We have been living in our van for three months now, and we wanted to share the items we have purchased to make life easier on the road. As we transitioned out of a 2,400 square foot house into a 64 square foot van, we wanted to purchase as little as possible. Surely, some of our items from our house would work in the van! We purchased or were gifted a few items but the majority of our van is filled from items we previously owned. Score!

Here are the eight items we purchased or were gifted before we moved into the van:

1. Jump Starter Box. If you don’t have one of these, just go buy one now, even if you don’t live in a van. This device has already paid for itself. We helped someone at 5 am jump his car at a rest stop, he would have had to wait another 2 hours (and pay) for a tow truck. We jumped the van during the van build. PSA, drive the van around some, especially if you are going to leave the doors open constantly while building. We helped a friend with a dead battery while we were going to see the poppies in California. So easy to use and worth it!
2. 12V USB and USB-C Chargers. Most of our devices are charged or powered via USB. We could have installed USB outlets into the van but didn’t want them to become obsolete as new USB technology is adopted every couple of years. So we just installed your typical cigarette lighter type 12V outlet into the van. Then we purchased chargers to go in the outlet. This way when a new charging technology is introduced, only the charger needs to be replaced (much cheaper!) rather than the outlet. We tried a couple of different styles of 12V chargers; our favorite includes a USB-B port and a USB-C port. Our phones and laptop charge using USB-C. The one complaint about this product is the blue light around the face. It wakes you up at night, but this was easily remedied with some black electrical tape.
3. Backpacking Chairs. We owned camping chairs, you know, the standard fold up into a large bag kind. However, those were too big for our van layout. (We could probably have fit them where we store our yoga mats, but giving up any yoga mats just wasn’t an option.) After contemplating the brand name ones versus the less expensive ones, and reading lots of online reviews, we opted for two different cheaper options from Amazon. The main issue I read about the cheaper ones is that the seat material wears out faster, aka gets slack. That’s one of the reasons we tried two different alternatives. Hopefully, if they do indeed eventually become slack, one will perform better than the other. Both are compact and lightweight. They fit perfectly into our bench seat storage areas. We slightly prefer the Trekology over the Moon Lence due to the little pockets on the sides and the loops that aid in assembling the seat onto the frame. They are both comfortable, sturdy chairs. Based on our experience so far, we would purchase both again.
4. Small Trash Can. We only had one spot to fit a trash can: on the inside of our sink cabinet. The space is small and we searched for the anything that would fit. We finally stumbled across this one and it would even mount to the inside of the cabinet doors allowing us to store some items on the floor in front of our water tanks.
5. Dashboard Phone Holder. We have mixed feelings about this one. It works perfectly for holding our phone securely on the dash. However the wireless charge feature does not always work for us. This could be due to the cases on our phones or the angle we have the phone positioned. We wanted a way to securely hold our phone for easy viewing during navigation and this product meets those needs.
6. Road Atlas. I love looking at maps, plus didn’t want to be stranded somewhere without cell service. However, we have not needed this on the road. I guess it is a testament to the time in which we live.
7. Pixelbook Laptop. First off, we are totally google device users. We have Pixel phones so it was only logical to have our next laptop be a Chromebook. Our previous laptop was a 10 year old MacBook that would no longer hold a charge. It was time.
8. Tow Hitch. We used this to haul some items in a Uhaul to Georgia for storage at our parents but figured it was good to have on the road as well just in case. Dolly came equipped with a tow package so this makes everything all the easier.

Here are the seven items we purchased to make life easier on the road during the first three months:

1. An Electric Kettle. We use it for tea and boiling water for washing dishes. It was a huge upgrade to us since we were using fuel to boil water and now we use our solar power. Yay! We tried to find a good 12V one but in the end just went with a 120V kettle. The 12V ones we were able to find were all low Wattage, and took 25-30 minutes to boil water… not going to work for us.
2. Dog Food Container. We knew we needed something before we moved into the van but just didn’t get this one figured out until after. We didn’t have room for any of the other options we found, but then we stumbled on this one. We love that we can hang it on a hook so it doesn’t take up valuable floor space. There are also spots to hold treats and a collapsible dog bowl.
3. Car Back Seat Organizer. At first, we had the extra space on the back of the passenger seat and just thought we could add storage there. Now, we love having quick access items there. (Toothbrushes, deodorant, wet wipes, etc.)
4. Reading Light. This is one of those items that we contemplated buying before leaving, but we said let’s wait until we are on the road to see if we really need one. Well, we do. Andrew pretty much always stays up later than me. I got tired of the bedroom zone overhead lights shining in my face. So we bought him a reading light. We have kindles, but we are trying to get through a few paper books we owned before moving into the van.
5. Recycle Bin. We liked our Camco trash can so we bought another one for recycle. On the recycle we just leave the top off; otherwise, it would interfere with our water hose. The van has lots of tight fits!
6. Sharp Knife. All our knives were dull. We like this one because it has a sharpener built into the sheath. Yep, that’s about it.
7. Bluetooth Keyboard. We only own one laptop for us to share. As we started to build this website, we needed the ability for both of us to write content. It is easy to connect to our phones and is compact for storage.

The fact that we had to purchase so few items to live in the van speaks to how many items can be repurposed and reused. Think about items you could repurpose or reuse.

I grew up in a family of extreme repurpose-ers and reuse-ers. My grandmother reused aluminum foil, carefully washing it each time, until it basically disintegrated. I’m not suggesting that extreme. I know it’s tough sometimes. Start small. For example, can you reuse a food container for food storage or hardware storage or knick knack storage? My dad organizes all his hardware in previous peanut butter and mayonnaise jars. They are easy to store, won’t spill, and don’t cost anything extra. Think about it!

-Hillary

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