Jan 06
Living in a van
I have a friend who will remain nameless. He wishes to prove to the world that he would have no problem living in a van for a year. He works in finance and is convinced he could get away with just leaving a van with his mattress and clothes in the parking lot at his office. He would shower at the gym and spend most of his time at the office. He could also drive the van to other destinations during free time to be social. He figures he would save a lot of money and maybe could write a book about his experience. Does anyone see any pitfalls? We need comments here, he thinks he’s going to do it and I need you to talk him out of it. Please let me know what you think.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:48 am
uhh..that’s not me, by the way.
January 6th, 2010 at 6:54 am
Does your friend not like having sex? I’m assuming he’s single, because any girlfriend I’ve ever had would have already vetoed the idea with threats of ditching me, but it’s going to seriously hurt his ability to get laid – “Do you want to come back to my van?” makes you sound like a rapist :/
January 6th, 2010 at 6:56 am
That said, if she answers in the affirmitive you know she’ll be up for whatever freaky stuff you’re into.
January 6th, 2010 at 8:37 am
1) what if his company doesn’t want a van parked outside all the time/it gets towed/booted/etc
2) how can he have company over (romantic or otherwise)? will they sit in the passenger seat? will they even want to visit? That’s kinda lonely
3) eating out every day 3+ times will be very expensive
4)what will the book be about? how will want to read it? “Day 10: I had a long work day and the walk home to my van took me longer then normal, because Jen from accounting just had to stop me and talk about her new dog. I just don’t care enough. All I want to do is open my sliding door and jump onto my mattress and sleep all weekend long. There was some exciting news today; I did find a buy one get one free flyer on my windshield.” … I don’ think so.
January 6th, 2010 at 9:04 am
It’s going to be awful cold in the winter, and awful hot in the summer. Also, what will be so compelling about this adventure that people will want to read an entire book about it? How will he deal with eating “out” every meal for an entire year? Suppose that could be an angle to deal with. Also, what if he finds a chick? Does he get to sleep at her apt?
January 6th, 2010 at 10:18 am
Did it myself for about 15 months…I live outside of Philly…started Dec 1st 2007 until March 2008. During this time, I was very, very happy. Love the feeling I got of being free. No van…SUV. Pitfalls…many. Lifestyle change to the highest degree…If you guys would like to hear more, just let me know. There’s alot I could share and say on the matter of staying warm, safe and under the radar.
January 6th, 2010 at 10:20 am
March 2009…not March 2008
January 6th, 2010 at 10:42 am
Boring idea for a book imo.
January 6th, 2010 at 11:36 am
The only time living in a van is acceptable is when it’s down by the River!
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No one will buy that book, girls will think he’s a loser and/or molester, someone will get wise around the office and his house could be towed, spending too much time in a gym shower can change a man – and not necessarily for the better.
January 6th, 2010 at 11:37 am
I would personally be concerned about temperature. I don’t know if he wants to leave the van running all night for things like heat and a/c but that’s really bad for cars. If you do something like that in the summer, you’ll mess up your radiator fan. Plus I think conditioning the air might cost him a lot in gas to leave the van running overnight.
January 6th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Thanks for the comments so far guys. Part of the reason I think a book could be compelling is because he could do it in blog form calling it “the hedge fund bum” or something of that sort. A mystery could grow in the financial world as to who it is and the fun would be getting away with it. The temperature concerns are valid, but the garage at his office stays pretty warm in the winder and pretty cool in the summer. It’s big so he would never get towed. As for social life, you got me, that would definitely be a pitfall.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
So I’m the one contemplating doing this. Let me start off saying that socially, I think I’ll be even more social before because I’d constantly want to go over to people’s places…I’d just be unable to host. Sexually, its a non-issue…I don’t remember the last time I had sex…too fat, too laze and I’m too busy with work, etc anyways. Temperature concerns are minimal…its a covered, gated parking lot underneath the building. I’ve been working here for a few years now, and the parking lot is actually pretty well shielded from the temperature outside.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Also – I eat breakfast and lunch at the office anyways and usually eat dinner out, so I rarely cook as is.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
I don’t see any pitfalls except for DVD/TV and heat. It takes a lot of juice to run all those things/ DVD player TV. Keeping the car running would not be worth it, a generator makes a lot of noise. and raise a lot of question/ inconveniences. But Do able. you could probably jury rig a car battery to power a lap top and steal wifi but doable. a month sure, 2 months sure. 6 months sure.
he might want to put some liquid foam insulation because that is a major issue, insulation. Because a passenger . car is insulated but loses heat fast a van nothing but a soda can. Noise and climate!
January 6th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
OK. I WOULD LIKE TO REPEAT. THIS. IS. NOT. ME. that is all.
January 6th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
I can watch TV/DVDs at my friend’s place…additionally, I could watch TV if i really needed to in my office after hours, but probably wouldn’t…I don’t watch that much TV anyways. No need for a laptop/wifi etc because if I needed access to a computer, I could just run upstairs to my office.
The biggest challenge for me would be seeing if I could pull it off without anyone (people from work, minor acquaintances) noticing.
January 6th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
“Sexually, its a non-issue…I don’t remember the last time I had sex…too fat, too laze and I’m too busy with work, etc anyways.”
Wow. There go all my fantasies of working for a hedge fund. If it’s not all like this – http://tinyurl.com/yz3xsga – then what’s the point?
January 6th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Just for the record, the owners of stevesbets.com do not support the blatant sexism present in the previous post
January 6th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
good luck hedge fund bum!
January 6th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
Your friend is working for the wrong hedge fund. I work for [redacted] and we get a lap dance any time we make more than 100k in a day (which is every day that ends in a “y”). If we break a million we take the corporate jet to the fleshpots of Rio. 20% of the fund’s employees are prostees; an entire floor is a brothel, it’s euphemistically called “Human Resources.”
January 7th, 2010 at 2:41 am
Unless the “van” happens to be an Armored Personnel Carrier, I would be concerned about being killed in my sleep. On the bright side, that would make the book more compelling.
January 7th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
why not, it goes on is putting money aside, and he will live his experience in a different light … a book in the key! its top can be ….
Go courage, good night and your buddy has full winter!
January 7th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
I think that’s a pretty rad idea. I consider my move to Hoboken equivalent to living in a van, cost and convenience wise.
January 8th, 2010 at 1:56 am
ummmmm hobokes owns
January 8th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
how about you spend a year getting yourself in shape, finding a girl, and finding something to do with your time other than work. Sounds like your life sucks if you could move into a van and it wouldnt affect you much.
January 8th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
I told THFB to respond to Vick and his exact words were, “type up a good response for me, I’m too laze”
January 8th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Between working, hanging out with friends and sitting and staring, I don’t have that much time for anything else.
Anyone have any good ideas for cheap storage that I can access fairly often?
January 9th, 2010 at 11:57 pm
Talk him into it imo. What a unique experience. If it doesn’t workout at least he tried.
January 12th, 2010 at 1:12 am
Ok, if you work all day for a hedge fund, and presumably make “the big bucks,” shouldn’t you be smart enough to figure out how to optimally live in a van for a year yourself?
January 21st, 2010 at 11:36 am
Years ago, I lived in a van for a year. With a small woman and a big dog. Didn’t – yet – get a book out of it, but we did start a literary magazine. We visited many friends, house-sat. Got some vouchers from La Quinta. Circumnavigated the Lower 48.
Stayed in Key West for 3 days at a cost of $7.50. Keys? Smoke, laptops, chunky peanut butter.