My family thinks I’m both crazy and brave. But mostly crazy! Why am I moving into a Van? Because….. so many reasons! Geez! Where to start!
The biggest reason is that I have a bohemian spirit, and I’ve lost that somewhere in my life! It’s the part of me that was free and carefree! Somehow that was taken over by work and responsibility and … and… student loans! And propriety! And stuff! So much stuff! Useless stuff that sits around! I’m so … so tired of my life! In fact, it’s really started to cause depression for me! I get up, go to work, come home, and clean house and do laundry on the weekends! With an apartment, I find it so easy to isolate myself! What happened to community? I could go out and meet people, but I’m so tired after work. This isn’t how I envisioned my life!
Financial reasons – I can afford to live in an apartment. That is… if all I want to do is live in an apartment, and spend all my income on living in an apartment, I can afford to do that! Yes. But is that living? I pay my rent, my car payment, car insurance, power, and smart phone. After those things, I have enough money to buy food, and by the end of the month I’m searching my purse for quarters to do my laundry! Every…. Single…. Month! That’s not living! That’s existing so I can keep going to work, so I can keep existing! I don’t pay for internet, I don’t do cocaine or smoke, or hire strippers, or even go to bars! I don’t even go to the movies, or have TV or cable! I get netflix, and watch that on my smart phone. That’s entertainment for me. And at the end of the month… I’m broke! My income level is technically middle class. However, a studio apartment in an OK neighborhood in Berkeley is $1600. Yes, I have options…. I can live an hour away and commute in, among heavy traffic. I can rent a single room (for about $1000) and share my bathroom and my kitchen. Or… I can live in my van and save my money and do things that ARE living! Guess what option I am taking!?
What makes me happy? The best times of my life were camping and traveling. I have such fond memories from childhood about camping around the country in an RV with my family! My dad loved road trips! So how can I afford to do the things that make me happy? That make life worth living? By not paying rent! Enter the van!
I also have “social justice” reasons for doing this. The disparity between the rich and the struggling in our society has become so vast! There is part of my mind that cries out against social injustice. I don’t like giving my hard earned money to someone because that person is owner of some goods, and I need those goods for survival. Shelter and food should not be about ownership. I’m not sure that our current capitalist system is all that different from feudalism! Are we not tied to our location out of the need to survive from day to day? Do we not work to serve those who don’t have a need to work? Certainly it can’t be described so simplistically but… to say that this does capture the experience of many of us is not so far fetched. I am choosing not to participate. I’ve always been a social activist, and now… I want to live that life!
Love,
Liselle!
Absolutely. I could have written this post 🙂 Keep going, I’m trying to determine what to do in the near future. Got the van, got a tiny camper, place to put it for free, haven’t gone yet. Other stuff keeping me here. Anyway, best of luck and you make perfect sense to me.
LikeLike
Where are you located, and when are you planning to make the move? The reason I didn’t choose the camper with a truck option (besides not actually having access to one) is that I don’t want to have to get out of my car to get into that back.
LikeLike
The choice of a conversion van or other type of window van is actually the best choice for city living.
Cargo vans attract negative attention from all directions, and anybody recommending them just plain doesn’t know any better. I’ve had both, and the LAST thing you want for parking in a city is a cargo van.
After many years of life on the road, I have also discovered that the more you try to hide, the more attention you attract to yourself.
I also disagree with the gym membership crowd. It is easy enough to have your own toilet & shower. I want my own clean toilet and shower in my van, that I can use any time of the day or night without leaving the comfort and safety of my van.
My van also has everything to cook inside, along with comfortable seating in the cabin portion of my van. The weather, hot, cold, rain, wind, snow, you name it, becomes much less of an issue if you have no reason to leave your van if you don’t feel like it. My van is my comfort zone, regardless of the weather, I know my van is a comfortable retreat, just as if I lived in an expensive house with all of the amenities.
It’s a great lifestyle as long as you distance yourself from the cargo van crazies.
LikeLike
Well, I wouldn’t say that all the folks who live in cargo vans are crazies. I know several people who live in cargo vans, and that choice works well for them.
And different levels of stealth are appropriate in different situations. I am usually not very stealthy, but I have not lived in places with a lot of oppression being leveled against van dwellers.
I have lived in five different conversion vans over the course of about five years. I like conversion vans. However, my van does not have a stove, refrigerator, toilet or shower. I also don’t have solar panels.
Liselle, I would say if you have access to a van starting August 1, go with that and make do with what you have. You can add on and customize as you save money by not paying rent.
Have you read How to Live in a Car, Van, or RV: And Get Out of Debt, Travel, and Find True Freedom by Bob Wells? If not, I highly recommend it. You can read a review of it I wrote here: https://throwingstoriesintotheether.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/book-review-how-to-live-in-a-car-van-or-rv-by-bob-wells/
Also, if the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous happens again in Arizona and you can attend, it’s a good place to gather information and make friends.
LikeLike
Thanks for your comments Blaize, and thanks for the book recommendation! I downloaded a kindle version and read the whole thing last night! I totally agree with everything he says! Some of the information I’ve already seen on his website too.
And I would love to go to the Arizona Rendezvouz. Sounds like a good first trip for me!
You said you haven’t lived in places that are oppressive to van dwellers. I’m wondering if I can get general information about where van dwellers are welcome (or at least not harassed) and where they are not.
Thanks,
Liselle
LikeLike
I’ve had a lot of success living in New Mexico, especially outside of big cities like Albuquerque and Santa Fe. There is a New Mexico state park pass that costs under $300 (last time I checked) and lets folks stay for up to two weeks at a time in New Mexico state parks. Also, there is a lot of public land (BLM–Bureau of Land Management–land) where folks can stay for free. I stayed at an RV park in Truth or Consequences for under $200 a month last winter. The RV park had restrooms and a bathhouse, so I was able to live in my van even though it is not self-contained.
People in New Mexico don’t seem to surprised when I mention that I live in my van. People seem more accepting about alternative living in New Mexico.
I’ve heard the Denver/Boulder area in Colorado is hard for van dwelling.
Arizona also has a lot of BLM land where it is free to stay. I haven’t had a lot of experience in Arizona, but I plan to spend more time there in the future.
It seems like (in general) rural areas are more accepting of van dwelling than urban areas. The catch is, if you need to make money, you may need to stay in a city to do that.
Also, the less time one tries to live in a city, the less likely one is to get harassed. When I was traveling across the country, we never stayed anywhere more than three nights, so we were seldom bothered. Again, that is difficult to do when one is trying to work a job.
In general, I think the Southwest is more accepting of van dwelling than the South and East, although I have traveled through both the South and East in my van.
LikeLike
Yeah, at this point, I have to work at my job at least another 3 years so that I can have a little income from it for retirement. I’d be really stupid just to stop now when I’m so close – as much as I’d really really like to hit the road now. So I’ll be living in the city…in a van… for at least another 3 years. But I can hardly wait until I can just go travel in my van, and I’ll definitely be spending a lot of time in Arizona and New Mexico at that time. Once I reach the point where I can collect some money from this job, I plan to take a year and just travel all over the US, camping and visiting cities. After that, who knows! Depends on what happens on that trip, I guess!
Thanks for your comments Blaize!
LikeLike
Yes, three years is not so long to work in order to have retirement income.
Do you have friends in the area whose driveway you could park in sometimes?
Did you ever figure out if it is legal or illegal for you to sleep in your van in your town? Maybe there is an ACLU chapter you could contact to get some input of how to look at the information the police gave you? Or maybe some other legal services group?
Let me know if you have any other specific questions. It’s a big topic to just try to write about in general.
LikeLike
I have a niece in the area. So what I have done is move to a 10 hour a day, 4 days work schedule. That means I only need to sleep in the city for four nights a week. The other three I’m free to camp or go visit my parents or whatever. It does appear that it is not illegal to sleep in a car that isn’t a house car in Berkeley. It is also the case that Berkeley isn’t currently pressing the issue of house cars, so I’m good for now!
I still think that I won’t convert the van to full living potential until I’m not working – because who knows when they will change their minds! BUT – California now has a bill that passed the assembly by a wide margin, and has been passed up to the senate, that states a city cannot fine people for sleeping in their cars! Plus, the rent is so expensive here that there is a huge newly homeless population in vehicles.
The past couple weeks, I have been driving around Berkeley, and I have seen many people who are definitely sleeping in cars and vans! I’m not worried about that anymore – more worry about leaving my cat during the day. I’m glad I’ll have two weeks for her to adjust before actually leaving her for a longer period.
LikeLike
So, three to five years. Three years minimum, but 5 will give me more money. It still won’t be maximum, but I’m not willing to spend more time than that working. I might just go down to half time after 3 years.
LikeLike
1 Pingback
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Archives
Categories
Meta
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Archives
Categories
Meta