Last Updated on 1 January, 2026 by Robyn Dockendorf

Vanlife comes with various challenges, from finding a place to park at night to figuring out how to store your clothes. On top of that, every van dweller has a different setup for their home on wheels, which makes it challenging to form blanket storage strategies.

We’ve been on the road for a while now and have found a few vanlife hacks that make our lives easier. Each action in vanlife has extra steps, from stowing your food to making the bed. These vanlife hacks will simplify van living and make your adventures far more enjoyable!

Below, you’ll find 57 vanlife tips and hacks we’ve learned from living in a campervan full-time and traveling around the United States. Buckle up and hit the gas pedal!

1. Install Bug Netting

There’s a reason this tip is at the top of the list. We renovated our big red van entirely on our own, and bug netting was kind of an afterthought—a ‘that would be nice‘ sort of thing.

Little did we know this would be one of the best vanlife hacks of our entire build!

Summer is the worst season for annoying bugs like mosquitoes and flies. We would have had to keep our van doors shut 24/7 without bug netting.

Not all bug netting is created equal, though. We initially bought cheap ($30) bug netting from Amazon meant for a sliding screen door. We installed it using super glue, Velcro, and rubber cement. It got so hot out (mid-90s) that the glue and cement melted, and the netting started coming down.

Next, we bought super expensive ($350) bug netting specifically made for the Ram Promaster from The Wanderful. This netting was much sturdier, well-made, and fit better in our doors. However, the installation process was a nightmare. So, each has its pros and cons.

After dealing with both, we prefer the sturdier, more expensive netting from the Wanderful!

2. Make Time To Get Out Of The Van

This vanlife hack might seem obvious, but if you work remotely in your van, you’d be surprised how easy it is to stay inside all day due to time constraints.

Make time to get out of the van for a walk, a stretch, a hike, or anything that gets you out of the vehicle. This has multiple benefits for campervan dwellers:

• Mood boost: Getting out of the van grants you access to that big yellow orb in the sky – the sun! Sunlight will boost your mood and provide vitamin D3, which also helps with mood!
• Feel less caged: Living full-time in a teeny tiny campervan can make it feel like you are stuck and cramped in a cage. When you get out, it makes vanlife feel more like it should – freedom!

Aim for 30 minutes outside of the van per day at the bare minimum. An hour or more is even better! Campervan hacks don’t get much simpler than that!

3. Clean One Thing A Day

Van life gets dirty faster than you think. Constantly walking in and out of the van, pulling things in and out like chairs, dog beds, or levelers, and leaving the doors open will attract tons of dirt and dust.

Instead of letting it build and build until it drives you crazy and you have to do a whole van cleaning day, just clean one thing per day. Set Monday as the ‘clean the floor’ day and Tuesday as the ‘wipe down the cabinets’ day…you get the point.

Cleaning one thing daily keeps the dirt at bay, makes you feel accomplished, and is more hygienic for everyday living. Crocodile Cloth Multipurpose Wipes work great in a van!

4. Utilize Netting

This vanlife hack has opened up so much storage space for us. We put netting all over the place in otherwise wasted space areas. We use cargo storage netting, similar to what you would find in the back of an SUV.

Search your van for unique places to put the netting and utilize it to store anything that isn’t too bulky, such as bed sheets, dog food bowls, clothes you’ll wear the next day, window vents, and more. We have netting beneath our cabinets, above the driver and passenger seat, and on the underside of our cubby doors.

Check out TackleWebs Organizer Bag. Like many things, it is meant for boats but works perfectly in a van.

This is just one of many van life storage hacks on our list!

5. Get A Good Quality 50-ft Hose

Obtaining fresh water is a pain in the butt for vanlife. If you’re living frugally, you search for free water sources, and sometimes, it requires a hose to reach a spigot. A good quality long hose makes a world of difference for this annoying chore.

We’ve tried a few different hoses and funnels, but what we found works best is an expandable 50-foot hose with a shut-off valve on one end, like the Pocket Hose Silver Bullet. With fifty feet, we can reach almost any freshwater spigot available to the public. The shut-off valve makes it easy for one person to turn on the water spigot, extend the hose, and walk it into the van without spraying water all over the place.

We combine our hose with a water filter with a threaded end that connects directly to our hose and the spigot, adding a filtration process before it goes into our over-the-wheel water tank. We then have one more filter before it comes out of the spigot.

The Camco RV TastePURE KDF/Carbon Water Filter has threads that attach to most hoses, making getting water from different potable sources around the United States easier and safer.

6. Find Free Water Sources With iOverlander

Building on our previous vanlife hack, I highly recommend downloading the iOverlander app if you don’t already have it. It lists accessible water sources, such as those found at local parks, gas stations, rest stops, and dump stations.

While it’s not too expensive to fill up at a grocery store, when you do it every week, that expense adds up! Plus, you may have oddly shaped water jugs that don’t always fit in fill-up stations in grocery stores.

Save a few bucks by downloading the iOverlander app and finding free water sources! Our article on finding potable water can help you understand where free drinking water sources can be found while traveling.

7. Utilize Roof Storage Space

Every vanlifer knows the importance of storage space. When you live in such a small space, every square inch counts when finding space for your gear, clothing, and anything else you need on the road!

One storage area that many do not utilize to its full potential is the roof. Many weather-proof bags and containers can be strapped onto any roof rack to keep them secure and protected from the elements.

We use the Rhino USA Rooftop Storage Bag. It has 17.7 cubic feet of space, offering a huge storage space. The only downside is that it’s on your roof, so getting to it is a pain. This storage bag is best for things you don’t often need. We keep our rock climbing gear, peat moss for our composting toilet, and our car jack up top because we only need those things occasionally.

8. Eat Healthy

This vanlife hack can be applied to everyday life as well. As of 2018, Harvard University tells us that close to 70% of Americans are overweight or obese. A healthy diet can immensely impact your health by reducing blood pressure, bad cholesterol, and triglycerides (a factor in heart health).

Living on the road can make fast food and quick meals tempting, but eating healthy, whole foods is essential when possible. This keeps your body physically fit, increases health, and boosts your mood!

Aim for plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Limit your intake of sweets, and aim for healthy fats and oils like avocados instead of fast-food burgers. We have a fantastic article on 8 easy campervan meals on a budget to help you get started!

As for eating while adventuring, we have amazing ideas for healthy, fueling hiking snacks right here!

9. Travel In The West For Free Parking

If you’re from the East Coast and have yet to travel much (like me a few years ago!), you’ll be shocked when you try to find a place to park in the East versus the West. The West has so much more free parking available to vanlifers.

The East? You’re mostly bound to paid campgrounds, street parking, or the dreaded Walmart parking lot. Finding good-quality vanlife camping spots in the eastern half of the United States is tough.

If possible, stick to the western half of the US to make vanlifing more enjoyable. Our guide on finding free overnight parking can help you find spots to park, even in the eastern US!

10. Separate Work Station from Sleeping Station

This could be one of this article’s most crucial vanlife hacks if you work remotely. Studies like the one reported in the Emerald Insight Journal tell us that there are monumental impacts on our sleep when we don’t separate work from home life.

So, how do you do that when you live in a space a quarter the size of a studio apartment?

Utilize a dedicated workstation in the van, such as the kitchen counter space, the driver/passenger seat, or any other seating in the van that isn’t on the bed. This way, your brain can turn off (detach from work) when you lie down on the bed to sleep at night.

Putting these vanlife hacks into practice will improve sleep quality and help you separate your work life from your adventure life.

By the way, if you’re wondering how to get internet to work remotely while traveling, our guide on Starlink breaks down how it compares to other internet options, and why we think it’s the best available option at this time for vanlifers.

11. Eye Hooks + Carabiners = Extra Storage

Like utilizing the van roof for storage space, eye hooks and carabiners provide more storage space because you can hang things. We have eye hooks and carabiners above our sliding door area, at the back of the van, and beneath some of our shelving and cabinets.

We hang things like dish towels, toiletry bags, and portable fans to keep them out of the way but still accessible. A simple, small carabiner like the Nite Ize MicroLock S-Biner works fine – no need for real (expensive) carabiners!

12. Make Time for Exercising

Everyone knows the benefits of exercise—improved heart health, cognitive function, physical fitness, and psychological well-being. However, exercising can be challenging when you live in a van.

That said, it’s critical to make time for exercising. That can mean anything from walking to doing pushups or practicing yoga.

We use a mat that doubles as our ‘welcome mat’ outside our van for pushups, ab work, and stretching. We also have a set of resistance bands. Check out Pro-Tec Athletics Resistance Bands—they’re awesome! They come in three states of resistance: light, medium, and heavy, to suit the needs of all fitness levels.

Vanlife is physically and mentally challenging, and reserving exercise time can make or break a grand adventure.

13. Have A Designated Spot For Everything

As far as vanlife hacks go, this is a biggie. Vanlife means having a nomadic lifestyle, meaning a lot of driving time. One of the most annoying things that happens while driving is when items fly and slide around the vehicle.

Make sure everything in the van has a designated spot. This is where netting, bungee cords, and Velcro really shine!

When everything has a designated space, you don’t have to worry about soup can projectiles or other objects falling over and breaking while driving, which is just a little campervan tip to make life easier.

14. Bring A Toolbox

Add lumber, screws, hinges, and Velcro to high speeds and vibrations, and you get…problems. Having a toolbox is so crucial on the road. It’s inevitable for small things to break, come loose, or fall off entirely.

You can fix just about anything that breaks in a van with a few essential tools:

• Philips and flathead
• Crescent or socket wrench with various socket sizes
• Hammer
• Gorilla tape
• Tape measurer

If you have extra space, I recommend bringing Loctite/Gorilla glue, zip ties, extra screws, wiring, Velcro, lugs, and blade fuses. Wire crimpers and strippers go a long way when fixing electrical issues. Bringing extra pieces of small lumber, such as furring strips, has also come in handy for us!

15. Have A Designated Water Bottle In The Fridge

Vanlife can be rough in hot weather, especially if the van isn’t equipped with an air conditioner unit like ours. When it reaches the mid-80s and above, our van feels like a toaster oven despite having four boxes of Havelock wool installed behind our walls and ceiling, plus foam board insulation on our floors.

When it’s that hot, there’s genuinely nothing better in the world than cold water. Cold water will help cool your body off and reduce irritation from the heat.

We have three plastic Nalgene Ultralite water bottles in the van. We keep one filled with water in the fridge at all times. When we finish one water bottle, we refill it and put it in the freezer to cool it down faster, then move it to the fridge. It’s a lifesaver!

16. Carry An Extra Gas Canister

Traveling can take you to many remote areas. An extra gas canister provides the peace of mind that you can make it to the next gas station.

We’ve definitely had a few close calls where our gas gauge indicator read zero miles. We always try to fill up as soon as our gas tank hits a quarter tank, but under certain circumstances, it’s just not possible.

The Scepter SmartControl Military-Style RV Gas Container has a sleek design for easy storage, and the nozzle has a squeeze design so you can easily control the fuel flow and prevent spills. I recommend storing extra gas outside the van, such as on a hitch storage container or on the roof.

17. Pack Extra Electrical Components

Most vanlifers install a solar system or DC-to-DC charger to power electrical components. When the van is bouncing around on back roads and washboards, there’s a possibility that connections come loose, causing electrical malfunctions.

This happened to us, and we were wholly unprepared for it! We had to buy a bunch of lugs and tools that we already had stored at home.

Bring extra lugs, nuts, washers, wire, crimpers, wire strippers, and electrical tape in case you have to work on the electrical system while traveling.

Bonus Hack! Here are a few helpful articles for installing electrical components in your van:

• Vanlifer’s Guide to MPPT Solar Chargers
• Step-by-Step Guide to Installing a DC to DC Charger
• Ultimate Campervan Wiring Guide

18. Bring A Bicycle Or Electric Bike

One of the best vanlife hacks we’ve discovered is the addition of mountain bikes on vanlife adventures. These babies come in handy when leaving the van behind and looking at a different camp spot or finding a trailhead.

You may not realize before you head out on the road that your spot is not guaranteed when you park anywhere that’s free. If you leave in your van, someone can take your spot while you’re gone.

That’s where your bike comes in! It allows you to park your van, save your spot, and explore the area without risking losing it. E-bikes are the best because you can get around more easily and travel further, but a good old-fashioned bicycle works fine, too.

We bought the REI Co-op Cycles DRT 1.3 Mountain Bikes. They’re affordable (as far as mountain bikes go) but hold up wonderfully on gravel and dirt roads. We even take them on downhill tracks, and they are a blast!

19. Wash Solar Panels Often

If solar panels are installed on your van, keeping them in optimal condition is essential to ensure they effectively charge your electrical system. Even a small layer of dust or dirt can reduce the solar cell’s ability to harness power at maximum efficiency.

Here are a few things to consider when cleaning your solar panels:

• Time of day: aim to clean your panels in the morning or evening, when the sun’s rays are the least intense.
• Less is more: Do not apply any coating or surface protectant. The best way to clean solar panels is simply soap and water.
• Frequency: Try to clean your solar panels every two weeks. There’s no need to clean them every day. Frequent cleanings can damage the panels because constant debris scratches the surface from wiping it down.
• Cleaning materials: Avoid abrasive cloths and soaps, which can scratch the panel’s surface.

To clean solar panels, rinse them off with water first to remove debris and dirt. Then, gently wipe off the panels with a soft brush, cloth, or squeegee. A mild soap can be used if the panels are excessively dirty; otherwise, a wet and non-abrasive cloth works well.

By the way, we use Renogy 200W 12V Monocrystalline Solar Panels in our system, and the above instructions are how they recommend cleaning their solar panels. If you have different panels, always consult the user manual for cleaning instructions, as not every solar panel is the same.

20. Install A Ladder

Building on the previous hack, installing a ladder on your van will make life so much easier. When we first started vanlife, we decided to forgo a ladder to save money.

Worst. Decision. Ever.

It was incredibly difficult to get on the roof to put up our Starlink dish, clean our solar panels, or access the Rhino storage bag. Don’t cut corners; install a ladder! Many different options exist for backdoor and side ladders, so choose one that fits your specific setup.

21. Do The Dishes After Each Meal

It sounds awful, but it makes life much easier in the van! When dishes are allowed to pile up, it can attract pests like flies, gnats, and even mice and rats.

Additionally, doing the dishes after each meal means only doing a few dishes a few times a day instead of washing a mountainous pile at the end of the day when you’re tired and ready for bed.

The following few vanlife hacks will build on this one, primarily geared toward keeping the van clean to deter pests.

22. Clean And Dry The Sink Each Night

It’s surprising how quickly pests like mice and rats can sniff out food and invade your space. We had problems with mice in a few areas where we couldn’t store our garbage outside due to bears. Mice found a way inside after staying there for just two nights!

Unfortunately, the sink is a harbinger of food particles and general nastiness. Clean the sink thoroughly each night and use a towel to dry out any water. Water is another attractant that will bring in the pests. No food or water = no pests.

23. Wipe Counters Down Each Night

Again, I know it sounds tedious, but it’s one of those vanlife hacks that helps in the long run. Wiping down the counters each night deters pests and keeps your van hygienic. It’s a great habit to keep your van clean and keep those pesky mice at bay!

We use Simple Green to clean pretty much everything in the van, including our countertops. It’s pet-friendly, smells great, and doesn’t contain harsh chemicals like many other kitchen cleaners.

24. Clean The Stove After Each Use

Unless you’re the world’s cleanest cook, chances are you’ll spill something on the stove while cooking. Not only does this wear on your cooktop and decrease its longevity, but it can also attract pests.

Each time you use your cooktop, stovetop, or whatever you use to cook, clean it thoroughly to remove any food particles that could attract pests.

25. Sweep Floors Daily

In addition to your daily cleaning schedule, add sweeping the floors. It’s astounding how quickly van floors get dirty.

Even though we take our shoes off before getting in the van and wipe our dog’s paws, our van floor gets ridiculously dirty every day. Dust, pet fur, cat litter, and food particles accumulate in the tiny floor space.

Clean it daily to keep your van clean, hygienic, and pest-free.

26. Install Swivel Seats

When we bought our van, it was brand new, and we custom-picked the shell design and some options for the driver and passenger seats. One of the things we’re super glad we did was opt for swivel seats.

Swivel seats allow you to spin the driver and passenger seats around, which opens up tons of opportunities to manipulate your van’s setup, including drop-down tables, workstations, and eating surfaces.

27. Get An Outdoor Shower

When we first started vanlife, we thought having a Planet Fitness membership would be fine for showering. However, we learned that the places you want to vanlife often do not have big chain gyms like LA Fitness or Planet Fitness.

An outdoor shower is fantastic for those in-between times when you’re parked in one spot for longer than expected or driving in remote areas.

The NEMO Helio Pressure Shower has a foot pump that pressurizes the system and delivers water to the spigot without hanging it overhead. It comes in two sizes: 2.9 gallons and 5.8 gallons.

28. Use High-Quality Wipes

Are you getting tired of me saying vanlife gets dirty fast? Well, it does! High-quality body wipes can make a massive difference in vanlife concerning body cleanliness. It’s one of the best vanlife hacks in this article.

We’ve tried a variety of wipes, especially in our first few months of vanlife. There were some we liked and some we didn’t.

• Sea to Summit Wilderness Wipes: These are some of our favorite wipes in the van. They’re unscented, pH-balanced for human skin, and contain aloe vera and vitamin E to leave you feeling refreshed. They’re pretty thick and don’t usually tear while wiping down. The only downside is the price point. It’s about $10 for 36 wipes. We use about three wipes each night to wipe off our bodies when we don’t have access to a shower, so they don’t last long.
• Equate Flushable Wipes: These were super affordable, but they tore too easily and didn’t leave us feeling as clean as we did with the wilderness wipes. Overall, we wouldn’t buy these again.
• DUDE Wipes: We wanted so badly to like these wipes. They were affordable and left us feeling pretty clean. However, they tore very easily and were super small.
• Equate Everyday Clean Aloe Wipes: While the Equate flushable wipes left much to be desired, the Everyday Aloe Wipes were actually high quality. They’re only $1.98 for 80 wipes (2026). They’re a decent size and leave you feeling pretty clean.
• Crocodile Cloth Outdoor: The amazing Crocodile Cloths are one of our favorites. For about $20, you get 80 gigantic cloth wipes measuring 15 x 10 inches! They’re alcohol-free, soft on the skin, and double as a wipe for cleaning the van.

One wipe that we have in the van but don’t use often is Tecnu Detox Wipes. They remove poison ivy and oak oil, which we occasionally encounter by accident. We use these wipes whenever we think we might have touched the dreaded leaves of three!

29. Make A Checklist For Driving

When you’re ready to move on to your next destination, there are always steps to prepare your van for departure. That includes locking the cabinets, storing loose items, getting a visual on your pet, taking down the Starlink satellite (if needed), or whatever you need to do before driving the van.

When we first started traveling, we were always forgetting to do one thing or another. We’d start driving, and something would fly out of place.

Make a checklist you can refer to before driving to make sure everything in your van is ready for travel. If you travel with a pet (or pets), make sure you have a visual on them before leaving.

30. Install All Switches In One Area

Hindsight is 20/20. We look back on our van build and wish we had done a few things differently. Overall, we’re happy with it, but if we could go back, we’d change the location of our switches.

We put some switches behind the driver’s seat and some near the sliding door. This makes it a little annoying if we want to turn out the lights closest to the driver’s seat while lying in bed because we have to get up and walk over to the switch. We also put our inverter on/off switch there, which makes it inconvenient when we want to turn our inverter off at night.

I know it sounds lazy, but this is one of those vanlife hacks you can only appreciate if you’ve experienced vanlife! Having your switches in one place, ideally within reach of your bed, makes everything easier.

31. Install An Awning

We have a Fiamma S80 awning installed on our van. It was one of the most expensive purchases of our van build, but It’s 100% worth it. The awning makes our van feel more like home, almost as if we have a porch on the van.

Additionally, it shades our van from the sun and allows us to sit outside in light rain. If you park so that your sliding door gets morning sun, the awning does a fantastic job of keeping the van cool.

If you’re iffy about an awning, pull the trigger. It’s worth it!

32. Get Window Vents

Window vents are one of the best vanlife hacks for summertime. If you have your roof fan going with the window vents, it creates a cross-breeze that offers some relief during the dog days of summer.

If your van has an air conditioning unit, window vents may be less crucial for keeping it cool. However, they’re still effective at circulating air, so your van doesn’t feel stuffy and stale. They also double as a source of fresh air if you’re running a propane heater.

Various websites sell window vents for all styles of vans, from Ram Promasters to Mercedes Sprinters.

33. You Need A Roof Fan

There’s no question about it. You need at least one roof fan in your van. Roof fans aren’t really meant to keep your van cool. Their primary purpose is to circulate air to give you a continuous supply of fresh air in your van.

Fresh air is a high-value commodity when you’re living the dirtbag life!

We have the Maxxair Maxxfan Deluxe and are very happy with it. It has ten speeds and can circulate air in or out, depending on our needs. When it’s hot, we have the fan circulate air out. Then, as it cools down later in the day, we bring the air in to cool off the van. Our fan typically runs 24/7 at various speeds, depending on our needs.

34. Get A Few Plants

Plants offer many benefits to vanlifers. For one, they make your van feel a little more like home. Looking at a shelf and seeing your favorite houseplant warms the soul and doesn’t make you feel so far away from home.

Another benefit of plants is that they purify the air. The University of Connecticut says that one house plant can purify about 100 square feet of living space. Your average indoor van space is between 50 and 75 square feet, depending on the make and model.

You’ll want to get a plant that is:

• Easy to take care of
• Doesn’t take up a lot of space
• Resistant to varying temperatures and conditions
• Shade-tolerant
• Pet-safe (If you have pets)

We have a bamboo plant and a succulent in our van. They’re small, low-maintenance, and don’t mind being in the shade. Make sure to place your plant somewhere it can get a little sunlight through a window or door.

35. Bring Extra Silverware, Plates, And Bowls

Yet another of our highly recommended van life hacks: Bring extra bowls, plates, and silverware. If you’re adventuring by yourself or with another person, you’d be surprised by how many dishes you use to cook a meal.

While you may only need one plate to eat your food, you might need a mixing bowl or another plate to prepare it. When you don’t have enough plates, bowls, and silverware, washing the dishes while you’re cooking can get annoying, especially in such a small space.

In our van with two people, we have:

• (4) bowls
• (4) plates
• (4) spoons, knives, forks
• (1) cutting board
• (1) sharp knife
• (1) large mixing bowl
• (1) strainer
• (1) measuring cup
• (1) spatula
• (1) wooden spoon

This is a pretty good number for two people. We still occasionally have to wash things as we cook, such as having broccoli and pasta, and needing to use the strainer twice. But, for the most part, this is plenty for us!

36. Only Bring Two Pairs Of Shoes

When we first started vanlife, we each brought three pairs of shoes: sandals, tennis shoes, and hiking boots. We quickly learned that there’s no good place to store shoes when you’re not using them. Plus, we never used our hiking boots because we were never hiking in muddy areas, so those were just taking up space.

After much trial and error, we found that a pair of Crocs and a pair of trail shoes (or tennis shoes) were fine. We wear our Crocs while hanging out in and around the van, and when we go on a hike, we throw on our trail shoes.

37. Pack A Headlamp

I’m still surprised at how much I use my headlamp in vanlife. This is one of those vanlife hacks that’s easy to do and makes a huge difference!

Anytime you go outside the van in the dark, a headlamp is much easier than turning on your cell phone’s flashlight or holding a physical flashlight. Headlamps provide light wherever you’re looking and allow you to be hands-free.

We often find ourselves going to busy parks early in the morning to avoid people, so we have to remove our levelers and take down our Starlink satellite dish in the dark. Having a headlamp makes it super easy! It’s also helpful when taking our dog, Pawdrick, out for potty breaks late at night or early in the morning.

38. Bring Bear Mace For Protection

If you vanlife in remote areas, bear mace is one of the best forms of protection for a few reasons:

• Legality: Unlike firearms and knives, bear mace is allowed in all 50 states of the United States and can be brought across the border into Canada.
• Effective: The main ingredient in bear spray is capsaicin. This component is what gives hot peppers their kick. It’s effective at deterring grizzly bears, so it can deter pretty much anything nature throws at you!
• Portable: You can throw bear spray in your pocket or a backpack, or wear it in a holster on your belt.

We use Bear Deterrent Spray, which can be paired with the Bear Spray Holster for easy carrying.

Knowing that we can protect ourselves and our pets from dangers lurking in the wilderness gives us a lot of peace of mind, even when we’re not in grizzly territory.

39. Buy Portable Fans Or Set Up Your Van For Air Conditioning

You won’t believe how hot it gets in the summer inside a van! We thought that by having the doors open, the fan on, and the window vents, we’d be set for hot weather.

This is one of those vanlife hacks that we learned the hard way.

Anytime the temperature rose above 85°F, it was miserable inside and outside the van. Our van has plenty of insulation, which helps when it’s cool, but it also traps the heat more effectively than we wanted in the summertime.

One solution that we found helpful was buying rechargeable portable fans. While it wasn’t air conditioning, it was still nice to have a constant breeze on us while working on our laptops or cooking meals.

If we could go back and rebuild our van, we would have installed an air conditioning unit on the roof. Although they’re expensive and use a lot of power, it would have been worth it on those miserably hot days in summer!

40. Cook Only Enough Food For A Single Meal

Cooking in a van and cooking at home are two completely different things. When you live in a house, you have lots of fridge space and plenty of containers for leftovers. You also typically have a 4-burner stove that can cook multiple things simultaneously.

In a van? You’re lucky to have enough space in your fridge for the food you have, let alone a bulky container with leftovers.

We find it easier and healthier to simply cook only what we plan to eat for that meal. Since we don’t have a microwave or oven, heating leftovers is tricky anyway.

41. Take Food Out Of Bulky Containers From The Grocery Store

When you buy food from the grocery store, it usually comes in a cardboard box or plastic container with another bag inside. Removing the bulky container and keeping only the bag is one way to save space in your pantry.

Some items, like whole foods, fruits, and vegetables, cannot be broken down further. However, anything with secondary packaging outside can be removed to save precious space in your cabinets and fridge.

If necessary, use a label or a Sharpie to identify what’s inside and any expiration dates.

42. Use Durable Latches And Fasteners For Cabinets And Drawers

If you decide to do your own van build, there will always be times when you have to decide whether to go for the expensive stuff or use the cheap “off-brand” version instead.

Regarding cabinets and drawers, go for the high-priced items that are super durable and easy to install. We skimped out on this our first time around because we wanted to avoid paying $5 per latch. We bought roller latches—a big mistake!

Well, a few bumpy roads later, we regretted it because it didn’t hold our cabinets closed, and all our food came flying out. Not only was it annoying, but it was really dangerous to have heavy soup cans flying around when we had pets on board!

When we had a chance to upgrade the van, durable, high-quality cabinet latches were among the first things we replaced.

While you’re at it, investing in quality hinges goes a long way, too! Flimsy hinges are less secure and warp your cabinet doors over time.

43. Wear Clothes Multiple Days When Possible

I don’t recommend turning your underwear inside out to get another day out of them. But if you wear a shirt and pants and don’t do any physical activity, wear them again the next day to minimize laundry.

We aim for three days for shirts and five days for pants when possible. Socks and underwear get changed daily, of course. Now, if we go on a long hike and sweat in our clothing, it goes straight into the laundry bin.

Wearing clothes for multiple days in a row reduces the amount of laundry, which means less stopping and spending less money at the laundry mat. It also increases the longevity of your clothes! The less you wash them, the less they fade, rip, or tear.

44. Utilize Natural Water Sources

Depending on where you’re traveling, you may be camped out next to a stream or river. This is an opportunity to use a natural water source to avoid using your own water.

Here’s what I recommend using water sources like streams and rivers for:

• Showering: Use the water to fill your portable shower or a bucket if you want to take a ‘grandma’ bath. Remember to never use soap directly in a stream (even soaps that say biodegradable).
• Dishes: Natural water sources are perfect for washing dishes. Fill a collapsible bucket with water and wash the dishes in it. Rinse the dishes off with fresh water to ensure there isn’t any bacteria on them.
• Washing the van: If your van is plagued with dead bugs, use a natural water source to wash your vehicle instead of paying for it! Again, collapsible buckets like Flat Pack Sink are a lifesaver here!
• Washing clothes: If you hand-wash your clothes, using a natural water source is much better than draining your water tank.

I don’t recommend using natural water sources for anything you plan to ingest, such as drinking water or using it for meals. You never know what’s hiding in the water!

45. Plan Time Apart If You Vanlife With Someone Else

No matter how much you love someone, living in an extremely confined space together for months can be challenging. Plan time apart from each other to maximize everyone’s mental health and improve your relationship.

One example of what we do is to take on different tasks and chores around the van. While preparing the coffee in the morning, my partner takes the dog for a walk. It gives me time alone in the van to finish my morning routine. Conversely, when my partner wants time alone, I take the cat outside for a walk and give him space.

Sometimes, such as when it’s raining, it’s impossible to escape the van. During these times, a nice pair of noise-canceling headphones can help you ‘escape’ to your own solitude in the van.

46. Plan Your Parking Spot For The Night Before Traveling

As far as vanlife hacks go, this is a biggie. Trying to ‘wing it’ at 10 pm to find a parking space that’s not a Walmart parking lot is stressful and unsafe.

Pick out where you plan to sleep that night in the morning and make it your final destination for the day. This takes the pressure off traveling and allows you to really enjoy the day’s adventure without worrying about the unknown.

47. Eat Before Traveling

I don’t think this one even needs an explanation, but we learned this one the hard way. As any vanlifer can tell you, traveling in a van is a lot of making a plan, changing the plan, throwing the plan out the window, and creating a new plan.

In other words, you often change directions and do not reach the destinations you want to. Eating a meal before you travel will help you think clearly and avoid confrontation if you travel with someone else.

Aside from improving your physical health, eating a meal before traveling will reduce stress and make you less reactive to changes or other drivers.

Your sanity depends on eating before you travel!

48. Take Supplements

Cooking food in a van is a lot different than in a home. You can try to be as healthy as possible in vanlife, but sometimes it’s impossible to always keep fresh, whole foods in your fridge. There’s only so much space for salads, fruits, and vegetables.

Eventually, you’ll scramble for meals until you hit the next grocery store.

Take a daily multivitamin to ensure you get the nutrients your body needs to sustain itself healthily. I also add an omega-3 supplement because I don’t eat any fish. It helps with joint health on those long, adventurous hikes.

49. Let People Know Where You Are

Most of our vanlife hacks are about making vanlife easier, but this one is all about safety. In an emergency, you’ll want someone to know where you are, especially if you often travel to remote locations.

Apps like Life360 can help you share your location with a close friend or family member. You can even send an SOS if you run into trouble or feel unsafe, and an emergency message will be sent to your contacts.

We use Life360 and love all the features of the free version. It gives live updates of where you are, and you can check in to places and save your adventures on the map to see all the places you’ve been! (We aren’t affiliated with Life360, but it’s genuinely a great app!)

50. Embrace Change

One of the most essential van life hacks I learned was to embrace change. Our initial ideas about vanlife and our planned route were thrown out the window in our first week.

Instead of resisting changes in your plans, embrace them and consider them a part of the adventure. If you constantly battle with changes, you will constantly be battling with your happiness in vanlife.

It sounds like a cliche sign you’d find in an arts and crafts store, but it’s a good practice to get into and will help you keep your sanity on the road.

51. Keep Up With Vehicle Maintenance

When your vehicle is your home, take care of it like you’d repair a leaky faucet or broken water heater in a house.

Your vehicle owner’s manual will list how often you need to perform certain checks or tasks, such as changing the oil, rotating the tires, changing the air filter, and checking the brakes.

If you want to save money, learn how to change the oil in your van yourself. It’s one of the most manageable maintenance steps to keep your vehicle in tip-top shape. We have an excellent step-by-step guide on a Ram Promaster 2500 oil change.

52. Pack Levelers

Finding a suitable place to park your van is complicated enough on the road, let alone getting the van level so you won’t roll off the bed at night!

The Camco RV Tri-Levelers are easy to use and pack up nicely in small spaces when not in use. Levelers add a little stability to your van so your cabinets don’t swing open, and doors don’t keep trying to shut on their own. It’s definitely a vanlife hack that makes life easier on the road.

Using levelers was one of the most important lessons we learned in the first week of vanlife. Want to know what else we learned immediately? Check out our article on the 6 things we learned in our first week of vanlife.

53. Plan For Rainy Days

Not every day is sunshine and rainbows in vanlife. Occasionally, you’ll be stuck in the van due to inclement weather. Instead of getting upset or frustrated with these days, plan for them!

Pack a book you’ve wanted to read, crossword puzzles, or anything else you feel would help pass the time if stuck in the van.

Have a dog? Or cat? Keep them entertained with puzzle toys, training, or snuggling in a blanket. Okay, maybe don’t try to snuggle the cat because they’ll bring out the murder mittens, but you get the idea!

Brick Puzzle Game is a fantastic way to keep your pup entertained and burn off some pent-up energy they’d typically get on a walk or during playtime. For cats, consider getting them a toy like the Pet Fit For Life 2 Guinea Feather Wand Cat Toy to keep them occupied.

54. Plan For Cold Weather

We are fair-weather vanlifers ourselves, but we’ve run into some frigid nights! Even when you’re chasing the sun, you’re bound to run into some 40- and 30-degree nights that’ll have you shivering under the blankets.

Plan for cold weather by having a heat source in your van. We have the Ignik 12 volt electric blanket for semi-cold nights. It’s expensive but worth it because it runs off 12 volts and heats up fairly quickly.

For super cold nights, we use the Mr. Heater Portable Buddy Propane Heater hooked up to a 20-lb propane tank that’s stored under the sink. This baby heats the van quickly and is perfect for those 30-degree nights.

55. Set Up A Secondary Power Source Besides Solar

In the summer, you can expect to have anywhere from 14-16 hours of daylight, which is excellent for solar power. However, no matter where you are in the United States in the winter, you will get way less daylight.

The northern hemisphere sees an average of just 8-10 hours of daylight once winter sets in, meaning your solar panels are providing less power than they usually would in the summer. This can make it challenging to keep batteries charged.

Installing a second way to charge your house batteries, such as a DC-to-DC charger, is a good idea. We use the Renogy DC-to-DC charger, which runs when we turn on the van. That way, when we travel from destination to destination, we get to top off our house batteries.

We have a step-by-step guide to wiring a DC to DC charger right here!

56. Save Money On Gas Using The Upside App

Traveling the country (or the world!) is a dream come true, but expenses add up. Gasoline is one of our most expensive monthly purchases, as we don’t tend to stay longer than 2-3 days in a single spot unless we really like the area.

Upside is an app that offers discounts at various gas stations. Here’s how it works:

1. Find a gas station with a discount that suits you (it ranges from 1 cent off to over 20 cents!).
2. Claim the offer on the Upside App.
3. Pay full price at the pump.
4. Get reimbursed for the discount on the app.
5. Cash out the money at any time (amounts less than $15 incur a $1 fee to withdraw to PayPal. Withdraws to a bank incur a $1 fee if they are less than $10. Otherwise, it’s free!).

We use Upside for almost every gas purchase, and we get back around $100-150 per year, depending on how often we travel.

Interested? Use our referral code JARROD5634 to get 15 cents off the first time you use the app! We get a referral bonus of 15 cents off as well.

57. Consider Starlink For WiFi

Before we hit the road, we did a ton of research on internet options for our van. There are mobile hotspots, Starlink, cell phone hotspots, and…well…that’s about it! Getting reliable WiFi on the road isn’t easy, that’s for sure!

We decided to go with Starlink because it seemed most reliable. With cell phones and mobile hotspots, you still need to have a signal to use them. We knew we would be camping in remote areas with little to no cell phone signal, so a hotspot just didn’t seem feasible, especially when we both work remotely, run a blog, have a social media presence, and have family who worry if we don’t check in each day.

We’ve been using Starlink for about three years and are pretty happy. Here’s what we like:

• Reliable WiFi all across the United States, as long as it has a clear view of the sky
• Easy to use
• Durable satellite & router
• Multiple third-party parts and tools to customize the roof setup for the dish
• Everything is portable

Here’s what we don’t like:

• High price tag
• Support takes a long time to reply
• Can’t park in heavily wooded areas if we want a steady connection

If you’re thinking about using Starlink on your vanlife adventures, check out our referral link to get your first month free! We also get a free month, so it’s a win-win! Check out our article on Starlink for vanlife for an in-depth look at using the service while traveling.

Wrapping Up Vanlife Hacks

I hope these van life tips, storage hacks, and travel advice will help you on your future adventures! Vanlife is freeing, but it certainly comes with challenges. Take it from someone who’s been on the road – you’ll want to do everything you can to make life as simple as possible on your vanlife trip!

Do you have any vanlife hacks, tips, or advice that might help a fellow vanlifer? Let us know in the comments below! We love hearing from other travelers.

Until next time, give your furbags an extra pet from us dirtbags, and keep exploring! For more vanlife tips and tricks, check out the Dirtbags with Furbags Blog!