How I Lived In My Jeep TJ On A Budget!

 Yes! I built a bed in my 2005 Jeep Wrangler TJ for FREE. But first, I'm sure you're wondering WHY I lived in my little Jeep - so let me explain! 

First, What Was My Starting Point?

I started with a (mostly) stock 2005 Jeep Wrangler TJ. I say "mostly" stock because I did a few modifications to it; Flowmaster exhaust, aFe air intake system, rocker guards, Moab Rubicon rims that I got from Facebook Marketplace and slightly larger-than-stock tires. Other than that, I modified my stock bumper to make a stubby bumper, replaced the shocks, end links, fender flares, headlights and taillights, and replaced the soft top with a new Bestop Replace-A-Top with tinted windows. No lift, no 35" tires, no aftermarket bumpers or winch. My goal was to make this Jeep look like it just rolled off the assembly line. And I had NO PROBLEMS! Below is the Jeep in front of the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado. 

Why Did I Live In My Jeep?

Simply put, it was my only option. I snagged a summer internship with Rocky Mountain Youth Corps which is based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. However, I'm from St. Louis, Missouri, and the internship didn't supply housing. Staying in a hotel wasn't an option either, since my pay was only $10/hr. That being said, my first choice was to live in my Jeep anyway. It's what all the "cool" people were doing (van life, etc), and I knew it would make really awesome content that I could share on my YouTube channel. With all that out of the way, let's get into how I actually set the Jeep up to fit me and all my belongings.

First Step: Bed/Storage!

First thing's first, I needed a place to sleep. I didn't have the budget for a fancy rooftop tent and I didn't want to sleep in a ground tent since I would be doing that every night for work already. So, my solution was to remove the passenger seat and build a sleeping platform which extends from the front dash all the way to the rear tailgate. If this isn't the first time you've heard of someone fitting a bed in a little old Jeep, then you probably know who iamjake is on YouTube. If you don't, he's a YouTuber who first lived in a sailboat, then moved into his Jeep YJ (which he made look like a CJ) and travelled across the country in it. He really inspired my editing style for this trip, too. However, he fit a simple cot along his Jeep, whereas I built a platform out of wood. Lucky for me, I didn't have to pay for the wood! For a week before I left I worked with my normal summer job installing swimming pools and building retaining walls, and we happened to work in a neighborhood that was under construction. So, I simply grabbed a few 2x4's and a piece of plywood that was being thrown out and used that to build it. For free! Rather than trying to explain how I put it all together, I'll attach my videos of the process below. 

Here's part 1:

And here's part 2:

I Need Some Privacy!

If you didn't already know, sleeping in a soft top Jeep doesn't provide a whole lot of privacy. Buying a hard top would be too expensive, so I went the cheap rout again. To block peeping toms from getting a look inside while I'm trying to get my beauty rest, I decided to put curtains on the windows. Following the same theme as before, I made these out of an old sheet that I no longer had a use for. I simply traced out the shape of my window, cut it out, attached some grommets, and hooked it to some command hooks I stuck to the plastic. This way I could simply unhook them during the day and reinstall them again when I needed some shut-eye. 

Here's the video of making my window curtains!

With that done, the only thing left to do was pack up everything I needed and hit the road. It was much simpler than it might sound, and it showed me that if I ever felt the urge to get up and go on an adventure, I was more than capable of making it work (and so are you). 

Here's a picture of the setup in action!

Below is the full playlist I made while living in my Jeep in Colorado. These videos make me the most proud out of them all, and I can't wait to do something similar in the future!

Click here for the full living in my Jeep in Colorado playlist.

Thank you for reading and watching!