help gauge

[desert_sailing]

Nearly everything i do is based on ROI..( return on investment).

Even simple tasks such as tying shoes or putting on slip ons.. im always calculating.

So while ive jumped full on into van living I didn't really prepare much of a pro con list until the other day and was surprised at how much difficulty i had in making much of a pro list.
For every pro I listed I had 4 cons...LOL.

of course the pros of van life are substantial and IMO worth enduring every negative event.

Have any of you made a list?
I know there are far more experienced folks out here that have a better idea of what myself and other noobies have yet to experience (possibly).

Would anyone care to share one pro and one con that you have experienced so myself and other greenies can use to adjust expectations?

Thanks for your offerings!

 

[bullfrog]

We have lived in an RV so long it is hard to imagine any other way. We occasionally visit our children who live in towns in houses and help friends take care of theirs but wouldn’t trade them for the places we get to live in and the experiences we have had. I watched my parents enjoy and fret about the challenges they had trying to own and maintain a property as they got older and hope I’ll be able to avoid that but who knows? So far our life has been good and we have enjoyed it to the best of our abilities. Don’t think we could have asked for a better or more enjoyable life and feel lucky we were able to live this way the last 15 years. Less can really be more.

 

[LERCA]

I love small spaces. I still spend many days in my small SUV. It’s so cozy and peaceful and you seem passionate about the environment and I think my footprint must be tiny.
But when I lived in it it cost me way more than expected and close to an apartment in a cheaper area
No one ever mentions that. I could make a long list of costs but probably not necessary. Hence I’m back in an abusive relationship with a family member trying to save money (just spent $600 on tires yesterday which wiped out all my savings)
Anyway it was far from cheap for me.

 

[MrNoodly]

I guess it depends on what someone includes in "costs." For me, money was way down the list. At the top was my mental health. I had already given too much of that away during my life — with way too little return on that investment. I knew I was unhappy, but I didn't realize how depressed I'd become until I threw "normal" life in the dumpster.

 

[B and C]

^^^ What he said.

 

[LERCA]

When you’re living on $456 a month every cost is a major one. Even $20. of gas. Every penny counts. I’m no longer able to eat after my plain toast for breakfast because my acid reflux has gotten so bad and I simply can’t afford the Prevacid which my insurance won’t pay for and it’s about $100.a month for the number of pills I take.
Easy to say costs don’t matter when you have money. I checked my receipt it was exactly $683. for my tires. That will take over a year to pay off.

I have 10 months. I won’t get more pension money for 5 more years but in 10 months I can access my retirement accounts which hopefully will still be there. That will give me more options. It will also take a chunk to pay down what I had to charge while on the road (like more gas and extra maintenance)

I never dreamed I’d end up like this I did everything right and saved but illness happens. somehow when you talk about costs I doubt you’re trying to make it on $450 a month. If you are please break down your costs and let me know how to do it.

Until then I’ll put up with an ugly relative.

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

I also calculated the whole vehicle living thing as best I could. I'm still many years from retirement, but with the current economic mess of things, I really can't afford a stationary place of residence. And renting, well that's just throwing away money. But for many renting is all that can be done. Then you just become a slave to the man. I'm just gonna dump all I can into mobile living and hope it saves me loads of money in the long run. It just has to.

And I like what everyone is saying about mental health and being happy. Live in a van, save money, work less, be happier? That's the plan. Pooping in a bucket is nothing compared to being stuck in some crummy apartment forever. Living on the road, you can poop in that bucket while having some nice views!

 

[crofter]

... can’t afford the Prevacid which my insurance won’t pay for and it’s about $100.a month for the number of pills I take....

Try DGL it cured me after taking all the expensive doctor pills. I also dumped my significant other, so maybe that cured me too.  Here is a link about DGL, big bottle about $20. Be well.
-crofter

https://www.healthline.com/health/digestive-health/dgl-for-acid-reflux

 

[crofter]

I guess it depends on what someone includes in "costs." For me, money was way down the list. At the top was my mental health. I had already given too much of that away during my life — with way too little return on that investment. I knew I was unhappy, but I didn't realize how depressed I'd become until I threw "normal" life in the dumpster.

Total agreement on this one. Freedom to be on the road or not as I choose. The end of the tyranny of high housing cost. More sunsets, more time in nature.
-crofter

Oh I was supposed to say cons also. Bob once said if you are saying the f-bomb quite often there is something about your life that needs to change. Using that measure, I still have a few things to work on. After a lifetime of being able to lift anything, now I have two back injuries and drop stuff. Can count on an f-bomb if the floor is full of stuff I have dropped. Still adjusting to the realities of today. -c

 

[bullfrog]

You would have to be awful lucky to be able to find anywhere to live on $450 a month. There are some easy jobs out there that can provide housing or full hook ups plus some income. I have friends that are in their upper 70s and a few in their 80s with pretty severe health problems that still work as shuttle van drivers, front desk, radio dispatchers, campground hosts, or volunteers at the visitor centers information desks. One works as a cashier here or in Alaska in the summer and keeps a $450 apartment in Arizona in the winter but she has to watch her money and transportation costs. Not exactly a nomadic life but close and much better than being stuck somewhere doing something you don’t like doing.

 

[maki2]

I never bothered to make a list of pros and ckons. It was just spmething I wanted to do so I did it.
Life is not a recipe where everything meeds to be weighed and measured on some type of arbitratry scale to make it turn out right.

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

I always think that we are coerced and/or manipulated into thinking there is a recipe we're supposed to follow. I suck at following recipes though and will always ruin the meal, haha.

 

[desert_sailing]

I dont know about a recipe as that indicates a specific way of doing things. No doubt life is just a hodgepodge of ingredients (experiences). Maybe the saying "an unsavory character" comes from?

The mental health benefit seems to the common thread.

I just thought for myself i had far more negatives in the column than positive lol.. but like Bob says this lifestyle is a trade off of security for freedom. ( in the movie without bound).

Was curious if the scales balanced for everyone else.

Pro... last summer while camped at Lapwai we were swarmed by 100s of butterflies... Con... had a flat getting in the back woods.
not sure if ROI was so good for that lol

 

[treesprite]

Simple fact of having a camper van:
Biggest CON: very limited indoor space
Biggest PRO: people who refuse to sleep in tents may agree to go camping with me - this FAR outweighs the con

 

[desert_sailing]

yea... that's definitely worth it.. treesprite.. good friends to share with.

 

[nature lover]

Butterflies are love letters from God and worth almost anything they cost you especially When you see a lot at one time.

 

[desert_sailing]

Lapwai (lapway)... means place of the butterfly in the Niimiipuu language aka Nez Perce.

There are hordes of them and it kinda freaked me out at first when I experienced it. They are so prolific you have to spray them off the windshield... feel terrible for every splat.