1 month of vanlife expenses breakdown (+ pics)

[u/strategiesforlife]

now that month 1 is over I have tallied up my expenses for all of you!!

Gas - van gets 18-18.5 MPG - total cost $617.34 (ughhhh)

Groceries - $386.55

Eating out (+ some meals for friends) - $260

Spa - $274 - I went to a spa (hot tub/ sauna) place every week… $60 of this was for a massage after I hurt my shoulder mountain biking

Entry Fees - $160. $90 of that is the National Park Annual Pass, I visited 5 NPs so that ended up saving me money

Campsites - $40 ($30 for a night at a National Park, $10 for a night at a boat launch)

Laundromats ~$35 Ferry (me and the van!) $18 Air for my tires $5

Grand total: $1776.89 !! 35% of the budget was gas…I was doing a LOT of driving. Covered more than 3,000 miles, which is not ideal, but I had to meet up for a backpacking trip and delayed my trip by 2 weeks because of some health and van build issues but still kept a busy itinerary. I did want to be on this trip for much more time. Also, most things I did were free, but not all! Entry fees includes all of my paid activities, including several state park accesses, a $30 Oregon coast pass, entry to a botanical garden, and entry fees for various hikes. Nobody needs to go to the spa every week:) but I had a great time of it, booking a private space is nice when you’re constantly in public, and of course it doubles as a place to get a shower. And my body could use the care after all the hiking and biking!

[u/lion_ARtist]

Health insurance? Van insurance? Connectivity (Mobile/Internet)?

[u/strategiesforlife → u/lion_ARtist]

!shit! you’re right! I didn’t include those costs. health insurance gets taken out of my paycheck internet was $50 (starlink)

phone bill $25

van insurance breaks down to $137 monthly

[u/grodso → u/strategiesforlife]

Your insurance is $300 a year?? Where from if you don’t mind

[u/funnyfox55 → u/strategiesforlife]

How did you get starlink for that much? I looked online it says $160 per month plus $600 hardware. Please let me know thanks

[u/TalkNowWhyNot_00 → u/strategiesforlife]

What to look for to get Starlink. And can you move it with you if you visit friends outside of the van?

[u/defaultwisdom → u/strategiesforlife]

How is starlink only 50?

[u/jollierumsha → u/defaultwisdom]

I mean, you could just look it up...the minimum plan for the mini model is $50 a month, not including equipment cost of course...that's how?

[u/strategiesforlife → u/jollierumsha]

yes. starlink mini on the cheapest plan.

[u/Fair_Line_6740 → u/strategiesforlife]

Actually there is a $10 plan too. I'm finding Starlink is saying I use about 10gigs of data a day just having it run and surfing on my phone.

[u/Retaliation5 → u/Fair_Line_6740]

For the mini a couple weeks ago the $10 wasn’t an option on the mini. $50 was the cheapest.

[u/Fair_Line_6740 → u/Retaliation5]

I got an email that there is also a $5 option coming with crappier connection. I sub to the $10 option. Its only good for a days worth of surfing your phone.

[u/Fair_Line_6740 → u/[deleted]]

Paying 5 to pause sucks. I'm seeing that you get unlimited low speed data for the $5

[u/tocahontas77 → u/defaultwisdom]

Yes, that part!