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) |
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 COVID-19, 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!
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about us
Nice To Meet You.
Hello! We’re Isabelle and Antoine 
In 2017 we sold our house (and everything in it), quit our engineering careers and moved into our self built campervan. We’ve been on the road since then and every day is an opportunity for a new adventure; we’re chasing our dreams and hopefully it inspires others to do the same!
Merci beaucoup pour les infos ! Thank’s a lot for the informations.
Est-ce que vous pensez que c’est réaliste pour une personne asperger d’essayer le van life ?
Honnetement on est pas assez familier avec cette condition, faudrait en parler à quelqu’un qui s’y connait davantage…
Annual/ monthly costs/ budget extremely helpful, thank you for sharing; I am contemplating vanliving after selling Westcoast 3400sqft house, finding a piece of land with ocean view on Carolinas Eastcoast and building house. You are inspiring.
Bonjour,
votre site est très utile à ma réflexion sur mon projet de camper. Votre démarche de tout calculer systématiquement est géniale. Avez-vous la consommation exacte de votre véhicule chargé comme il est? merci
Il est difficile d’avoir la consommation exacte puisque la lecture de la consommation (donnée par le véhicule) est fausse puisque le diamètre de nos pneus n’est pas le même que les pneus d’origine. On évalue notre consommation à 16.5L/100km en montagne/ville et autour de 14L/100km sur autoroute.
Thank you! Thank you so much for such great information with so much detail!
You seem to spend a little less on gas, how many MPG are you averaging?
I’ve been scouring the internet for information on vans. Your website is by far the most comprehensive I’ve found. The presentation of the content, explanations, diagrams & so forth is spectacular. I’m only in the initial planning stages but I’ll be back often for research & the electrical pdf when I’m ready!
Thank you for compiling & sharing this.
Thanks for the kind words, happy build!!
I totally agree, I could come to this website with no previous knowledge of how to do any of this and go with enough knowledge to build a van of my own. Leave it to engineers to build the best, most detailed website out there! xD
You state in your sub notes that replacing your brake rotors required the removal of the axles. I really don’t think that is the case, but if it is I’d love to hear why that is.
The axle shaft has the wheel lugs on it, and the outer diameter is larger than the rotor itself so it has to be pulled before pulling the rotor. You will usually have to top off the diff with a few oz of fluid, not a bad idea to do every 50k anyway. That said, brakes & suspension are a pretty usual service item on heavy duty vehicles.
Well laid out and cool data, thank you!:)
Superb notes here. A nice reality check to show that full time van life is not actually that cheap. And requires quite an initial investment.
I’ve been thinking super hard about getting a van and convert it next year, and I’m looking at so many resources. But ultimately, an income (and I mean quite a good income) is still needed to be safe and have some backup just in case. Also not sure how much of a difference there is between costs comparing the US to Europe/UK… So it’s not like I could just quit my job and convert a van and live my life on the road .
What do you guys use to keep track of your costs? Any app or just a notebook or something?
Thanks you guys!
We use mint.com and some spreadsheets we created 🙂
Hey guys! My name is Sam & have reached out to u before. I wanted to know if u had a vanlife cost spreadsheet that is download able or that is for sale? I’m almost done with my first year living ful time in my Sprinter van & was planning on beginning to keep track this coming up year on everything u guys do. I’m not good with excel spreadsheets. Thanks for ur time.
Sam
We don’t have a spreadsheet unfortunately, but that’s not a bad idea to create one… We’ll let you know if we make one!
Thank you so much for sharing. I completely think that you guys are a blessing. My family and I love to travel and you’ve helped me decide on what van to get for our Van life. Thank you again
Hey all, thank you so much for sharing your story! I am just in the early stages of van life (selling belongings/moving out of house) and the information you have provided is helping me immensely in the research for my own van conversion. I appreciate you all and wish you well!!
WOW! Thank you so so much for being so transparent and sharing your information to the public. This has helped me immensely and in fact inspired me to try the same adventure!