Lowri Our ultimate guide to the vanlife essentials we couldn’t live without, while living on the road.
Minimalism and tiny living are alien concepts to most. The ideals have certainly appealed to us over the years however it was without even realising it that we forced themselves upon us, when deciding to take a long 9-month road trip in our self-converted campervan.
How do you even start to figure out what you need?
This is the big question. And when put into practice, it’s harder to answer than you first think.
Most importantly, there’s the things you need. Then there’s the things you want. And then there’s the things you think you need, in case something happens to things you actually need… I could waffle on more.
It was quite a brain-melting task to say the least.
Such limited space and storage is a challenge for even the most skillful of organisers (and I should point out that I do take a little pride in my organisational abilities).
So, a little bit of planning and good to go?
I want to say ‘yes’ but it is never quite that simple, is it? I speak from our experience at least. Even after 4 months in we were still trying to cut down where we could!
While we may not be perfect, and probably still have way more than we need, I think we are doing pretty well with our minimalist lifestyle.
The secret for us is a handful of key items that have made our life on the road more comfortable and that little bit easier.
So without further ado, here’s our collection of vanlife essentials for an epic North American road trip:
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1. Packing Cubes
If you’ve been backpacking in the last few years, chances you will have already discovered this amazing invention. Better yet, they have a use beyond backpacking in vanlife!
Our clothes drawer would be a complete and utter disaster without these wondrous cubes. Definitely a vanlife essential.
We love our cubes in particular because they come in two sizes and – something you might not think about at first – the netting on the front allows you to see what’s inside!
We each have a ‘tops’ cube, a ‘hiking/fitness’ cube, I have a ‘dress’ cube, Rhys a ‘shorts’ cube etc.
2. Camping Chairs
Probably an obvious one to most but we are going to include it anyway. Camping chairs are the epitome of outdoor relaxation.
There is a huge range of camping chairs out there! Campers can spend as much, or as little, as desired.
Being budget travellers, we didn’t spend a fortune. In spring and summer they are often sold at local supermarkets for as little as £5 or $10.
3. Power
If your camper is for short trips or weekends away, then power may not seem so essential. When living in one full time… don’t think twice.
We never quite realised how much power we consumed until living in the van. There’s Phones, laptops, cameras, a drone, a gimbal, fans and a thermoelectric cooler; at least our lighting uses next to nothing!
Charging/running all these items would not be possible without our own power source.
Budget buster: Generating and storing your own power does not come cheap...
To cope with our clearly quite power-hungry lifestyle we had two 100Ah (Amp hour) batteries. These are charged via a split charger relay which sends power from the alternator when driving.
We also have a 100 watt solar panel on our roof for days when we didn’t do much driving.
4. Fans
For extracting while cooking or simply basic air circulation, an extractor fan (roof vent) is definitely key. Rhys did a lot of research on fans and one kept coming up time and again. Another pricey item but definitely a vanlife essential.
In addition to our main vent, we couldn’t have lived without our mini-but-mighty 12v fans.
There were several nights along our journey where the temperature wouldn’t drop below 20C. While I cope well with the heat, these fans spared Rhys many sleepless nights with their cooling breeze.
5. A portable gas stove
While of course most vanlifers will have a gas stove, our emphasis here is on the ‘portable‘ (i.e. not having one built in).
One of the best things of living in a campervan is the ease of enjoying the Great Outdoors. We didn’t want to be confined to cooking inside on a nice, sunny day!
And then when the rain came…
Another plus point of our cooker was the side ‘arms’ that moved in and out to create more stove-top space while sill offering a wind barrier; super nifty!
Tip: In addition to the portable gas stove we recommend purchasing a small propane tank. Those 1lb bottles are unfeasible for long-term vanlife-ing as they are environmentally and economically disastrous.
6. Spices
Ok, so we’re talking an entire spice basket…
This may be overkill for some but we can’t stress the importance of at least a small range of herbs and spices.
They are vanlife essentials for cooking diverse and tasty food that is often healthier, cheaper and way more rewarding than pre-made convenience food.
Before setting off I put all my spices into self-labeled, identical jars for maximum storage efficiency. Yes, I like to organise and YES, I’m a little OCD…
To keep it simpler and cheaper, then zip-lock bags would also work just fine.
7. 12v Thermoelectric Cooler
We spent a long time weighing up if we would need a fridge. We did already have a cheap cooler. The former was unfortunately way out of our price range and the latter we knew just wouldn’t cut it.
So we met in the middle by opting for a thermoelectric cooler.
While it was by far our most power-hungry purchase, we don’t think we could have coped without it’s cooling powers.
Since thermoelectric coolers such as this power continuously, Rhys added a temperature controller so it would shut off when the desired temperature was reached. This helped to significantly reduce our power consumption.
8. Mosquito Nets
Don’t question this one, just get them!
We nearly didn’t. Fortunately we changed our mind last-minute before setting off and only installed them a couple weeks later on the road.
It turned out to be one of the best decisions we made! I don’t think we could have survived the summer or up north without them.
9. Sun-Visor (Sun-Shade)
Essential for keeping temperatures down, which was a win for our hard-working thermoelectric cooler.
Remembering that every little helps in terms of space, we would totally recommend an accordion-style shade which folds up super small with no issues.
In addition to it’s heat-reducing powers, a sun-visor does also provide an element of privacy. Curtains are perhaps more essential for those desiring privacy, but ours made the cab a bit dark during day light hours if we were to park up at a rest area, for example.
10. Boxes & Baskets
An organiser’s best friend! We had multiple boxes and baskets throughout our campervan which are essential to keep our storage spaces organised.
We were super lucky to find 34 quart (32L) tote boxes which fit snugly within our storage at 10.9″ high. They weren’t the best quality (a couple cracked slightly) but at <$10USD each, we can’t complain.
Keep an eye on deals at your local hardware store to grab a bargain!
11. Water Container
We had our trusty ‘big-blue’, as we called it; a 10 litre (2.5 gallon) Aqua Pak container for potable water.
We did a bit of research on decent brands to ensure we could stay cheap but not deal with any leaking issues (something that sounded to be a common problem).
We actually custom-built our kitchen cabinets to fit this particular model and are pleased to report no problem so far!
It is fair to say however, if we had had more space to work with we would have totally got a larger container. We did keep an additional 4l container in the back for top-ups.
12. Speakers
Whether it’s music around the campfire or some extra volume for those films on rainy evenings (it’s surprisingly loud in the van!), we found our Bluetooth speakers to be a vanlife essential.
Any decent speakers should do the trick but a good brand can be worth the investment and last years.
13. Microfibre Towel
Stereotypically a backpacker’s best friend, microfibre towels are also super handy when living in a campervan. When living in such limited space who wouldn’t want an effective yet quick-drying towel?!
14. Camping App
Every vanlifer will have a trusty go-to app that highlights nearby camping options. There are plenty to choose from with WikiCamps, Campendium and Park4Night just to name a few.
Our personal favourite is iOverlander. It’s easy to use, can be used almost entirely offline (bar access to uploaded photos) and, best of all, it’s completely FREE!
Note: We found iOverlander to be awesome across Canada and the US. For travellers across Europe or Australia, for example, we have read that other apps are more beneficial. Just download a few and see what works best for you.
15. Gym Membership
It may sound like a strange one but it’s actually ingenious.
Fitness aside, a cheap membership grants vanlifers access to showers! Such a luxury when living in a van.
We do of course utilise the opportunity to try and get a work-out in when the hikes have been few and far between.
For the States, Planet Fitness was our preferred option due to the cost and sheer volume of gyms across the country.
We should include that we didn’t do this for the first leg of our trip in Canada. RV parks here are much more willing to let non-guests use showers and aren’t too expensive.
Tip: If you will be in Canada travelling to the States, sign-up for Planet Fitness in the former (if possible). At the time of writing the cost is $20 per month in both countries, but CAD is worth less than USD.
16. Trusted Housesitters
Before we set off on our road trip we dreamed of vast wilderness and seclusion. I am happy to share that we certainly discovered this but we did feel that a road trip around North America would not be complete without visiting at least a few cities.
Neither us nor our campervan was made for city driving. The stress of navigating a 20ft box with no windows down 6+ lane highways is a rage-inducer to say the least!
So how do we visit cities stress-free? TrustedHousesitters!
This incredible site was actually recommended to us by a Welsh couple we met in Argentina. They had used it while backpacking in South America but for us, it presented the perfect opportunity to park up and explore a city.
We were able to explore Chicago, Toronto, Boston and New York with minimal-to-no city driving! Better yet is we got to explore these incredible places without the expenses of a hotel or campground. Winning!
Despite the budget-saving benefits, our favourite part of the site is getting to enjoy some dog therapy along the journey
Whether frequent travellers, vanlifers or not, we would recommend anyone to check out Trusted Housesitters. If you do decide to sign-up then CLICK HERE to receive 25% off (and score us two months of free membership )
Honourable mentions
In addition to the above vanlife essentials, we feel we should ‘honourable mentions’. These primarily include our much-loved and utilised fold-up table, axe, hammock and homemade canopy.
Why are these ‘honourable’ mentions?
While the above definitely made vanlife more enjoyable for us, we feel we could have potentially coped without them.
Meaning we see them as more of a luxury than essential (who would have thought an axe would ever be called luxury?! Haha!).
We totally still recommend each of these ‘luxuries’ though if you have the funds and storage space.
Final note
If you are looking to purchase a ready-made awning this can be pretty pricey. We opted to build our own make-shift awning; details and a step-by-step guide can be found on our blog post: DIY Van Awning.
So there you have it: our list of Vanlife essentials!
We hope this list may prove useful to those soon-to-be vanlifers out there!
Happy camping!
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