My name is John L.

A.

And I am 21 years old.

I am a newly minted YouTuber, living in my refurbish man in California.

Last year I made about $30,000 at my day job, but I recently resigned to do YouTube full time.

My YouTube channel went viral, and I'm lucky enough to be making a full time income off about.

I have $0 in credit card debt.

I pay $100 a month in car insurance and $200 a month and gas.

I pay $5 a month for water, $0 for electricity and $400 a month eating out.

I never really shop for groceries.

This is my van.

It was originally an ugly green color, but I got a peanut baby blue because that's my favorite color.

I bought the van on Craigslist for $2500.

Currently, the van has 122,000 miles.

The original reason I decided to move into my van was to save money on rent, and now it is with the idea of traveling.

I've been living in this van for over two years now, just over.

I posted my first YouTube video about two months ago, and within a month I got a 1,000,000 subscribers and it has just been insane.

I would have never expected for my channel to grow this fast.

I know there has been a lot of speculation regarding the growth of my channel, and I just want to see to all the naysayers that the growth of my channel is organic, and I filmed and edited and uploaded a video like every other YouTuber.

The YouTube algorithm picked up my video, and I have just been enjoying this ride.

So this is my travel companion, Alfredo, and he is just my best friend.

I got home at a Reptile Expo in Northern California for $325.

I decided Thio get a snake instead of a dog, which is what a lot of other van lifers have, because he's just so low maintenance, and I kind of need my space and he kind of needs his.

So he was just the perfect for me, so afraid.

Oh, it's a mouse!

Well, now he's moved on to rats once a week, and that adds up to about $12 a month by morning.

Routine usually starts off around six, and I do some stretches.

And then I say Good morning to Alfredo, and then I immediately leave the van to go find somewhere to pee.

Whenever I have to use the bathroom, I just use any of the neighboring establishments where each or at like a library.

If I'm working on some projects in an absolute emergency, I do have to emergency pee bottles.

I would show you, but I went camping last week and I didn't have a chance to empty them out.

But they're cute.

They're pink and sparkly and kind of make it a little less growth.

Every day I try to do something active, whether it's hiking or surfing or just taking a jump in the ocean.

My favorite thing about living in a van is having everything I need with me at all times.

My only complaint is I spent $45 a month on my gym membership, and that is where I shower because I don't have a shower in my van.

I probably spend most of my time in the van in the driver's seat.

This is my iconic fluffy steering wheel cover.

I got it for about 15 bucks on Amazon, and I absolutely love this thing.

The only downside is that it leaves lint literally everywhere, but it's worth it.

I actually find it easier driving a bigger core.

I feel a lot more safe and secure, being higher up off the ground up here.

I have my FM transmitter, and this is how I'm able to listen to my jams while I'm driving.

I could have just replace the whole stereo system, but this was only 17 bucks, and it does an amazing job.

And I always keep my coffee mug up here because late night drives require caffeine and just a couple of my daily essentials, which include my hair pick my kazoo.

Which explains why I'm still single in here.

I just keep some quarters for laundry and parking meters in this little compartment.

I just keep a notebook.

If I have any ideas, I want to draw down really quickly and some perfume and appear.

I have all my light switches for the back, and my extensive sunglass collection thing is my kitchen slash living space.

My van is about 70 square feet.

I did remodel my van myself.

There used to be to captain chairs right here, and everything was carpeted.

So I was set out by myself and laid this vinyl flooring and made it my home.

Renovations in total, including the outside paint job, costs about $8000.

My tips to anyone who's trying to renovate a van is to really plan out what you're gonna do before you do it.

I am a measure one's cut, twice kind of girl.

Don't be like that.

You will waste a lot of money.

I would describe my design aesthetic as like pink and girly, and I love bright colors, and I really tried to incorporate that into my home.

I try to lead a sustainable lifestyle.

I used wash Klaus reasonable straws, reasonable cups and just making those little changes.

Do you make a difference?

The van does have solar panels on the roof that charge the main battery, and I installed them myself.

The solar panels were, ah, $180 each, and I have three of them.

This is my kitchen sink, and I built it in unison with Alfredo's terrarium, and my sink is just this bar sink basin with a Volterra hand pump and my little silicone sponge.

You just pull this lever back and it pulls the water through.

I have a 64 ounce hydro class that is filled with water.

I never really use that hand pump because it's annoying, and you can never really like wash your hands properly because you always have one hand pumping.

My main source of water is the seven gallon water tank, and I always put drinking water in there, so I always have water with me at all times.

I felt that seven gallon water tank about once a month at just your local grocery store.

Some of them will have a refillable water station, and that's where I get my water from.

I ordered these tiles on Amazon, but they ended up just being stickers.

So in order to waterproof them for my counter tops, I just poured some Polier thrown over them.

I don't really cook that often, but these are the two kitchen appliances that I have in the van, and it's the Jet Boyle Minie moe, and this is just a backpacking stove.

I have only used it a couple times to make Rahman, and it didn't go so well.

So I don't cook for leading to do is connected to some propane, and I just have a small canister here and because I don't use this that often, the thing is still full.

And I have this portable blender that's us.

Few rechargeable, and I've made a couple of movies in here, and they actually did turn out pretty well.

So I'm a fan of this thing.

This is my compressor fridge.

It's by domestic, and it's it doesn't draw that much power, which is why I bought it.

And it's currently off right now because I lost one of my solar panels on my drive to L.

A.

So I had to sacrifice my fridge to warm Alfredo's heating pad.

I made these blackout curtains with some bandannas.

They just Velcro on broker right back, and this just gives me a sense of privacy when I'm sleeping.

The most expensive item in my van is my battery, which is the goal zero Yeti 1400 it was $1400.

This is the table that I used to eat some of my meals, and I also use this as my office desk, and it's the perfect size for my laptop, and this is where I do all of my work.

I do not have WiFi in my van.

I use the data on my phone for everything.

This is my vision board, and the first vision that I have on here is to be thick.

By the end of this year, it's gonna take a lot of hard work, but more so my real goals for the foreseeable future is to rebuild my van and visit all the national parks in the U.

S.

And then after that, I want to buy and build a uni mog, which is a military truck, and use that to drive from Alaska to Argentina.

And once I am done traveling eventually, I would like to buy a tiny house or build one and start a small farm.

I think my letter board I got up and goodwill, and it says, Take your but it's missing the eye.

So it's take your vitamins, missing both eyes.

I don't know where they want, and this is my calendar that just always has nothing on it.

I promise you I'm kind of a productive person but it just doesn't really showcase that.

And this is my bed, my favorite part of the van.

My bed is made out of pine plywood.

I just got two chutes, and it's probably not the best made bed, but I've had it for almost a year now, and it's held up pretty well so far.

I am five foot five and I fit perfectly on this bed.

That's pretty comfortable.

It's like a memory foam.

One time, though, this surfboard fell on my face because I didn't screwed in correctly.

Make my bed like three times a day because I take a lot of naps.

But making my bed, I feel like, is key to keeping the van looking clean, so I don't mind making about three times a day.

It's part of the lifestyle.

So I got my decorative pillows at a thrift store and this one's my favorite little purple one, and I got these satin pillow cases that are amazing for curly hair at just like a beauty supply shop.

This is where I keep all my clothes.

It's a pretty hefty drawer, but I try to stay organized with cubes and cubbies, and this actually has two more sets of companies in the back.

I don't go shopping that often because I don't really have a room to.

If I haven't worn something in more than three months, then I try to fell it.

I do laundry about every two weeks, and I go to the local laundromat.

Here are some of my favorite clothing pieces.

I have this vest that was made in Guatemala.

I got the set of first store for six bucks these air bell bottoms by free people.

I also got these at a thrift store, and they were 25 bucks.

One of my favorite tops is this vintage Dunham top with embroidered flowers on it when decorating my van.

My number one cost saving tip is to go thrift ing.

Buying second hand is always more sustainable.

I got this just a local art festival, and I felt like it fit the vibe of the van.

I have some string lights throughout the van.

I always like to turn these on when I'm just like reading and just trying to unwind.

They run off battery, and I have this remote that runs all the string lights in the van you consult them to different settings.

Sometimes it looks like Christmas in here.

You're around.

I think they just added an extra five to the Vance.

I keep my little remote on Velcro behind my bed.

And this is just an easy way to keep everything organized and so that I don't lose little things like this.

This is my teddy bear thing.

Looks like a murder scene.

And sometimes when it's cold, I like to have him on the bed and just have something to cuddle up on.

I have a pretty good relationship with money.

I live pretty frugally, and I know that money comes and goes.

My advice when it comes to money is to live within your means and on Lee purchase things that serve purpose.

All right, glamour.

I gotta go.

Toodles.