Tired of all the misinformation on #vanlife?

[Photomike]

Regarding my post that was deleted, if I was out of line, I apologize.

I never saw it so fine with me

 

[Photomike]

I am thinking of going back to a very basic cabover campershell on my f250. Our trips are short, 2-6 days. Our last trip we went up to the Oregon coast, spent one night in a casino parking lot and two nights camped on my friends property, so we had a real shower and bathroom. We like checking out little towns and eating out. Our fridge was mostly full of drinks. The shower in our trailer is so small it's almost useless.We don't like real cold so we don't camp where we need a furnace. Didn't use the microwave. Only used the 3 burner stove to heat water for coffee, Never needed the easy bake oven.
For us I think it needs to be quick and simple. Rather than spending thousands building out a fully self contained camper and all of the hassles that go along with it, we would be fine going to a campground, Hotel, Motel, for a real shower/bathroom every so often.
For our life, a sprinter or Transit would be the perfect size but are WAY out of our price range.

If you already have a truck a cabover is a smart idea. The biggest reason I went from TCer to C to van was I wanted a vehicle I could go from the front to the back. LOVED the C but too wide. I sold the truck when I sold the TCer so never had that to consider in the move to the van.

 

[UHAULER]

If you already have a truck a cabover is a smart idea. The biggest reason I went from TCer to C to van was I wanted a vehicle I could go from the front to the back. LOVED the C but too wide. I sold the truck when I sold the TCer so never had that to consider in the move to the van.

Yeah, I bought my truck last year to pull our small camp trailer. The ability to go back and forth in a van is nice, that is why a Sprinter or Transit would probably be my first choice, but way out of my budget. We had a 98 e350 high top van 3 years ago that I built into a bare bones camper.
We sold it after having it less than a year, for two reasons, the first was paying registration and insurance on a third vehicle that sat most of the time and The ford van was not comfortable for me with the small footwell and the big doghouse. My f250 is way more comfortable.

 

[Photomike]

We all need to know how to live for free........................

https://youtu.be/yeajWEyYyRQ

 

[rruff]

I dunno about "it costs as much as living in a house", Mike... when I lived in my truck my yearly living expenses totaled ~$3k (in the '90s). Prior to that I was paying ~$7k/yr just to rent a room. It can be done pretty cheap if you want.

I suspect many of the youtubers are hoping to get a big following and have their videos be their income. A few actually achieve that, but not many. I must be an old fart because the social-media "look at me!" trend seems really odd. Star in a caricatured video of a life... or actually have a life? Is there a difference?

Back when I was vagabonding I was contacted by a reporter from Newhouse News. A friend had sent her some of my writings and told her how I lived, and she wanted to do an article on me and publish my stories. I thought it might be ok... until I found out she wanted to take pictures and use my real name. Nope.

 

[rruff]

I think the worst offender of all, is Sabrina Horel with that blue VW Bus and her Wxnderbus channel on Youtube.

Entertaining. I liked the part about how they sacrificed daily lattes, fancy dinners, and nights at the bar for 2 years to save up the money for their lifestyle....

 

[Photomike]

Entertaining. I liked the part about how they sacrificed daily lattes, fancy dinners, and nights at the bar for 2 years to save up the money for their lifestyle....

WOW for two years. They must get the most expensive of everything when they go out.

On another site they were brought up as well, seems to be a lot of people calling them out.

I called one couple out that every time they showed pictures of them cooking the food was always in packages. Bags of carrots, bags of buns, bags of onions, bags of everything. NEVER a dirty dish or a pan. Not even a pan that looked like it had ever been used. WOW did they get upset. Never showed a picture of cut up food or finished food to defend themselves.

 

[Photomike]

I dunno about "it costs as much as living in a house", Mike... when I lived in my truck my yearly living expenses totaled ~$3k (in the '90s). Prior to that I was paying ~$7k/yr just to rent a room. It can be done pretty cheap if you want.

I suspect many of the youtubers are hoping to get a big following and have their videos be their income. A few actually achieve that, but not many. I must be an old fart because the social-media "look at me!" trend seems really odd. Star in a caricatured video of a life... or actually have a life? Is there a difference?

Back when I was vagabonding I was contacted by a reporter from Newhouse News. A friend had sent her some of my writings and told her how I lived, and she wanted to do an article on me and publish my stories. I thought it might be ok... until I found out she wanted to take pictures and use my real name. Nope.

I am actually doing a video comparing the costs. Not in all cases but in many, I would say you are the exception when you consider the cost of the van factored in. 7k is about right for the expense of the room. I used 6k as someone I know is going to school and that is there cost for a room.

 

[calicamper]

Youtube video trends come and go. People chase the idea they can make money off videos. The van life thing and the I live on a $100 sailboat homeless thing are both getting silly. The model is to tack a still pict of a bikini clad girl on the video post, show a other wise bunch of nothing video?. Click bait baby!

 

[Photomike]

I just finished a video about the "I am going to live in a van when I go to school". It can be done but it is a lot harder then most understand.

 

[68camaro]

At a local trailhead here in VA, I walked by two girls cooking breakfast in a slide out shelf/stove from the back of their van, the van looked well lived in and had CA plates. I mentioned they should do a Vanlife channel. We spoke briefly but they said if I filmed and edited it they'd be game, but its too much work to do themselves.

 

[BritKLR]

At the end of the day its just the new hip version of retirees and snowbirds with the 5th wheel in Florida.....one of the fundamental planning flaws is what to do in 1-5 years down the road when the new wears off. I've had several friends sell everything, including the house to live the vanlife and very quickly realize they miss their homebase, family, friends, hobbies.....life. I get it, it can be fun, exciting, adventurous, etc.....but, never give up the homebase to come back too. Cheers.

 

[luthj]

If you look at any popular lifestyle trend, going back decades, there are always idealists and marketing types "influencers" in modern speak. Look at some of the popular trends from the 70s and 80s, with materials, magazines, books, etc, all painting a rosy (and unrealistic) picture of the lifestyle they portray. Eventually the trend shifts and "realists" will take over. Some actually based in reality, others just competing for the most hardcore, often in an attempt to demonstrate their uniqueness from the perceived masses.

Of course in #vanlife there is a strange confluence of educated middle class who find the minimalist lifestyle appealing, hardcore outdoor folks, lower financial class who want a accessible escape, and upper middle class who want a different outlet than the tourist traps and resorts. This creates a fairly unique environment for marketing, products, content producers etc. Like all good marketing they are trying to sell a simple idea, which is fine. Its the content producers who bill themselves as true to life, but edit out all the annoying but critical minutia, which are being a bit irresponsible.

 

[rruff]

I am actually doing a video comparing the costs. Not in all cases but in many, I would say you are the exception when you consider the cost of the van factored in.

Note that it was in the 90s when things were cheaper... and don't go by me. I'm sure most of these vandwellers would have been bored to tears living 1 week of my "lifestyle". I lived in an old Toyota truck that never needed major repairs. I bought food, gas, insurance, and license. Groceries were ~$25/wk, gas was ~$10/wk avg. That's about it. Usually parked in the boonies far from humans. The truck was worth ~$4k when I started and $1k at the end, so amortizing that over 13 years...

 

[Photomike]

Note that it was in the 90s when things were cheaper... and don't go by me. I'm sure most of these vandwellers would have been bored to tears living 1 week of my "lifestyle". I lived in an old Toyota truck that never needed major repairs. I bought food, gas, insurance, and license. Groceries were ~$25/wk, gas was ~$10/wk avg. That's about it. Usually parked in the boonies far from humans. The truck was worth ~$4k when I started and $1k at the end, so amortizing that over 13 years...

I spent time in the back of my Mazda B2200. At the time it was BETTER then a 5 star hotel!!