Essentials for living in a van (Pt 2)

Dia duit agus fáilte – that’s Irish for hello and welcome – to my blog about van life, thriving with rheumatoid arthritis and living a dream life. This is second part of the essentials for living in a van. Read part 1 here.

In part 1 of this article, I talked about toilets, kitchens and heating; this time, let’s talk about the essentials for living in a van when you want a fantastic, interesting and engaging life. You will also find van life essentials for safety as well as how to make van life just a little easier (and cleaner.)

For us, a fantastic van life means time together, time for our hobbies, and knowing that our van home is safe, easy to maintain and generally a great place to live.

Keep reading to learn which essentials make living in a van happier, easier and safer.

Why are you living in a van?

Whether you are still pondering living in a van or are in the final planning stages to do the ultimate downsizing, this is probably one of the most important questions you can ask yourself. Read my Post Are you thinking about living in a van? for more questions and considerations.

Do you want to reduce expenses so you can save? Are you yearning for life on the road? Ready to pursue your hobbies full-time? Whatever your reasons for living in a van, you will want to be clear on your essentials for living in a van in a way that brings you joy, makes your life simpler and keeps you safe.

There are three primary reasons we chose to live in a van:

1. We were not happy living on our farm and did not know what was next. Instead of staying where we were comfortable, we turned life on its head. We came up with a five-year no-plan plan. For the next five years we are committed to making no big plans or decisions.
2. We both longed for adventure; traveling the US sounded like a great place to start.
3. We love being outside – we both hike and ski, I walk as often as possible and Tom loves to cycle. We enjoy the beach and mountains and wanted more time to pursue our hobbies in our favorite places.

Our essentials for living in a van

As we planned our new lives, we spent hours watching videos to learn how other van-lifers had built their perfect home. After we settled on the basics (toilet, heating, kitchen etc…) we turned our attention to those elements we would most need in order for van life to be the best possible adventure for us.

Despite having done five major remodels in our homes, we had no clue what we were doing in a van and there was a huge learning curve. We are so grateful to all the van lifers who have posted videos and how-to posts; without them, we would not have our dream tiny home on wheels.

In addition to the basic essentials, we have two categories that make our van life experience all we hoped it would be:

Celebrating life

If your hobbies don’t fill you with delight, find new hobbies!

How do you fit two sets of skis and all the gear AND two bikes in a Sprinter conversion van? With determination, careful planning and innovation.

We have met many people who say they could never live in a van because there is so little room and they could never fit all their essential belongings. I love this opening to a conversation; it affords us the opportunity to share how we live, what we have learned is truly essential and we also get to brag about having two sets of skis, two bikes, all the gear, a full kitchen and a large dog in 84sqft.

And while I know bikes and skis are not essentials for living in a van for everyone, I believe it’s the principle rather than the objects that is important. Maybe your essential is a surfboard or guitar. Can you not imagine life without your painting easel and supplies? There is something healing and cathartic about being very clear on what you truly need to be happy in this life. Even if you never (want to) live in a van, getting clear on your essentials is certainly an exercise in self-care and love.

Bike storage in a van

It is easy to find examples of van lifers with bikes in their van; fitting bikes in the garage is a primary reason for an elevated bed. I used this Far Out Ride post to guide my design for the bike storage tray. After trimming the dimensions to the bare minimum, I mounted the drawer slides to the floor to give us an extra 4-5 inches in width and placed the front mounts to fit both bikes without seats.

We slide the two front wheels between the bikes along with shoes, seats, safety lights and more. It takes five minutes to put each bike together – a small inconvience for the pleasure our bikes give.

Ski storage in a van

I designed the ski storage box which, honestly, was not hard. I measured the length and width needed to store both sets of skis on their sides (to prevent bowing) and built a two-storey box using dowels to hold the upper skis. The biggest trick/secret is to cut an opening in the garage wall so the ski box slides all the way through the garage and into the first kitchen cabinet, beside the wheel well.

Practice yoga inside your van

As I mention in this post about staying healthy in a van, I use yoga to keep my body strong, flexible and as pain-free as possible. Finding space for my mat was one of our essentials for living in a van. Yes, I can (and do) take my mat outside when the weather cooperates but in order to practice regularly, I knew I’d need to fit my yoga mat in the van.

In the early stages of design, I measured my mat and then configured the kitchen cabinets around that. What we lost in cabinet space, we made up in floor space and I gained a yoga space. It is tight and there are poses I cannot do in the narrow space but I am able to practice regularly and that definitely brings joy to my van life.

A safe and simple van life

One of the appeals of van life is the simplicity that comes along with owning so little, having few demands on your time and the freedom to do what makes you happy. When you live with the bare essentials for a fulfilling life, it is liberating.

One area of concern we did not really consider before we embarked on our van conversion was the need for safety which was a big flaw in our design plan. Hopefully, you will put more thought into your safety than we did in the early stages. The good news – most safety features are installed towards the end of the build so we did not have to undo any of our hard work to feel safe and secure in our tiny home on wheels.

Safety essentials for living in a van

Some of this may be a no brainer for many of you but I wanted to mention the need for a spare tire and snow chains, in case you haven’t thought of them.

We considered putting the spare tire on the back of the van but realized it would compromise too many other things. First, it would make the van at least one foot longer which would have created significant problems over the past nine months. Second, we would stand out as van lifers as few utility vans have a spare on their rear end!! Finally, it would have made opening the back doors more complicated and impacted how easy it is to access our garage.

We eventually chose to mount the spare under the van which will likely be a royal pain in the arse if we ever have to use it but such is life and the nature of compromimse.

Snow chains may not be essential for your lifestyle but they are not an option for us. The chains for a Sprinter are pricey and they take up valuable space in our already tight garage but they are one of the safety essentials for living in a van. If there is even a chance you will be driving through snow or ice, I highly recommend a set of snow chains, even if they are hard to reach in the darkest corners of your garage.

Another aspect of safety is how you will lock and secure your home. We use a simple steering wheel lock, keep a low profile with window coverings and park under street lights whenever possible. More than likely, we will add more locks if/when we build a van and travel Europe.

Keeping life simple & clean

Our tiny home on wheels gets dirty pretty quickly; between the dog, us trekking in dirt from our hikes or sand from the beach and the wind blowing in leaves.

The great news is that cleaning takes a few minutes at the most; I do a quick sweep of the floor every night before bed so I am not stepping on dirt when using the loo at 3am!

With our bikes and skis in the garage and all the messy and wet gear that accompanies both hobbies, we knew the garage would get filthy and damp. We planned ahead to waterproof the walls, bike and ski storage with rubberized paint and we sealed the floor seams to prevent any moisture seeping into the insulation or flooring.

What other ideas do you have for safety and simplicity? Please drop them in the comments below.

Final thoughts

Our essentials for living in a van will not be yours. What I hope to achieve with this post is to encourage you to get really clear on what your essentials might be and to be creative with making them fit into your new van life adventure.

I am the “queen of ideas”; if you have a problem and need to bounce suggestions and solutions around, for sure, let me know. Nothing I love more than a puzzle to noodle 😊

Please consider sharing this post on your social media, let me know your thoughts in the comments and send me your ideas for other topics you are curious about.