Are you thinking about living in van life? Well, there are definitely some things that you need to know before you decide to take this plunge.
Everything is not fancy Instagram photos and views on YouTube. Van life can be incredibly difficult and challenging. so beyond the obvious can you go a couple of days without showering and are you comfortable pooping in public let’s dive into the nitty-gritty of are you going to be able to maintain this lifestyle for a year or 40.
a lot of people fall in love with this lifestyle and end up living it for the vast majority of their life. There’s plenty of stories all over the Internet of people living well into their 50s still in a van. So are you cut out for that?
Here’s a little bit of background on myself, writing this I am living in a 1996 e150 with my wife and my dog. my wife works a 9 to 5 job in a city and I do freelance on the web trying to build a present so that we can eventually go and travel full-time. I don’t know if traveling full time means over season Thailand or full-time in this van or another. I’m not sure what the future will hold but I definitely can help you decide if you want to live this lifestyle.
So let’s get the basics out of the way.
If you’re a neat freak and you can’t go more than a day without showering consistently, then you may sit down and think long and hard about this next life decision. Believe it or not, I actually think that these factors into your ability to be van life a lot more than other things that different bloggers have put a lot of value on, such as do you have a lot of stuff and do you like to go home and sit down. the reason I think that this has a lot to do with whether or not you can survive in this lifestyle is that it is a huge factor. Sometimes you go weeks without showering and sometimes you can shower every day. what my wife and I do is we have a gym membership so we can go shower whenever we want. That doesn’t mean we do. Ultimately we probably shower 2 times a week, sometimes more based off if we were exercising or if it was really hot last night.
What I would recommend is try to cut your showering down. ultimately showering every day is actually not good for your skin and can cause an overactive oil production. So when you start to cut down your showers to every other day and then to every three days, you will notice your hair will be oily at first. But just like everything else, your body will become accustomed to the frequency at which your showering. Trust me you won’t look greasy and oily forever.
The other big thing that everyone talks about is what are you going to do with all your stuff. vast majority of vanlifers, whether they start this way or end up this way, believe in minimalism. All of that stuff is literally just that, stuff. Yes I know there’s a bunch of keepsakes like great grandma’s lock of hair from the war. That stuff ultimately will fit in a closet or a small storage unit. We decided to get rid of everything except for the most important stuff and winter clothes. All of that resides at my parent’s house in one closet. And we have room to spare. so don’t overthink the stuff, it’s not as important as you think and once you start getting rid of a lot of it you’re going to realize that it feels better to get rid of it than it does to keep it. there’s a reason minimalism has been trending upwards so heavily the past five years.
You might worry about what people are going to think about your lifestyle. This is the first thing to worry about especially if your social butterfly. it’s not as difficult as you think it is to tell someone that you’re living in a van and for them to take it well. Much like an interview, it’s important to keep a positive mindset going into telling someone that you are living in a van. The biggest thing is to say it with a smile on your face and to say that it’s the best decision you’ve ever made. Looking good goes a long way to support the statement. If you look like you just crawled out from underneath a bridge, then yeah people might think that you’re a dirty hippie. but if you look good and put together, which is not that hard to do in van life, you’ll get much more positive reactions and people will generally respect you more for taking a riskier lifestyle.
Do you have a motivating factor?
Do you have that thing that’s pushing you to do this? is it a financial crisis, is it a sense of wanderlust, is it a lack of friends or a shift in your social dynamic? All of these things can majorly help you to make this transition. Just like everything else in life it all happens for a reason. Much like you went to college because your parents forced you.
Do I think that financial woes are the reason to move into van life, not if you want to live it happily but it’s definitely an option that is viable and has been successful for many people? Our big motivating factor was we wanted to travel more. I know that sounds incredibly simple and basic but it’s the truth. We wanted to be able to save more money quickly to be able to go places that we otherwise never would have been able to. instead of putting $1,600 a month into our rent we decided to put $1,600 a month into our travel fund. Soap for us it was a financial decision, but not a forced financial decision. much as many other things in life everything boils down to how you want to look at it. You could look at this as you’re living in your car or you can look at this as a means of escape. You can escape your financial crisis, you can escape your hometown or you can escape your home country. ultimately if you have something driving you to do this, not necessarily something bad, this will be a much easier transition for you and you’re probably more likely to succeed.
Is shopping a hobby for you?
This is a very difficult topic. Because it’s not a straight yes-or-no answer. if you’re a big shopper maybe van life is a perfect chance for you. I used to shop a lot on Amazon, and from that, we ended up with a lot of extra crap in the apartment. Not to mention a decent dent in our income was spent on knick-knacks. By moving in the van we vast majority of that out of our lifestyle. you’re not going to be able to shop anywhere near as much as you used to, and that impulse buys that you made is going to suck before you even can leave the parking lot. Because you open your door to your new home you’ll realize you don’t have the room for that big puffy jacket you just bought. it does kind of suck in the sense that you won’t have the room for unique stuff that you find along the road that you want to surround yourself with, but the other side of that is that you will have more quality items in your life. Everything that passes the test that you surround yourself with will be something that you can use and/or get a ton of joy out of.
One of the other massive ones,
Are you comfortable pooping in public restrooms?
I know, pooping is a taboo subject. Let’s say it comes to number two to other topics… LOL but it’s a very serious topic. The big thing is once or twice a day you’re going to have to find a restroom. Pretty much all of those restrooms are going to be public restrooms. Whether they’re at a trailhead that you are hiking, the coffee shop where you’re working, or the grocery store that you’re shopping. You’re going to have to get used to doing your business in public.
If you’re curious about tips and tricks as far as van life where to poop I wrote an article about that.
One of the largest final questions is are you okay with not having 24/7 access to the internet? I think that having access to the internet was a staple of mine. There is nowhere that I was not connected. Living a nomadic lifestyle, and ironically making money off of the internet, forces you to seek out places that you can get Wi-Fi. Whether it’s a $2 cup of coffee or a $15 Pizza you’re going to be forced to sit in places for days at a time working on your next project. I know it’s hard to think that the majority of people are cool with you sitting in their coffee shop but as long as you buy something they’re perfectly content with you taking up a single spot. Not to mention that it helps Google says that this is a place for people to sit and work. Not being connected to the internet is hard and it definitely comes with a couple of pitfalls so the question here is are you comfortable sitting in a coffee shop for 5 hours at a time? College flashback am I right?
Are you comfortable with dirt?
living in such a small space it takes about five seconds for it to become dirty. The plus side is it becomes clean incredibly quick however you still have to deal with dirt on your floor and dirt in your bed. There are not 25 feet from your door to your bed usually they’re touching, and that means dirt can get in incredibly easily. if dirt drives you nuts then you’re probably not going to enjoy this type of lifestyle. Unfortunately, the term dirty hippie does apply a decent amount of time.
So how did you stack up? Don’t worry if it’s not the right lifestyle for you, not everyone is cut out for this type of living. Feel free to send me an email with your specific questions and I’m more than happy to help.
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