Is rent where you work just way too high? Or maybe you’re tired of lining someone else’s pockets with your hard-earned money. Living in a van and working full-time is a viable option.
Living in a van and working full-time might seem like something that hippies used to do but it’s much more common today than it ever was. Just imagine being able to park your home in the high-income area of your city gets morning coffee just steps away from your front door then meander off to work just like everybody else. This is possible and I’ll show you how below.
Naturally, the thought of not paying rent is a wonderful idea. and it’s something that a lot of people have figured out how to get around. Myself included. My wife and I live in a self converted van named Dova. She works full-time and run and operate a remote web-based business. However, when we began van life we had decided that we were both going to work a nine-to-five. Wrench in our hometown is astronomical and we were tired of paying it. So with that being said let’s talk about what you are afraid of and what it will entail living this lifestyle.
How can I look presentable at work living in a van?
This is the biggest question and the biggest fear. it is 100% possible to work a nine-to-five and nobody knows that your home has wheels. You can shower every single day while living in a van. you remember that gym membership that you bought 5 years ago and just have never gone down to the store to unsubscribe to it. Well, that is exactly how you can shower every single day. Having a gym membership is the key to being well-kept in modern society. In almost all gyms they have private showers where you can make sure you’re presentable for tomorrow. if you’re a hot sleeper like I am that might mean waking up an hour early to go to the gym and shower before you go to work.
If your job requires pressed and nice clothing you might think about converting your van yourself instead of just buying any old pre-converted van. The reason being is this way you can be able to set aside space for those type of clothes. There’s a guy living in San Jose that wears suits every day to his job and he is a full-time van dweller. the way he managed to do this is he has a specialty drawer that was designed just for his suits. This means they stay wrinkle-free and looking good.
What will my colleagues think of me?
The likelihood of you already having talked with your colleagues about making this lifestyle changes pretty high however I understand wanting to keep it on the down-low that you’re going to be van dwelling. My job, mainly working with an older gentleman that doesn’t necessarily understand van life, requires me to be more discreet about my housing situation. So here are a few tips that work for me in my day-to-day job.
When asked where you live simply say the city that you’re in. This isn’t lying because yes you live here just because they ask where you live does not mean you need to give a street address.
If it comes up you can try to divert the question. Say something along the lines of how I live on the Northside of town or give the area of your favorite parking spot. This won’t always work and sometimes you will have to tell someone that you live in a converted van. But when you tell them don’t tell them looking down at your shoes quietly, tell them with pride and look them in the eye. A lot of the responses I get when I tell people that I live in my van, initially are very questioning and hesitant. However, after talking about it for five minutes people usually love the fact that I live in a van. I also use this to my advantage when I’m speaking to a client. I make statements such as yes that means my overhead living cost is much lower which means I can offer you a better rate than anyone else.
Where will I park?
this is the million-dollar question for every soon-to-be or new van lifer. the fear of sleeping in an unknown area seems to be crippling for anyone that’s new to this lifestyle. And yes it is a scary thing to do the first time. However, after five or six different nights, you’ll realize that where you sleep is not relevant almost at all. sleeping within the same city does provide a bit of a challenge however there’s a couple of things that you can use to leverage the system and be able to sleep safely and soundly every single night.
so the first thing to keep in mind is if you are planning on staying in the same city don’t buy an RV. They are big and absolutely obvious. We have a 1996 e150, the van that every single carpet cleaner has ever owned. Which means we blend in perfectly to the background wherever we park it never looks like we’re living out of our van.
The next step is to be sure you arrived at your sleeping spot to do just that, sleep. Don’t show up at where you’re going to sleep open your doors, let your dog out, bump ACDC and stairway to heaven till the wee hours in the morning and then plan on sliding into bed. That is the easiest way to get the cops called. Show upright as you’re going to go to bed turn the car off crawl into the back of the van and fall asleep. With that being said we do watch Netflix in our van before we go to bed but no one can hear that on the outside of the van. The most that will ever do when we show up at a spot is brush our teeth and change into our nightclothes.
The biggest tip by far is to park on city streets right outside of apartment buildings. Pick four or five of these in your city and rotate them throughout the week. ultimately what this will look like to everybody else is somebody’s friend in this big apartment complex shows up and spends the night once a week. You’re somebody’s boyfriend or girlfriend or just a best friend that likes to get drunk at people’s houses.
that’s what we do and, knock on wood we are yet to get a single knock on the van. We prefer college areas over other areas in town. just because the frequency of vehicles coming and leaving is a little bit higher and college kids really don’t care honestly about anything other than where they’re going.
What do I do with the van while I’m at work?
Honestly, if you are at work, your work should have someplace to park a vehicle. So just park your van where everyone else parks their car. Easy peasy.
Where will I eat?
this kind of goes back to the traditional van life question. You eat wherever you really want to. For my wife and I, we usually cook and eat at city parks. We open up the back doors in the side doors without our little table on the grass behind us and it looks like we’re having a heck of a picnic.
What will I use for my mailing address?
This is another painful technicality of van life. Every business requires an address and most of the times it’s simply to mail your check to. Or if you don’t show up for work someday a place to send your last check. What many people do is before they transition into van life, they get a p o box. the reason they do this before they transition in the van life is you need a physical address to get a PO box. So you need to get it before you don’t have that address anymore. What my wife and I do is much simpler than that. Even when we were in college we never changed our physical address for my parent’s houses. So those addresses are our physical addresses. Some places don’t let you have a PO box as your address and those pretty much have to be overcome on a case-by-case basis. A lot of times what you can do is simply talk them through it. At that point, you’re going to have to reveal that you live in a van. When that happens simply stated outright.
I live in my van so the PO box is where I get mail. The vast majority of time people are understanding and accept a PO box as an address.
Overall I think van life is a very awesome means of living regardless of where you live and what your situation is. Having lived a nine-to-five in a van, I have to say it’s probably the best thing my wife and I have ever done. Mainly because you’re forced to be out and about. You never knew how much happens in your city until you’re forced to be in it 24/7 and not on your couch.
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