How we made #VANLIFE a reality

Van life or even living on the road is feasible for most. Now I am not going to say it is for everyone because everyone's situation looks different. We are here to tell you how we are doing it and maybe it'll inspire something in you that you maybe thought wasn't possible!

I have been dreaming of van life for about three years and I never thought it would actually happen for me. My goal since I was little has been to travel all over the world. It wasn't until I saw a TikTok of a couple showing pretty videos of what looked like a custom home but shrunk down to fit in a ProMaster. I was blown away that someone could make the inside of a van look cozy. What I loved about @Courtandnate is that they also showed the "downside" of van life but in no way did that scare me away. I didn't even realize #VANLIFE existed at the volume it was at on social media.

This is when I knew Aaron and I could definitely make living on the road happen. I write goals above each month in my planner it helps me make those goals actual things because that is the first thing I see when I open that month. The third week of January I had wrote above February "Buy a van, Start the build". A few days later I started the search on OfferUp and was wondering where we would get 2K-5K to put towards a van with all our bills. I prayed hard after losing our first van that we had made an offer on that was listed for $1,200. I felt discouraged and was back to thinking "how the hell are we going to make this work??" but I sat in my car and prayed for a cheap enough van. That next day after losing the initial van we wanted I saw Beau listed for $1,200 and I asked the guy if he'd go any lower because it was a 1992 so there was bound to be a lot of mechanical work. To my surprise he said he could go $800. We were so thrilled we went and picked Beau up that day.

The take away from that is when you feel like it isn't possible pour out positivity do not give up and keep trying. Do your research don't be afraid to try and make them go lower, and you can do this life style with any kind of budget. Court and Nate sold basically everything and lived with a mattress and some plastic drawer organizers for their clothes while they were building their van. We are still paying rent and have car payments and all the regular life bills and still have money to make it work because we make sacrifices so that we are able to LIVE later.

Our monthly bill breakdown

(I am doing a joined break down for both of us together this may look different for just one person. Also we are young enough to where our parents still take care of health insurance and phone bills so that may also be different for you but it is still possible.)

Rent/Water $900 (We live in a $2228 a month house and split rent between 5 people)

Electric $80 (our whole electric is about $200 currently and split 5 ways we pay this much)

Wifi $41.20 (split normally $103)

Cheyan's 2 car payments together $589 (still owed on a previous car that took a poop on me)

Car Insurance $218

Food $400 (give or take)

Adobe LRC/Photoshop $10

Canva $12

Apple Music $10

Gas $300 (doing a range not saying we use this much/little every month because gas prices vary and the amount we drive differs)

Total: $2,560.20 (about how much our monthly bills are)

I make about $2,000 a month and Aaron makes about $3,200 a month so we live within our means and of course there are so many other costs that are not monthly like car maintenance and if we need to fix something in the house etc..)

Here is a breakdown of what we have purchased so far.

(minus any mechanical parts I will be doing a separate blog post on that for anyone who stumbles upon another G30 van with them being on the more rare side.)