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Vanlife essentials you need

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Vanlife

 
Vanlife is super hot right now and for good reason. Living in your home on wheels, while traveling the world en seeing the places on your bucket list. Sounds amazing right? Well it is! 

Home on wheels

Having your home on wheels does come with a lot of perks, but you’ll need the right essentials to make the most of it. After all, you can’t bring all your usual house stuff in such a small space. In this guide we will tell you all about the VANLIFE ESSENTIALS you need! 
 

Top 7 essentials

It can be very hard to pick and choose the best items to take with you in your van and you will have to change things up along the way. Also, not everyone uses the same essentials! 
 
But, these 7 vanlife essentials will definitely enrich your (van)life.
 
 
Blog Vanlife essentials you need

 

1. Solar panels 

 
Having solar panels to benefit from the sun’s energy is becoming more and more popular and for good reason. Having these on your van will give you much more freedom, because you can save and store energy on sunny days and even while driving. 
 

What solar panels to choose

Depending on the size of your van and the estimated power you are planning to use, you can calculate how much Watt you’ll need. Just take a look at your appliances and count the Watt usage. 
 
We have three 100 Watt Solar panels on our Citroën Jumper L3H2 van and we almost never have to use external power from a campsite or camperspot, except on darker winter days if we don’t drive. 
 
These solar panels are the perfect vanlife essential and a must-have when traveling in a van or camper, especially when you travel fulltime. In the end it will save you money and you’ll be good to the earth, WIN-WIN!
 
 
Blog Vanlife essentials Bus solar panels_
Blog Vanlife essentials Bus solar panels close up

 

2. Retractable kitchen faucet

 
One of the things we made the best decision on buying is our Retractable kitchen faucet for our kitchenHaving a smaller kitchen space to work in and being frugal with water, it’s convenient to move water in any direction. 
 
If you put the faucet close to the door of the van, you could also use it as an outdoor shower!
 
 
                        Looking for a great camping outdoor shower, have a look at this one! 
 
 
Blog Vanlife essentials faucet
Vanlife essentials you need retractable kitchen faucet

 

3. foldable boxes 

 
These things are definitely making your organizing dreams come true, the IKEA foldable boxes. One set mostly consists of 2 large, 2 medium and 2 small boxes. 
 
We use them on a daily basis for food storage above the cabin, for our clothing storage in our closets and even to keep all our cat’s stuff together in one box. 
 
There’s also a zipper underneath, easy if you want to store some for later without taking up space! 
 
 
Vanlife essentials you need foldable boxes
Blog Vanlife essentials foldable boxes IKEA

 

4. Coffee percolator 

 
Don’t you just love that first sip of coffee in the morning? Well, we do and we can’t start the day without! When setting up the van interior we immediately thought about what coffee machine would be the best fit.. and there it was! The coffee percolator.
 

What is a coffee percolator

Coffee percolators are the perfect vanlife essentials, because they are a fast and easy way of brewing coffee. This machine uses no electricity and is usually used on a stove. Coffee made with a percolator is also very rich in flavor.
 
This coffee percolator is the thing you need in your van to get the best out of that coffee moment. We use it on a daily basis and don’t need anything else!
 
 
Blog Vanlife essentials coffee percolater

 

5. Coffee grinder

 

Staying in the coffee zone, another thing that we use a lot in our van is our coffee bean grinder. It’s small, it’s quick and versatile. For instance you can also grind other things in there, like herbs or nuts. 
 
We have the Delonghi coffee grinder in our van and it is definitely one of our best vanlife essentials. It’s very easy to use, because of its push to grind system
 
Just put the coffee beans in, push on the lit and grind for 5-10 seconds depending on the structure you like. 
 
 
coffee grinder vanlife essentials

 

6. Food containers

 
Making the best use of the space you have is very important while living in a van, especially in the kitchen. The best way to make use of every inch, is by using food storage containers
 
These containers are available in many sizes, colors and materials so you can choose them according to your drawer sizes. 
 
Trust us, these food storage containers will make organizing your van’s kitchen a peach of cookie. 
 
 
food storage containers in draw

 

7. Outdoor shower

 
Vanlife can be made as luxurious as you want. Some vans have the whole shebang like a full bathroom, living room and kitchen while other builds will be more simple and minimalistic.
 
 
For each of these builds there is one thing that everyone wants.. an outdoor shower
 
 
Whether you already have that full bathroom or not, showering in nature has a different feel to it.
You can also use it to just rinse off your body after a day on the beach or wash off materials. 
 
 
 
 
Vanlife essentials outdoor shower
Outdoor shower vanlife essentials you need

Hi! We’re Tim & Ilse
Together with our fluffy cat Snowy we travel around the world searching for adventures. 


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