How do you charge your computer?

While in the van I have a secondary battery system that is charged off the alternator while I drive. So I plug my laptop into a car power source that’ll run off the 12 volts the secondary batteries provide. I’ll also charge smaller things like my cell phone this way, things that I have a 12 volt adapter for.

Otherwise what I’ll do is put all my rechargeable devices into my backpack and have them plugged into a ten foot extension cord. My computer will also be plugged in too. That way when I use free wifi somewhere I also get a charge on things like my flashlight while I’m there and no one is the wiser. I leave everything in my backpack and just run out the extension cord and the line to the laptop. Of course, all this is moot if I’m visiting friends or family. Then I charge away right in the open.

I have yet to use or even really need an inverter for the van. One of the downsides of using one for a laptop is you’re putting yet another conversion device in the power chain and each one is turning valuable amp hours into heat and waste.

This is someplace that I think I’d seriously enjoy living in if it was populated with friends. Think of the bbq parties you could have!

How do you do showers?

Generally I don’t actually. I bathe about every three days or so and in between make liberal use of baby wipes to get the day’s labors off me then every third day or so take a bath in the van.

I have a big bowl that I use as a basin and use either a solar shower or a jug of water as my water source. For soap I make sure that it’s something that is biodegradable as I just dump it outside the van and also easy to rinse off. Something like Dr. Bronner’s works well. So basically it’s just washing up as if it’s 1850 and there’s no indoor plumbing.

When I can I do love a nice, proper shower. But for that I rely on friends and family rather than use things like truck stops or health clubs.

My way may not be the most convenient but I do keep clean and I’m not reliant on paying per cleansing.

I was wondering if you have any tips on what kind of van to buy? I noticed you said somewhere that a mini-van would be better? Do you still feel that way?

Some people swear by pickup campers or old U-Haul trucks or white commercial vans for van dwelling but personally I think regular passenger vans are the best. They blend in just about anywhere. People need to park near hospitals, workplaces, schools, you name it. So it’ll blend in more than some scary looking old U-Haul truck–which might look okay in a commercial district but I’d hate to be the person caught sleeping in one near residential areas as every home owner will have their eyes on the scary looking oddity on their street. We do after all live in a society of fear being post Oklahoma city bombings and 9/11, not to mention the usual boogeymen that people have always been afraid of.

I’d suggest figuring out how much space you absolutely need then buying a vehicle to fit that. If you can get into a minivan then that’s great! You have wonderful mpgs! But if you want a palatial ballroom to dance in then a 27 foot U-Haul is going to be for you. Just don’t get upset when you have a seven mpg vehicle to move around instead of a minivan at seventeen.

Personally I just purchased a full-sized American classic van–the deep freezer on wheels edition. A big beautiful box. It’s the size that seems to fit my needs but to each their own. My last one was an extended body but I found myself not needing all the space so this time I bought a shorty, mostly because I found a great one at a really good price though I was actually looking more for a long one. But, I’ll make due with it and just have to design the interior to be more tidy and efficient.

How much do you spend each month on living? Like, how much money do you need to make each month to survive?

It varies by how much I get really. I don’t have the most stable of incomes. Sometimes it is two hundred, sometimes it is a thousand. But I’ve lived on as little as $300 a month for extended periods. It just meant that driving around casually wasn’t an option as gas was my biggest and most controllable expense. Food is easy to go cheap on especially if you’re willing to use food pantries though I hate cooking in my van so I usually just purchase things like granola in bulk and fruits and veggies that I eat raw. And for hot food I’ll buy from the dollar menus at fast food joints.

The real total will vary greatly from person to person as we all have different standards by which we wish to live. Some people have medical expenses, for example, to deal with while others don’t. The best thing to do would be track your own spending for a month, see what you spend, eliminate that which is fixed address based (like the cable tv bill) and see what you can do about minimizing the rest.

Someone suggested to me taking a guitar and playing on street corners. Have you done that? Do you think one could make enough to live and get around?

Joshua Bell the classical violinist who can play any venue in the world that he wants and people will drool for more tried busking in a subway as an experiment. The result was he was almost entirely ignored. So apparently being able to play well isn’t the trick. The buskers that I see that seem to make money have a hook and work it to death. You’ve got just a couple seconds to reach people. For years when I was in downtown Chicago everyday I’d hear, constantly, the same riff from Take Five by Dave Brubeck on sax. The guy was there as a fixture so I imagine he was making enough to make the rote repetition of the same handful of notes worth while.

I used to have a close friend who was an evangelist who’d play accordion on the streets as it was the loudest, most obnoxious sounding thing he could do and it got him the attention he wanted for his outreach. He specifically said that the guitar was too quiet and easy to ignore. Of course, your mileage may vary…

I’ve not busked but I’m sure there must be someone who has that can comment or other sites that deal with this more specifically and with greater authority.

Thanks to Jesse for the questions.

An article on the creator and the car here. The car has it’s own site here.
Given that gas in my area is now over four bucks a gallon all this thing needs is a comfy reclining front seat to sleep in.

“One of the things I think is very important to realize is that the growth in the world oil consumption is not that strong.”
—David Kelly, chief market strategist, J.P. Morgan Funds; The Washington Post, May 4, 2008

“…There is substantial evidence that the large amount of speculation in the current market has significantly increased [oil] prices.”
—U.S. Senate Staff Report, The Role of Market Speculation in Rising Oil and Gas Prices, June 27, 2006

An interesting article in Business Week theorizing about why gas prices are so high.

1967 Ford Econoline

I’m using a new program for my emailing needs, Thunderbird, which has a pretty awe inspiring spam filter. Previously I’m sure I lost a bunch of your real emails in the deluge of spam–a good hundred plus on a bad day. So my apologies to anyone who’s written that I’ve not responded to. Please blame the Viagra merchants and not me.

How about an update for us avid fans?!
Any luck on your brakes?
–Desmond

Since I’ve last written I’ve managed to save up enough money to purchase a newer van rather than repair the old one. The new ride is ten years newer and has a third of the miles on the clock. It’s still not converted over to “full stealth” mode, nor does it have the secondary battery system installed yet, but it is a fitful place nonetheless. For the curious, it’s a standard American made full-sized van though this time I bought a “shorty” instead of an extended in part because that was the awesome deal that fell into my lap and partially because it’s easier to maneuver.

Personally I’ve been making more money, hence the new van, though still not enough to afford “normal” housing. At this point I’ve become so used to living in my van that shifting back to an apartment of some sort would be a novel experience and one that I’m not ready to make at this time. Certainly not at this time of year while the weather is glorious outside. The cool breeze through open windows is a joy and not a cursed draft.