The Beginning

Living in a van was not the first idea we had when considering the idea of living in a smaller home. Our main goal was to save money. We first started looking at actual tiny homes, like those awesome creations we'd watch being built on HGTV. The initial cost of these is pretty high, though, so we quickly moved on from that idea. Our next option was to check out travel trailers. My husband had lived in one before and talked about how much he wished he still had it. We went looking for brand new trailers, and I instantly jumped onboard with the idea. They were like complete houses, just smaller. But once I realized that the models I was leaning towards were too big for our truck to tow, I realized this idea was going to be just as expensive as the trendy little tiny homes after also having to buy a suitable truck.

Then, while watching RV videos on YouTube, I came across these crazy people living in a van. At first, I thought that was pretty much what people probably do when they’re just days away from being homeless. But the more I watched, the more doable it looked. Not only doable, but actually even better than living in an RV. In a van, you can park anywhere, in a regular parking spot, just like any other vehicle. You can fit in any drive-thru, down the narrowest and bumpiest roads with ease, and blend in with everyone else. It seemed like a no-brainer. In an RV, we either stayed hooked to our truck to be able to drive away in a flash, or we had to unhook if we wanted to have an easier time driving and parking around town. The latter meant that we lose the ability to pick up and leave in a hurry. The van option quickly moved to the top of our list, so we started our search for the perfect van to convert into our future home.

The obvious option was to go for a tall van, such as the Ram ProMaster. We searched online, torn between buying brand new or going for pre-owned. The prices made that decision for us, and we began looking for used vans. There’s not a whole lot of used inventory of suitable “camper” type vans in our area. We found one for sale on Craigslist that may have worked, but after my husband spoke to the owner who pretty much threatened him and told him not to show up without the cash, we dropped that one as an option. Eventually, we came across a local dealer selling a 1999 Chevy Express Cargo G2500 Extended van for under $7000. Yes, it wasn’t the tall van we set out to buy, but it was a long van with low mileage and lots of potential. We bought it!

We took our time building it out, customizing everything the way we wanted it. We were both still working our full-time jobs, and my son was still living at home attending his last years of high school. We could spend time camping out here and there to get a feel for things. We had plenty of time to prepare for full-time van life and tweak everything just the way we wanted. Looking back, we probably had too much time to ponder every single detail.

Fast-forward a couple of years to December 2023. By this time, my son had moved away for college, and the company both my husband and I worked for informed us that we would both be laid off at or around the end of the year. We were renting a house for about $2000/month plus utilities. We were in debt, mainly from building out the van. And we were both about to be unemployed. The only thing we could think to do to attempt to salvage our credit was to move out of that house immediately and make sure any severance and unemployment benefits we would receive went towards paying that debt instead of someone else's mortgage payment. We spent the rest of the month preparing to move. We put all of our stuff in storage for the time being and started loading up the van with the essentials. Luckily we had already purchased some raw land in the woods about thirty minutes north of where we were living. So at the start of the new year, we moved us and our two cats into the van and made that spot our home. We’ve been living out here for a month now, and we love it! There’s still work to be done, lots of property clearing to do. Lots of organization and even more paring down inside the van to do. But it’s been pretty great. The idea of living rent-free, off-grid on our property is priceless. Everything hasn't gone as planned and issues have come up, but we know as we prepare this land to be everything we want it to be, things will just get better and better.

As far as the van build itself, hindsight is definitely 20/20. I recommend just spending time in it before committing to anything permanent. We pretty much planned most of it based on what we thought we would want and need. But then each time we camped out for a night or two here and there, we would discover something that we would have done differently had we known before. We are still discovering small tweaks for next time. Our next van will be much better thought out and planned now that we have the actual experience of living in this one full time. Also, the experience of living in this van has cemented the desire for a tall van. While it is totally doable not being able to stand up in this one, so many things would be so much easier if we could stand up straight. So if you’re still at the step of picking out a campervan, don’t get overly excited like we did and buy something that doesn’t check all those boxes. Maybe take a little more time to really search for that perfect ride. You’ll certainly be glad you did!