Needs vs Wants-You wanna live in a Van?

[Feuer Frei!]

I've lived out of my '79 HZ Holden Panelvan for a brief while. That was years ago, was tough, but looks like this guy has a few up on me:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/education/edlife/ken-ilgunas-lives-in-a-van-while-a-graduate-student-at-duke-university.html?pagewanted=all&_r=3&

[fireftr18]

I think if it was just my wife and me, we could it. If it was just me, I know I could do it.

[Sailor Steve]

The winter of 1972-73 was spent in my first vehicle, a 1963 Ford Falcon van.

[Buddahaid]

The winter of 1972-73 was spent in my first vehicle, a 1963 Ford Falcon van.

Gor! We used to dream of living in a Ford Falcon. All we had was a Yugo with three wheels, and there were five of us........

[GoldenRivet]

My work often requires me to live in my 21 Foot RV, its not much larger than a van honestly

i dont have trouble with it, and i find it sort of refreshing. I am outdoors more frequently, and after work it kinda feels like being on vacation

[Stealhead]

Just don't be like Matt Foley and live in a van down by the river.:D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaoM0FyLmGY

[August]

1978 Dodge Tradesman 200. I never lived in it but did some extended trips using it as a mobile hotel room. As I remember it got pretty stuffy in there even with the moon roof open.

[Red October1984]

Just don't be like Matt Foley and live in a van down by the river.:D

Thrice divorced and living on a steady diet of government cheese....LIVING IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!

http://www.therealityjunkies.com/wp-content/gallery/teen-mom-ep4/matt-foley-in-a-van-down-by-the-river.jpg

[em2nought]

I'm looking for one right now. LOL Only to stay overnight once a week during summer mowing season saving an extra 100 miles each week. :D

I really wish I'd had one while I was in the Navy instead of dumping cash into a flat in Dunoon.

[Sailor Steve]

Gor! We used to dream of living in a Ford Falcon. All we had was a Yugo with three wheels, and there were five of us........
That's me...lap of luxury. :D

[Hottentot]

I have been thinking of some sort of moving solution once I graduate. My first employments will most likely be short term and I will likely have to travel. Would make it easier if I wouldn't have to get a new apartment every time I move, possibly from one end of the country to another. It does have certain appeal in it.

Side note:



I HAD been accepted into Duke (http://gradschool.duke.edu/)’s graduate liberal studies program, but I couldn’t afford it. I had just paid off my $32,000 undergraduate debt, I was nearly broke, and the prospect of taking out loans was unthinkable. Going back into debt made about as much sense as running out of a burning building just to run into another.

Today, the cost of higher education is ridiculous. Average tuition at a public university, in state, is $8,655. At a private, it’s $29,056. My program would cost, in total, a reasonable $11,000 after grant aid. But it’s not just tuition that puts students into debt; it’s room and board. At Duke, where rates are similar to universities across the country, a non-air-conditioned dorm with two roommates costs $5,464 an academic year. The cheapest meal plan for freshmen is a ghastly $5,540, or $27 a day


Seeing that I can get paid and not the other way around to get a degree all the way to having a doctorate, I think I'd rather stay here in the the cesspool of socialism for now.

[Jimbuna]

I'll stick with the hotel room thanks :)

[swamprat69er]

In order to avoid a 339 mile round trip home every week, I live on my 26' boat in the summer. (I only work in the summer, so no worries about the cooler weather from November to April.)

[magic452]

It wasn't exactly a van but a 28 foot or so camp trailer.

My mom and dad were having a new house built and to save money we moved from a rental house into this trailer and stayed at a small lake near LA.

Nothing like today's trailers because this was in 1948. Picture 5 kids,from 2 to 12 years old, and 2 adults in a 28 foot trailer for most of a summer. For us kids it was camping, dad was at work most of the time but poor mom, you can only guess what she went trough.

Magic

[Onkel Neal]

I knew what I was missing in my life. It wasn’t things. It wasn’t heat, plumbing, an iPhone or a plasma-screen TV. It was people. It was a community. It was a meaningful role to play in society. And these were things — as much as I wanted them — that I knew I could temporarily do without.

Hmmm... sounds like so many of the mentally deranged shooters we read about. "He didn't have any friends or have a social life".... :-?

Edit: more can be found here http://www.kenilgunas.com/p/vandwelling.html