Prepping for Van life
It all began with an idea. we want to travel the world as much as possible.Started as just a thought of a different life style that we both wanted…but how will we get it done. So we decided to travel the world in a van! Now, we had to make our dreams and goals a reality. We started to play with the idea of living and traveling in a van full-time around the end of the year 2020. So for the new year, 2021, we started by taking camping trips in our SUV and loved it! Later that year, we started looking for a van that would best suit us to live in.
prepping for this life style was not as easy as it may seem, we did not know much about purchasing a van let alone living in one so the first step for us was research. Research everything and anything we needed to know about a van. We watched endless amounts of YouTube, listened to podcasts, searched for different types of vans and where to purchase them then we started shopping. We shopped online and in person to check out different types of vans to figure out which van was the perfect van for us. We saw so many different models of vans that we had to learn about; Mercedes Sprinter, ram promoters, ford transits, GMC or a Chevrolet van plus so much more. There are honestly so many different options that you can build your tiny home in. a few Things that we took into consideration was the price of the the van, the amount of cargo space we had to build with, gas vs. diesel, standing up inside of a van which was a priority for us, and the way it even looked on the outside. So we decided to go with In august 2021 we purchased our van, a 2019 Ram promaster 159 wheel base- high roof cargo van. We liked the height and width of the this van the best after stepping into other models of vans. plus our exact van that we choose already had all of the windows put in as well as the awesome tires put on there already so those we’re two added bonuses for us which we we’re so stoked for. Now that we had purchased our van it was time to build our tiny home on wheels and you know that took more research to do, yup that’s rights more YouTube videos to watch and learn from!
We started to deep clean and plan the perfect layout for our tiny home! We discussed so many different styles and types of layouts that we saw and liked however we ended up changing it in the very end to something that was more suitable for us and our lifestyle. We heard some great advice which was to plan your build around things you already do and like to do in your home currently. We like to host our friends and family, cook and spending quality time together so we chose a layout that allowed us to do all of those things in our new tiny home!
Next we needed to downsize! Moving out of our apartment was one of the last steps that we did but it took lots of preparation to do it. We wanted and needed to sell everything we owned since we were significantly downsizing our home. We started to sort through the things that we did not want anymore and started to post them on Facebook maketplace, Offer Up and instagram. We sold a lot of our larger items on there because it was so easy for people to see it and claim it and then we sorted through our entire apartment and sold it, donated it or stored it at my mom’s house.
Here are some tips that we think will help you prep for van life!
Research and plan ahead, just know it might all change again and again
Save as much money as possible for this process, it’s not cheap to get started but it’s worth every penny
It’s okay to be nervous or scared about your changes happening in your life, just know it’ll get better
Don’t let anyone discourage you from fulfilling your dream…ANYONE!
Don’t be afraid to let go of things you no longer need or use
Give yourself a decent amount of time to sort through your things to get rid of, sell or store
you don’t need to know what you’re doing as long as you try and give it your all the whole way through
Be Patient with yourself , your partner if present, and the process, everything will turn out how it’s meant to be
