How Much Money Did I Spend On Van Life?
My Solo Road Episode 4 | Cost of Van Life
How much was it for my van, van build, and my monthly budget on the road? When I was researching for van life, I couldn’t find ANYTHING about what people are spending because no one talks about it. Well now, I am! PLEASE READ: Everyone is different, no budgets are the same, no two vans are exactly the same, this is just my personal experience.
FIND THE PODCAST
INTRODUCTION
With this episode, I hope to clarify and give you the information you are looking for with regards to finances on the road. It will cover the expenses of both my vans, advise on my expenses and experiences, advise for buying a van, builds and costs, and lastly my expenses on a monthly basis with budgeting. Do keep in mind that nobody will have the same expenses or budgets and that I am sharing my own experience.
Advice for purchasing a van
- There are a lot of different brands, sizes, and types of vans available for purchase. They range from cheap and small to large and expensive. You don’t need an expensive, fancy van to do van life. Choose what your budget allows you to, I have even seen people live out of Subarus.
- Try viewing buying a van as buying a home, it is an investment and asset for me, therefore I may have invested more into my van than other people have.
- The high roof of the Transit is higher than the Sprinter.The high roof allows me to stand up and be comfortable while doing so, as I am 5’10. High roofs are more expensive than mid roofs or low roofs.
- Check different states and areas for the van you are looking for, it might save you a lot of money.
- Before buying a Mercedes Sprinter, and this is my opinion/experience, get a mechanic to check the van if you can’t yourself. We had a lot of mechanical issues and parts for Mercedes are incredibly expensive and you need to go to a Mercedes dealership to get it repaired.
- Transits are only made in the US for a few years, hence you cannot buy a really old one. Sprinters are made for years and years in the US, you can even buy one from 2003 or older. They say that Sprinters last up to 500.000 miles, but in my experience that is if you are lucky. My Sprinter wasn’t doing so well at 100.000 miles.
Advice for campervan builds
- Choose what you want in a van, is it a home, or is it a simple way of traveling, and go with it!
- If you are working with a builder, tell them your budget right away.
- Be resourceful and play smart in how you build your van. Save money where you can, talk to your builder about things you can do yourself and you are comfortable with, like insulating for example.
- Look up the weather forecast and average temperatures of the place you want to travel at that time to see if it is suitable and to avoid difficult situations.
- Builds may take 6 months up to a year, don’t rush the process, and do things right. It will be a frustrating process because nothing goes perfectly planned, but if you try to stick to your budget and timeline things should be fine. Be gentle with yourself.
How much do I need to do vaN life?
- There is no magic number. It is hard to say what someone is going to need on the road, as everyone has different lives, preferences and bills.
- Tip: write down every single bill you will have on the road and create a visual of how much you will be spending. On the road you may need to adjust things.
- I hate to say you need an x amount of dollars in your bank account before leaving, but I do urge you to have at least a couple of thousand dollars saved up, emergency savings only, not to be lived off of. I have been hit with mechanical problems, emergency surgery for my dog, I know what it is like to figure out the numbers and how to do things, it isn’t fun. Thanks to those savings I was able to afford these situations and I wouldn’t have known what to do without them.
FINAL ADVICE
There is no one single budget or cost to van life or a van build. You can hop in your car and begin van life or you can buy a brand new van and pay a builder. It’s important to decide what you want from van life and what you want it to look like. Be realistic in your goals and be willing to save for the lifestyle you desire.
