The Blunt Truths of Bus Life
It’s no question that building a home on wheels has an alluring quality.
Building a stronger relationship with nature, moving from place to place, and feeling that ultimate freedom that comes along with it. Leaving behind your hometown and job in a drop of a dime to explore the country.
The feeling that a person is not living the life they chose is way to prominent in this day and age. It’s as if I can reach out my hand and clutch that sensation I get from others, like they are trapped within the circumstances life brought them to. A feeling that’s very real, and felt at some point by everyone.
This was one of the prominent feelings that lingered within, before I began the skoolie life. My career was not moving forward, I was living at my parent’s house and a constant trend using my extra cash for temporary happiness. I needed a big project to work towards, that transcended my current situation.
There were a lot of struggles along the way, but many of them were mainly dictated by my mentality. The mental zone of our existence can make or break the way our lives are navigated. It is so easy to let fear be in control, looking too closely into the “What if’s”. During the difficult parts of the skoolie build, I felt that I tried everything under the sun to complete a task, but there was no observational success. But even in the downfalls, there are pieces of success in learning through mistakes, and getting closer to myself in the process.
We are in the best time period for great success, with our smartphones. There is an immense amount of tools available to us to kickstart our dreams. I give a lot of credit towards internet research, and the knowledge/help of friends and family. I was just able to take that information I gathered, create a plan and bring it to fruition.
If you’re serious about building a mobile home, then I am obligated to share some real life insights on my day to day living in a school bus. This is not going to be a dramatic and romanticized version of skoolie life that we commonly see on social media, but a real-life look that will help those who are concerned about the reality of this lifestyle.
Wildlife Will Always Find a Way to Enter Your Space
Just as we get insects and mice in our regular homes, you will also find that these pests will make there way into your tiny space. The problem here is that in a mobile dwelling, it’s much easier for them to enter.
There was a mice family in our ceiling from the first day we moved in, and it took us a month and a half to fully clear them out. It was a long road of feeling nervous about their presence and finally working up the courage the eliminate them. Unfortunately, you might have to get comfortable using mouse traps. This was something I hadn’t realized was apart of this amazing lifestyle. We had the mice originally because it was temporarily vacant during the building process. But since we’ve been living in the bus for 8 months now, I can say we haven’t had a problem since.
The biggest problem, especially in spring and summer is spiders, ants, beetles and other insects. Depending on your area that may vary, just understand it is an important thing to keep in mind.
The Weather Outside Will Always Impact the Life Within
No matter how methodically a mobile home is designed, there will be the impenetrable force of nature that can and will affect the space. Personally, a big reason for building my bus home was to be more in touch with the elements. This makes everyday feel like a camp out, or should I say “glamp out.”
During our time in the bus thus far, we experienced heavy rain/wind storms, humidity, summer heat and winter snow.
Those who have trouble sleeping with any amount of noise, might be affected. Heavy rain will come in with a bang, slamming on your metal roof, or thunderstorms that sound so much closer than if you were in a traditional house. Of course there might be options in this particular case, to possibly coat the metal roof with some type of shock-proof material to aid the sound. On days with lighter rain, the sound is actually quite calming for me. Humidity on the other hand can be brutal at times, especially with wanting to keep your space as cool and dry as possible. (to prevent mold). Since we haven’t experienced absolutely awful humidity yet, we still have yet to figure out the best solution here. A dehumidifier could be an option!
If you’re able to acquire a heavy duty electrical system and solar panels, then you might enjoy your summers in a converted home with an AC cooling system. But for those who would like to keep things more simple, you might need to steer clear from extremely hot destinations. Just as your vehicle gets very hot in the summer, that’s what you’d expect in a bus or van dwelling. Reflecting material to block out the windows makes a difference, but to be blunt, nothing beats an AC cooling system. Think about your financial capabilities, and where you stand with summer weather. The best part about this is, all you need to do is put the key in the ignition and find a cooler destination!
Winters and snow have been an absolute breeze because we installed a diesel heater. It’s easy to install simply from the vast amount of “How To” videos online. During really cold climates, theres a potential for the plumbing to freeze up, through the pipes, and even the water tank can be compromised if it is installed outside of your dwelling. Our water tank was installed inside our bus so our only issues was our pipes freezing. It’s important that you insulate your pipes, or are able to apply adequate heat to the areas if need be. We used a hair dryer to defrost our pipes and it totally worked! Another thing to mention, it’s important to keep the saying “Two is better than one” in this instance. Our diesel heater has been faulty on occasions, so to have another heating element like a wood stove would have saved us from some cold nights. Always having a back up for every possible issue is huge!
Self-Sustainability and Minimalism Will Become Your New Expertise
Whether you’re huge on minimalism and self-sustainability or not, living in a converted mobile home requires some level of this to become your lifestyle.
Don’t get me wrong- there are some amazing builds I’ve seen that basically feel like you’re in a small apartment. But it is mainly because they’ve got insanely creative with their space usage. More often times than not, you will be downsizing into this space. Decluttering, and purging were quite honestly one of my biggest struggles. From day one of living in my bus to today, I’ve slowly let go of a lot of possessions that didn’t hold any concrete value to my current living space. There is quite a beauty in this, because it involves the spiritual practice of non-attachment. The more you hold onto things, the more tight and constrictive you feel. The more stuff that is in your space, the louder and more cluttered your mind gets.
In regards to self-sustainability, conserving becomes an inherent act with this lifestyle. You want to go as far as you can without thinking, “Now where will I fill my water tank up next?” This has brought us to taking short, military-like showers, and using as little dishes as possible. We’ve even have spray bottles to do our dishes on occasions. Thinking of where your trash will go, and the speed in which you accumulate it become factors as well.
The Quietness of Nature Shows The Minds Truest Colors
There are many different reasons why people decide to live in a house on wheels, but one thing is clear; it surely immerses you into nature. There are much less distractions present. You’re more or less outside of the hustle and bustle of regular human lifestyles.
I remember the first night in the bus I got the best sleep of my entire life. But after slowly adjusting from my previous lifestyle to this one, I started to hear my thoughts louder than ever. I guess this is the reason why some prefer to camp for a weekend, then get back to the day to day grind we’ve all been apart of. There was a mixture of embracing that solitude (even when it got hard), and slowly acquiring new and old past time hobbies. I got back into drawing, writing, photography, meditation and found a new love of crocheting. I am no monk, and as much as I feel inspired by their willingness to surrender to solitude, sometimes you just need to find things to keep your hands and mind busy.
My take is, just embrace all that is to come. The positive and negative. Our minds can be so grueling but sometimes solitude and surrendering is the only way to unburden. I find this to be one of the best thing bus life has granted me.
The Only Option Becomes Rolling Through The Punches
There’s a type of grittiness that presents through people who choose to live this lifestyle.
As humans, we went from sleeping under trees to ordering food delivery from the comfort of our couch. Not that the convenience of food delivery is the the problem or sleeping under trees every night is ideal but- how did this happen? Everything in our commodity-filled world is presented under convenience. It makes the average person unable to do certain tasks that were absolutely vital our ancestors. It is partially limiting, but if we can merge the idea of conveniences with that of a more naturally primal life, you get a groundbreaking potential of growth. This is similar what people are doing when they decide to embark on van/bus life.
There are different struggles presented to us since we decided to move into our school bus. Let’s say the plumbing leaks, you can’t necessarily call a plumber to come fix the issue. Learning how to build our plumbing set up also gave us the skills that if a problem arises, we are obligated to fix the issue. This springs up the idea of rolling through the punches. Things will go wrong in your conversion build, especially once you start moving. You innately start gaining this grittiness that the struggles become a necessary aspect to the beauty of traveling. You gradually learn to take what life gives you, even the more difficult situations, and find a solution to move onward.
The Daily Tasks of Life Are All Done Within the Same Space
The daily tasks of cooking, sleeping, washing, spending time, and well, relieving yourself all within the same space. Sectioning off the space you have can really help keep these smaller areas separate from one another. Then the added factor of living in this space with another individual can really become a challenge for such a reduced living space.
The best way to keep your mind at ease here is to clean and tidy your space everyday and as often as possible. From making my bed every morning, doing the dishes and laundry more often, and sweeping/mopping the floor all become a much more frequent task. Anywhere you stand in the space, you get a view of every area in our skoolie besides the bathroom, so it’s important to keep things looking tidy. Air purifiers, incense, sprays, and fans become life savers. Dividers are good to section off, but be mindful that this also reduces the visual look of your space as well.
The silver lining to this heightened need to clean and organize more often, is finally being on top of your game. As a person who previously would not make my bed every single morning, would leave the dishes in the sink for later, I feel much more productive as a whole.
Bus life is not for everyone. It’s raw. It’s wild. And yes, it’s often very inconvenient. But it also gives back tenfold in ways most lifestyles can’t. You gain self-reliance, perspective, adaptability, and a much deeper connection to both the world and yourself.
If you're dreaming about a skoolie life, I hope this gave you some clarity. This lifestyle isn’t all sunsets and coffee with mountain views—it’s real, it’s gritty, and it’s incredibly fulfilling if you’re willing to roll with the punches.
So whether you take the leap or simply enjoy following others who do, just know this: there’s immense beauty in choosing your own version of freedom—even when it comes with mouse traps and frozen pipes.
