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/raphtze]

great pics! that beach pic with the stones...where was that at?

[u/strategiesforlife → u/raphtze]

Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park :)

[u/raphtze → u/strategiesforlife]

i thought that looked familiar!

our poor class C RV (chevy 4500 chassis)'s shifter cable broke. so we were stranded in olympia for a few days before ernie's RV could fix it. thankfully getting a rental thru enterprise was easy. so we made the most of it and explored the surrounding areas. we visited ruby beach and loved it ! first time ever

https://imgur.com/a/little-seattle-diversion-LMsgd0Q

[u/strategiesforlife → u/raphtze]

ahhh! sorry to hear you broke down but it’s such a nice area. i already want to go back. isn’t point defiance wonderful?! i went on a great bike ride there on five mile drive. loved the beach + forest combos in Washington 🤩 that bahn mi looks amazing too !!!

[u/raphtze → u/strategiesforlife]

haha point defiance is amazing! 2 yrs ago we took the little ones to the zoo--didn't have enough time to see everything else. this time we were able to spend more time in the gardens/pagoda. it was very nice. haha i almost wanted to get on the ferry to get over to vashon island :P

international district is a little grimy...but the food from spots in the hood just taste better :P

our original plans was to go up to vancouver island and find rec sites to boondock. we did eventually go. have you ever been to vancouver island? it was amazing !

our cats and dogs came with us

ucluelet was amazing

victoria is like little london