But like.... why tho?
One of the questions I get all the time is:
"What made you decide to live this lifestyle?"
I wanted to address this question because it IS really important to me and I think it’s really relevant to my generations struggles to fit into our society.
I have been rock climbing for 5 years now, and at the time I was thinking of moving into a van I had only ever climbed in the gym. About 2… maybe 3 years ago now, there was this girl, Sammy, she was a mutual friend in the gym and she decided to buy a van and convert it into a house with the intention of rock climbing full time.
Working on Annunaki 12- in Indian Creek Fall '17. Photo: Tiffany Nardico
At the time I heard this it BLEW my mind. I was like, WHAT YOU CAN JUST DO THAT? And I got really really excited about the idea of moving into a van.
Around this time I was trying to finish up school, I attended Goddard College, and was planning on moving out of my parents house and into a rental in Santa Cruz.
I was paying around $800 a month for tuition, plus taking out loans, and financially I was looking at a $1,000 a month commitment to split a room in a house with my boyfriend at the time.
I don’t remember how much money I was making during this time, but I know I was going to have a really hard time coming up with almost $2,000 a month just to cover tuition and rent.
So, instead of getting a place to rent, my boyfriend and I decided to continue to live with my parents for a little while, save up some money to buy a van and then move into that. It was going to allow us both to save money on rent, AND have more flexibility to travel and rock climb more full time.
The choice to live in a van started out as something I wanted to do to pursue a passion of mine, but since then it’s become a financial reality that I couldn’t afford to do anything else. The rent in California is REAAAAAALLLY high, and as someone with student loans it isn’t really possible for me to live the lifestyle I want and pay rent.
I actually make a decent amount of money doing my freelance work, but I have to pay my own taxes and health care and blah blah blah, so it shakes out to be just enough to cover my loans and live a pretty comfortable lifestyle.
I chose to live out a van because I wanted the freedom to dedicate my time fully to rock climbing, but it’s become more of a necessity for me to afford to pay off my loans and attempt to save money and stuff.
So thats it! Let me know if you have any questions down in the comments below aaaaand I’ll see ya next time. :)
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