AN experienced van lifer has shared her tips to stay safe and warm during the freezing weather.
YouTube star known as ‘The Minivan Lee Show’ shared her tips in a social media post called How Not to Die – Living in a Van during Extreme Weather.
YouTube/The Minivan Lee ShowThe YouTuber has been living in her van for seven years[/caption]
She has a wealth of experience, having lived in her van for seven years.
The woman started by saying: “It’s cold okay, and now it’s raining.
“It’s going to be wet and freezing for the next five days.”
But she does have some hot coffee in a flask to keep her warm.
She said: “So let me give you a heads up what I’m going to do. How am I going to stay warm in my van with in a damp van?
She revealed what her “masterplan” was.
At night, she said, she was going to get into her sleeping bag and wear a warm fleece shirt and then put her blankets on top.
Although she added she probably wouldn’t zip up her sleeping bag so that the didn’t feel “so confined”.
But in the morning she said she would “spend time” in the gym and might even go to McDonald’s where “it’s nice and warm”.
She said she had upgraded her gym membership so now so could use any Planet Fitness gym.
But she said for the next few days she was “probably going to be inside quite a bit.”
For going outside though, she advised to put on warm clothes.
She revealed that she had recently bout a turtleneck sweater which keeps her warm and she wears her “Sherpa” socks to keep her feet warm.
The woman also said that by making coffee that can help warm up her minivan.
She also said that she would go and eat out at a restaurant.
She said: “I’ll go to a restaurant and kind of sit there see if I can milk that just a little bit.
“I know waitresses don’t want you to sit forever but maybe I can milk it for like an hour and a half and then leave.”
Another tip she recommended was to turn the van’s engine on and let it warm up for 3-4 minutes and then turn the heater one for around five minutes.
But she warned she then turned it off as carbon monoxide can collect under the van and potentially start seeping up if the van is just sat there.
She also said a portable kettle was also “very, very important” and she just plugged hers in to make a pot of coffee.
The woman said: “I have mine because what if you run out of butane I mean if there was a real emergency trucks aren’t going to be delivering product and you’re going to run out of your Bane so I got this just for that purpose.”
She also advised getting a “jackery” or power station which she described as being a “power bank” as it stores up energy which can be used later.
The lady said: “Okay so I suggest that you get this. also something electric if you have an electric kettle at home use that but if you don’t get this get something like this, something small and this probably does conserve maybe a little bit more energy.”
She added: “What I suggest you do is you get yourself a solar panel and this is what you do, you take the solar panel when it starts running low and you take it outside.
“Also get a nice extension cord that’s going to extend out then you run this the cord into your house and that way you can just be energising this, powering it back up.”
That way you can store energy if the grid is down for any length of time due to a major storm.
The van life veteran also recommended getting a rice cooker as it can be used to cook food in it, if there’s no gas.
She said: “If you’ve got a solar panel, you can keep powering them up.”
The expert also advised to have water stored.
She said: “You need to have water stored up in your home if you’re bricks and sticks and if you are a nomad keep your water supply up and don’t let it run down.”
Lastly, she advised having plenty of food available and to memorise a couple of phone numbers in case of an emergency.
YouTube/The Minivan Lee ShowThe van lifer shared her tips to stay warm in the cold weather[/caption]