How I save over $1000 a month by living in my 2005 Honda Element
My one year anniversary of van life is coming up. I always get asked many questions about this life style and why I do it. So lets taco bout it. Lets go over the build and how I save over $1000 a month by living in my 2005 Honda Element.
Why Vanlife?
I like many people found myself living my days outside of my home. My typical day would be something like this. I leave to work at 7am work all day, hit the gym or do yoga after work, grab a bite to eat & I would come back home at 8-9pm sometimes later. I would go to bed and wake up the next morning and repeat. Sound familiar? I was paying so much money to rest my head at night. I thought there must be an alternative. I discovered van life by looking at other peoples blogs and van life videos on Youtube. I would dream about the freedom of being able to live wherever I wanted. I toyed with the idea but never did anything about it for 2 years. It wasn’t until I began planning to live & study tango in Argentina for a month that I made actual plans to move into the Element. The last thing I wanted to do was to spend $1000 just to have an empty place back home while I was away. So this is when I decided to take the plunge into van life. I already owned the Element. I would use it for weekend camping trips all the time and I was accustomed too sleeping in the back. Plus while I was away in Argentina I would not have to worry about an empty apartment back home. Having almost no physical ties to anything besides friends & family, allowed me to truly disconnect from my life in the U.S. and immerse myself in Argentine culture.
Why the Element?
So I purchased my Honda Element in January of 2018 It had 150k Miles on it. I had been obsessing over this car for many months because it had everything I wanted. I chose the Honda Element because I wanted something that would be “stealthy” meaning I could park in cities and it wouldn’t turn to many heads. I also was really into the idea of having a 4WD vehicle so I could take it off road and in the snow during camping trips. The Honda Element also gets great gas milage compared to some bigger vans 22-24MPG. I knew I would be doing lots and lots of driving so Miles Per Gallon was very important to me. Certain models of the Element have a sunroof in the back for star gazing & more ventilation while I would be sleeping. I was very patient looking for exactly what I wanted & my patience paid off when I found my Ellie in San Diego.
Make sure to get your van inspected before you buy
Maybe your reading this blog because your curious to start your own van life adventure. Heres something to look out for. Make sure when buying a used vehicle to get it checked out by a mechanic beforehand. I noticed a few things wrong about the car from the get go. However, I was blinded by the exterior beauty of the car and that it had all the features I wanted. I figured I could deal with them myself because I am pretty handy under the hood. You know where this is going right? This car, while beautiful on the outside had so many mechanical problems! It had a bad water pump, the timing was off, it would overheat, stall, a few drive belts broke and it had an insane oil leak. Had I not been brave enough to tackle these problems on my own I would have paid the same amount in repairs that I did for the car or just ditched the project all together. After the first few hiccups the car runs great now and gets regularly maintained by yours truly. (Note I do not blame the Honda engineers for these issues I think they are great and reliable. I think just poor maintenance by the previous owners is what caused many of the issues I had.)
You save how much?
Over $1000 every single month! Rent in California where I live is high, SUPER HIGH. So lets take a look at some of the averages.
Now not everyone has their own place most people share a room or have many roommates.
Lets say I rent my own studio apartment which averages around $1000 - 2000 Depending on size and location.
Rent - $1500
Utilities - $100
Gas - $100
Random house hold needs toiletries etc -$50
Lets take those savings and multiply it by 12 months. Thats $1,750 A month or $21,000 a year! Imagine what you cold do with an extra $21,000 a year? Early retirement? Nice Vacation? A big surprise for me was that I actually saved on my monthly gas bill! How is that possible? Well, my job requires lots of driving from studio to studio. That would also normally include a trip back home at the end of the day. Then another trip in the morning back to my yoga studio. However living in the Element gives me the freedom to park near work. So surprisingly I have noticed my gas bill has actually decreased. Unless of course I take a weekend camping excursion in which case I would have been paying that gas bill regardless.
Downsizing
The first step was to get rid almost everything I had in my apartment. Bed, furniture, many clothes random trinkets and things I’ve collected and keep only the things that were in important to me & fit in the Element. This was a process on its own and I could not have done it without reading Marie Kondo’s “The Life changing magic of tidying up: The Japanese art of Decluttering & Organizing”. This book goes over how to get rid of those hard to get rid of items and organize your space which is essential to any one thinking about van life.
The build 1.0
For seven months prior to my build Me and my friend Colin were building a friends van a 2019 Ford Transit. So as soon as I finished that the last thing I wanted to to was start another huge build project. So my Element build needed to be SIMPLE and easy. I had originally planned for this to be a solo sleep situation so I could have room for more storage and just open space. Also maybe the option to sit on the bench seat in the back and relax or read a book. So I built this sliding bed covered it with a blowup camp mattress and called it a day. This original set up was very minimalist and it worked great. If I slid the seats all the way forward and used my red trunk which I kept my clothes in as a bed extender. I would be able to lay all the way flat and get a good nights rest & I was more than happy with that.
The Build 2.0
So while the original build worked there was a few things missing. These are the things you’ll learn along the way and you’ll end up customizing your build once you discover what your needs are. I decided to re-vamp my set up for two people; I realized I never spent any time inside the van except for driving and sleeping so I raised the height of the bed frame for more storage the trade off was I could no longer sit up inside. As far as extending the bed I had to get a little creative again here because I was already sleeping in the Element. I searched for a cooler like a yeti with a flat surface and similar height to my bed that could serve as a platform and food storage. Some how I got lucky & found the Orca cooler which did just that & It keeps ice cold for 4-5 days. This meant I could have fresh food and store food for days this was a game changer. I used the cooler in combination with a footlocker I used to carry my clothes would serve as the rest of the platform. Also lucky is that the Honda Element has a very clever front seat design where the front seats can fold all the way down. This would serve to give me all the length I could ever ask for and it lines up with the bed platform allowing me to lay flat. For the bed I wanted to be as comfortable as possible. So I opted to buy a memory foam mattress. I also did not want to cut any foam so I found these trifold mattresses that are 25 in width and when you set them side by side they perfectly fit the width of the Honda Element. With the extra storage space & my cooler I was able to spare some room to set up a “kitchen” Aka my Colmane two burner gas stove and all the cookware that goes along with it. Now for privacy I originally had a curtain but it would rattle and shake driving down the road so I cut out reflectix and used it to frame the windows to keep heat out and allow for total privacy. I followed Ethan Maurice’s guide on how to make the window shades he does a good job on explaining how check it out. Now my set up can sleep two people, hold cold fresh food,and cook I am very happy with how it all turned out.
After thoughts
So my trip to Argentina has come and gone. I really enjoyed the simple life style of living inside the Element and the freedom it provides. I will continue on this path of van life not because I need to but because I truly enjoy the freedom this lifestyle has provided me. I am writing this post from San Diego this morning I slept right next to the beach I went snorkeling and hiking all day. Now I am in a cafe waiting for my yoga class I can honestly say this is without a shadow of a doubt true happiness.
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