She Built This AMAZING Van HERSELF with ZERO Experience!

One step at a time, one thing at a time. Whatever's next, that's all I concentrated on. Otherwise it would have been so overwhelming. Today we're meeting Harriet, who has got a pretty amazing story and I think you're going to enjoy it. So let's say hi to Harriet. Hi Harriet. Hi Bob, how are you today? I'm very good and we're standing here in front of your very nice Ram ProMaster. Thank you. And you built, did most of the build yourself on that. Yeah, probably 75%. And what led you up to the decision to live in a van? Well, I had a son that passed away two years ago. Mainly it was because I was sitting, I'm a stay at home mom and I'm sitting there and my son had passed away and I just couldn't sit there anymore. I had to get out. I had to put something else in my mind besides my son's death. And then I went through, my marriage failed and that was just the thing that told me life is short. This living in Palm Beach County, Florida is just too expensive. It's a waste of money. I'm sitting in a big house. I moved from 1700 square feet in a pool to 1100 square feet, then to 700 square feet and it's still like such wasted space. You know, you sat on the couch, you ate at the dining room table, you cooked in the kitchen and you use your bathroom. And I have all of that right here. This is perfect for me, I love it. I made it cozy and comfy for me and I have rooms, I have a bedroom, I have a bathroom, I have a kitchen and I have a living space. You really, really, really have helped me make the decision to do it, that made me believe that I can do it. So I'm very, very thankful. Well, you know, I think a lot of that is the many men and women and particularly the women that you saw doing it. And now you're that lady that's telling everyone else that they can do it. You can, you can do it. And now we're gonna go inside and take a look at her Ram ProMaster, which she built almost entirely on her own. It's amazing job she's done. So Harriet, would it be okay if we took a look inside? Come on. All right, let's go. Come on in. Well, this is my kitchen. I do have running water. I just don't have it on right now. I started out with the gray tank and the fresh water tank. That looks like your stove. That is, that's one of my ways of cooking. I have the butane stove. I also have an induction burner, just set it up here, you know, cook. And I have a little barbecue grill. And so you have quite a lot of solar then. We'll see that in a bit. Yes, I have 400 watts of solar. That you installed on the roof. That I installed on the roof. I have a convection microwave storage so I can bake and I can roast and I can microwave. But it is a work in progress. I'm still trying to, in my head, trying to think how I'm gonna do this because I only wanna do it one time to build the cabinet to finish this off. And there will be cabinets up here eventually. And also I don't have any upper cabinets in the bedroom yet. You got a Berkey, I see. Oh yeah, that's my water. I was introduced to that at the RTR last year and I think that's wonderful. I can put any water in there. They say you can put pond water in it and it'll come out fresh. So every day, even though I filter my water, wherever I get it from, I cook and drink this Berkey water and it's great. I love it. They're legendary. It tastes great. I've devised my own little locking systems when I travel. And just a little, these never come open but I put a little hair tie on them. This is just a Dometic little drawer fridge. Little bit of salad. My fresher stuff I keep in here. My vegetables and things. Carrots. Are you missing a drawer, a slider in there? It has a freezer compartment. Oh, I see. Okay, and so it just slides in and then the door closes and it does really well. You can do ice cubes, ice cream. It really freezes? Yes. Oh wow. Very well. In fact, it still freezes even though I have it out. It wants to freeze up there. But I'm using this as my freezer because having five kids and always, I'm used to cooking big meals. I just divide things up and put them in the canning jars and freeze them. And then I have my meals. Cause I still cook the same way. Well, I think that's great. And I can cook a meal and I can eat from it and then have maybe, I don't know, five, six, seven more meals. So if they're in there and then as I cook things, I can have them in there, I can rotate it. There's three or four or five different kinds of things in there that I can eat from. This is my shower. I've got a composting nature's head. I love it. And I've got the shower. It's all plumbed hot water. If I want to take a quick shower or just wash my hair, I can sit on there and do it. If I want to take a hot scrub down shower, I just lift that out, set it right here. And then I've got the whole three feet to take a shower. Oh, so you just lift the- Yeah, it's just bolted down and you turn those knobs, lift it out. I just set it right here and I have the whole shower. So that's really good. But if I take a shower, then I do have the shower curtain hiding back here. So I put that in front of this. The bedroom, it's a queen size bed. I did cut a little bit off the back, but now I wish I hadn't because it would fit. I sleep sideways, side to side. I have plenty of room. I sleep on my stomach. So I put my hand above my head and I still have plenty of room. I have a curtain that closes it off completely. Keeps me warmer when it's cold and keeps me cooler when it's cool. And you put in the swivel seats up front. I did, I put in the swivel seats. That was one of the first things I had done. Yeah, I put in the ceiling, the fans, the lights, the insulation, the flooring, just one step at a time, one thing at a time. Whatever's next, that's all I concentrated on. Otherwise, it would have been so overwhelming. And it's just the Home Depot cheap vinyl flooring. Rolled it in there. And I built this little step for my puppy because the ProMaster floors are all squishy there because of the batteries there and the alternator, I believe, or the fuel pump. I got Reflectix for the windows because I don't have any lights right now. I took it down for the video. I got these nice vents for the, I can have those in for when it rains even. Yeah, you just roll down the window and just take them out. They just store up here. Okay, and so like a lot of us, you have a garage in the back. I do. Where you have a lot of your stuff. Yeah. Let's take a look at that. Okay. And look at that gorgeous electrical setup. That's just perfection. I've tried to take all of your advice, Bob. I can see it everywhere. Yep. These are my window treatments for these windows. They just go in there and they have magnets. They just stick in. And their privacy on the backside, they're black. Very nice. And, you know, I've got the little buddy heater and all of those things. I can hook up to 110. I have an extension cord I can hook up to my house. I have 300 amp hours of Battle Born lithium batteries. I have a Renogy 2000 watt inverter. It's all done really, really well. And your son did this. Yes, my 20 year old son did this. Thank you, Lenny. Thank you so much. You did such a wonderful job. It's really, really wonderful. I'm so proud of him. And then I had an electrician, a plumber, do all of my, this is my water heater, and I've got 33 gallons of fresh water. A big tank there, yeah? Yeah. That's a big one. And you put the gray water underneath. Yes, I did. I put a 30 gallon, I believe it is, gray water tank underneath for the shower. And I can fill it. This is just a regular fill, or we can connect it directly to a hose at a camp spot. And it bypasses the pump, of course. And I have all my equipment for getting unstuck. I got my mats, and I've got a come along, and I've got tow bars, or not tow bars, but tow ropes and everything like that. So that if I ever, if I ever have to use it, hopefully, hopefully it'll never come out of the plastic. Hopefully, yes. Please, please don't make me have to do it. I have used those, and they work really well. And I wouldn't have even known that I needed one of those until I saw your videos. So one thing I guess I haven't asked you is, so you're retired, and you're just supporting yourself on your retirement income. Yes, I actually don't have a retirement income. I'm gonna have Social Security, and I have another pension from the government when my husband was killed in the military. So I have that, and I'll have a small Social Security check. Well, thank you so much, Harriet. I really appreciate your sharing your life and your home with us. Folks, I know you've been inspired by Harriet's story. If she can do it, you can do it. And if you got anything out of this video, like us on YouTube, subscribe to the channel, hit that thumbs up button, and we'll talk to you later.