, but it's not always perfect and you're not always- like sometimes
you're sleeping in Walmart parking lots or you're just pulling off to the side
of the road or you're at a rest stop. I mean you can end up in a variety of
different places. But just know that it's it's not all rainbows and butterflies.
And obviously at the quicker pace that you travel like it's gonna
cost you more because you know, you gotta pay for gas. So sometimes realistically traveling to
a new location every day or every other day, it's just - that's expensive and you
know, not a lot of people can do that. And definitely I think traveling is one of-
one of the biggest reasons that people might be motivated to try this lifestyle
out because it does make travelling more accessible and easier. I mean in some
ways anyways, but I mean there are some people who travel like- a lot of
people who live this lifestyle travel, they travel a lot. But then there's also some
people who live this lifestyle and they travel not a lot.
They might travel very very slowly and I mean it could be for a bunch of
different reasons. Like either they have something to do in the area, they're
visiting people, or it's just what they can afford, or they really want to take
in that place /spend a lot of time there. And then even still, there are people who
live in vehicles and they don't travel at all, not at all really. They live in one city
and whether they work remotely
or they have- oh yeah these lights have censors, I'm like trippin ohmygosh. Anyways on the topic
of travel like you don't have to travel to live in a van and just because you
live in a van doesn't mean you have to travel. I think sometimes when people are
aspiring to live this lifestyle they kind of- you know you got to be realistic.
You gotta budget and figure out what you can afford and sometimes you can only go one
place a month. And you know it doesn't always have to be the same too. I mean
sometimes you could go on a traveling spree and there's some people who travel
for like six months and then spend six months not traveling or they travel
in certain seasons you know. There's just so many different ways to do it.
So with this topic what I'm really trying to drive home is just the fact
that there's like not one way to incorporate traveling into your vehicle
dwelling lifestyle, if you want to incorporate it at all. And then the last
one is full-time versus part-time vehicle dwelling. I have seen some people
get pretty heated over this. Like I've literally seen people comment on like
peoples Instagram posts being like "ugh, you only live in there on the weekends, it
doesn't count!" Like it doesn't count? what- who's counting? What are we
counting? Like I don't understand. Like I don't care if you live in a van full
time, part-time, rent one for weekend's, or you've even ever tried it at all, because...
Why would I? And by "why would I?" I really mean why
would anyone? But just my opinion. I just think that if you can use vehicle
dwelling to benefit your life based on your wants and your needs... awesome.
And if you can't, or you don't..... okay. So just know that if you're looking
to get into this lifestyle and if for some reason that has made you feel like
"oh I can only do it part-time so I probably probably shouldn't" it's like, no
I mean no. It doesn't matter. Like I said, if you can use it to your benefit, if it
can help you live a better life, and you can really get something out of it, then
do you you know. But also be aware that there are gonna be some people that just-
whatever my point is, it doesn't matter if you're full-time or part-time to a
lot of people. If people want to like and attack you for that then like I don't
know, there's something else let them be something else. So all in all
to summarize all of that. It is my opinion, that there is no "right
way" to #vanlife. You can travel always, never, whenever you want. You can live in
$100,000 decked out van or in a $5,000 ghetto metal box. And your life can be
perfect or it can be in shambles or anywhere in between in order for you to
start the lifestyle. The point is, it is your choice. Every little thing is your
choice. So if there is a "right way" to live in a van I would think it would be
just that. Like literally to do whatever you want. And I mean I think this applies
to everything not just like alternative living, but just take 100% responsibility
for your life. Realize that your life is the way that it is because of choices
that YOU make. So make the good choices, make the choices that you'll enjoy. And
then just keep doing that over and over and over again despite what anybody has
up there. So I will leave you guys with that to do with it what you will, peace out!