The Homeless Landlord's Van Life
by John Lawrence
Van life is somewhere between homelessness and apartment living. Rather than pay exorbitant rents, some people are living in their vans and working remotely. It makes sense to live cheaply, not be tied down and save your money. There are websites such as Bearfoot Theory which provide a how to guide for living in a van. This particular guide recommend solutions which cost a pretty penny especially for the van itself. On the other hand I was homeless for two separate one year periods in 1993 and 2005. At the same time I had my home rented out so I had a steady stream of rental money coming in. So I was a homeless landlord! Bearfoot endeavors to make life on the road glamorous which it can probably be, but she's touting a more luxurious van lifestyle than the one that suited me. However, although I took some extensive vacations in my van, primarily I was a worker with my own window cleaning and painting business. With a cell phone and voicemail I didn't miss any job requests. I had what I called a WSUV - a Work Sleep Utility Vehicle which was a Ford E-150 cargo super van, actually two different vans in each of the two periods I participated in "van life." I did some conversion work, the main thing of which was to put a 4 inch foam pad on the floor covered by indoor outdoor carpet. A double sleeping bag made for comfortable sleeping atop the foam. I couldn't stand up so the foam made it comfortable on my knees. I had built in shelves for both work materials and my personal effects including food and clothes. For the second van I had a solar panel on the roof, a microwave and a bar refrigerator. My refrigeration and microwave capabilities though were marginal. Of course I had my two ladders on the roof which were very necessary for the kind of work I did.
I had a storage room for my other stuff. It was critical to drop off my paint buckets after a job because I didn't want to have those fumes in my van while sleeping. I also didn't spend that much time in my van except for driving to and from jobs and sleeping. In the morning I did my ablutions, swam and showered at the YMCA. In the evenings I worked on my laptop or read while listening to CDs with headphones at local college and university libraries until they closed. I used their WiFi. Then I chose a parking spot on a public street and went to sleep around 10 PM. I arose at 6 AM so as to pull out of the parking spot before I attracted attention, hopefully. I had pre-scouted out parking spots. They had to be acceptable according to certain self imposed criteria. #1 They had to be level. #2 They couldn't be directly in font of someone's house. #3 I had to be able to blend in with other vehicles parked along the street. #4 I couldn't stick out like a sore thumb. #5 It had to be close to a YMCA. There were very few times in those two one year periods when I was called out by the police or Neighborhood Watch, and those times were when I got too careless about where I parked. My work van blended in more seamlessly with other vehicles than would a Mercedes 4x4 which the lady in Bearfoot Theory uses.
A couple other notes about my van: I had a simple shower curtain extension pole across the front behind the front seats with two pieces of fabric hanging down which I could open during the day and close at night for privacy. I opened the two front door windows a crack at night for ventilation and I had a rear camper type window which opened a crack also. I had a layer of dark plastic film on both the rear and side windows so nobody could see in. So I was pretty secure in my privacy while sleeping, and sleeping in a double sleeping bag with my pillows on 4 inches of foam was very comfortable. In the morning I would "deep six" my pillows in the sleeping bags and scoot them out of the way so I could access my work materials or other items more readily. I had a couple of pee bottles in case I had to go at night or couldn't make it to the YMCA in time to use the bathroom there. During the day I usually used my customers' rest rooms. In the morning after swimming and showering at the Y, I went to Starbucks for my venti mocha and drank a Kern's juice which I stored in the van.
I took a few 3 week vacations during the time I lived in my van using the same techniques - showering and swimming at a local YMCA, scouting acceptable parking spots for sleeping whether I was on the road or just staying in one place for awhile, and spending evenings at a local university library till it closed. During all these road trips I was booking jobs via my cell phone and voicemail for the week I would get back to home base. Since I was self employed in the "gig economy", I wasn't tied down in terms of my work. I could book jobs or not book jobs at my convenience. I also traveled a lot including visiting family on the east coast. During both these one year periods, I received a monthly rental check from my tenants. It was a good way to save money. In this day and age of exorbitant rents, I would recommend van living and working as an alternative. I have fond memories of my WSUV
