

5) Packing too much - I like to park my van in a park’s parking lot. Send my hubby on a walk with the boy and the dog, and then find peace in cleaning out the van. We purged everything non-essential in our life one year before we left for van life. This was our way of practicing minimalism before we really started the van life. It was one of the best preparations we did. I find myself constantly having people want to look inside our van, especially when I’m cleaning it. Which is every other day. They are always impressed with the amount of space we have in our living area. We packed only the essentials. With 3 people and a dog it was important for us to have our space for decompression and to keep the mind clear. Things like a foldable bed, overhead storage, and under seat storage are crucial. I’ve been in countless van dwellings that have a ridiculous amount of knickknacks, too many clothes, unnecessary technology, a library of books, etc. If you’re urban boondocking like me and my family, you’ll pretty much always be by a real city. Unless you’re hiking or something. You’ll have plenty of access to libraries, laundromats, grocery stores and so on. Only pack what you need. One major selling point of van life is freedom. Freedom of time, freedom for adVANture, and freedom from stuff.





6) Buying more food than you need - I don’t think it’s necessary to have a full on fridge in your van house, but having a 3 or 5 day cooler (or a Yeti if your budget allows) is nice if you like to eat fresh fruits and veggies, and for keeping probiotics cold. We have a Coleman 3-day cooler. During the first 2 weeks of van life we kept buying and throwing away food because we couldn’t figure out a rhythm for buying and using our groceries. After sometime we learned that buying food for just a couple of days at a time works way better for our needs. We go grocery shopping every couple of days. It’s become something of a hobby to wander around grocery stores or box chains like Meijer and Walmart after a long day, or early in the morning on a slow day. We don’t keep much non-perishable/snack food on hand either because of storage. It’s also fun to be spontaneous and try food that’s popular or in season for where you find yourself on any given day, and if you have to worry about wasting the food you have on hand, you can’t do this.





7) Deferring maintenance - If you use your car to drive to work everyday, or if your car is just a leisure car you can ignore a knocking sway bar, or a slipping transmission for a decent amount of time before it has to get taken care of. But, when your van/car is your home it is 100% imperative that you take care of all maintenance and repair issues as soon as you detect a problem. This goes for small things like windshield wipers all the way up to the big issues. The bigger the job the higher the odds that you’ll have to leave your van house at the shop for longer. While some mechanics will work with your situation if you explain to them that you’re van lifing and need your van back each night because it’s where you sleep, but some mechanics are not so understanding. You don’t want to be in a situation where you have to get your van fixed and pay for hotels. That’s double the expense. Get your van checked out often, and whenever possible take it to a mechanic in a city where you know someone who can give you a solid reference.



The appeal of vanlife is the free spirited, “I’m just here for the ride,” attitude of the lifestyle. While there are plenty of days when you’ll find this to be true, there are still plenty of mistakes to be made along the way to creating the perfect van life adVANture. The only way to find out what works for you is to get out there and do it. If this blog was helpful to you please feel free to share it with someone else who might find it useful. If there’s something I left out comment below. #thisisvanlifebaby