This reminds of a good friend. He got a job making six figures at Google straight out of college, and then lived in his van--in the Google parking lot--while saving every penny he earned. He took showers on campus and only ate free Google food. After a few years, he went into a mini-retirement and devoted his time to traveling around the world and volunteering.
Living in a Van
11–20 of 166 posts
Re: Living in a Van
#12It seems to me that a water reservoir with a tube going near the engine (for heating) and a small water pump, coupled with an inflatable bathtub could solve the shower problem.
I've never lived in a van, but my family used to go camping and we used a similar system (inflatable bathtub inside the tent) so that my younger brother could take a bath even if it was too cold outside for him.
Re: Living in a Van
#13> Actually, you’d break even much sooner because your camper van is an asset. If you bought a used camper van from the 1980s, it’s unlikely to lose much more value under your watch. If you fix it up, it may even have appreciated in value when you look to sell it. If you resell it for anywhere near what you paid for it, you break even in just a couple of months. If you found a great deal on a van, you’d break even soo…
When talking with a lamborghini dealer, I was informed that some exceptionally rich people will purchase one of those, keep it for 3 years, and then sell it back at a profit because they depreciate so slowly. I thought this was interesting.
Unless they just leave it parked, they are unlikely to recoup the cost of maintaining it over that time:
http://www.secretentourage.com/lifestyle/autos/cost-of-owner...
I was bit by this in my early 20s when I bought a really nice BMW, I hadn't considered that dealer servicing would end up costing so much.
But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.
Re: Living in a Van
#14Not quite a van or RV, but I have always found the tiny house movement interesting.
http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/
Many of them are small enough that you can legally tow them anywhere.
Re: Living in a Van
#15This seems like a romantically bohemian way to approximate a pampered middle class kid's idea of how poor people live. If you want to save money, you can try what they actually do, which is move to a less desirable neighborhood and spend one third what you do on rent for an apartment.
You live in a crazy expensive neck of the woods? Nice to meet you; I live in Japan, cry me a river. There's old folks on social security and single mothers in your town. Most of them don't shower with wet wipes.
I can't tell if my revulsion for this idea is class disdain because I'm too well off to consider it or class disdain because when I wasn't well off we had too much pride to ever stoop to anything like that.
Re: Living in a Van
#16Not receiving data on my end - here is the cached page:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:blog.pr...
Re: Living in a Van
#17My favorite is this RV built by 3 Japanese students:
http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/tiny-tr...
More details:
Re: Living in a Van
#18Obligatory Chris Farley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nhgfjrKi0o
Re: Living in a Van
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
When talking with a lamborghini dealer, I was informed that some exceptionally rich people will purchase one of those, keep it for 3 years, and then sell it back at a profit because they depreciate so slowly. I thought this was interesting.
Unless they just leave it parked, they are unlikely to recoup the cost of maintaining it over that time: http://www.secretentourage.com/lifestyle/autos/cost-of-owner... I was bit by this in my early 20s when I bought a really nice BMW, I hadn't considered that dealer servicing would end up costing so much. But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.
They do just leave it parked.
Exceptionally rich people who buy Lamborghini and other exotic cars usually have several or even dozens of them. For the most part, they just sit in the garage.
Re: Living in a Van
#20Regarding the topic of internet access, I wonder how many van dwellers resort to piggybacking on nearby homeowners' unsecured wifi networks? Seems like if you're trying to minimize costs, rolling up alongside an open network is a great way to get your Hulu and Netflix without going over your data limits.