Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Entertaining the idea of van living, or at least minimizing the size of my lifestyle further from a retrofitted dorm room / small apartment--there's likely a lot to learn by cautiously following more and more unconventional and "extreme" ways of living. Any resources or comments you all would like to share would be appreciated.

---------------------------------------

One seemingly debatable question is whether van living is actually cheaper than small apartment living.

In a van, you must buy the van, pay for its insurance, outfit it as a living space, repair and maintain it, earn/purchase a driver's license from the government, potentially pay parking fees, buy gasoline for a relatively low mpg vehicle, and it's more difficult to harbor inexpensive traveling mediums--namely bicycles--and the equipment required to repair them. Total annual price: unknown at the moment.

In a small apartment, one pays rent, utilities, and can usually house bicycles no problem. Total annual price: ERE 21 day makeover apartment living would come out to $300-400 a month for rent, or $3,600 to $4800 a year.

Do you plan to stay in a city, or are you able to travel? One cheap way to be a vandweller is to camp in national forests and BLM lands.

Here is the best resource that i have found:
http://www.cheaprvliving.com/
http://www.cheaprvliving.com/forums

For me this conversation is one of the few that is NOT all about the money.

If I personally cared little for the mobile life and the benefits it offers (ie travel, freedom, access to remote scenic places as part of life) I might agree that it may not worth the trade off financially.

The only way you could could come close to beating a equally frugal van dweller, is by not owning a vehicle or the associated costs in an affordable housing arrangement with virtually no transportation costs. Van dwellers can get costs to near zero in places with ample BLM, public lands and friends or relative options. Some of them move more frequently and at different speeds and lifestyles choices are highly variable depending on their personal resource availability at a particular time.

If you do not hear the beating drum of freedom played by the open road, I would consider this as a full time lifestyle very carefully.

Expeditionportal.com has many great ideas for mobile vehicles adapted to handle the challenge and adventure of life on the move.

http://www.stealthvandweller.com/

Some more pros for a van:
- forced minimalism
- forced energy and water conservation
- one thing provides shelter AND transportation
- flexibility (e.g. you can move for a job or other opportunity almost for free)
- already off the grid so halfway emergency-prepared

Pros for an apartment:
- cooking facilities!
- can pass for "normal"
- residential mailing address
- space opens up opportunities (e.g. garden, workshop, roommates, exercise, bulk purchasing, pets)

No book recommendations, but the next time you're on YouTube, do a search for van living and class B camper living. I've seen several good videos there on the topic.

I'm your Huckleberry. PM me your email address.

The book you should start with is this:
Vanabode - Jason Odom -- (it is 100% a how-to book, and it has a VERY ERE slant)


THE OTHER BOOKS I HAVE:

The VanDweller's Guide - Romana Starfield (similar to the Vanabode book, with some more technical details on setting up a solar system and plumbing, but not as good overall)

Any Road will take you there - David Berner (haven't read it yet)

How to Live in a Car, Van, or.... - Robert Wells (Haven't read it yet)

Turning a cargo van into a road trip adventure vehicle - Roger Steen (haven't read it yet)

Wide-Eyed Wanderers - Richard Ligato - This is a travel book, not much how-to

Drive Nacho Drive - Brad Van Orden - another travel book mainly

Walden on Wheels - Ken Ilgunas - Not much about how-to, more of a biography of his life up to van-living


BLOGS - the ones I read the most:
http://63mph.com/
http://www.tosimplify.net/
http://www.arestlesstransplant.com/
http://wheresmyofficenow.com/

BLOGS - others from my feed. Many I haven't read yet:
http://campervanculture.com/
http://www.drivenachodrive.com/
http://www.gonewiththewynns.com/
http://mobilecodgers.blogspot.com/
http://ouropenroad.com/
http://www.frugal-rv-travel.com/rv-blog.html
http://wheretheheartisusa.blogspot.com/
http://gypseajourneys.blogspot.com/
http://happynomadgirl.org/
http://johnnyvagabond.com/
http://www.ruinedadventures.com/
http://www.stealthvandweller.com/
http://tortugaplata.com/
http://www.vantramps.com/
http://www.wanderwith.me/


YOUTUBE CHANNELS - ones I watch the most:
https://www.youtube.com/user/WheresMyOfficeNow
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq4g9Q ... gG_fKEiHrQ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHV7Bv ... xoo8yMRiLA

YOUTUBE CHANNELS - Others:
https://www.youtube.com/user/kelseyjoyy
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiyiTq ... LHz-juFxIQ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwc-4z ... M2r_WFzrSQ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1RNJS ... kQNZAdMKRQ (Conversion videos)
https://www.youtube.com/user/werkbook/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/RubberTrampsReviews/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/westfaliawanderings/videos
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVgr4n ... I5Q/videos

Wow, C40! Thanks for posting that. Will be a great resource

C40 wrote:I'm your Huckleberry.

I love that movie.


Do you mind if I add your list to the wiki?

I don't mind at all

Good post about the costs of driving around the world in a van with C40 quality charts (almost).

http://www.drivenachodrive.com/2015/01/ ... the-world/

Nice video on van life from The Atlantic: http://adventure-journal.com/2015/08/a- ... t-vanlife/

Following.

The Rubber Tramp Rendezvous, A vandweller gathering each January in Quartzsite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdLwDjIkAB4

A Franklin stove in a VW campervan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SgR7rVHJsM

C40's journal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/03/fashi ... nomad.html

A Young Man Quits His Old Life and Goes West

Zach Both left his office job last summer, customized a Chevy van and hit the road. He hasn’t looked back since.

His online van dwelling manual http://thevanual.com/

nice. here is the imgur from Reddit today: http://m.imgur.com/a/RijZM

how much would you pay for a slightly custom job like that?

One of the dilemmas when designing a camper is balancing the amount of light with safety. A windowless van can feel like a coffin but a glass house can invite smash and grab theft. He created an interesting solution with those flip-up steel window inserts.

Van life article in The New Yorker. Actually more like a #vanlife article, but interesting nontheless.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/ ... a-movement