Wondering how much does it cost to live in a van? We were too! To get the definitive answer, we obsessively tracked our full time Vanlife cost between 2017 and 2020. All our Vanlife expenses are categorized and breakdown by month/year. Hope this helps!
DISCLOSURE: We didn’t move into a van to idle, or to be frugal. For us, Vanlife is about doing MORE of what we love: travel, ride, discover local culture & food, and explore. So the cost below is the result of the choices we make; adjust to your own lifestyle! 🙂
Notes:
– The amounts shown are for 2 people.
– We excluded the mountain biking/snowboarding gear and maintenance.
– Prices are in USD (we converted from CDN to USD using the actual exchange rate).
– Travel Medical Insurance is complementary to our free Canadian medicare.
2017
(complementary to free Canadian medicare) |
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(cell, pharmacy, laundry, Netflix, etc) |
1 Crossing USA from East Coast to West Coast.
2 Verizon activation fee + hotspot device.
3 Rogers cancellation fee.
2018
(complementary to free Canadian medicare) |
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(lift tickets, bike shuttle, music shows, etc) |
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(oil change, tires, brakes, etc) |
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(cell, pharmacy, haircut, Netflix, music, books, etc) |
1 We bought two Maxpass for a total of 1,550$. That gave us access to over 44 mountains in North-America, 5 day tickets at each mountain. https://www.themaxpass.com/
2 We spent more time than usual in campgrounds, because friends of ours were visiting 🙂
3 We took the ferry twice that month. Going to Vancouver Island isn’t cheap, but worth every penny!
4 New rear brake pads and rotors on the Transit van. Axles have to be removed to change the rotors. so it’s an expensive job.
5 New tires.
2019
(complementary to free Canadian medicare) |
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(lift tickets, bike shuttle, music shows, etc) |
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(oil change, tires, brakes, etc) |
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(cell, pharmacy, haircut, Netflix, music, books, etc) |
2 Now that we are BC residents and plan to stay only in BC for the next months, there is no need to pay for a traveling insurance (aka medical).
3 Not technically a Campground expense, but friends came to visit us and we shared their AirBnB.
4 Crossing Canada from West Coast to East Coast.
5 We are now Planet Fitness Members for 23$/month, mainly for their showers! But hey, it’s good to cross train too 😉
2020
(complementary to free Canadian medicare) |
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(lift tickets, bike shuttle, music shows, etc) |
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(oil change, tires, brakes, etc) |
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(cell, pharmacy, haircut, Netflix, music, books, etc) |
1 We paid a 6 month Mexican auto insurance for ~700$. For more info, read our post about our traveling in Mexico: Mexico Vanlife Guide
2 Well, the plan is to eat a lot of Mexican food! It’s kind of nice to see it doesn’t cost so much considering our Groceries & Restaurants budget stays about the same!
3 Includes FMM and TIP. For more info, read our post about our traveling in Mexico: Mexico Vanlife Guide
4 We kept our Planet Fitness membership while in Mexico (23$/month + 39$ annual fee)
5 Due to the pandemic, we drove from Mexico to Canada.
6 April, May and June were not vanlife months; we rented a place and stayed “home” (NO ACTIVITIES due to Covid-19 in April and May). Still interesting to compare living in a house vs vanlife. Rent not included.
7 New rear brake pads and rotors on the Transit van. Axles have to be removed to change the rotors. so it’s an expensive job.
OK, so, how do we spend this money exactly??
Read our "Tales From The Road" to find out!
All Tales From The Road since the beginning of time:
2022-2023
We’re currently taking a pause and building a new van. Check out our Van Build page to follow along!
This is an amazing resource / insight. Thank you for the effort you’ve put into gathering and sharing all your data.
free Canadian healthcare is why you can do this.
I HOPE I’m leaving a comment for the whole community — I’m so grateful for this resource. AND, I feel totally daunted being a solo female musician thinking about building out a van. Anyone got any resources for reputatable people / companies who will do it for you?
I am blown away by how organized and well thought out this whole website is! I am truly impressed. I have already found more useful information here than weeks of searching/reading other sites. The maps, the cost breakdowns, the page tabs, EVERYTHING! The content is great as well 😀 Thank you for taking the time to put all of this together for us future vanlifers! <3
I could see this being MUCH cheaper with a lot of the extravagances removed. Not saying there’s anything wrong with it, just that it could be sustainable with a much lower budget to those just wanting to do Van Life in an easily sustainable way.