Comments on: Living in a Van Down by the River

By: Ron

Ron — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:37:30 +0000

I started living in my 2006 Dodge Mega Truck with topper in Jan 2007. It is now Oct 2009. It has been a constant arrange and rearrange seats, windows, air conditioner, refridgerator, computer, printer, desk top, DVD player on ceiling, tinted window, ect, and it’s not over yet. Futons to air matresses; pick an air matress. I am a member of couch surfing and I have hosted several travelers. You can make a van into an apartment on wheels. I suggest getting a motor cycle or scooter lift on the rear bumper in order to leave the house / gas guzzle parked.

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 04:04:56 +0000

It could greatly increase it! It all depends on what quality of life you want. As quality is different than quantity, quality can not be decreased, only defined.

Imagine; no rent, no neighbours, the freedom to go wherever you want, stay over at whomevers house you want (in thier driveway, or inside if you so choose), warm bed, blue sky…

By: Andy Hough

Andy Hough — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:43:57 +0000

It is cool to hear from someone who is actually doing this. One of these days I will do it too.

By: don

don — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:40:07 +0000

I lived in a dodge SUV with blackened out rear windows from March to May 2009 while I worked in the Bronx, NY. I am an RN and parked in the hospital parking lot occassionally or parked in a hotel lot at night, while I worked a temporary PRN assignment at a hospital. Threw down a foam pad, blanket and a down sleeping bag, worked great for me, never a hassle. Used the hospital shower and bathroom facilities, ate at the cafeteria or bought enough groceries for a couple days meals, again, used the employee breakroom facilities. The company I work for gives an additional stipend of $500/week when I provide my own housing over and above my pay, so never have to use the pay. Have an inverter for computer, scanner and printer use, cell phone has fax capability, and computer has GPS capability, been doing this now for about 2 years, and have received back what I paid for the vehicle, plus get to claim all travel expenses and depreciate the vehicle. No hotel hassles, and take my rolling home to the next hospital assignment. Been great for me.

By: Andy Hough

Andy Hough — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 04:35:46 +0000

Mike- Some people don’t save any money living in a van but I’ve read of many other people who do save money living in a van. And I think I would be in the latter group.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:53:11 +0000

Living in a van actually doesn’t save you money. You wind up spending more on food and gas. If you smoke you will wind up smoking more.

You also have to find a quiet place to park. If it’s winter even if you keep warm you wake up ragged out. Summer is worse because of the heat. If you run the A/C or heater in either case you’re defeating the whole pupose.

I’ve done the live in the van thing. You don’t save anything if anything you will wind up spending more. You will get ragged out and not get a good nights sleep. You won’t eat right and you will be stressed to the max. it would be cheaper to rent a decent furnished room.

By: Andy Hough

Andy Hough — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:45:21 +0000

Phil- Thanks for the advice. I won’t likely live in a van anytime soon but if I do it looks like there are lots of people that are interested in it.

By: Phil

Phil — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:14:42 +0000

Living in a Van (Down by the River, or anywheres else…) would be a cheap way to do things. Two stories for you… one I had a friend that I worked with at an aerospace company, who lived in his Toyota 4runner, and then bought a small boat, that he put down in the marina in Long Beach. He lived this way for a couple of years, and he said that he saved thousands and thousands every year.
You probably need to decide on a vehicle because a 4runner is kind of small, and you probably want a little more room, and it is a pain to work on if it breaks, and expensive too.
I would go for a VW van… We had a couple while we were growing up and they worked great, and they have a nice low door on the side, and you can almost stand up in it (well stoop) but this is better than a 4runner. Prehaps the best reason why I think that they are pretty cool is this little story. Sometime while I was in College, (back in the early 90’s) I saw this black VW van in a grocery store parking lot, what caught my attention is that it had a small deployable satellite dish, plus a number of other antennas on the roof, the windows were all heavy tinted black, and it looked like some kind of spy mobile. Well, I saw this old guy sitting in the side door having something to drink, and I went up to him and asked him about the van. When I got up close, it was really cool inside, had a bed, small stove, fridge, plus a bunch of computers and stuff all mounted into the walls (really unusual because this was back in 1991), it looked ultra modern inside, even with the outside being a 20 plus year old van. I talked to the guy and it turned out that he was a retired Air Force Colonel, and he had been driving that Van for several years, and he had really tricked it out with computers and stuff, and he even had a reworked HUD (Heads Up Display) from a F-15 fighter plane, and Infra Red Sensors and other stuff, pretty cool and long before any other cars had anythink like this. After talking with hime for a while, he said that because of his connections with the Air Force, he had brought and driven that Van on “Every” continent on the planet (except Antartica), and that he had been doing this for the last 5 or 7 years. The reason that he chose VW van is because you can get parts for it “everywhere” and they are cheap as well, and that this vehicle gets good gas mileage, and is easy to work on and you could take the whole engine appart with just a limited set of tools, even on the side of the road. He even showed me that he could print out the manual that he had stored on his computer, to assist in any complex repair.
So if you have any kind of mechanical knowledge, you can basically get yourself fixed and back on the road in few minutes, to a day or so.

By: Tight Fisted Miser

Tight Fisted Miser — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 08:58:31 +0000

David and Matt- Thanks for the encouragement but this post is from this summer. I’ve since decided not to move into a van because I’ve moved in with my GF who already has a house. If things don’t work out with my GF than I’ll consider moving into a van again.

Matt- I don’t want to post my school name here although it wouldn’t be hard for people to figure out. Send me an email if you want. My email is on my about page or you can use the contact form on the Make $$$ with TFM page.

By: Matthew Whitney

Matthew Whitney — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 04:05:54 +0000

I am attempting the same thing in the near future, I am excited to read that you are starting it too. I will be living in a van to save up for school next semester, I’ve been wanting to do it for as long as I can remember, and now I can’t stop thinking about it. Its really exciting. What school do you goto? I’m visiting my best friend out there next month?