Before you jump into it, be sure vandwelling is what you really want to do.

Ten years ago before I was old enough to retire I seriously looked into fulltime vandwelling as what I wanted to do.
I knew my income would be small but it seemed exciting to be free to travel where I chose and live on the road.
Then by the time that I retired, life got in the way and I couldn't leave.  The thing is that in those early years when I had to stay I realized what a serious mistake it would have been to become a fulltime vandweller because the more I thought about it the more I realized how much of a homebody I really was and that although travelling and seeing the country seemed nice, the truth is that when I thought about it whenever I traveled somewhere it wasn't long before I wished I was home.
I've been retired for 6 years now and I'm glad I stayed put because I am not a nomad.  In fact, living that kind of lifestyle for me would be very stressful.  I am on Medicare but because my income is under the 100% federal poverty level I qualify here in Wisconsin for Medicaid also.  We're seeing all of those Medicare Advantage ads on tv now, you know, the Joe Namath "are you getting all the benefits you deserve" and now I am.  What Medicare doesn't pay, Medicaid does and I get dental and vision care as well.  My $135/month for Medicare Part B that would come out of my SS check is paid by Wisconsin and all I make is a small copay on my prescriptions.  The plan I have is not even available in every county of the state.

So although I have no desire to travel anywhere, I am a strong believer in having a Plan B and being a stealth camper in the small city where I have lived for over 60 year might one day become a possibility, a necessity.  Now I live in my own small mobile home in a court that's on the bus lines in my city and within walking distance of many places.  It's a nice place in in the late winter/early spring I can see up to a dozen eagles flying nearly as common as sparrows.
But the thing is, in this college town I couldn't even get a room for what I pay for my lot rent and utilities.  Sure, I would qualify for one of the number of senior citizen high rises here but frankly for me having to exist in one of those places full of people who have nothing better than to sit around and watch every move you make outside your apartment, knowing more about your life than you do, that would be a particular hell.
So in that case, fulltime vandwelling would be a desirable alternative.  The upside is that I know my city and where to go and what to do to be a stealth camper.  In fact, across the street from where I live is a huge apartment complex and a lot of the residents there park out on the street and nobody pays any attention to them.  But I still scope out where I would go and what I would do and I'll be doing some practice in being a stealth vandweller before the need.  Besides, the police in my city tend to leave people alone even if they know they are homeless outside or sleeping in their vehicles as long as they don't cause problems or nobody complains about them.

But becoming a fulltime vandweller is really serious business so people should really give it some serious thought before casually jumping into it because it might seem exciting and romantic to travel and see the country.  there are so many other things to consider first.

You always should have an emergency fund and several options. Living simply can be really thrifty even though it may test your tolerance but you do get better with practice. Having a plan B,C,D is always a good idea. Learning to live in a small space with little or no utilities can be a very useful skill and enable you to live even more cheaply than you are now even if you only practice while living in your mobile home. Eventually you realize it might be possible that you are able to do it so well you could do it in other places that are more desirable to be while still spending time where you need to be. I our case our grown children and grandkids live several hundreds of miles away and are still working so we didn't get to see them much. Learning these simple living skills has enabled us to spend several months a year visiting them as well as being able to travel to seasonal fun jobs and still be able make required doctor appointments and ect. Granted it is necessary, easier and possibly cheaper to live stationary in some situations but that doesn't mean you can't do better, work, save and plan to make your life better.

Don't forget there are people living in vehicles who don't have the resources and options you and I do. They haven't jumped into it. More like crashing into it.

Yes but many that do crash do not figure out the best way unless they start early to live simply and get information from sites like this one before they crash. Many try to continue to live like they did just now in a RV or just give up and crash with a tent on the street hoping some agency will save them. I hope HOWA is able to eventually help solve some of these people's problems by educating them about the alternatives.

I lived in a senior independent living apartment for 6 years in Idaho and honestly, it was not all that bad. I thought it was great... really, but didn't like the inspections every 3 months. The apartment itself was awesome.. 2 bedrooms... new, double pane windows and all energy efficient appliances. While I was destitute it was a wonderful blessing. I left only because I have wanderlust and my financial circumstances permitted me to buy a van and start traveling. That said, I haven't gone far yet.. about 700 miles back to my hometown where I'm spending the winter.. but I've been living and sleeping in this van since July 2 and now when I want to go home it is my van that I consider as home.

as you say, a lot of things to consider first. i'm just planning for a hopeful
retirement "someday". i have already started scaling down the time on the
road, like a couple months travelling south in the winter. i'm afraid much more
time than that and the wife and i might be at each others throats
jim

But how do you know until you try? I am so glad I know dwelling skills, even tho I'm not a full timer right now.  -crofter

travelaround said:

I lived in a senior independent living apartment for 6 years in Idaho and honestly, it was not all that bad. I thought it was great... really, but didn't like the inspections every 3 months. The apartment itself was awesome.. 2 bedrooms... new, double pane windows and all energy efficient appliances. While I was destitute it was a wonderful blessing. I left only because I have wanderlust and my financial circumstances permitted me to buy a van and start traveling.  That said, I haven't gone far yet.. about 700 miles back to my hometown where I'm spending the winter.. but I've been living and sleeping in this van since July 2 and now when I want to go home it is my van that I consider as home.

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We're all different and any senior living place would not be for me at all.  First of all, I'm not a people person.  I can do the friendly hello and chit-chat at the mailbox, but that's all the further I want to know people.  So for me it's not the place, it's the people.  Thanks but no thanks.  I'll take solitude anytime.  And going into a nursing home?  I would prefer a dirt nap first.
A decade ago when I first looked into fulltime vandwelling and travelling I really thought I would like it.  But as time went by I realized that although I might like the 'idea' of being a fulltime vandwelling nomad, but being honest with myself I came to understand I wouldn't like it at all.  I've put down deep roots where I am at and I am perfectly content to stay here.  Even when I go someplace for a day or a weekend I end up wishing I was back home.
But learning the skills of vandwelling is important to me for being prepared for the 'just in case' scenario.

crofter said:

But how do you know until you try? I am so glad I know dwelling skills, even tho I'm not a full timer right now.  -crofter

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How do I know until I try?  Because I know myself and I hate travelling.  
For me, I consider vandwelling skills to be valuable mostly for avoiding the need to pay for a motel for a night's sleep (how I've always resented being made to pay for the privilege of sleeping), but also for an emergency situation when I needed to live that way.  
But the list of things I know I would not want to do before I tried them is very, very long.

ELOCS, it sounds like you need to get a small rig, and do day/weekend trips to places that you are interested in seeing. You will always have the re-assurance in the back of your mind, that you can head home if the weather turns, or you are uncomfortable.

It could be a fun hobby of finding spots to stay, and stealth camping for a night or two, and close to home, and cheap.

bullfrog said:

You always should have an emergency fund and several options.  Living simply can be really thrifty even though it may test your tolerance but you do get better with practice.  Having a plan B,C,D is always a good idea.  Learning to live in a small space with little or no utilities can be a very useful skill and enable you to live even more cheaply than you are now even if you only practice while living in your mobile home.  Eventually you realize it might be possible that you are able to do it so well you could do it in other places that are more desirable to be while still spending time where you need to be.  I our case our grown children and grandkids live several hundreds of miles away and are still working so we didn't get to see them much.  Learning these simple living skills has enabled us to spend several months a year visiting them as well as being able to travel to seasonal fun jobs and still be able make required  doctor appointments and ect.  Granted it is necessary, easier and possibly cheaper to live stationary in some situations but that doesn't mean you can't do better, work, save and plan to make your life better.

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I find vandwelling skills to be interesting and useful but my thinking about it has evolved over time until I came to the point where I came to the point where I understood if I were honest with myself I had to admit it was not for me.
I have put down deep roots where I am at and have no interest in pulling them up.  There's nowhere I want to go, there's no place I want to see.  I am perfectly content where I am at.  But I do have a daughter less than an hour's drive away who needs me to be near her and there is nothing else I would choose to do.
I am poor, under the 100% federal poverty level, yet unlike a good chunk of Americans I do have an emergency fund, I have no debt and money left over every month after my bills are paid.  My healthcare costs for the year so far have been $50 on prescription copays which is great for a 67 year old retiree and energy assistance will pay my energy bill all winter long.  So the long and short of it is, how could I live more cheaply and comfortably than I do now?
But I do find vandwelling skills to be interesting and I find them to be worthwhile for me in preparation for a 'just in case' emergency situation just like any other emergency.  I'd rather have the skills and not need them than need them and not have them.

ckelly78z said:

ELOCS, it sounds like you need to get a small rig, and do day/weekend trips to places that you are interested in seeing. You will always have the re-assurance in the back of your mind, that you can head home if the weather turns, or you are uncomfortable.

It could be a fun hobby of finding spots to stay, and stealth camping for a night or two, and close to home, and cheap.

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The thing is, there is no place that I'm interesting in seeing.  None.  I am content right where I am at and I don't like travelling unless I'm coming back home the same day.  As far as a hobby goes, I'm 67 and I don't really believe I have ever had a hobby and I'm certainly not looking for one now.
One of the first things I did when I retired was to sell my car which I had bought new 6 years earlier because I knew I could get along nicely without one and did for 5 years until I needed to buy a vehicle in order to go visit my daughter who was in the hospital and now in a healthcare center less than an hour's drive from me.  Since I needed a vehicle I decided to look for a van and got an '04 Odyssey.
I find vandwelling skills as they relate to stealth camping to be good for preparing for an emergency situation when I might need to do that.  But before I retired I worked at a homeless shelter I learned that one of the things that stressed them out was getting rousted out of sleep with the demand of "what are you doing here" and that would not only be sleeping on the ground or in a tent, but a knock on the vehicle window where they were sleeping.
So vandwelling skills are ones I would rather have before I ever need them.  Plus, it's interesting to see what people do with their vans to make them living spaces.

O.P. I think of this forum as more about independence than nomadism. Some of the most prolific posters here are not vandwelling or nomadic. That you did your due diligence and research and thought deeply about yourself and who you really are is admirable. It prevented you from making one of the biggest mistakes of your life. The just do it mantra gets many people in trouble. Lack of real preparation and no real knowledge of what they are getting into defeats many. The number of folks who wash out of this life is huge.The sad thing is many of them had they had the introspection you did would be happier and more content had they listened to themselves before taking advice from folks not doing what they are encouraging others to do. I think your post is thoughtful and helpful and I think many will benefit from your insight.

I hope all goes well for you and your daughter. It is good to see and realize you are content as you get older and let others know that living simply and economically one can be so. I am 68 years old and very prone to grow roots it runs in my family to say the least. After watching generations of my family devote themselves to keeping and maintaining the homeplace to a point they suffered many hardships and became so possessive that they refused to leave even for a day as they got older, even to go see their spouse in hospice or great grandchildren. I at a young age rebelled and left later to return and try to continue the tradition only to fail and leave again. My oldest son now is the keeper of the family homestead and I am saddened to see the toll it has put on him but it is his wish to try to continue the tradition even though he may eventually end up broke, homeless and having to find another way to live. We are living similar to you but in two different places and have found having the ability and skills to travel a few months in between the two locations keeps our skills honed, minds sharper and in general much happier as we get to visit new places and visit family instead of huddled up with a book because it is too cold to go outside or as my wife says vegetating. We enjoy helping others and helping preserve wild areas and have found by doing so our lives both physically and mentally are much better also. Again it is great to have you here.

elocs3981 said:

We're all different and any senior living place would not be for me at all...

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In my case, I would hate living around only other old farts.

I've been glad to see the percentage of younger people in the nomad community grow. Now it's less like a retirement community on wheels.

I hope society eventually comes to accept it as a lifestyle choice that makes their life better and realize not all can be happy living in a sticks and bricks the way they do.

owl Wrote:  

"O.P. I think of this forum as more about independence than nomadism. Some of the most prolific posters here are not vandwelling or nomadic. That you did your due diligence and research and thought deeply about yourself and who you really are is admirable. It prevented you from making one of the biggest mistakes of your life. The just do it mantra gets many people in trouble. Lack of real preparation and no real knowledge of what they are getting into defeats many. The number of folks who wash out of this life is huge.The sad thing is many of them had they had the introspection you did would be happier and more content had they listened to themselves before taking advice from folks not doing."

Thank you.  My thinking about vandwelling did change over the years and until just a year ago I had no vehicle at all for 5 years and didn't anticipate having one again.  Circumstances dictated that I needed to get a vehicle a year ago and I chose to buy a van rather than some little car so the vandwelling was a part of my decision, but now as a plan B for an emergency situation as opposed to just hitting the road.
But I realize now that my living situation allows me to lead a stress free, comfortable and content lifestyle even as someone who is poor.  Had I chosen to give up my humble home I would have realized, and maybe soon, that I had made a big mistake and one that could not be remedied.  It's the old 'marry in haste, repent in leisure'.  Right now I have what I want and need and my situation is good.  A lot of people can't say that.

MrNoodly said:

In my case, I would hate living around only other old farts.

I've been glad to see the percentage of younger people in the nomad community grow. Now it's less like a retirement community on wheels.

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"Old farts"--hey, I resemble that remark.  Well, not really but then I picked the right parents.  I concur with your statement though.  My mother spent the last 15 years of her life in a nursing home with Alzheimer's and occasionally there would be a young person there among the many potted plants and I always thought how hard that must have been for them.

[font='droid sans', sans-serif]Now I live in my own small mobile home in a court that's on the bus lines in my city and within walking distance of many places.[/font]

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This brings up an interesting point...option.



Years ago my Dad brought home an RV Magazine that had an article about a young American couple traveling first in Germany and later in the UK.   It was in the UK that they learned of what they called,  "Camping A",  "Camping B", and "Camping C".

Camping A was much like being a full time Nomad.  They did this in Germany.

Camping B was traveling some and staying in one spot for a month before traveling to another place to stay a month.
Here at CRVL we occasionally speak of the 2-2-2 system which is better adapted to a larger country like the USA.

Camping C for them was much like being a Snow Bird who travels to warm weather for the winter and then returns home for the summer.  

But being able to find a Trailer Court where the lot is less expensive than an apartment and to park one's RV there and have the benefits & conveniences of the city may be quite suited to some.  Where I've lived in apartments,  I've always looked at the neighborhood for grocery stores, laundry's, bakery's, fast food restaurants, convenience stores, dollar stores etc all within walking distance.  I always had my own transportation so being on a Bus line wasn't so important to me but if I were in a really big city it could mean a lot. Especially if I were retired and living in a RV/Trailer court with my principle transportation being in my rig.

So even if you aren't a traveling Nomad,  you can still adopt & benefit from the Nomad's methods of thinking to live a happier life.

A few years ago it was revealed that Sly Stone of mid 60's  "Sly & the family Stone" music group was living in a Class B.

[img=200x200]https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/10/21/article-2052030-0E7A07A600000578-916_468x554.jpg[/img]

elocs3961, I think everyone responding on this thread has the resources and ability to choose how and where they want to live, at least their responses indicate that. We are a diverse group and everybody has a different solution.

I appreciate your thoughts and conclusion. You have considered the pros and cons objectively. Emotions are always trying to direct us but they aren't fact based. You've done well with your fact based decision. I agree with your choice wholeheartedly.

I'm 72, living on family land temporary until it's sold or I die. The only reason I'm addicted to this forum is that I obsessively worry about having to live cheaply elsewhere. I shouldn't waste time on that worry but it eats at me. I'm always searching for another way to live cheaply. Wherever, however it is, it won't be as easy, cheap, or convenient as my present situation. You have given me encouragement for logical thoughts and choices rather than going down a rocky path lead by my emotions. Thanks