November 15, 2023 • 25 mins
Are you ready to save money and live the van life? In this week's episode, I'll share my personal budget for life on the road, as well as some money-saving hacks I've discovered along the way.
Of course, expenses for nomadic living can vary greatly depending on your lifestyle, just as they can in any living situation. But the beauty of van life is how flexible and customizable it is. And you have the significant advantage of saving money on rent or mortgage!
Van life is not one-size-fits-all; the cost of thi can be tailored according to your choice of van, driving habits, and camping style, among other factors. But the expenses don't stop at the van. We'll also tackle the costs of groceries, health insurance, internet and cell phone service, and how you can optimize these for your life on the road.
Whether you're a seasoned road tripper or considering van life for the first time, I promise this episode is brimming with useful tips and insights to help you save money while living a life of freedom and adventure.
Learn how to navigate van life with my Van Life Prep Pack that includes essential tools such as expense and income trackers, worksheet for choosing, financing and repairing a van, build cost and insurance tracker, and more!
Van Life Prep Pack
Other resources mentioned in this episode:
Upside
Gas Buddy App
$5 Meal Plans
Harvest Hosts
The Wayward Home Podcast - Van Life WiFi
Visible Wireless Review
Guide to Health Insurance for Full Time RVers
The Wayward Home Facebook Group
Check out the full episode blog post here: https://www.thewaywardhome.com/episode60/
Connect with Kristin Hanes and The Wayward Home!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 0 (00:00):
So back in 2015, I started living in a Toyota Prius
.
I was working as a newsreporter for KGO Radio at the
time in San Francisco, and I hadmet Tom, who is now my
boyfriend, and he decided tolive in a Prius to save money on
rent.
So you might be wondering howmuch does van life cost?
How much savings are you reallygoing to have by living in a
van?
So I know this varies a greatdeal, but I just wanted to touch
(00:23):
on this in an episode of theWayward Home podcast.
So if you're deciding whetheror not to live in a van, you can
get a general idea of how muchvan life costs.
I'm also going to share sometips and ideas for saving money
on the road.
Let's go Welcome to the WaywardHome podcast.
All about van life, boat lifeand nomadic living.
We'll bring you tips,interviews and stories from the
(00:44):
road and on the water.
Now here's your host, KristenHaynes.
Hey there, I'm Kristen Hayneswith thewaywardhomecom and I
spend half the year in my campervan and half on my sailboat in
Mexico and I hope to inspire youto live nomadically too.
So you might be wondering justhow much van life costs, or, if
you're already living in a van.
You might be wondering how muchother people spend on van life
(01:04):
and how you can make somechanges to save money on your
lifestyle.
So the truth is about thisissue is it varies so much on
type of van, on how much youdrive, whether you stay in
campgrounds, what your eatinghabits are Everyone really has a
different baseline of how muchvan life costs.
So I know the answer it variesis not really all that helpful
(01:25):
when you're planning on livingthe van life.
So I wanted to give you somespecific examples from my life
that you can use and you canassess, like how you can either
save money and spend way lessthan I do on certain things, or
just what to expect from thislifestyle.
Through my life on the road,I've also accrued some money
saving tips that I wanted toshare with you, and I'll be
referencing these throughout thepodcast and any links I say
(01:47):
you'll be able to find below inthe show notes.
So don't worry, if you arelistening right now while you're
driving or doing something else, you don't have to stop and
write down all these links.
They are below in the shownotes and you'll find links to
everything I'm talking about inthis episode.
But before we get started onthis episode, I just wanted to
tell you about my complete vanlife prep pack.
I designed this PDF to help youstart getting ready for van
(02:08):
life and to plan your adventures.
It includes downsizingchecklists, worksheets to help
you choose, finance and repair avan, a list of places to sleep
in your camper van, a calendarfor staying organized and even
more.
But what's really cool aboutthis van life prep pack is the
three bonuses that I haveincluded.
One of those is a meal planwhere you'll get 15 meal ideas
(02:30):
for van life, because I knowfiguring out what you're going
to eat can be kind ofcomplicated.
But you're also going to get avan life expense and income
tracker where you can track downall your expenses and incomes.
You can see exactly what youare spending with life on the
road.
The third bonus is you'll get avan life build cost and
insurance tracker.
If you are building out yourown van, then you'll want to
(02:52):
keep track of everything you putin your van so that you can
give the insurance company thecorrect amount they should
insure your van for.
They'll also want to see yourreceipts and what kinds of
components you've added to yourvan.
So that tracker is alsoincluded if you purchase the van
life prep pack.
So I have included a link tothe van life prep pack in the
show notes.
Or, if you want to go thereright now, go to
thewaywardhomecom forward slashprep pack.
(03:15):
So let's get into it and talkabout just how much van life
costs.
So your biggest expense will beyour camper van that the big
sum of money upfront and that'sgoing to be something you'll
need to budget for or figure outexactly how you will finance
that.
Now I'm someone who recommendsthat you choose a van you can
afford.
I'm not super important to me.
My very first van was a ChevyAstro van A 1994 Chevy Astro
(03:38):
with only 57,000 miles on it.
I got a great deal, but I wasable to pay for that van in cash
and we lived out of that forseveral years as I worked on
building my business andcreating a savings account.
I really recommend that you dobuy something you can't afford
so you're not going into a lotof debt that you cannot pay off
just to live van life.
So the first van was reallycheap and then I worked for many
(03:59):
years saving money and later,in 2021, I purchased the van I
am sitting in now, which is a2021 4x4 Sprinter van.
This van right out of the chutewith all the bells and whistles
and the four-wheel drive was$65,000 out of the dealership.
Now this is an empty cargo van,totally not build out, and
that's a pretty big sum of money.
(04:20):
Now I put a large down paymenton the van and I chose to take
out a payment plan because Ineed to improve my credit score.
I don't have a lot of long-termloans to show on my credit
because I choose to typicallypay stuff in cash and I don't
have a mortgage.
I no longer pay rent.
So I chose to take out a loanon this van in order to build up
my credit score.
(04:40):
But I know that if I have to, Ican pay off this van, and
that's what I'm trying to sayabout choosing a van you can
afford.
If you have to pay it off, doyou have the cash to do so?
So anyway.
So, as you can see, there was ahuge difference between my first
two vans, with the one being$6,000, this one being $65,000
out of the dealership, and thenwe still had to build it out.
(05:01):
So another huge expense isbuilding out a van.
I was lucky in that I am ablogger over at the Wayward Home
and so some companies did giveme some items to put in my van.
I do have to include those asincome on my taxes, so it's not
a complete free ride, but itreally does help cut down the
costs of van build expenses, forexample, the bed in my van and
(05:22):
the flair space flares those aretypically worth around maybe
$5,000, and flair space did giveme those components in order to
install in the van and writeabout them.
So that was very lucky for me.
But there were plenty of thingsin this van that I did have to
pay for, including the woodpaneling and including the
flooring that we use, which Idid get a discount on from
(05:43):
Campervan HQ, but I did pay forthat and all the rack systems
and exterior gear on theCampervan.
I'd say when it's all said anddone, the bill for building out
this Campervan was probablyaround $30,000, so that was
pretty expensive.
You can do it more cheaply thanthat, depending on which
materials and supplies you'redoing.
You can go very basic with aCampervan build.
(06:05):
I know if you're doing a smallvan like a minivan, there are
minivan conversion kits that runjust a few thousand dollars.
So this can really run thegamut.
And again, I would encourageyou to only build out what you
can afford in your van.
If you want to save a lot ofmoney, just purchase a van for
you know $5,000 and put a kid init, or build out a simple
(06:26):
platform bed.
There's many different ways tomake your van build more
affordable, and so that's justwhat I spent on both of my vans
and building out the van.
So hopefully you'll find somesort of happy medium or whatever
works in your budget.
So that will be your very firstgigantic cost is buying and
building out your Campervan.
One of the biggest expenses Ifound when living the van life
(06:47):
is paying for fuel.
Now, of course, that depends onhow much fuel is, but over the
last couple of years it's beenpretty expensive, especially
since we switched over to theSprinter Van, which takes diesel
, which tends to be moreexpensive In California.
I believe it was last summer of2022.
I was seeing prices over $6 agallon.
Luckily, this year, in 2023,it's dropped quite a bit, but it
(07:09):
still takes between $100 and$130 every time I want to fill
up the Sprinter Van.
So fuel can be a really largecost of van life, and of course
this varies quite a bitdepending on just how much
you're driving, how muchdistance you want to put on your
van or if you're staying putfor many weeks at a time.
Of course that'll drasticallyimprove how much money you are
(07:31):
spending on your fuel.
I'd say for us we spend betweenmaybe $400 and $800 per month on
fuel.
That's because we tend to movearound quite a bit Our summer
months.
We leave the sailboat in Mexico, then we drive through
California to visit variousfamily members, up to Oregon to
visit family members, and a lotof that time is spent in the
(07:52):
Columbia River Gorge, where webounce between the gorge and
Mount Hood, depending on theweather.
So sometimes we're looking forvarious wind surfing spots or
hikes in different places, andso we put a lot of miles on the
van just looking for, you know,outdoor activities that we want
to participate in, and also partof that is then driving to
Portland to visit my family.
(08:12):
So there you are looking at alot of different legs of driving
throughout the week, everysingle day we're basically
driving, so sometimes we do stayput.
For example, last year weboondocked outside Yuma for
months, and so the fuel costswent way down when we were
boondocking for many days at atime and not driving around
quite a bit.
So luckily that is a van lifecost that can be changed
(08:34):
depending on your financialsituation and just how much
money you want to spend on fuel.
What's pretty cool is there area couple of apps I use in order
to save money on fuel.
One of those is called Upside,and you can find that in the
show notes or I have a simplelink which is thewaywardhomecom
forward slash upside.
So that app not only helps yousave money on gas but also other
(08:56):
things like groceries andrestaurants.
But when you sign into the appyou can use it to find a gas
station that's offering adiscount.
Usually that's anywhere betweenthree cents and maybe up to 30
cents off each gallon of fuel.
So I've used that quite a bitand I think I've gotten about
$50 back using that app.
I also use an app called GasBuddy so I can look for the best
diesel prices around me, andsometimes we'll stick it out and
(09:17):
drive a little bit further inorder to find a dollar off of
the diesel price for the van.
And also it depends on whatstate you're fueling up in.
Like, if we're in Californiaand we're heading to Arizona, we
wait until we cross the borderin order to get fuel, if we can,
because fuel is way cheaper inArizona.
So it also depends on whereyou're traveling in the country.
But I hope those two apps Imentioned Upside and Gas Buddy
(09:40):
will help you save a little bitof money on fuel.
Another thing that we probablyspend too much money on is food,
and that includes groceries,eating out and alcohol, because
I really like buying highquality food.
I eat organic food wheneverpossible, and that is more
expensive, and I buy products soI can do Asian cooking, and
each time you buy a bottle oflike oyster sauce, for example,
(10:02):
or rice noodles, those arepretty expensive, and so I'd say
that my eating habits and oureating habits generally are on
the more expensive side, andit's kind of interesting that we
end up spending this much moneyon groceries, because we do eat
vegetarian most of the time.
So all these groceries arevegetarian food.
They do not include any meatproducts, but sometimes we do
(10:22):
buy things like impossibleburger or, you know, vegan
sausages, and those are fairlyexpensive, probably along the
same lines as meat products.
So I'd say our grocery bill orour food bill is anywhere
between $500 and $800 per month.
Sometimes it's a little more ifwe throw more restaurants in.
Sometimes it's less if we're inMexico, and that's actually
(10:43):
when we're on our sailboat, notin our van, but our grocery bill
goes way down when we're inMexico.
So I know there are ways tosave money on groceries, like
you can shop at discount storeslike all these or grocery outlet
.
But for me I'm making a decentenough income that my main
splurge in life is eating goodfood and drinking good alcohol.
I particularly have a soft spotfor craft beer and good wine
(11:07):
and good cheese and good bread,even though I do bake some of my
own sourdough bread, but that'smostly on the sailboat because
I have no oven in the van.
But food prices can really getvery expensive for us, so that's
one of our higher.
So food prices and paying forfuel are probably our highest
expenses when living the vanlife.
(11:28):
So a couple more ways to savemoney on food besides shopping
at discount grocery stores is tomostly cook your own meals and
that's, you know, pretty much agiven.
But anytime you eat out in arestaurant it's just going to
cost way more, especially ifyou're also ordering alcohol.
But another thing you can dothat I actually just re-signed
up this very day while recordingthis podcast is the $5 meal
(11:48):
plan.
So it's just $5 a month andyou'll get meal plans for every
single day and a printablegrocery list.
So it pretty much plans out allyour meals for you and it makes
it way easier to you know, eatat home.
I used to use the $5 meal planmany years ago and, frankly, I
forgot about it until I wasrecording this podcast and I
literally went and signed upright now.
(12:08):
So you'll find that link belowin the show notes if you want to
try $5 meal plans in order tosave money on food.
Another thing that can reallyget you while living the van
life is campground fees.
I'd say that this really varieswith us depending on what time
of year, where we're in the moodto stay, if we need a hot tub
or not, so I'd say we typicallyspend between $50 and maybe up
(12:31):
to $400 per month on camping.
Now, just recently, when we gotback from Europe, we just spent
five weeks in Europe rentingcamper vans, which I'll talk
about in future episodes but westored our van in San Diego and
then we spent two weeks onCalifornia's coastline camping
at various beachfrontcampgrounds.
Now those can really add up.
The cheapest ones are probably$50 per night, but it goes up to
(12:53):
$80 per night.
And I did this because I wantedto be near the coast, tom
wanted to get some surfing inand just felt so good to be near
the ocean, walking on the beach, exploring the coastal town and
I do want to write a blog postabout beach campgrounds in
California, so we spent moremoney than normal exploring some
of those campgrounds inSouthern California recently.
(13:14):
But also we went out to thedesert, to desert hot springs,
and there's a particular RV parkthere that I really like,
because it has tons of mineralpools, hot water pools that you
can just soak in.
They're fantastic, and it alsohas a gym, a laundromat and it's
just a beautiful facility.
We're not people that typicallystay in RV parks.
They don't have a lot ofprivacy, they're just kind of,
(13:36):
you know, everybody's too closetogether.
But once in a blue moon we wantto pamper ourselves with hot
tubs, and so we went there andwe got a great deal.
It's usually $70 a night, butit was only 35 a night.
They were running a two-for-onespecial and so we stayed there
for a couple of nights.
But otherwise we typicallyboondock and boondocking.
If you don't know what that is,it's finding free campsites.
(13:56):
So that's way out in the middleof nowhere on Federal Land,
bureau of Land Management andNational Forest Service.
So we usually camp for free,but sometimes we do spoil
ourselves and get campgrounds.
But if you're someone who reallywants to stay in a campground
all the time, you're going tosee your monthly budget go way
up Because there are moreaffordable campgrounds.
You know $20 a night but theycan get really expensive, and so
(14:18):
you'll just have to figure outhow often you want to stay in
campgrounds and the price point.
And the price point goes updepending on the amenities.
Like the ones with the hot tubsand mineral pools, those tend
to be a little more expensive.
If you do want to stay incampgrounds or at various
facilities and you want to savea little bit of money, I
recommend you try signing up forHarvest Hosts.
If you haven't heard of HarvestHosts yet, this is a program
(14:39):
where you pay a yearly fee andthen you get unlimited stays at
wineries, at farms, breweries,distilleries, even.
You can pay a little extra andstay at golf courses and then
you can use those amenities orshop in the store or go wine
tasting and that's a really coolway to save money on camping.
So if you want to check outHarvest Hosts, I put a link
(14:59):
there in the show notes.
So vehicle maintenance fees aregoing to be another cost of
living the van life and thatalso depends on what kind of
vehicle you have, how old it is,what state of repair or
disrepair it's in.
So for us we do not have a lotof vehicle maintenance fees
Right now.
Our Sprinter Van is very new,only two years old, with about
30,000 miles, and I'm very luckythat Tom is, you know, a
(15:22):
mechanic and he knows how to fixthings and he does the oil
changes on the Sprinter Van,which is fantastic.
So all we do is go to theMercedes dealership.
We buy the Mercedes engine oiland that was about $300 recently
, pretty expensive.
But if you bring your Mercedesinto the dealership and get its
service there, the services canbe up to $700.
So that's one way we save moneyon maintenance.
(15:44):
And he also rotates our tiresand he conducts the maintenance
on the Sprinter Van and he alsoconducts the maintenance on the
Astro yes, I am very lucky.
Recently the alternator crappedout in the Astro so we went to
O'Reilly's Auto Parts, bought a$200 alternator and he put that
in the Astro, where that wouldhave been a lot more expensive
(16:06):
if we had taken it to a shop.
However, even when we did livein the Astro, it really held up
pretty well.
It was a 1994 Van but it reallyonly required a few hundred
dollars per year of maintenance.
I think we got really luckywith that Van and so far, really
lucky with the Sprinter Van,even though it is newer.
But it really will depend on alot of things if you need a lot
of regular maintenance or not.
(16:27):
You know, I do encourage you toget your oil changes and if you
change out your filters andeverything you need to do with
this general maintenance.
Also have an emergency fund incase something big breaks in
your Van and you need to go stayin an Airbnb for a few days.
It's important that you do havemoney set aside to deal with
vehicle maintenance.
So internet and cell phoneservice is a really big deal for
(16:47):
us and something that we pay agood amount for every month.
For living the Van life.
I operate a remote workbusiness on the road, the
waywardhomecom and also thispodcast.
So I need really good Wi-Fi inthe camper van.
So I have a Starlink and thatruns $145 a month to use but
provides really fast, high-speedinternet that we can both use
(17:09):
anywhere, both on the camper vanand the sailboat.
So that's fantastic.
I couldn't live without Starlinkand both of us have phone plans
through Visible and for phoneplans these are actually really
affordable.
We do pay the higher price fee$45 per month which allows us to
use the phones in Mexicobecause we spend half the year
in Mexico.
But Visible does offer a reallycheap bare-bones plan.
(17:32):
That's only $25.
It has unlimited talk, text anddata.
So if you are on a budget andyou're looking for a more
affordable phone plan, you canget Visible at just $25 per
month and that should just takecare of all your internet needs,
unless you are off-grid, whichthen you would need Starlink.
So those are the two thingsthat we do use for Wi-Fi in the
van and that probably runs usbetween the Starlink and both of
(17:54):
our phone plans, probablyaround a little under $250 per
month.
If you want to learn more abouthow I get Wi-Fi in the van, you
can tune in to episode 49 ofthe Wayward Home Podcast and
I'll add that link below in theshow notes.
And there's also an entirearticle I wrote on visible phone
service and its pros and cons.
I'll also link that in the shownotes.
So definitely, we do spend adecent amount of money per month
(18:17):
on getting good Wi-Fi in ourvan.
We also pay for a RV storagespace in Arizona and that runs
$145 per month and we do pay forthat because we have a utility
trailer that stores all of ourbelongings.
This is like a mobile storageunit.
This not only has mementospersonal mementos but also tools
(18:38):
and machines that help us buildout this camper van.
Because we don't have a home,we don't have a garage, we have
to do everything out in naturewhile boondocking.
So in our utility trailer wehave things like a generator
that can run our tools.
A band saw a variety of powertools and supplies for building
out the van.
And this storage space inArizona where I'm recording this
(19:00):
podcast right now actually alsoprovides a space for our Astro
or for the Sprinter Van.
For example, if we want to takethe Astro into Mexico, we can
leave the Sprinter Van here.
It's fenced in, it has a codeto get in.
It's a very secure facility,and so we can leave one van here
and one utility trailer full ofour belongings.
Now we have this instead ofhaving a traditional storage
(19:22):
unit, because I love that.
It's movable.
We can really just tow ourstorage unit anywhere in the
country in order to access it.
Right now, it makes sense forit to be in Arizona, but that's
another expense that we havethat you may or may not have,
depending on if you're trying tostore your belongings while
you're living the van life.
Now, storage units can reallyrun the gamut, depending on what
(19:42):
type of unit and where it'slocated, and so do your homework
if you're mobile and you can goto a cheaper part of the
country to store your stuff anddo that.
If you can get rid ofeverything and not have a
storage unit, then that'sdefinitely preferred.
So whatever works for you, butthat is part of our monthly van
life budget.
So another thing that people arecurious about is how we pay for
health insurance.
(20:03):
So I am a resident of SouthDakota, but I have health
insurance through Zion HealthShare.
This is not health insurance.
This is a health sharingprogram.
So how this works is thatmembers contribute a certain
monthly amount Mine happens tobe $165, and then members cover
each other's medical fees.
So if someone has a majorincident happened to them or
(20:26):
they need a medical procedure,funds come out of this general
fund which we're allcontributing to monthly, and it
covers that person.
That's called health sharing.
This is not health insuranceand a lot of people aren't
comfortable with that, but forme I rarely go to the doctor, I
really don't need a lot ofhealth care, and so I'm hoping
that this would just cover majorthings that might happen.
(20:48):
Knock on wood that it doesn'thappen, but this is a safety net
.
It works all over the world,it's affordable and so I think
it's fantastic.
Now Tom has a free health careout of California.
He's still a resident ofCalifornia, but has his
subsidized, which is fantastic.
So if you are curious abouthealth insurance I did write an
in-depth blog post about it andif you are considering life on
the road but not sure how to gethealth insurance, you'll
(21:10):
definitely want to check outthat article, which I'll link to
in the show notes.
So those are basically all ofour major expenses when it comes
to living the van life.
Of course we have smallerincidentals, like getting the
flu shot or going to thepharmacy or buying clothes, but
those do not make up a hugeportion of our budget.
I would say the fuel costs, thefood costs, the campground, the
(21:31):
initial cost of the van are allpretty larger sums of money.
The rest are more affordableand things that can be dialed
down if we needed to.
For example, if we had a majorloss of income, we could really
dial down our monthly expensesby driving less and eating
cheaper food.
That's all it takes.
One thing I love about van lifeis just how customizable it is
(21:54):
for your budget, and if you docompare it with paying a rent or
paying a mortgage, it's reallyway cheaper.
Sometimes I think about wow, wespent a lot of money this month
because maybe we purchased someproducts for the van, or maybe
we went and bought some clothesor purchased something for the
bow or took a vacation or stayedin an RV park and expenses for
that month seemed a little bithigher than normal.
(22:14):
We remind ourselves that, yeah,but if we're living in an
apartment, it would always bethat much a month $2,000 to
$3,000 or more, depending onwhat city we're living in and
that, month after month, yearafter year, you know you're
spending anywhere between$30,000 and $50,000 a year just
for a place to live, and so whenyou look at it in that way, you
(22:35):
can see just how much moreaffordable it is and
customizable.
Like I said, if there's asudden income loss or if,
suddenly, if you need to savemoney, you're able to pare down
expenses.
If you have an expensive van,you can always sell it to get a
cheaper van.
It's nice to have these assetsthat can be sold and that you
can, you know, recoup some ofthe money you put into van life.
(22:58):
So I think it's a reallyaffordable way to live and I
just love this way of living,that we can just go camp for
free on these beautiful publicland, which is something I'm
very thankful for.
So van life is definitely waymore affordable than apartment
living, and I hope this episodegave you some ideas on just how
much it might cost you.
(23:18):
And remember, you can downloadmy van expense and income
tracker if you do decide topurchase the van life prep pack
as just one of the bonuses thatcomes with it If you already
live in a van.
I hope this episode gave yousome ideas on how you can save
money even more, because I thinkit's really fun to figure out
new and interesting ways to savemoney.
Yes, I do like to spend my moneyon my food and groceries,
(23:39):
because that's something I lovein life.
I know I could cut back and eatbeans and rice and definitely I
love beans and rice, but I alsolove buying those good products
.
But I also know that I couldcut back on all that if need be,
and so that gives me some peaceof mind.
But living in a van has allowedme to save up a tremendous
amount of money.
I just love that.
I'm able to put money into my401k every month.
(24:01):
My I'm saving for retirement.
I have savings, nest egg andemergency fund, and if you
compare that back to what I wasfirst talking about at the
beginning of this episode, whenI lived in that Toyota Prius, I
had debt that I couldn't pay offfor over 10 years.
I did not have any savings.
If you look at where I was backthen and that was eight years
ago to where I am now, withmaxing out my 401k and having
(24:26):
cash savings for emergencies,I'm in a much better place and
I'm really thankful for van lifefor allowing me to get to that
place.
So if you are thinking of livingin a van to save money, I would
say, go do it.
You can always do it for alittle while and if you hate it,
then find somewhere cheaper inthe country to settle.
You can find a more affordablerent than what you're paying now
(24:46):
.
So hopefully you'll go outthere, give it a try.
If you have any questions, I'malways available.
Head on over and join myFacebook group.
That's at the wayward home onFacebook and I will put a link
below so you can come over andjoin the group and we can chat
over there and you can connectwith me.
So I hope you enjoyed thisepisode of the wayward home
podcast and I'll see you nexttime.
So back in 2015, I started living in a Toyota Prius
.
I was working as a newsreporter for KGO Radio at the
time in San Francisco, and I hadmet Tom, who is now my
boyfriend, and he decided tolive in a Prius to save money on
rent.
So you might be wondering howmuch does van life cost?
How much savings are you reallygoing to have by living in a
van?
So I know this varies a greatdeal, but I just wanted to touch
(00:23):
on this in an episode of theWayward Home podcast.
So if you're deciding whetheror not to live in a van, you can
get a general idea of how muchvan life costs.
I'm also going to share sometips and ideas for saving money
on the road.
Let's go Welcome to the WaywardHome podcast.
All about van life, boat lifeand nomadic living.
We'll bring you tips,interviews and stories from the
(00:44):
road and on the water.
Now here's your host, KristenHaynes.
Hey there, I'm Kristen Hayneswith thewaywardhomecom and I
spend half the year in my campervan and half on my sailboat in
Mexico and I hope to inspire youto live nomadically too.
So you might be wondering justhow much van life costs, or, if
you're already living in a van.
You might be wondering how muchother people spend on van life
(01:04):
and how you can make somechanges to save money on your
lifestyle.
So the truth is about thisissue is it varies so much on
type of van, on how much youdrive, whether you stay in
campgrounds, what your eatinghabits are Everyone really has a
different baseline of how muchvan life costs.
So I know the answer it variesis not really all that helpful
(01:25):
when you're planning on livingthe van life.
So I wanted to give you somespecific examples from my life
that you can use and you canassess, like how you can either
save money and spend way lessthan I do on certain things, or
just what to expect from thislifestyle.
Through my life on the road,I've also accrued some money
saving tips that I wanted toshare with you, and I'll be
referencing these throughout thepodcast and any links I say
(01:47):
you'll be able to find below inthe show notes.
So don't worry, if you arelistening right now while you're
driving or doing something else, you don't have to stop and
write down all these links.
They are below in the shownotes and you'll find links to
everything I'm talking about inthis episode.
But before we get started onthis episode, I just wanted to
tell you about my complete vanlife prep pack.
I designed this PDF to help youstart getting ready for van
(02:08):
life and to plan your adventures.
It includes downsizingchecklists, worksheets to help
you choose, finance and repair avan, a list of places to sleep
in your camper van, a calendarfor staying organized and even
more.
But what's really cool aboutthis van life prep pack is the
three bonuses that I haveincluded.
One of those is a meal planwhere you'll get 15 meal ideas
(02:30):
for van life, because I knowfiguring out what you're going
to eat can be kind ofcomplicated.
But you're also going to get avan life expense and income
tracker where you can track downall your expenses and incomes.
You can see exactly what youare spending with life on the
road.
The third bonus is you'll get avan life build cost and
insurance tracker.
If you are building out yourown van, then you'll want to
(02:52):
keep track of everything you putin your van so that you can
give the insurance company thecorrect amount they should
insure your van for.
They'll also want to see yourreceipts and what kinds of
components you've added to yourvan.
So that tracker is alsoincluded if you purchase the van
life prep pack.
So I have included a link tothe van life prep pack in the
show notes.
Or, if you want to go thereright now, go to
thewaywardhomecom forward slashprep pack.
(03:15):
So let's get into it and talkabout just how much van life
costs.
So your biggest expense will beyour camper van that the big
sum of money upfront and that'sgoing to be something you'll
need to budget for or figure outexactly how you will finance
that.
Now I'm someone who recommendsthat you choose a van you can
afford.
I'm not super important to me.
My very first van was a ChevyAstro van A 1994 Chevy Astro
(03:38):
with only 57,000 miles on it.
I got a great deal, but I wasable to pay for that van in cash
and we lived out of that forseveral years as I worked on
building my business andcreating a savings account.
I really recommend that you dobuy something you can't afford
so you're not going into a lotof debt that you cannot pay off
just to live van life.
So the first van was reallycheap and then I worked for many
(03:59):
years saving money and later,in 2021, I purchased the van I
am sitting in now, which is a2021 4x4 Sprinter van.
This van right out of the chutewith all the bells and whistles
and the four-wheel drive was$65,000 out of the dealership.
Now this is an empty cargo van,totally not build out, and
that's a pretty big sum of money.
(04:20):
Now I put a large down paymenton the van and I chose to take
out a payment plan because Ineed to improve my credit score.
I don't have a lot of long-termloans to show on my credit
because I choose to typicallypay stuff in cash and I don't
have a mortgage.
I no longer pay rent.
So I chose to take out a loanon this van in order to build up
my credit score.
(04:40):
But I know that if I have to, Ican pay off this van, and
that's what I'm trying to sayabout choosing a van you can
afford.
If you have to pay it off, doyou have the cash to do so?
So anyway.
So, as you can see, there was ahuge difference between my first
two vans, with the one being$6,000, this one being $65,000
out of the dealership, and thenwe still had to build it out.
(05:01):
So another huge expense isbuilding out a van.
I was lucky in that I am ablogger over at the Wayward Home
and so some companies did giveme some items to put in my van.
I do have to include those asincome on my taxes, so it's not
a complete free ride, but itreally does help cut down the
costs of van build expenses, forexample, the bed in my van and
(05:22):
the flair space flares those aretypically worth around maybe
$5,000, and flair space did giveme those components in order to
install in the van and writeabout them.
So that was very lucky for me.
But there were plenty of thingsin this van that I did have to
pay for, including the woodpaneling and including the
flooring that we use, which Idid get a discount on from
(05:43):
Campervan HQ, but I did pay forthat and all the rack systems
and exterior gear on theCampervan.
I'd say when it's all said anddone, the bill for building out
this Campervan was probablyaround $30,000, so that was
pretty expensive.
You can do it more cheaply thanthat, depending on which
materials and supplies you'redoing.
You can go very basic with aCampervan build.
(06:05):
I know if you're doing a smallvan like a minivan, there are
minivan conversion kits that runjust a few thousand dollars.
So this can really run thegamut.
And again, I would encourageyou to only build out what you
can afford in your van.
If you want to save a lot ofmoney, just purchase a van for
you know $5,000 and put a kid init, or build out a simple
(06:26):
platform bed.
There's many different ways tomake your van build more
affordable, and so that's justwhat I spent on both of my vans
and building out the van.
So hopefully you'll find somesort of happy medium or whatever
works in your budget.
So that will be your very firstgigantic cost is buying and
building out your Campervan.
One of the biggest expenses Ifound when living the van life
(06:47):
is paying for fuel.
Now, of course, that depends onhow much fuel is, but over the
last couple of years it's beenpretty expensive, especially
since we switched over to theSprinter Van, which takes diesel
, which tends to be moreexpensive In California.
I believe it was last summer of2022.
I was seeing prices over $6 agallon.
Luckily, this year, in 2023,it's dropped quite a bit, but it
(07:09):
still takes between $100 and$130 every time I want to fill
up the Sprinter Van.
So fuel can be a really largecost of van life, and of course
this varies quite a bitdepending on just how much
you're driving, how muchdistance you want to put on your
van or if you're staying putfor many weeks at a time.
Of course that'll drasticallyimprove how much money you are
(07:31):
spending on your fuel.
I'd say for us we spend betweenmaybe $400 and $800 per month on
fuel.
That's because we tend to movearound quite a bit Our summer
months.
We leave the sailboat in Mexico, then we drive through
California to visit variousfamily members, up to Oregon to
visit family members, and a lotof that time is spent in the
(07:52):
Columbia River Gorge, where webounce between the gorge and
Mount Hood, depending on theweather.
So sometimes we're looking forvarious wind surfing spots or
hikes in different places, andso we put a lot of miles on the
van just looking for, you know,outdoor activities that we want
to participate in, and also partof that is then driving to
Portland to visit my family.
(08:12):
So there you are looking at alot of different legs of driving
throughout the week, everysingle day we're basically
driving, so sometimes we do stayput.
For example, last year weboondocked outside Yuma for
months, and so the fuel costswent way down when we were
boondocking for many days at atime and not driving around
quite a bit.
So luckily that is a van lifecost that can be changed
(08:34):
depending on your financialsituation and just how much
money you want to spend on fuel.
What's pretty cool is there area couple of apps I use in order
to save money on fuel.
One of those is called Upside,and you can find that in the
show notes or I have a simplelink which is thewaywardhomecom
forward slash upside.
So that app not only helps yousave money on gas but also other
(08:56):
things like groceries andrestaurants.
But when you sign into the appyou can use it to find a gas
station that's offering adiscount.
Usually that's anywhere betweenthree cents and maybe up to 30
cents off each gallon of fuel.
So I've used that quite a bitand I think I've gotten about
$50 back using that app.
I also use an app called GasBuddy so I can look for the best
diesel prices around me, andsometimes we'll stick it out and
(09:17):
drive a little bit further inorder to find a dollar off of
the diesel price for the van.
And also it depends on whatstate you're fueling up in.
Like, if we're in Californiaand we're heading to Arizona, we
wait until we cross the borderin order to get fuel, if we can,
because fuel is way cheaper inArizona.
So it also depends on whereyou're traveling in the country.
But I hope those two apps Imentioned Upside and Gas Buddy
(09:40):
will help you save a little bitof money on fuel.
Another thing that we probablyspend too much money on is food,
and that includes groceries,eating out and alcohol, because
I really like buying highquality food.
I eat organic food wheneverpossible, and that is more
expensive, and I buy products soI can do Asian cooking, and
each time you buy a bottle oflike oyster sauce, for example,
(10:02):
or rice noodles, those arepretty expensive, and so I'd say
that my eating habits and oureating habits generally are on
the more expensive side, andit's kind of interesting that we
end up spending this much moneyon groceries, because we do eat
vegetarian most of the time.
So all these groceries arevegetarian food.
They do not include any meatproducts, but sometimes we do
(10:22):
buy things like impossibleburger or, you know, vegan
sausages, and those are fairlyexpensive, probably along the
same lines as meat products.
So I'd say our grocery bill orour food bill is anywhere
between $500 and $800 per month.
Sometimes it's a little more ifwe throw more restaurants in.
Sometimes it's less if we're inMexico, and that's actually
(10:43):
when we're on our sailboat, notin our van, but our grocery bill
goes way down when we're inMexico.
So I know there are ways tosave money on groceries, like
you can shop at discount storeslike all these or grocery outlet
.
But for me I'm making a decentenough income that my main
splurge in life is eating goodfood and drinking good alcohol.
I particularly have a soft spotfor craft beer and good wine
(11:07):
and good cheese and good bread,even though I do bake some of my
own sourdough bread, but that'smostly on the sailboat because
I have no oven in the van.
But food prices can really getvery expensive for us, so that's
one of our higher.
So food prices and paying forfuel are probably our highest
expenses when living the vanlife.
(11:28):
So a couple more ways to savemoney on food besides shopping
at discount grocery stores is tomostly cook your own meals and
that's, you know, pretty much agiven.
But anytime you eat out in arestaurant it's just going to
cost way more, especially ifyou're also ordering alcohol.
But another thing you can dothat I actually just re-signed
up this very day while recordingthis podcast is the $5 meal
(11:48):
plan.
So it's just $5 a month andyou'll get meal plans for every
single day and a printablegrocery list.
So it pretty much plans out allyour meals for you and it makes
it way easier to you know, eatat home.
I used to use the $5 meal planmany years ago and, frankly, I
forgot about it until I wasrecording this podcast and I
literally went and signed upright now.
(12:08):
So you'll find that link belowin the show notes if you want to
try $5 meal plans in order tosave money on food.
Another thing that can reallyget you while living the van
life is campground fees.
I'd say that this really varieswith us depending on what time
of year, where we're in the moodto stay, if we need a hot tub
or not, so I'd say we typicallyspend between $50 and maybe up
(12:31):
to $400 per month on camping.
Now, just recently, when we gotback from Europe, we just spent
five weeks in Europe rentingcamper vans, which I'll talk
about in future episodes but westored our van in San Diego and
then we spent two weeks onCalifornia's coastline camping
at various beachfrontcampgrounds.
Now those can really add up.
The cheapest ones are probably$50 per night, but it goes up to
(12:53):
$80 per night.
And I did this because I wantedto be near the coast, tom
wanted to get some surfing inand just felt so good to be near
the ocean, walking on the beach, exploring the coastal town and
I do want to write a blog postabout beach campgrounds in
California, so we spent moremoney than normal exploring some
of those campgrounds inSouthern California recently.
(13:14):
But also we went out to thedesert, to desert hot springs,
and there's a particular RV parkthere that I really like,
because it has tons of mineralpools, hot water pools that you
can just soak in.
They're fantastic, and it alsohas a gym, a laundromat and it's
just a beautiful facility.
We're not people that typicallystay in RV parks.
They don't have a lot ofprivacy, they're just kind of,
(13:36):
you know, everybody's too closetogether.
But once in a blue moon we wantto pamper ourselves with hot
tubs, and so we went there andwe got a great deal.
It's usually $70 a night, butit was only 35 a night.
They were running a two-for-onespecial and so we stayed there
for a couple of nights.
But otherwise we typicallyboondock and boondocking.
If you don't know what that is,it's finding free campsites.
(13:56):
So that's way out in the middleof nowhere on Federal Land,
bureau of Land Management andNational Forest Service.
So we usually camp for free,but sometimes we do spoil
ourselves and get campgrounds.
But if you're someone who reallywants to stay in a campground
all the time, you're going tosee your monthly budget go way
up Because there are moreaffordable campgrounds.
You know $20 a night but theycan get really expensive, and so
(14:18):
you'll just have to figure outhow often you want to stay in
campgrounds and the price point.
And the price point goes updepending on the amenities.
Like the ones with the hot tubsand mineral pools, those tend
to be a little more expensive.
If you do want to stay incampgrounds or at various
facilities and you want to savea little bit of money, I
recommend you try signing up forHarvest Hosts.
If you haven't heard of HarvestHosts yet, this is a program
(14:39):
where you pay a yearly fee andthen you get unlimited stays at
wineries, at farms, breweries,distilleries, even.
You can pay a little extra andstay at golf courses and then
you can use those amenities orshop in the store or go wine
tasting and that's a really coolway to save money on camping.
So if you want to check outHarvest Hosts, I put a link
(14:59):
there in the show notes.
So vehicle maintenance fees aregoing to be another cost of
living the van life and thatalso depends on what kind of
vehicle you have, how old it is,what state of repair or
disrepair it's in.
So for us we do not have a lotof vehicle maintenance fees
Right now.
Our Sprinter Van is very new,only two years old, with about
30,000 miles, and I'm very luckythat Tom is, you know, a
(15:22):
mechanic and he knows how to fixthings and he does the oil
changes on the Sprinter Van,which is fantastic.
So all we do is go to theMercedes dealership.
We buy the Mercedes engine oiland that was about $300 recently
, pretty expensive.
But if you bring your Mercedesinto the dealership and get its
service there, the services canbe up to $700.
So that's one way we save moneyon maintenance.
(15:44):
And he also rotates our tiresand he conducts the maintenance
on the Sprinter Van and he alsoconducts the maintenance on the
Astro yes, I am very lucky.
Recently the alternator crappedout in the Astro so we went to
O'Reilly's Auto Parts, bought a$200 alternator and he put that
in the Astro, where that wouldhave been a lot more expensive
(16:06):
if we had taken it to a shop.
However, even when we did livein the Astro, it really held up
pretty well.
It was a 1994 Van but it reallyonly required a few hundred
dollars per year of maintenance.
I think we got really luckywith that Van and so far, really
lucky with the Sprinter Van,even though it is newer.
But it really will depend on alot of things if you need a lot
of regular maintenance or not.
(16:27):
You know, I do encourage you toget your oil changes and if you
change out your filters andeverything you need to do with
this general maintenance.
Also have an emergency fund incase something big breaks in
your Van and you need to go stayin an Airbnb for a few days.
It's important that you do havemoney set aside to deal with
vehicle maintenance.
So internet and cell phoneservice is a really big deal for
(16:47):
us and something that we pay agood amount for every month.
For living the Van life.
I operate a remote workbusiness on the road, the
waywardhomecom and also thispodcast.
So I need really good Wi-Fi inthe camper van.
So I have a Starlink and thatruns $145 a month to use but
provides really fast, high-speedinternet that we can both use
(17:09):
anywhere, both on the camper vanand the sailboat.
So that's fantastic.
I couldn't live without Starlinkand both of us have phone plans
through Visible and for phoneplans these are actually really
affordable.
We do pay the higher price fee$45 per month which allows us to
use the phones in Mexicobecause we spend half the year
in Mexico.
But Visible does offer a reallycheap bare-bones plan.
(17:32):
That's only $25.
It has unlimited talk, text anddata.
So if you are on a budget andyou're looking for a more
affordable phone plan, you canget Visible at just $25 per
month and that should just takecare of all your internet needs,
unless you are off-grid, whichthen you would need Starlink.
So those are the two thingsthat we do use for Wi-Fi in the
van and that probably runs usbetween the Starlink and both of
(17:54):
our phone plans, probablyaround a little under $250 per
month.
If you want to learn more abouthow I get Wi-Fi in the van, you
can tune in to episode 49 ofthe Wayward Home Podcast and
I'll add that link below in theshow notes.
And there's also an entirearticle I wrote on visible phone
service and its pros and cons.
I'll also link that in the shownotes.
So definitely, we do spend adecent amount of money per month
(18:17):
on getting good Wi-Fi in ourvan.
We also pay for a RV storagespace in Arizona and that runs
$145 per month and we do pay forthat because we have a utility
trailer that stores all of ourbelongings.
This is like a mobile storageunit.
This not only has mementospersonal mementos but also tools
(18:38):
and machines that help us buildout this camper van.
Because we don't have a home,we don't have a garage, we have
to do everything out in naturewhile boondocking.
So in our utility trailer wehave things like a generator
that can run our tools.
A band saw a variety of powertools and supplies for building
out the van.
And this storage space inArizona where I'm recording this
(19:00):
podcast right now actually alsoprovides a space for our Astro
or for the Sprinter Van.
For example, if we want to takethe Astro into Mexico, we can
leave the Sprinter Van here.
It's fenced in, it has a codeto get in.
It's a very secure facility,and so we can leave one van here
and one utility trailer full ofour belongings.
Now we have this instead ofhaving a traditional storage
(19:22):
unit, because I love that.
It's movable.
We can really just tow ourstorage unit anywhere in the
country in order to access it.
Right now, it makes sense forit to be in Arizona, but that's
another expense that we havethat you may or may not have,
depending on if you're trying tostore your belongings while
you're living the van life.
Now, storage units can reallyrun the gamut, depending on what
(19:42):
type of unit and where it'slocated, and so do your homework
if you're mobile and you can goto a cheaper part of the
country to store your stuff anddo that.
If you can get rid ofeverything and not have a
storage unit, then that'sdefinitely preferred.
So whatever works for you, butthat is part of our monthly van
life budget.
So another thing that people arecurious about is how we pay for
health insurance.
(20:03):
So I am a resident of SouthDakota, but I have health
insurance through Zion HealthShare.
This is not health insurance.
This is a health sharingprogram.
So how this works is thatmembers contribute a certain
monthly amount Mine happens tobe $165, and then members cover
each other's medical fees.
So if someone has a majorincident happened to them or
(20:26):
they need a medical procedure,funds come out of this general
fund which we're allcontributing to monthly, and it
covers that person.
That's called health sharing.
This is not health insuranceand a lot of people aren't
comfortable with that, but forme I rarely go to the doctor, I
really don't need a lot ofhealth care, and so I'm hoping
that this would just cover majorthings that might happen.
(20:48):
Knock on wood that it doesn'thappen, but this is a safety net
.
It works all over the world,it's affordable and so I think
it's fantastic.
Now Tom has a free health careout of California.
He's still a resident ofCalifornia, but has his
subsidized, which is fantastic.
So if you are curious abouthealth insurance I did write an
in-depth blog post about it andif you are considering life on
the road but not sure how to gethealth insurance, you'll
(21:10):
definitely want to check outthat article, which I'll link to
in the show notes.
So those are basically all ofour major expenses when it comes
to living the van life.
Of course we have smallerincidentals, like getting the
flu shot or going to thepharmacy or buying clothes, but
those do not make up a hugeportion of our budget.
I would say the fuel costs, thefood costs, the campground, the
(21:31):
initial cost of the van are allpretty larger sums of money.
The rest are more affordableand things that can be dialed
down if we needed to.
For example, if we had a majorloss of income, we could really
dial down our monthly expensesby driving less and eating
cheaper food.
That's all it takes.
One thing I love about van lifeis just how customizable it is
(21:54):
for your budget, and if you docompare it with paying a rent or
paying a mortgage, it's reallyway cheaper.
Sometimes I think about wow, wespent a lot of money this month
because maybe we purchased someproducts for the van, or maybe
we went and bought some clothesor purchased something for the
bow or took a vacation or stayedin an RV park and expenses for
that month seemed a little bithigher than normal.
(22:14):
We remind ourselves that, yeah,but if we're living in an
apartment, it would always bethat much a month $2,000 to
$3,000 or more, depending onwhat city we're living in and
that, month after month, yearafter year, you know you're
spending anywhere between$30,000 and $50,000 a year just
for a place to live, and so whenyou look at it in that way, you
(22:35):
can see just how much moreaffordable it is and
customizable.
Like I said, if there's asudden income loss or if,
suddenly, if you need to savemoney, you're able to pare down
expenses.
If you have an expensive van,you can always sell it to get a
cheaper van.
It's nice to have these assetsthat can be sold and that you
can, you know, recoup some ofthe money you put into van life.
(22:58):
So I think it's a reallyaffordable way to live and I
just love this way of living,that we can just go camp for
free on these beautiful publicland, which is something I'm
very thankful for.
So van life is definitely waymore affordable than apartment
living, and I hope this episodegave you some ideas on just how
much it might cost you.
(23:18):
And remember, you can downloadmy van expense and income
tracker if you do decide topurchase the van life prep pack
as just one of the bonuses thatcomes with it If you already
live in a van.
I hope this episode gave yousome ideas on how you can save
money even more, because I thinkit's really fun to figure out
new and interesting ways to savemoney.
Yes, I do like to spend my moneyon my food and groceries,
(23:39):
because that's something I lovein life.
I know I could cut back and eatbeans and rice and definitely I
love beans and rice, but I alsolove buying those good products
.
But I also know that I couldcut back on all that if need be,
and so that gives me some peaceof mind.
But living in a van has allowedme to save up a tremendous
amount of money.
I just love that.
I'm able to put money into my401k every month.
(24:01):
My I'm saving for retirement.
I have savings, nest egg andemergency fund, and if you
compare that back to what I wasfirst talking about at the
beginning of this episode, whenI lived in that Toyota Prius, I
had debt that I couldn't pay offfor over 10 years.
I did not have any savings.
If you look at where I was backthen and that was eight years
ago to where I am now, withmaxing out my 401k and having
(24:26):
cash savings for emergencies,I'm in a much better place and
I'm really thankful for van lifefor allowing me to get to that
place.
So if you are thinking of livingin a van to save money, I would
say, go do it.
You can always do it for alittle while and if you hate it,
then find somewhere cheaper inthe country to settle.
You can find a more affordablerent than what you're paying now
(24:46):
.
So hopefully you'll go outthere, give it a try.
If you have any questions, I'malways available.
Head on over and join myFacebook group.
That's at the wayward home onFacebook and I will put a link
below so you can come over andjoin the group and we can chat
over there and you can connectwith me.
So I hope you enjoyed thisepisode of the wayward home
podcast and I'll see you nexttime.
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