Often people ask what is the daily life of a van dweller like. I think we all know it is not like those Instagram moments curated and crafted for their picturesque beauty. What people really want to know about is the daily grind of a typical person. I think I can help with that one.

I may be a bit of an odd duck but most of the time I like living in my van. Sure it would be nice to be able to stand up, and there are some limitations here and there but overall I think my life is quite pleasant. However, I believe people that look to it because they think it will be a great cost saving thing or because its full of amazing sights are going to be disappointed if they jump into van life.

Do I have those wonderful and amazing experiences? Oh yeah I do.

Lets not forget about home for a couple several days to relax.

More often then not though I’m in a place like this.

Most of the time my life is not very exciting or pretty. The saving money topic I’ll cover in another article because it is a complex topic deserving of a thought out article.

So if my life isn’t full of amazing beauty and a bulging bank account what draws me to it? Freedom, and flexibility. I have no physical ties so I can up and move quickly because of a hurricane or a job offer.

For example, that second picture above is from when I was on vacation. I was going to stay in town but I got restless and just started driving north. I drove for the better part of 6 hours the first day and likely another 4 or 5 the second day. I ended up about 10 hours away from where I had been staying for the previous year without any serious consideration.

Because of that, it is a dream to me. However, this dream still has chores. I spend most of my time during the week taking care of my dog, myself, and my van. What few bits of spare time I have I usually waste on audio books, sometimes a show or two and projects — assuming I’m not just sleeping.

After work and chores, I’m usually just too tired to do much else. It wouldn’t matter if I had a home or a van. All that matters to me during the week is that I can sleep wake up and repeat the cycle.

The van, that is for the weekend.

During the week I do stuff I don’t want to like:

Balance my finances

Pay credit cards and bills

Clean my room (Ie my van)

Wash clothes

Ensure Athena is getting enough attention, exercise and training.

Routine maintenance on my home and car. (Ie my van)

Oddly enough, know what I did before the van? Exactly the same thing. The only major difference is I had to get rid of many of my specialized tools for projects and be more social to seek assistance in both tools and space. That has greatly helped me though as it has also exposed me to other opinions, processes, and methods for approaching different problems and projects.

I always say van life is when its traveling and van dwelling is when your stationary. Neither will solve your problems, or alter your hobbies much. It might facilitate or hinder either of them, but only to a small degree. Us humans are mostly creatures of habit returning to the same ol same ol.

What do you expect will change in your life once you make the transition to van life?