I've lived in a van for months on end, several times. It's many times safer and more convenient by far than in a tent. You and your stuff are a lot better protected in the van (from weather, animals, cops, and thieves. If you move the van 2x a day, morning and evening, nobody will ever notice you, much less realize that you live in it. Don't park in front of occupied homes, or in the same place more than about 1x per month. You can get around on a mountain bike and the bus, so the van need not be "sound". It can have a rod, water pump, etc, going out, cause you don't have to move it more than a 1/2 mile at a time. It can have a bad head gasket or a cracked head, etc. As long as it will start, has breaks, will move a mile or two without overheating or falling apart (ie, $400 van) you can live in it.
You could cook in the van, if need be, but I always took the "candle stove" outside for cooking, because I don't like the smell of smoke or the risk of fire inside where I sleep. Liquid wastes can go in a jar (use a lady j funnel if female) to dispose of later. A litter box works for a cat, why not for you? Put solid wastes in a plastic bag, first rolling them in the litter. Or you can park someplace where you have access to a porta pottie. A "solar shower" bag on the roof provides a warm sponge bath. 5 gallon water bottles provide a water source, and a "Life Straw" belongs in every vehicle. Tinted windows are nice, but you can also just tape Mylar "space blanket" reflector sheeting over them. Everyone will just assume that you are trying to protect the interior from the sun's heat and UV radiation. If you are legally parked, there really is nothing that the cops or anyone else can do about your vehicle (or you). Walmart or big motel parking lots work fine for overnight stays, and any place works for the daytime. Either the library or satellite service provide Net access.
People are crazy to be paying 1/2 of their wages for a place to stay and utilities. You need to save that money and find a way to use it to provide your income, so that you don't remain at the mercy of some employer's whims. While you might have a fine boss, he won't be forever, or the company itself can go under. You don't have to live in the van forever. Just for however long it takes to make a few k, (say to get thru 18 wheeler school). You need not live in your 18-wheeler that long, either. Say a year, while you save up 20. Use that money to buy and fix up a big old house. Then board 12 or more people ($100 a week, each). You need not live in that house long, running it, either. Perhaps a year, while it makes you enough money to buy another such place, fix it up, etc. In the time it would take you to go to college, (and the 1-3 years that you'd need to do nothing but pay off your college loans) you can be set for life, financially. And I don't mean by moving to the third world, either. I mean "clearing", after tax, 80k per year or more, right here in the USA.
Study up for the CLEP test, get into a 4 year college as a junior that way, if you want/need a degree sort of job/career. Or just enroll at a jr college, and keep your grades high enough ( "C's") to keep getting the 5k per year grant and 12 k per year loans coming. For many such places, 3k per year (2 semesters) covers your tuition. The books you can get cheaply, used, from Amazon.com. So they are last year's books, so what? you're not trying for "A" grades and the Professor will tell you the "new" stuff you need to know. You CAN live ok in the van on 4 k per year. I have done so. You can eat on food stamps, or at the missions/churches. So you can save 10k per year, while not having a job, (other than passing your classes). This lets you also do some odd job, $15 an hour cash sidelines, or work for half that much at a day labor place, its up to you. But get out of the "rat race', while you can still be more than just another rat.
The woman who posed the question was wanting advice in hopes of saving up money for land/house. In my own opinion, it could save money, yes, but it would be quite uncomfortable at times, and dangerous in some areas.
