And It Was Good

I finished the van!

From the back.

From the side barn doors.

Well ok not really, it still needs an awning (but it’s wintertime so I don’t need that yet) and a swing away cargo carrier for the back (waiting on my tax refund) and some odds and ends like that. However I moved into it on the third of December! Just in time for snowpocalypse here in the south. Asheville’s average snowfall per year is 11 inches, we got 18-22 inches… in one weekend. So that wouldn’t have been my first choice of beginnings, but we don’t always get what we want.

I have been van living for almost a month now. I like it. I am comfortable. I have everything I need. There are things to get used to, some things take longer and some things are quicker vs traditional living. I wondered in the back of mind as I worked on the van…”what if I do all this work, spend all this time and money, and then I don’t like living that way?” The deal I made with myself is that I will live in the van for a year. The van will pay for itself in one year, with what I am saving in rent. After the first year, if I still like it, great I continue on. If I don’t like it, if I am uncomfortable or unhappy because of my living arrangements then I can go back to traditional living and I won’t have lost anything.

So this is where I am. I live in my van full time. I am exploring other ways of making money that would allow me to travel. But for now I am saving money while working full-time. I am using this blog to document both how I built out my van, and how I make this lifestyle work going forward.