Solo Female Van Life: Minimalist Tour of Her Simple No-Build Minivan Home! | No-Build Van Life

back to my next video today we are meeting Lindy hi Lindy hi welcome to the channel I'm glad you're here thank you for having me and you have got a really really nice uh minivan set up what kind of a minivan is this uh this is a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan those are great rigs yes we've had good uh Howa homes and wheels Alliance has bought a number of them and we've had very good luck with them they have I've been watching your videos on them and you have a really minimal build in here but this isn't your first build so what's your story how did you uh end up living in a minivan and for how long of 2019 prior to that I was where I'm from Winter hit and I was like this is the time so I got the minivan and then of course covid hit and I was thankful I had a bigger space because I had to be in here a very long time on my own yes yeah so you've been that would be three at four years including the Scion you've been living as a nomad um I've actually been nomadic in some form since 2015 I have not just lived in vehicles but I've also lived in TP tents container homes I've managed Farms throughout the U.S I've backpacked through Europe so I've done an extension extension to The Nomad living of you know living in a vehicle for for quite a while I've had some stints where I've lived in a house or an apartment too but I always come back to the vehicle so so what when you're young what what do you think I am I think you are early 40s you have me fooled I'm almost ready to say I don't believe you but I do of course but that is hard to believe thank you you know it's you can't afford to guess at a woman's age but I'd guess 20s maybe late 20s I get that a lot it's probably because I live as a nomad probably ageless so are you're not making any promises though if you if you live as a nomad you'll keep looking young um I have no promises for that because the sun has been pretty detrimental to Flying freckles and stuff so that is one thing yeah being in the sun's good but it's also bad yes so why do you uh why do you think you've had this urge to be nomadic you know I didn't even know about the Nomad Community I just got a hankering if you will I wanted to go explore and my aunt had told me about this kind of going off kilter here but this off-grid women's place in Wisconsin and so I went there 2014 the fall and I fell in love with the idea of off-grid living and I thought well you know what I don't really need a vehicle so much to like just drive in why do I just take all the seats out and try to live in it so I went to Europe I did my thing there I came back I had literally two boxes to my name no seats in my Scion except the driver's seat and whatever else that I had left and I just got on the road it took me a couple years before I heard about nomadism and that's where I learned about your channel and got some great ideas yeah well how are you supporting yourself then um so a few different ways I've had an animal and house sitting care business so I've traveled throughout the US doing Animal Care and house sitting social media through my YouTube channel I actually make funding through that and I've been doing pretty good also social media evaluation I work online remotely I do that part-time and seasonal work so that's where I'm going technically today maybe tomorrow to my seasonal job so yeah what kind of seasonal job um so this is an RV Resort I'm going to work in the cafe so something new and different for me usually with seasonal jobs I take something that's just a short stint um this one is six months so I'll be there until April so we'll see how this goes but I'm looking forward to it it'll be fun yeah so you just have found uh jobs uh wherever and however you can yeah I mean jobs are are Limitless when you really think about it I mean we besides those things there's temp work there's day labor um there's just all sorts of things you have your own business make things um yeah Sky's kind of the limit and I've tried quite a few uh and you mentioned a YouTube channel so you are tell our audience your YouTube channel um so my channel is living the life Lindy l-i-v-i-n the life Lindy come check me out I've been doing that since 2019. yeah okay uh well thank you so much for all that why don't we take a look around your uh really nice minivan okay sounds good as well as we can the tour's a long time but we'll squeeze it down it's a little windy out so we're doing this so we're getting creative yes really nice setup here with these drawers yes um so ten boondocking mode right now so I saw on passenger seat pushed up I owe I always sending here I actually attach these shelves together and they're not like this normally I attach the back brackets um you can't really see it very well I literally use duct tape just literally duct tape you don't have to get you know spendy when it comes to these things and they adhere wonderfully they don't tip around uh the passenger seat I keep my laundry my garbage for outside which is too windy to have the setup and all my propane and stuff's on the ground over there yeah and then in here a couple rugs Pretty Dirty um my fridge Unfortunately they don't sell it anymore everybody wanted it it's a 16 liter oh that's that's unusually small yes eco-friendly one day I'll have a 45 is my goal I have a 600 watt power station that works for that and then it's just for the fridge itself and I charge while driving otherwise I have portable solar that I can show you in a minute um and then I have four lighting sources I have my tried and true Lucy string light this has been with me since day one in the Scion I love it I hang it up every night two watts to charge it takes nothing otherwise you can do solar which is great about Lucy lights otherwise two other things kind of make it more homey I guess would be my speaker it's just a Heyday from Target but it works wonderfully if you want like a surround sound in a little guy plus it's weather resistant you can use it outside and then this is my power bank that I use for my phone and tablet normally so I just keep those things in the back um otherwise this is my cot it's from Amazon it is too big I'm gonna be honest I don't like the cot I used to have quite a few different builds in here I'm missing the build I'm missing the conversion of a couch to a bed I have two solar panels I have a 60 watt for my 240 jackery that's in the front charging and I have 100 watt that I use for my king boss and I actually can run the lines and just put them on top and they don't normally blow away I won't have them out in this but then I have continuous charge I don't have to worry about setting up every day which is really convenient and then I have the I don't drive with them on oh God no no right no that would be tricky they're not they're not attached they're portable they're just the fold up ones you know from I think it was Rock pails I got those they've been great had them since day one in my Scion and then I have one more shelving back here I got a little uh creative with this one I flipped the drawers so three of the drawers come out in the front but they don't you know shut all the way and then the bottom drawer which I can't get to because the fridge I have it open in the back with my back stock items try it into your garbage which has some randoms in there not a big deal what's in there right so that's not garbage it's storage technically it's storage right now because I'm traveling so I'm not set up and because of the wind I couldn't set up my outside part so a lot of this stuff would technically be outside right now it's just too windy and then underneath I have a desk oh yeah um looks like Camille hinge but this is a cool setup it comes down well I have to undo it but it comes down and lays flat so I put my tablet and stuff when I'm watching movies or working otherwise I utilize this middle space it's like a workspace right which has been really nice and then under here I just have again steps normally outside my water bottle my vinegar bottle and then my Dr Browner soap and then I have my two little plushies if people want to visit they can sit on these otherwise I utilize them behind me I have this cool little rest and you this is rig for travel everything is in here now yes everything that I own I don't have a storage unit like a lot of people I don't have a mom and dad in the house to store things this is all I own underneath there's barely anything to even show you I have my stove which is usual outside I have lots of water um some back stock and poop that's pretty much well I have a kettlebell too I like Fitness so okay good we won't pull that out it's kind of heavy I have there are two questions I have to ask or there will be repercussions uh the first is how do you go to the bathroom oh oh yes the most important um so I have a couple different setups um I do have a Road Track a collapsible bin and I use that with pellets or litter if I'm somewhere longer term um absolutely no smell it took me a long time to figure out the litter but to be honest I really like the Arm and Hammer the natural bags and then also I have kind of a mixed thing which I can pull out if you'd like to see but I have a portable shower I hook up to onto the minivan onto a window and then I have a collapsible yellow um plastic like bin but it's not hard it's not a hard plastic it's a soft plastic and I use that usually and I fill that with like a gallon water so I can take a shower very minimal but I use that for like number one like at night and stuff and then dump rinse for the vinegar sometimes I get because I'm kind of a clean freak Lysol wipes well a question I have and a lot of people are we're so used to the normal American lifestyle where owning having a big space is it's not a luxury it's an absolute requirement I mean if you don't have a thousand square feet or two or three you you you're suffering you're poor or if you don't have that space packed full of stuff so was it a sacrifice for you absolutely not no all the places that I've lived prior to this I didn't really want to live there I mean at the biggest I had was a two-bedroom side-by-side in Colorado for a brief stint during my Nomad travels I ended up setting up the living room because it was so big it's my bedroom and I literally rented out the bedrooms it was too much I I don't equate happiness with stuff I don't equate having a life by square footage right when you were talking about my future there is something that I am interested in but it's very minute one to two acres in a teeny home that would be as big as I've ever wanted I've had a house when I was married it was a nightmare to take care of it and to think of what I was going to put in it it wasn't me stuff doesn't Define you but unfortunately with social media and just media in general TV and stuff it's easy to want to consume you see something make you look better you see something maybe it'll make you feel better at least that's what they say I've jumped back into that so many times it's it's it's terrible but it happens and then you just get yourself back out of it I keep getting myself back out of it now I'm back on the road again and I couldn't be happier in my little space right right am I missing things sure do I long for maybe a little bigger especially to host little Gatherings yes but that's okay don't get a compromise it's still worth it uh so I did get an addict that is an upgrade for this time around and the reason I actually got it was I found out the hard way I don't have a spare tire on my minivan normally they're equipped underneath and I went in and I had to get a different tire and lo and behold I didn't have a spare so I got this to have a full-size Tire and Wheel to put in there but I do have one luxury I have a stand-up hammock so one of those that has the bars on both sides that I can put out when it's nice out so that's my little luxury and I love it because it's like a second room to me right so this is an unusual uh window covering you have I don't think I've seen that before um these aren't handmade these are actually custom window coverings um from the brand WeatherTech and they actually make coverings for many vehicles and I have it covering from the front to back every window and so again they're custom made and they have the reflectix on this side otherwise you can flip them around to the other windows if you need to keep in the heat with the black side right okay why don't you tell us again your YouTube channel uh uh living the life Lindy l-i-v-i-n very good scared which is always the biggest question for me and my channel especially for women just do it just try it don't don't be there's nothing to be scared of if you're even thinking about it there's a desire there go out for a night go out for a weekend the other thing don't plan don't try to plan your life around your vehicle live in it breathe and enjoy and then decide what you need you know you're gonna there's gonna be trial and error constantly you're always going to be changing your mind right so okay well Lindy thank you so much for uh sharing your home and your life with us it's very inspiring I think people are going to really enjoy it and everyone be sure and go to Lindy's Channel and I think you will be very very glad you did thank you appreciate it thank you for having me Bob in my extreme pleasure thank you so folks if you got anything out of this video Like Us on YouTube subscribe to the channel hit that thumbs up button and we're

Channel: CheapRVliving

Views: 196,720

Keywords: car, van, RV, Full-time, nomad, camper, camp, boondock, travel, caravan, tiny, house, RTR, Bob Wells, Nomadland, CheapRVLiving, Cheap RV Living, vanlife, van life, how to live in a van, van dwelling, van tour, van conversion, living in a van, camper van, van build, diy van build, sprinter van, van living, #vanlife, van dweller, campervan, vandwelling, diy camper van, RV Life, Living in an RV, Class B, Class C, Truck Living, Living in a car, boondocking, Living in a RV

Id: OVcMpGtC9m4

Length: 15min 37sec (937 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 06 2022