Making Van Life Work

The first thing I always wonder when I pine over living the more nomadic lifestyle (like the van life) is how these people make it work. That’s really the biggest thing standing in my way is the logistics of it all. I have to have a safety net and I have to have a reliable way to make money. And obviously a van (check).

I think I can thank COVID for helping me make this leap. You know how all the internet chatter is telling us that life before COVID will never return and we are all looking forward to a “new normal”. This is that new normal.

First of all, a major hurdle for me was that my rent is cheap. And I mean cheap cheap. Coming from a place of long term housing instability, the idea of not having a firm plan in place before I leave my very cheap rental is painful. Step 1 was finding someone to sublet my house while I was away. This would allow me to have some place to return to when my journey was over and provide a safety net if I got out on the road and decided the van life was not the life for me.

Step 2 was figuring out how I was going to make money. In this concurrent or post-COVID world, work from home jobs are plentiful. Even the ones that existed before COVID are now easier to find. I don’t have a timeline set in stone yet, but I have ideas of where to look for work and what to do. I even have an opportunity to re-structure my current job to be a work from home. This would allow me the ability to return to an in-person job if I so choose.

Finally, I had to wrestle with the fact that I don’t think I could actually live in a tiny home. If I can’t live in a tiny home how could I possible live in a van? Well, there’s a way. Tiny home living has a sense of permanence that van living does not. The up front investment is smaller for van living (or it can be) and the experience is more customizable. It’s these things that do it for me along with the ease with which I could decide to keep going or stop and return to living in a house.

I can’t say that other van lifers have the same back-story as I do, but if you’re interested in making the jump and making van life work for you, I think this is as good of a plan as any:

1. Think about a safety net in case you don’t like van life
2. Figure out how you’re going to make money/find remote opportunities
3. Find a van
4. Go!

The details may change, but the structure is there to follow! Thanks for joining me on my journey and we’ll catch up soon!