How I Decided to Try #Vanlife
It was the amount of space and freedom I needed, at a budget I could afford
Do you want a change? A really big change?
Maybe you’re forced into something because you’ve lost your job, or your landlord gave you notice and you have to move. Maybe you just want to downsize.
A year ago, in June 2020, I was forced into change and I found a fun and exciting solution! You too have options. See how to make them work in your life below…
When I found out that I would lose my career/job and thus my income and my apartment, the first thing I did was panic.
Being solution-oriented, I went from panic to list-making.
On my list were all the options that I could afford.
List #1
- Move further away from San Francisco into a studio apartment.
- Move to another state.
- Move to a tiny home.
- Move into an RV.
- Move into a manufactured house.
- Move into a van.
List what you’re looking for in the order of importance each qualification is for you.
List #2
- Affordability (for my budget)
- Weather (I like mild weather, not too hot and not too cold — YES I’m spoiled!)
- Walkability (I want to live walking distance to a coffee shop, for example)
- Major airport
- Recovery fellowship
- Health food stores
I spent about six weeks researching the options and wrote out a pros and cons list for each.
I found a few studio apartments that I could afford.
- I was in a long-term relationship at the time and thought it best for me to move closer to my boyfriend. When I talked to him about my plans, he dumped me. This made things a lot easier. Now that I was no longer beholden, my options opened up.
- I looked into buying a manufactured home. I applied for a loan and was approved. And then I found out through the CC&Rs that in California I could only get a loan for a manufactured home that also included the land. If the land was a rental, I could not get a loan.
Upon further research, I found out that the only manufactured homes I could afford that also came with land were in an area in California that I did not want to live.
- I quite like the idea of moving to another state. I have lived in California my entire life, and it’s become unaffordable. I researched a bunch of different cities or towns that I thought I could live in.
Short List Cities
The cities on my short list, that fit my personal criteria were: Savannah Georgia and Asheville North Carolina. But when I checked the housing prices in each of those towns, and the only place that I could afford to rent an apartment was Asheville, but I’ve never been there.
Since this all happened in the height of Covid I didn’t want to hop on a plane to check it out. I also realized that moving to a city that I had never been to, where I don’t know anyone at the height of a pandemic where you’re locked indoors and I wouldn’t be able to even get furniture was not the best idea for me during Covid lockdowns.
Tiny homes.
- In California it is illegal to park a tiny home anywhere outside of an RV park. It is also illegal to live in an RV, car or van in California but in one of these, if you’re asked to move, you can.
I found a tiny home that I could afford and then I spent two weeks researching where to put it. I found one RV park that sounded amazing. It was affordable, pretty and in a great area, but when I called it turned out that it floods at least twice a year and I would have to move my home every time it floods. The only other place I found was five hours east of where I live now, which was again not in an area I particularly wanted to live in.
Now I was down to the choice between moving into an RV or moving into a van.
RV or Van?
Inevitably, my line of thinking led me here. Travel is one of my passions and all my trips for 2020 were cancelled, so my travel bug just got louder. Plus, I’ve spent the last 10 years obsessing over tiny homes and the idea of minimalism, and wanting to make that change, but I wasn’t ready until now.
After I researched vans and RVs, I found an old journal from five years ago that listed all of my positive affirmations and my five-year plan. Number one on the list was living in an RV. And I don’t even remember writing that list.
When deciding between an RV and a van, I went back to list writing. I knew if I was going to travel around the United states alone; I wanted to be incognito for safety and I wanted to park in cities because I love cities. I wanted to spend less on gas and have more freedom and more options. In a van I can boondock, in an RV I would have to pay to stay in a campground more often.
When I finally made the choice to move into a van, it wasn’t because of #vanlife. All the gorgeous women in bikinis laying in vans that opened up to gorgeous views of the beach is not what swayed me. My background is in media, and I know that beauty sells.
On social media people want to see gorgeous photos and people who are happy or accomplishing the impossible — doing whatever we dream we could do.
Once I chose #vanlife…
I had to decide on what kind of van. You guessed it, I made another list.
What do I need to be comfortable?
The most important thing for me is to be able to stand up. At that time I only used my standing desk to work. But even if I didn’t, I don’t want to cook while sitting down or being hunched over. Standing up is my chief priority.
Many people that live in vans where they can’t stand do most of their cooking and living outside the van. I’m a homebody.
So while I expect to live outside of the van a lot more than I’m living outside of my apartment, (some days I don’t even leave), I want the choice.
Narrowing it Down to Three Types of Vans
The RAM Promaster, the Nissan NV2500 or the Ford Transit (all of these have the right height options).
I test drove each of them. In the end I purchased the one brand I didn’t think I wanted, and it was one of those deals that fell in my lap and was too good to be true, and of course it really was too good to be true.
At first, I considered trying to build it out myself. I know I could do it, but the time it would take while working two full-time jobs was impractical.
When I looked for van builders I was discouraged at first. The builders near me (I live in the most expensive county in California) charged $55K for a basic build that doesn’t even include electricity.
I needed someone close enough, and I was determined to find what I was looking for, so I kept searching.
In the end I found van builders I could afford.
They were just starting out; they had built three vans prior. And though they live an hour and a half away, it’s not too far. And I ended up hiring them.
And so I reached the end of my journey before I begin my next one — living and traveling IN the van!
What are your actionable steps?
1. Figure out your options (list as many as you can think of, even if they sound far-fetched).
2. Research each option.
3. Pare your list down to two choices.
4. Flip a coin, just kidding. By this point you’ll probably know. One of your choices will tug on your sleeve.
5. If you have supportive people in your life, you can run your options by them but I warn you, some people you think will be supportive, may not be and they could talk you out of everything (remember it’s their own fears talking, it has nothing to do with you).
Once you’ve made your decision, you will need to figure out your timeline. I gave myself a year, which was dependent on when my van builders could finish my van. Decide on your timeline and move forward. I will post future articles about what this has looked like for me, in hopes it will help you!
Listen to digital nomads, entrepreneurs and people living unconventional lives on my podcast — An Unknown Adventure!
