I use cat litter instead of a toilet and empty it in street bins but I wouldn’t swap my cheap life in a van… it saved me
LIFE on the road isn’t for everyone – but for Vicki Harper it’s the ‘purrfect’ solution to dodge the crippling cost of living crisis, even if it means she doesn’t have a traditional toilet.
Instead Vicki, from Grimsby, uses CAT LITTER whenever nature calls – and empties it in public bins.
She has been sleeping in a converted Ford Transit 125 T350 ever since she returned the keys to her accommodation due to financial struggles just over a year ago.
Vicki shares her story in tonight’s episode of Ben Fogle: New Lives In The Wild on Channel 5, which follows people who have traded brick-and-mortar homes for ‘van life’.
Inside her converted van is a cooker, several fitted cabinets, a fridge freezer, fireplace and a spacious bed – but no bathroom.
Presenter Ben describes the abode as “lovely” before asking: “I can’t see an obvious place for a loo or a shower?”
Vicki, who is on disability benefits, replies: “I use cat litter.” Asked if it works, she replies: “Absolutely… where I park and with the way I park, I stay for two or three weeks, there are really no places to be emptying toilets.
“So I find that using cat litter, I can just get rid of it in a normal bin, so cat litter is the way forward.”
While some opt for van life as a way to escape the monotony of nine-to-five life in favour of “freedom” in the great outdoors, Vicki says financial pressures forced her hand.
“I did it due to the cost of living really,” she says. “I’m on disability [allowance] and I don’t have enough to manage a home, so it was the decision to get a van.”
Vicki explains she enjoys “being able to go wherever you want”, with her main outgoings fuel, a gas bottle every six weeks and food.
“That’s everything you need really,” she says. “There’s no worrying about what’s going to be paid this month or, you know, what’s building up in debt etcetera, there’s none of that.
“It was quite strange when I gave the keys back to my property. It was like this massive weight was lifted off my shoulders, 100 per cent it’s freedom.”
Vicki tells how moving into a van has served as a “healing journey” and helped her to regain confidence, after struggling with household bills which made her feel imprisoned.
Where I park and with the way I park, I stay for two or three weeks, there are really no places to be emptying toilets. So I find that using cat litter, I can just get rid of it in a normal bin, so cat litter is the way forward
Vicki Harper
During her darkest moments she admits she contemplated taking her own life, adding: “It’s quite hard to explain, your bills are mounting up and the walls are caving in.”
Asked if she found the experience of renting “suffocating”, she replies: “Absolutely, it felt like a cage.
“It was a burden and I felt caged. It was very, very close to being lights out a couple of times because I’d had enough and I couldn’t see a way forward.
“It felt like my coffin and I needed the escape because I couldn’t see any further, so it has saved me 100 per cent.”
‘Inner peace’
Vicki says she has found inner peace since leaving rented accommodation, and once she is cosied up inside at night, you “forget it’s a van”.
However it can be isolating, which she experienced for the majority of her first year living the nomadic lifestyle before finding a large online community of fellow ‘van lifers’.
She says: “When it gets to weather like this, you’re stuck and you’re crawling around on your hands and knees, you’re going to get cabin fever after a couple of days.”
I’ve got up in the morning and there have been bags of food outside my door. It’s nice… that there are still some nice human beings out there but they obviously thought I was completely homeless, which I’m not
Vicki Harper
Vicki adds: “Where I park up, they know if I’ve been in my van for a couple of days, they’ll know that I’m struggling.
“Once I started to get to know people I’ve had support, but up until three months ago I was completely solo, completely on my own and didn’t know anybody.”
Thankfully, kindhearted strangers have left supplies in a bid to support her.
Vicki says: “I’ve had food parcels left at the side of my door, I’ve got up in the morning and there have been bags of food outside my door.
“It’s nice… that there are still some nice human beings out there but they obviously thought I was completely homeless, which I’m not.
“That is my home. I’m houseless, not homeless – but yeah it was nice, it was warming that in the place where I was parked I felt quite welcome and safe.
“I’m learning to live again. That’s actually real, it’s learning to live again.”
Nomadic lifestyle
While there are no official figures for the number of ‘van lifers’, one member of the community tells the doc there could be as many as 120,000 living this type of nomadic lifestyle in the UK alone.
The documentary reveals some park up to sleep in laybys at the side of the road and others pick beauty spots in stunning locations like the Peak District.
Many said they tried to avoid campsites due to them costing between £25 and £30 per night and some charge extra to use electricity.
Vicki doesn’t seem likely to return to a traditional home any time soon and reveals her dreams of purchasing a bigger van when she can afford it.
Ben praises the alternative lifestyle for offering cash-strapped people another option to being in debt.
He says: “Vicki has said that van life saved her life, she considered taking her life, but this has been her salvation and there are many other Vickis out there.”
It was quite strange when I gave the keys back to my property. It was like this massive weight was lifted off my shoulders, 100 per cent it’s freedom
Vicki Harper
Others featured on the show included Paul Jackman, 51, who moved into a converted former military van several years after getting divorced.
He says: “I knew that when I got divorced, I looked at the prices of the mortgage again, the bills – and that was when they were cheap – and there was no way I could afford one on my own with child maintenance and everything else on top for a single guy.”
The factory worker, from Lincolnshire, spent £6,000 on the vehicle and £50,000 to kit it out with everything from a king-sized bed to an oven, central heating, a shower and toilet.
He told The Sun: “Half of my wages is basically spending money now.”
The documentary also features military veteran Mark, who converted a former police riot bus into a travelling home.
He says: “I was in the military for 24 years and after I couldn’t settle. When I moved into a van it was like putting on a comfortable pair of boots. I didn’t have to be anywhere.
“I don’t live on the grid, I don’t live off the grid – I use the internet, the roads, the diesel – but I drift to the edge.”
Ben Fogle: New Lives In The Wild airs at 9pm tonight on Channel 5.
You Are Not Alone
A LIFE is lost to suicide in the UK every 90 minutes.
It touches the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It’s the biggest killer of people under the age of 35 and is more deadly than cancer and car crashes. Men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
Yet, it’s rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
- CALM, www.thecalmzone.net, 0800 585 858
- Heads Together, www.headstogether.org.uk
- Mind, www.mind.org.uk, 0300 123 3393
- Papyrus, www.papyrus-uk.org, 0800 068 41 41
- Samaritans, www.samaritans.org, 116 123