Van Life | 10 Tips for Getting Started

[Music] so [Music] hey guys what's up welcome back to my channel or if you're new here my name is christian and i live in my van full-time i've been living in it for just over a year and i've actually been on the road for two and a half years i used to live in my suv before that so that's kind of what this video is about um one of the most common questions i get is how do you even get started with living this kind of lifestyle and so i thought i'd share a little bit about my story how i got from living an apartment to an suv to a van and also give you guys 10 tips steps i guess you could call them or just like advice on things that you could consider if you are interested in this lifestyle all right so jumping right into how i got here um i was living in a two bedroom two bath apartment in issaquah washington which is just outside of seattle the rent was super high i was in a long-term long-distance relationship of five years and uh that was coming to an end so i was pretty upset devastated didn't know what to do with my life was reevaluating i was basically at a crossroads trying to decide you know like did i want to continue paying rent did i want to maybe downsize to a smaller apartment um maybe just travel internationally for a while or maybe live on the road which is something i'd always considered or even just get a roommate you know there were so many options i wasn't sure what to do so i spent some time really thinking on all my different options i journaled i meditated i did this life mapping exercise i eventually realized that i'm not getting any younger and if i want to try van life like just do it just try it if you hate it you can always go back to living in an apartment so that's what i settled on and i soon discovered that bands were pretty expensive and not all of them but what i what i was hoping to buy was pretty expensive and i wasn't sure i wanted to commit to that because i wasn't sure i would actually like living on the road so i decided to just live out of the back of my suv which i had done in the past for the longest trip i had done was five weeks i had my sleeping bag and my camping blow up mattress in the back seat and just a cooler and it was fine like it wasn't super comfortable but it totally it worked so i knew it was possible it was only supposed to be an experiment of like three months to see if i liked it but it was so chill i kept doing it for 14 months and after 14 months i realized okay it's time to actually invest in a full-time vehicle like with a dedicated workspace so that's when i invested in the van and that's how i got here okay so here are 10 things that i wish i had known going into real life and that i'm hoping will help you take some of the guesswork out of the process number one know your why why are you drawn to this lifestyle are you looking for more freedom do you want more adventure uh are you looking for a fresh start do you want to save money maybe you're trying to pay off student loans and you don't want to throw away money on rent are you looking to be location independent there's so many options here and i personally chose this lifestyle for a combination of those things i was coming out of a long-term relationship i really wanted a fresh start i'm an outdoor adventure photographer so being location independent is super beneficial and i love the freedom of being on the road but knowing your why is really important because guys you will have hard days living on the road i haven't done a video really talking about that yet but there are some days when i absolutely hate living in a vehicle like no joke it can be really challenging sometimes but i remember my why i remember the bigger picture i remember all the good things that i love about it and if you can come back on that and stay grounded in that and be very clear on your why then it will definitely help you persevere in this lifestyle number two try it out so if you can if you have the resources i highly recommend just renting a camper van from a rental company and doing like a two week road trip see how it goes you know like do you need a full bathroom do you like a cooking setup do you like the configuration do you need a four by four these are all things that are really helpful to work out before you invest in a van and just renting a camper van is a really great way to do that um another option if you have friends that already are living on the road maybe you could go do like a extended camping trip with them and just see how they live you can kind of get some behind-the-scenes advice or if you have a vehicle that you can maybe push the seats up or lay the seats down if you have an suv um you could just throw a camping mattress and a sleeping bag and a pillow in the back and go do a week road trip and see if you like it because there's a chance that you really won't there's a chance that you you won't like being in a small space you'll miss having a bathroom you'll miss having a hot shower maybe you can't work very well on your laptop there's a lot of things to consider so i really highly recommend trying it out first so let's say you tried it out you did the road trip and you loved it so now it's time to do your research one of the most important things to start with is what kind of vehicle do you want to live in so there's so many options here do you want it to strictly be an adventure rig do you want it to be a van would it be a used van would it be a new van do you want a 4x4 um do you want an rv or maybe a pickup truck with a pop-up tent does it need to have a dedicated workspace um do you need space for surfboards or skateboards or mountain bikes will you have a pet with you will it be more than one person in the van or vehicle do you need a really intense power setup do you need solar panels so you can power camera laptop so that you can work from the road once you decide what kind of vehicle you want do you want to do the build yourself do you want to hire a company to do it how much lead time do you need to get a slot with that build company or is it possible that you can make your current vehicle work like i did with my suv and as a side note my friend andrew kearns he's an amazing photographer amazing videographer he had um a land cruiser and as an experiment he decided to live out of his toyota prius and he traveled the whole west coast in that thing like he rocked it so you have a lot a lot of options it really comes down to your resources what you're comfortable with and your level of creativity step four make a budget okay so you've decided what kind of vehicle you want or what you're working towards and now you have a better idea of your financial goals so this is a good time to take inventory of how much money you have and where you can potentially cut expenses and lower your overhead so what i mean by that is your overall monthly expenses you want to bring those down as much as possible in order to save money so maybe you can cancel unnecessary subscriptions maybe you can eat out a little bit less maybe you can quit ordering lattes maybe you stop shopping all together for anything other than the essentials um another option is to kind of go through your things and decide what you might want to sell you can start listing smaller items on craigslist facebook marketplace um you could take them to a secondhand thrift store i started going through one room a day about four to five weeks before i moved out of my apartment here's my closet so pretty much i've been getting rid of bags and bags of clothes but this is like all the stuff that i'm getting well not all of it like half of this i've decided to get rid of so far and then i still need to go through this stuff and that half of dresser drawers is stuff that's going to go this half and keeping and there's a lot of stuff down here but i'm really trying to break it down i would make three piles definitely get rid of maybe get rid of and definitely keep once i had started going through the definitely get rid of pyle and selling those things online i then evaluated the maybe keep pile by leaving that stuff in a pile and if after two to three weeks i hadn't gone back to retrieve something from that pile then that to me was a good indicator that i didn't really need it already starting to accumulate stuff that i don't want but this is all stuff i'm getting rid of i ended up selling those things or donating them and honestly like going through my closet i donated i don't even know at least more than 10 garbage bags of clothes and that was pretty eye-opening just realizing how much stuff i had accumulated just clothing-wise i don't even consider myself a big shopper but yeah it's it's a pretty it can be a daunting experience um going down that path of minimalism and it's not a requirement for this lifestyle but it's definitely helpful um it's really nice to have everything that you need and love in your vehicle when you're traveling storage unit is definitely an option but yeah i think you'll find that having fewer things makes the transition easier outside of evaluating your current financial situation you might want to consider how you're going to sustain your travels how will you pay for gas how will you pay for insurance how you pay for food on the road so one option is maybe you're just gonna work and save up a lot of money and then you go out and travel basically until you run out of money and then you go back to your job or your apartment and save up again another option is to maybe work remotely for your employer if that's a possibility or you could try going freelance and starting your own business and working for yourself on the road which is what i do and if you're interested in that i made a video about it a couple weeks ago you can check it out above in one of these corners i'll link it um but yeah finances are very very important and something that you don't want to be blindsided by once you get on the road number five plan for the basics how will you use the shower use the toilet and cook your food so these are three of the main hurdles that you'll likely encounter when transitioning to road life there are a few different options here and i actually have a whole episode on toilet shower and laundry up here if you want to check it out but real quick some great options are just to especially during non-cova times get a gym membership that way you can shower exercise and use the bathroom you can just pay your monthly membership another option is to just use truck stops you can shower there or you could use campgrounds uh just do your research on which campgrounds allow day you showers there's also the option of a solar shower or you could consider having a full build in your vehicle you know there's an option for a fully functioning toilet and a shower inside your car there's rivers there's lakes there's friends houses airbnbs hotels all of these things are options but it's important to consider them ahead of time when it comes to cooking it's pretty important that you consider your current eating habits and how living on the road will impact them if you like a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables if you like to do a lot of cooking maybe consider getting a fridge or a cooler and a one burner stove camp table there are a ton of options check out the link below to my real life essentials if you're interested in my personal recommendations maintaining some form of familiarity and routine in your new lifestyle will really help you stay grounded and will help you stay healthy number six commit so this is the stage where you would put in your two weeks notice to your employer or you would put in your notice for your apartment lease and basically commit to moving out and moving on to the road this is a step that you really shouldn't take until you have saved up enough money to move forward with your plan this is also a really good time to decide whether or not you want to rent a storage unit i rented a storage unit for the first year and actually i still have one now but it's much much smaller than the one i started out with um i now have a storage unit that's only 24 a month and it's a 4x5 unit and i just have framed photos and some heirlooms from my grandfather in there so i could get rid of it but it's so inexpensive i'm like why not just keep it a storage unit is totally optional but it can be really helpful if you're feeling a little overwhelmed by the process of downsizing number seven get vehicle insurance um ideally you'll have insurance that covers your vehicle your build and your belongings if possible so i had kind of an interesting journey with this initially i had an suv and i just maintained my renter's insurance that would cover my belongings inside of my suv and then as a business owner i also have to have separate business insurance for my camera gear so those things were covered separately and then the vehicle itself was just covered under normal insurance when i got the the van that was a little bit trickier for the first year actually up until recently i was paying for insurance that i found out wasn't even valid because um apparently you know i paid like over two thousand dollars and apparently it would have been invalid because i had a build and that basically nullified the agreement so what i ended up having to do was getting my vehicle inspected and approved as an rv and then registering it as an rv and then obtaining rv insurance so my vehicle is registered as an rv it's fully insured both the vehicle and the build and then i also have business insurance for all of my camera gear and personal belongings insurance so that can get a little tricky and it's honestly way easier to work out when you still have a permanent address so i would recommend doing that ahead of time if possible that kind of leads into number eight which is figuring out how you're going to receive mail and how you're going to vote and register uh without an address so if you have parents that live in the state that you're living in or you can use that as your residency that's awesome if you have that option i would recommend doing that alternatively you could get a address at a p.o box which is what i do so that's where i receive my mail i just have it forwarded to whatever city i happen to be in if i need to do so things like registering to vote renewing your driver's license registering your vehicle those things are tricky like i won't lie i've had some gray areas where i've just been figuring it out by trial and error and i would highly recommend taking care of those things before you move on to the road when you still have an address number nine have a plan a b and maybe even a c before i moved into an suv i spent a lot of time pouring over google maps looking at ioverlander and freecampsites.net and blm land trying to determine where i would potentially sleep once i moved out of my apartment and would it be in close proximity to the gym so i could shower a library a coffee shop so i could work and have wi-fi grocery stores there were a lot of factors i had to consider and my mind was just racing like where am i gonna sleep how am i even gonna make this work this is gonna be so weird i actually spent the first night on residential street a block away from my apartment because it's where i used to go running in the morning and i was familiar with the area and i knew people there so i just stayed there and then after that i was rumbling down forest roads and sleeping out on a mountain pass at first it was really scary but then i eased into it it was fine my plan b was to rely pretty heavily on friends um to just go park in their driveway or outside their house on the residential street with their permission plan c was basically to dip into my savings and get a hotel for one to two weeks to reevaluate my situation and my life and potentially go apartment hunting and scrap the whole plan and yeah get an apartment so thankfully i adjusted to road life pretty well and pretty quickly but having all those plans in place definitely gave me some peace of mind number 10 last but not least have a positive mindset and a sense of humor if i've learned anything from living on the road it's that literally anything is possible things rarely go as planned uh it's something new every day but the beauty of this lifestyle is that i'm constantly being challenged i'm constantly problem solving and learning room and limitations lie and also just there i'm put into new and challenging situations that force me to grow all the time at the end of the day it's really your perspective and outlook about this lifestyle that will make all the difference all right so that's it i am about to lose the light and someone is parked next to me looking at me weird because i talking to myself in my car but um i just wanted to throw those things out there i really hope that they're helpful and i'd love to hear from you guys in the comments about any additional advice you might have or questions you might have i always love hearing from you actually if you guys want to catch up on a more regular basis head over to my instagram i post over there pretty often and that's where i usually hang out so i'd love to see you over there and until next time next video happy [Music] holidays [Music] you

Channel: Christian Schaffer

Views: 192,863

Rating: 4.9569473 out of 5

Keywords: vanlife, tinyhome, travel, conversion, how to, roadlife, nomad, digitalnomad, campvervan, tips

Id: UGN6Kz3B47M

Length: 17min 46sec (1066 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 02 2021