Can You Live in a Van on a Tight Budget?

Living can be expensive. From housing to food to entertainment, there always seems to be a reason to spend money. If you're on a tight budget, is it possible to live in a manner that decreases your living expenses?

Yes, you can survive in a van on a tight budget. While some costs don't change, you can cut back on some of the biggest expenses you face. Being successful will take some sacrifices, but van life on a tight budget is totally feasible.

There are a few key areas we'll go over to make sure you're saving as much as possible to decrease your living expenses. Van life does have some financial challenges that come along with it. I'll share some examples of how you can save money by living in your vehicle!

Table Of Contents

Is It Right For You?
Housing Costs On A Budget
Transportation On A Budget
Food On A Budget
Entertainment On A Budget
Conclusion

Is It Right For You?

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Just because you want to, doesn't mean you can. A lot of factors hinge on starting van life, finances being one of them. Despite your monthly budget, it might not be the best idea to pursue this lifestyle if you need to take on debt to start, or can't afford some of the necessities that come along with the lifestyle.

There are some overhead expenses to starting this lifestyle. Depending on your circumstances, you might need to purchase the van, stuff to sleep with, stuff to cook with, and some means of entertainment at the least.

You need to ask yourself it van life is right for you. Van life isn't a solution to financial troubles, but it can certainly help if you have your bases covered. While an income is not mandatory to get started, it should be a priority to replace if you're low on savings or have no income. It is possible to jump into living in your vehicle without much of a plan, but it pays to be a bit more prepared.

Housing Costs On A Budget

Housing is an almost universal expense. Most everyone needs to be able to afford or have a solution to this type of expense. Living in modern society (and especially in the last few years) means housing prices have gone up drastically. Luckily, alternative living gives you the ability to nearly erase this one cost.

I feel it's best to go over this category with some real-life examples from my experiences. It will give you a sense of how big of an expense housing is and how much you can save.

Housing Costs/ month
Mortgage: $950
House Insurance: $150 (Bundled)
Utilities: $350
Property Tax: $195
Upkeep: $200
Total: $1845

The above numbers aren't meant to instill fear. They're there to show roughly how much I was paying to have a place to sleep. It was entirely within my budget to pay that much at the time. While a lot of these expenses can be removed, it's better to think of them as being transferred to another way of existing. Below is roughly what my costs are after moving into my van.

Van life housing costs/ month
Mortgage/ rent: $0
Vehicle Insurance: $112
Utilities (Propane and diesel): $100
Property tax: $0
Upkeep: $100
Total: $312

As mentioned above, some of the costs have been transferred from when I was living in a house. While the mortgage cost was deleted, I replaced that with the cost of purchasing my van. At $950/ month saved, I could theoretically pay off the van in a shorter time than my home. Insurance remains, but I now pay only the insurance I would have been paying for my vehicle. Utilities have changed from gas and electricity at a home, to propane for cooking, and diesel for my diesel heater. Electricity is solely powered by solar. Which again has an upfront cost, but lowers your monthly cost. Property tax is reduced to zero. Lastly is upkeep, which remains a cost of any type of housing you chose to live in (house, tent, van, treehouse, boat, etc.).

There's a difference of roughly $1500 (MANY people live on less than this a month in van life) when not living in a house. Despite other factors like the property being an investment (it took me a long time to learn the difference between an asset and an expense), more security, and less hardship, this move has been objectively cheaper for me.

Tip: Don't forget that some expenses are replaced by increases in other expenses like rent becoming fuel.

Transportation On A Budget

Another important cost to existing for a lot of people is transportation. Sometimes this factor is so critical that your income depends on it. There are many ways to cut back on this cost, and van life provides a great opportunity to save money in this category!

Being able to get to your location of employment becomes critical when you're already on a tight budget. Sometimes you might need to commute quite a long distance just to make money. Living a traditional life puts you at the whim of gas prices, bus fares, transit times, etc.

Living in a van provides a lot more flexibility when you're home can be where you want it to be. If you're able to live closer to work, you can save a lot of money on transportation. Even getting to a point where you can cut out driving is sure to save a lot of money. If you can park your van somewhere close to work, or somewhere that you can reasonably commute from, you might be able to save money.

Another aspect of this is how much you move in general. In my first few months of living in my van, I moved around a lot. Fuel quickly became my primary expense. If you want to make van life work, you might want to move a lot less. Finding a spot in the woods that you can call home for a few days will save you more than moving every single day to a new location.

Tip: Move locations less. You can enjoy the location more while saving money on fuel.

Food On A Budget

Food is fuel. It's what allows us to exist. It also has the ability to be quite expensive, depending on your tastes. Cutting back on food costs can have a great impact on your already tight budget. Van life provides a special circumstance to do that.

Living in a van means you can have most if not all cooking necessities with you at all times. There becomes fewer excuses to not cook at "home". Also, less space for food, cookware, and ingredients means you need to be smarter with what you have with you. Easy meals that have few ingredients, cook quickly and are enjoyable are a great way to ensure you eat out less and save money.

I always love the meals I cook in my van. I frequently go with simple meals, that are easy to store and easy to make. When I head out to the woods I enjoy meals cooked over a fire, sometimes on a cast iron pan, or even directly over the embers! I've also experimented and found the perfect amount of food for one week and can often try new recipes each week while keeping my favourite ingredients on hand. (I promise not to change this to a cooking blog, despite how similar that last sentence sounds to some of them!)

Tip: If you're parking at a Walmart overnight, head in later in the evening to see if they have anything on clearance!

Entertainment On A Budget

Entertainment is an additional cost that sometimes doesn't make it into our budgets. This cost can quickly add up and overwhelm our budgets. Van lifers have an advantage when it comes to entertainment. It can allow you to have fun for free(almost)!

When on a tight budget, sacrifices need to be made. Maybe it means cancelling your gym membership that you don't use enough. Pick up a fitness activity that you can stick with like running outdoors, or hiking. Or perhaps it means not going out for drinks with friends 3 times a week. It is entirely fine to order water while out with your friends for a drink. You can also invite them to camp out with you for the weekend with store-purchased beverages. Another example might be cancelling your Netflix account to give yourself a chance to catch up on all those books you've been planning to read! (I've been able to FINALLY finish a few books that I've been pushing off for years. Yes, years.)

I would frequently come up with frugality challenges to save money. I made it fun and it was more rewarding to earn a meal at a restaurant than eat out frequently. "No eating out for a week", or "All home-cooked meals for dinner" have been a lot of fun. I also made a point to pick up hobbies that I not only enjoyed but could do for free like climbing (it's expensive to start) and trail running. The great thing is I can do these for free in a lot of the places I enjoy travelling to.

Tip: Invite your friends out to your secret spot on the BLM to enjoy cheaper drinks and a more enjoyable atmosphere than a loud bar!

Conclusion

Van life has can be such a rewarding way to experience life. It allows you to do so much with your life that might not have otherwise been possible with a house, or a bloated budget. Being able to save money for other things in life can be a great way to do more with what you have and what makes you happy. This lifestyle can inherently come with a sort of freedom that allows you to choose where you live and what you do with your free time. Making smart decisions with this freedom can enable you to live this way for a long time!