Budget Breakdown?

[One Awesome Inch]

Trying to figure out my monthly costs for van living and this is what I came up with:


food - 250
insurance - 100
gas - 150
heat (propane/candles) - 40
internet/cell phone - 50
= 590 total

with $300 surplus for repairs/savings/spending money

Keep in mind I live in BC, Canada and that will likely affect the way I price things vs the US.

This is monthly spending *after* I have gotten the van, bed, heater buddy etc.

I dont plan to drive much and will likely spend the majority of my travels within a 5km radius near my kids, work etc.

That sound about right? I feel like I might be missing something, but not sure what it is.

 

[Patrick46]

are you gonna join a healthclub for showers???

add $50 pm


what do you have available?? $1000 per month?

 

[akrvbob]

So that isn't based on your past, you are planning for the future?

Seems pretty reasonable to me. I'd include some for miscellaneous and entertainment I think. Things come up that aren't emergencies but you have to spend the money. I plan some for entertainment because I do this so I can enjoy life, so I want some fun in it.
Bob

 

[Stargazer]

An occasional pizza? Book or newspaper? Clothes? Toiletries (included in grocery amount?)? Haircut? Laundry? Oil changes and routine maintenance? License or registration fees? Do you have a pet? Then vet costs.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

My situation is that my marriage is very much on the rocks and I think a divorce is going to happen... could be next week, next month or 6 months. I have two young kids (2 and 9) who I, of course, love very much. Really they are the only reason I am sticking around. I have no doubt she feels the same way. Like I said, divorce is inevitable. If we are not arguing, I get the silent treatment for days on end. There are times when things are good for about 3 days to a week, but then it gets ugly again. The cycle just repeats itself over and over again. I've been married for 15 years and things are not going to change. I just have to decide when I have had enough and finally get out of this unhappy situation... or wait for the inevitable blow-out.

In the mean time I working towards saving as much money as I can to buy the van, heater, bed etc. I've got almost $3000 saved now, but its not enough. Once the split happens I'll be giving half my income ( which is around $2100 per month) for child support. I figure I'll have about $1000 a month to live off. Ideally, I'd also like to have a few grand stashed away in case I need to make major repairs or even replace the van if required.

Its either live in a van or get a second full-time job... which doesnt sound too appealing.

 

[akrvbob]

Unity Gain, I've been where you are and I think you have a very good plan. After a divorce I was taking home $2400 a month and giving her $1200. In Anchorage AK that doesn't go very far!! So I moved into a van and I had extra money. At first I hated it but in a few months of solving all the problems I fell in love with it.

You should be able to live pretty well on $1000 a month!
Bob

 

[SoulRaven]

Greetings!

Well, for what it's worth, my total living expenses for 2013 were $5300, and I do a lot of traveling, and a lot of eating out.

That included enjoying life to the fullest and not trying to scrimp or scrounge. That figure included about 30k miles and a brake job.

My humble advice is to buy a CHEAP old van, mine's an '82, that's mechanically sound. The newer the vehicle is, and the higher the value, there is more to go wrong and the maintenance costs will be higher.

If you're not going to be hauling really big/heavy loads, I would suggest a full size van with a v6 in it. A friend of mine has an almost identical rig to mine except his is a 1986 Dodge 15 passenger window van with the high top. The difference is that his has a 3.0L v6 fuel injected engine coupled to a 4 speed automatic with overdrive. When the time comes, that's what I'm going to replace my 318 with... Anyway, he is involved with disaster relief and regularly pulls a 8x20 office trailer all over the country with it, and still says he averages 25 MPG, which is better than I get with no trailer.

I drove that rig from Aberdeen WA to New Orleans for him when Katrina hit, and it had at least as much power as mine does, and it pulled that trailer like it wasn't even there... I was impressed, and that isn't easy.

He's got a full camper van load similar to mine, plus a stinger tray which carries 6x 55 gallon full drums. I think just the weight on the stinger must be over a ton.

I don't know what area you're in, but I regularly see old vans and even old motorhomes on CL for under $1,000. The guy I'm currently helping in my off hours just purchased an old 40' bookmobile for $600 off CL. It ran and drove great, and was even mostly livable. We wound up trading it straight across for an old school bus though, because after he had it, he decided he wanted windows. In just the last 2 days we have it almost completely furnished for free by shopping CL's free section. I figure I can build his electrical, plumbing, heating, and cooling systems for under about $500 total. My goal is to get this homeless family of 5 totally moved in and comfortable within the week. Once completed, we're going to move it to an RV Park, and I'm going to pre-pay their rent for a year for them to give them the hand-up that they need to get back on their feet.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to get across here is that you can have a very comfortable living quarters, in virtually any size you want, for a relatively small amount of money. I tend to think of my homes as disposable, because you never know if you might need to replace it, and by keeping them cheap, they're also cheaper to replace.

Being a mobile traveller makes us much more susceptible to losing our homes due to collisions, theft, weather related catastrophes etc; so the lower the cost of your home, the easier they are to replace.

I can take any van, and turn it into a comfortable living space, for under $300, with a trip to a thrift store, a trip to Walmart, and if there's a dollar store handy probably save an additional $50 on top of that. I guess I'm kind of a 3 hour homesteader kind of guy. Once I have a van, I want it to be move in ready within about 3 hours. And I'm not talking about bare bones survival here either. I'm talking about living comfortably, with a good bed, a bathroom with a shower, a kitchen, and at least one good comfortable chair, and I'm not talking about the front seats either.

I typically do this two or three times a year, because in my business I may have to be on the other side of the country the next day. So I'll park this van in an RV park where I figure it will be safe in my absence, and jump a plane. A few months ago when I had to fly back to GM, I hit town just before 3pm, had a van bought, outfitted, moved into, and started cooking my dinner at 7:30pm. Bought the first POS rust bucket van I saw for $350, because I really didn't care what it looked like, it drove good. Now GM was paying me $1,000 week for living expenses (motel, food, rental car, etc.) Me, I had just over $600 in my new mobile home, including the first weeks worth of groceries. It was funny, I had the ugliest vehicle in their whole parking lot. The job wound up lasting almost a month, with me working mostly 18 hour days... It was perfect, when I would get off work all tired, my comfy home was waiting in the parking lot.

By the end of the job, I had made over $3000 extra in living expenses than what I had put into everything, and I was a whole lot more comfortable than I would have ever been in a motel. The job was over, so I headed down to the local homeless shelter, and found a young couple with a 3 month old baby. I took them out to this pathetically UGLY van, and gave them the tour of the inside and asked if it would help them out. You would of thought I was the Angel Gabriel himself. So I gave it to them, free and clear, and they drove me to the airport. I didn't tell them, but I left them an envelope with that $3000 extra I had gotten for living expenses too. I felt it would be appropriate for it to get used for what it was meant for, even if it wasn't me using it.

Vandwellers are blessed with the ability to live extremely cheaply, without having to compromise on their comfort. I think the secret is to think outside the box, and rather than buying an expensive overpriced premade camper van, start with a cheap empty van and build it to suit your own personal needs and comforts. Once you move in, you have just eliminated the expenses of rent/mortgages, utility bills, and property taxes. If you're cutting the number of people you're feeding, your food bill will drop too. Your expenditures on vehicle insurance/maintenance, cell phone, etc. etc. will be the same as they have always been. The only things that will cost you a little extra might be wifi, and a little propane or kerosene.

Good luck, and holler if I can be of assistance.

Cheers!

The CamperVan_Man

 

[Stargazer]

I'm confused...

If you drove 30,000 miles, at 20 mpg (a guess?), paid $3.25/gal for gas, you spent $4,875 on gas alone. That left $425 for everything else for the year.

How did you manage to live on $425 for the year?

 

[caseyc]

Unity Gain,

I wish you luck and success. For you and others who are going through a divorce and child support, I feel bad for you. That would drive me nuts, especially the child support part as that will last for years. I should consider myself lucky whenever I read about others going through rough tides.

 

[Zil]

You make the children, You should have no complaints about paying their expenses. Don't like the deal, better try Family Counseling.

 

[Simran]

Zil,
He didn't sound like he was complaining. Sounded like he was just trying to figure out how to make the best of bad circumstances.

You make the children, You should have no complaints about paying their expenses. Don't like the deal, better try Family Counseling.

 

[PastTense]

So where exactly are you going to be parking this van? You may need to rent a space.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

Sounds about right OP, just don't fall into the dining out trap like i have Destroys ma budget.

 

[SoulRaven]

I'm confused...

If you drove 30,000 miles, at 20 mpg (a guess?), paid $3.25/gal for gas, you spent $4,875 on gas alone. That left $425 for everything else for the year.

How did you manage to live on $425 for the year?

Greetings!

Oooooops, you are absolutely correct, that figure did NOT include the $8k that I spent on gas, and I'm glad you caught that.

Cheers!

The CamperVan_Man