Van Life on Social Security: How She Retired at 62
"I always thought that I would work till noon the day of my funeral," Mona says. She raised her son alone on management wages that did not match what the men around her earned, and she never managed to save for retirement. Then she watched a video of a man living in a van and thought she could do that for vacations. The first trip changed the plan. Today she lives full time on the road, and van life on Social Security is the arrangement that got her there, at 62, with no plumbing and no wiring in the van by choice.
At a glance
Income: Social Security, drawn at 62
Build: finished March 2021 by two friends in her brother's cabinet shop
Systems: no plumbing, no wired electric, five portable power stations
Water: seven 1.3 gallon jugs under the bed, plus bottled water for drinking
Sleeps: a 30 by 68 inch bunk, down from a full bed in her first build
The Day the Rubber Met the Road
She finished the build in March 2021 and lived in it under her carport while she emptied the house. She listed the house on November 1 and it sold by 10 that morning, above asking, after a bidding war.
Her boss did not want to lose her. "You're not going to live in that van," he told her. She said she was. He offered her a parking spot behind the business, so she stayed six more months, working and living in the van in his lot. When he sold the business, the last reason to stay went with it. She was 62, she could draw Social Security, and she left.
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No Plumbing, No Wiring, On Purpose
Her first build had neither, and she had already proved she could live that way, so the second one skipped both again. "I don't have the worry of a pipe busting and flooding my van or something going wrong with my electrical and I have to chase it down through wires."
Water is seven 1.3 gallon jugs stored under the bed, used for dishes and showers, and bottled water in the closet for drinking. There is no built-in sink, which is what gave her the counter space she wanted. She fills a collapsible sink by hand and heats water on the stove.
Power is five portable stations rather than a wired system. One runs the ceiling lights and her sound machine, one runs the kitchen appliances, one does nothing but run the refrigerator, one is a spare she can dump into the others, and a smaller unit charges her phone and GPS. She rotates them while driving, plugs in when she visits family, and runs a 4,000 watt generator when she is boondocking for weeks. Her power stations are Bluetti and Jackery units. "I wanted to be like an off-grid cabin in here."
A Kitchen She Would Build Again Exactly
The counter is deliberately not counter height. She wanted to stand and cook, or sit on a stool and cook, so she picked the height that suited her.
The stove is a permanently mounted propane unit on a one gallon tank, which she switched to after the small green canisters got expensive. The 55 quart chest fridge and freezer sits at desk height on the opposite side rather than buried under a bench. "Coming from my low top, I did not want to bend anymore." Her one complaint is the chest design, since what she wants is always at the bottom.
The cabinets are not cabinets. She bought a $100 file cabinet and gave its drawers jobs, coffee pods, silverware, a junk drawer, and the bottom two for underwear and socks. "If I were to rebuild this kitchen tomorrow, I would set it up exactly like it is now."
The Closet She Refused to Give Up
"I don't care if I have anything else. I want a closet." Her friends built her a cedar lined one she can hang clothes in, because she does not like folded clothes.
It stays small on purpose. She chases the weather rather than enduring it, so she needs the shoulder seasons covered and little else, and the wardrobe turns over at thrift stores. Anything new means something old leaves. The power station that runs the refrigerator lives in the bottom of the closet, and a ledge above it holds her laptop.
How She Showers, and the Rest of the Bathroom
She showers every morning in a van with no water system. Water heats on the stove to between 118 and 120 degrees, goes into a bucket, and a battery powered shower head pump does the rest while she stands in a pan behind a curtain hung on magnetic hooks. The propane heater sits beside the counter and keeps the corner warm while she is in there. The towel dries at a window afterward, with two windows and a roof fan moving air through the van.
The toilet is a 3 gallon bucket with a snap-on lid, double lined, using compressed horse bedding pellets at about $8 for a 40 pound bag. It stores under the nightstand. "I'm all about being thrifty."
What Van Life on Social Security Actually Costs Her
She draws $1,250 a month. She started debt free, so the fixed costs are van insurance, her phone, and small expenses tied to her YouTube channel.
The rest is discipline she describes without apology. A $10 ceiling on anything she pays to see, which means most of the list is free, with an America the Beautiful pass covering the national parks. Thrift store clothes. Haircuts with clippers at home. A budget she keeps to. And a $10,000 emergency fund she tops back up whenever a repair takes a bite, because a van is a house and a vehicle at the same time. (Another homeowner made the same income work in a tiny home on Social Security.)
What She Gave Up, and What She Learned
The bunk is 30 by 68 inches, down from the full bed in her old build, and she says plainly that she misses it. Keeping it would have cost her everything else she wanted in the layout. Storage went the same way, so she scaled down again.
The lesson took longer. "When I first started van life and I got the freedom, I hit the road running and I was trying to see everything in the same day." Two years in, she stopped. Now she picks a spot, stays a week, sees one thing.
Being alone turned out not to be the problem she expected. "Van life isn't actually lonely. It's a time for me to be with myself and reflect over my life." She travels with van friends for stretches, then peels off again. (Another solo traveler describes the same balance.)
Living Like She Owns the Place
She grew up unable to look people in the eye or walk into an unfamiliar building alone. "And one day, I got free from all of that. Now I just walk in like I own the place."
Her son settled whether she had earned it. "Mom, you're living your best life. You deserve it."
Family members ask what she will do when she can no longer drive. "I will drive up to a nursing home and hand them the keys to my van."
FAQ
Can you afford van life on Social Security?
Mona does it on $1,250 a month. She started debt free, so her fixed costs are van insurance, her phone and a few expenses tied to her YouTube channel. She keeps a $10 limit on paid attractions, uses an America the Beautiful pass for the national parks, buys her clothes at thrift stores and cuts her own hair.
Can you live in a van without plumbing?
Mona chose to. She carries seven 1.3 gallon jugs of water under her bed for dishes and showers, buys bottled water to drink, and uses a collapsible sink she fills by hand. Her reason is that there is no plumbing to freeze, leak or flood the van.
How do you shower in a van without a water tank?
She heats water on her propane stove to between 118 and 120 degrees, pours it into a bucket, drops in a battery powered shower head pump, and stands in a shower pan behind a curtain hung on magnetic hooks. She showers this way every morning and dries the towel at the window.
How does a bucket toilet work in a van?
Mona uses a 3 gallon bucket from a hardware store with a snap-on toilet lid, double lined with bags and filled with compressed horse bedding pellets, which run about $8 for a 40 pound bag. It stores under her nightstand when she is not using it.
How much of an emergency fund do you need for van life?
Mona keeps $10,000 and replenishes it whenever she has to use it. Her reasoning is that a van is a home and a vehicle at once, so mechanical problems are a question of when rather than whether.
Follow Mona:
YouTube: @thisvanlifeofmine
Facebook: This Van Life of Mine
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