33-year-old woman who tried the nomadic lifestyle and ended up broke

[RVTravel]

Hope it is okay to post article about a negative experience with van life and money matters.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/van-life-just-glorified-homelessness-180516593.html

 

[Morgana]

The article seemed like a good counterweight to all the overly glamorized accounts of vanlife.
People should know what they're up against.

It's sad that it didn't work out for this person, but it sounds like a rich experience all the same. And if her story can help other people prepare, set expectations, etc., it's a good thing. Maybe, for example, more community ties with other vehicle dwellers would have helped (or maybe not! maybe it just wasn't her thing).

IMO if you never fail you're not trying enough things.

 

[rvwandering]

The experience this woman had is one of the reasons we encourage everyone to do test trips before making any drastic changes. She was totally unprepared for living in a van and had unrealistic expectations plus she made some mistakes that caused more difficulties.

 

[bullfrog]

Society puts way too many labels on the way people live. Society does a very poor job of recognizing the skills, education and work required to live simply and be healthy and happy. People that are suddenly forced financially to live in a vehicle don’t do as well as people that have spent years happily living out of a back pack that eventually buy a van to use as a metal tent to live out of. An ideal van lifer is in my opinion a good carpenter that enjoys building a house, a good mechanic that enjoys building a good vehicle and a good hiker that enjoys a functional lightweight back pack, everyone else attempting to live cheaply in a van has to learn and develop those skills or find some other way to get them done, usually by paying money to someone that did. Finding which lifestyle is for you may take several in person learning experiences. Trying to do them virtually on the internet most times results in a “results may vary” situation.

 

[jacqueg]

Going on my fourth year of living in a cargo van. Everyone's life has its ups and downs, and van life doesn't change that. Still, I've never been so emotionally comfortable! I'm weird, I know.

It sure isn't for everyone, and one of the things I like most about this forum is that we let it all hang out here. She might not have had such a bad experience if she'd have spent some time on CRVL.

 

[RvNaut]

The seven nasty Ps.

Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance

Having a SMART goal also helps ( hey Kids, it's acronym day!!)
Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic with a Timetable

Planning and research is something I love.. so for me it was easy to dive into the process of figuring it out, as much as I could, before I launched...

If all someone sees is the glamour, they aren't applying enough critical thinking to the situation... anyone thinking of nomad-life should watch Nomadland, not so much as an example of vanlife, but as an example of how it can affect someone on a personal level.. you tend to ... well.. find yourself out here... or rip off the blinders you might have been wearing in your other life ( for good or ill).

I think this person was fearful from the get go and it set the tone of her experience... if everything on the other side of that thin wall is scary, it may say more about your state of mind than it does the stuff on the other side of the sheet metal.

 

[user 22017]

Society puts way too many labels on the way people live. Society does a very poor job of recognizing the skills, education and work required to live simply and be healthy and happy. People that are suddenly forced financially to live in a vehicle don’t do as well as people that have spent years happily living out of a back pack that eventually buy a van to use as a metal tent to live out of. An ideal van lifer is in my opinion a good carpenter that enjoys building a house, a good mechanic that enjoys building a good vehicle and a good hiker that enjoys a functional lightweight back pack, everyone else attempting to live cheaply in a van has to learn and develop those skills or find some other way to get them done, usually by paying money to someone that did. Finding which lifestyle is for you may take several in person learning experiences. Trying to do them virtually on the internet most times results in a “results may vary” situation.

Anyone who has spent a year or longer living at the poverty level (even higher), already has experience living minimally. And would appreciate the freedom from rent and bill collectors that van life can offer.

A carpenter who enjoys building houses might be miserable living in a van. You can't say who makes the best van lifer. What you say fits young people. Not so much for older folks who have many reasons for opting for van life (beyond financial). Ie. Socialization and doing something other than watching TV in a S&B daily. Plus, van life forces us old folks to keep moving our bodies.

IMO, the person referred to in the article made the mistake of not figuring out that many van lifers are in it for the money. There is a ton of money being made by van lifers who market themselves and the "life" well. She was influenced by that marketing.

 

[khantroll]

It seems to me the issue wasn't living in a van so much as it was going on the road with an unconverted van and then losing her job.

 

[user 423]

It seems to me the issue wasn't living in a van so much as it was going on the road with an unconverted van and then losing her job.

Right. She may have ended up broke regardless of where/how she lived.

The part about having to eat 'gas station food' cracked me up.

 

[user 22017]

It seems to me the issue wasn't living in a van so much as it was going on the road with an unconverted van and then losing her job.

Right. That is another difference between young and old van lifers. The old ones often have SS income. Plus, losing a job is one of life's major stressors.

 

[bullfrog]

This 33 year old person had a lot of issues for sure, but she was actually better off than many living on the street. As other threads have pointed out van life isn’t free or easy and people with no job or skills will have a hard time maintaining the lifestyle. Even older people with the average early Social Security have difficulty if unable to market their skills or get a physically easy seasonal job. This is also the reason for many YouTube channels being started for travel income.

 

[Zerpersande]

Society puts way too many labels on the way people live. Society does a very poor job of recognizing the skills, education and work required to live simply and be healthy and happy. People that are suddenly forced financially to live in a vehicle don’t do as well as people that have spent years happily living out of a back pack that eventually buy a van to use as a metal tent to live out of. An ideal van lifer is in my opinion a good carpenter that enjoys building a house, a good mechanic that enjoys building a good vehicle and a good hiker that enjoys a functional lightweight back pack, everyone else attempting to live cheaply in a van has to learn and develop those skills or find some other way to get them done, usually by paying money to someone that did. Finding which lifestyle is for you may take several in person learning experiences. Trying to do them virtually on the internet most times results in a “results may vary” situation.

Not trimming any of this bc every word of this strikes me as true. Bullfrog speaks truth.

 

[D'L]

I'm not so sure about the definition of "an ideal van lifer". I think it depends on who you are, how you want to live and so on. Everyone has different skills. It seems a bit of an overstatement to try to describe the ideal van lifer.

I think the ideal (if there is one) would be someone who can manage it financially, emotionally and otherwise, and who is happy with their van life. Naming a certain type to be the ideal van lifer is in my opinion another way to put a label on people.

 

[Morgana]

How about "van life would be ideal for xxx" instead of "the ideal van lifer is xxx"?

(Sorry, I'm in recovery from copyediting.)

I didn't get the impression that the post was meant to label people, just to say that if you're not already comfortable doing that stuff, you're going to have more challenges.

 

[LargeMarge]

...If all someone sees is the glamour...

.
Why did I turn Perpetual Traveler?
"I was seduced by the glamour of it all..."
.

 

[GotSmart]

If you have to keep asking, you are not on the right forum.

There are times when gas station food would have been an improvement over the cup of ramen that was my emergency rations. But I was smarter with my money. My hardest lesson was when RVBob ghosted me when I was near his campsite in Flagstaff. This was in 2014.

Only depend on yourself.

 

[eDJ_]

If feel for the woman in question, however there are young people who go off to take a job or go to college and things don't work out where they are basically homeless unless their families come to their rescue. They didn't have a Van but an apartment instead. Outcome was the same.

 

[Morgana]

If feel for the woman in question, however there are young people who go off to take a job or go to college and things don't work out where they are basically homeless unless their families come to their rescue. They didn't have a Van but an apartment instead. Outcome was the same.

And not all of them have families.

(Or they have a family to feed, not a family that might bail them out. Not everyone this stuff happens to is young.)

Sure, there are a lot of routes to destitution (including, being born into it). That doesn't make any one route less interesting. And this is a van life forum.

At least she was trying to solve her problems. That makes her more interesting, to me at least, than -- what was that article we were discussing a few months ago? That "My boss made me write a story about this, so I tried it half-heartedly for a week and wrote something half-@$$edly clever about it, now can I please move on" piece?

Maybe both those pieces should be required reading for the "van life will cure all my problems" crowd.

 

[WanderingRose]

I think we here with some experience have an obligation to be truthful about the pitfalls of setting out as a nomad without adequate income and a savings account sufficient to meet unforeseen-but-certain-to-occur emergencies.

If one feels forced into living in their vehicle but have no real financial resources, they are better off allround staying in or near an urban area where food and other services are more easily accessed, and lots of help/support can be found here on how to survive in that life.

If one wants to be a nomad, and travel the country in their vehicle, one needs a source of income, a savings account for emergencies, and the means somehow to replenish it, and lots of help can also be found here on how to thrive in that lifestyle.

I feel that we should not encourage with such a broad brush that others hurl themselves off a cliff, unaware for whatever reason of certain pitfalls out there on the road.

In my opinion, and when all else fails we become a cautionary tale.

 

[RoamerRV428]

another person trying out something as 'they were seduced by the glamour of it all' like LargeMarge said above......hysterical clip from Night Court!!......another blah article from another tryer is all this is and will come again out there as we all know on van living and 'what it should' be for 'all' and love the '''The seven nasty Ps. --
Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance from RVNaut! Amen!