My boyfriend and I spend just $24,000 a year by living in a van - here are all the things we save money on
Before moving into the van, our biggest expense was rent. My part of the two-bedroom apartment I shared with a roommate in LA cost $13,000 a year — more than half my starting salary — not including utilities. Matt's half of his former flat in Bristol cost the equivalent of $6,240 a year.
These days, rent comes in the form of a $380-a-month car payment. Before my father converted it into a mobile home, our van Birdie was used by the state of Ohio as a surveillance van. I bought it with 110,000 miles on the odometer and have added an additional 6,000 since December.
We've traveled through 15 states and two Canadian provinces within the past six months. Apart from the occasional $20 stay at a campsite (a splurge), we stick to sleeping on public land and in free campgrounds.
Happy hours and after-work dinners were once routine, but our budgets no longer allow for much dining out. We like to cook outside anyway. Limited space helps us to reduce waste, so we buy only what we need (often daily) and spend about $100 a week on groceries.
Forget dishwashers, laundry, showers, and air conditioning (all the things that once warranted a $150-a-month utility bill in LA). We buy butane gas for our stove and take a trip to the laundromat every two weeks now, which costs about $70 per month.
We live more primitively these days, filling our van with free water that we sometimes have to purify ourselves and keeping warm with hot water bottles.
No need for lighting, either, since we tend to slumber with the sun. If we're awake past dark, a battery-operated lantern makes for an adequate reading light. We charge the lamp and other electrical devices with the car battery.
Old vans are notoriously tough on gas, but the beauty of traveling indefinitely is that we can take the journey slowly. We put $80 in the tank weekly and that's only $40 more than what it took to commute to and from work in LA.
We make a living on writing, photography, and seasonal odd jobs. Working remotely requires us to have hefty data plans — up to $75 per month for 15 gigabytes — and the occasional cup of coffee for WiFi. Still, it beats a $160 cable bill.
Staying in shape used to mean early mornings and late nights at the gym. Now, working out is much more fun — and also free — with endless trails to hike, lakes to paddle, and mountains to climb. Who needs a $30-a-month gym membership when you have the great outdoors?
When we're not out exploring, you can find us curled up in Birdie playing card games by the beach. Also free.
Needless to say, traveling is cheaper when you have a self-sufficient camper. Van life allows us to explore without dishing out hundreds on flights, hotels, and restaurants. Let's just say the odd brake job and spark plug replacement is worth it in the end.
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