Preparing to live in a van is complicated. Everything I have learnt over the years of living alone and supporting myself will be different. There are changes I decided were important to make this new lifestyle easier to adapt too. I also thought that it was the perfect time to pick up new habits and make the changes I’ve always wanted.

1. Saving money. To be able to afford the van in the first place I need money. To be able to convert the van. To be able to travel I need money. To be able to buy tickets to Nepal, Thailand or New Zealand – I need money. Therefore, something that is really important is to learn how to save. A friend gave me a savings jar as a graduation present, I put all the money from one job in there and when it comes to March I’ll see what I have. I try not to buy stuff that I don’t need, prepare lunches, make things from scratch (candles, smoothies, cleaning products etc.) and luckily this all ties in well with the process of going zero waste.
2. Going Zero Waste. I’ve always been religious with recycling, it is important to me that I recycle more than I throw away. Over the past year though it has become clearer to me that recycling is not enough to make a difference. It is definitely better than nothing and it is the minimum we should all do for the environment. However, one night cooking Spag Bowl I realised that I had 3 non-recyclable plastic containers from the meat, 3 non-recyclable plastic wrappers from different vegetables and 2 glass recyclable glass jars from the pasta sauce. I felt sick from the amount of rubbish that I was putting in a hole somewhere. I decided I definitely had to do things differently because it can be done differently. So now, meat needs to be bought from the butchers where they can put it in my take away containers, pasta sauce is made by using fresh ingredients, I found a zero-waste shop in London and i’m on my journey to zero waste. Its a slow process but I will make it.
3. Cooking Smart. I am definitely not the only person who loves the look of a nicely stocked, colourful fridge. Now however, I love the look of an empty fridge with tubs of left overs, jars of fresh ingredients. meat and vegetables. I’ve had to learn to cook with what I have and not cook with what the shops sell. This is important because not only will my fridge be small but I need to ensure no waste, make everything last and get by with less food in the fridge for longer periods of time. Best to start now!
4. Reducing my wardrobe. Another big change from this modern lifestyle to van life is the wardrobe size. At the moment I have a draw each for my underwear, tops, trousers and PJs/Sports gear. I will have to reduce this A LOT. This is something I’ve seen a lot of women living in a van struggle with. So I will start now. I need to go through my clothes (again…) and reduce what I have (recycling, reusing or taking them to charity shops). No more overflowing draws and tops that I never wear!
5. Learning from other. To prepare for van life you need to know what to expect. This is where learning from others comes in and is very important to not experience as many difficulties along the way. Luckily, we live in an era where gathering knowledge is easy. YouTube has been my main source of learning about van conversion and van life. There are some amazing videos that have taught me a lot about what to do.