Thread 2828580

I saw on a facebook page for vanlife someone asking if they could make vanlife/rvlife work on 7k a month budget and a ton of people talking about how they currently 'make it work' on like 3-5k a month or whatever and it made me wonder how many of you have tried to vanlife and how much a month do you think you needed to survive while doing it

I don't have a trust fund, I don't want to sleep in walshart parking lots eating goyslop, van life isn't for me.

>>2828580 (OP)
My wife and I did it for a year and a bit for our honeymoon, drove from AK to Patagonia. Spent almost $100k between the two of us but could've got away with a lot less. This was a holiday for us so we were spending the occasional night in 5* hotels, eating out whenever we were in cities, etc.

I wouldn't call it "vanlife", since I live in a house (wtih my parents), but I do trips for months at a time in minivan across the western USA and Canada. Usually costs me like $1k a month. 80 to 90% of the costs are just food and gas. Only time I pay for "accomodation" is when I need a backcountry/backpacking permit for some national park hike I do. Food is mostly groceries, I rarely eat out, I do eat at fast food places but never spend more than a couple bucks because of app deals. permits, passes, souvenirs, laundry, and showers are the rest. There's occasional walmart parking lot sleeping, but I'm usually further out in the wild

I'd be interested in a breakdown of the costs and expenses from those who have experience doing vanlife for more than say 4 months at once.
>buddy is being shoveled down the fancy vanlife video algorythm
>fully convinced he could do it with just whatever van and a bunk bed and make money out of it by vlogging it
>has no experience going /out/
>has no experience fixing cars
>insists that he'd save a ton of money living that way because he sees it as a one time home purchase where your home costs a few grands at most
>doesn't plan on travelling, just living in the back of the van while still working in town
>what about insulation so you don't freeze at night? what about sanitation? what about keeping your food supplies? do you know where you can legally camp that way? how will you keep a fixed adress or mailbox for admin purposes if the goal is to replace rent with a van?
>"you're overthinking it, man. You gotta live in the moment, that's the point of this kind of lifestyle"
I know vanlife is MUCH more expensive than "buy the cheapest van you can and a sleeping bag" and most of the exposure you can get to it online comes from trustfund kiddies on their sabbatical or families with hideously expensive RVs, but he's not hearing it. So an actual breakdown of the costs could help see the parts of the picture you don't get from instagram and shilltubers with their setups worth tens of thousands.
I'm just trying to look out for my buddy and prevent him from making a big mistake.

>>2828638
His mind seems set. He will just resent you for preventing him from following his retarded dream. What's the worst that could happen? He will very quickly find out what's what and return to normal life. Or is he going to sell everything he has or something retarded? Could offer to store things for him if you have the space. Then when he decides the van life isn't for him he can just get it all back. Sometimes you just can't wrangle the tard and must let reality do it for you

>>2828614
>100k
I hope that includes the cost of the van you bought renovated because that is bonkers.

I've been doing it for almost a decade straight with less than 10k/year some years, all while living like a king and traveling the US. People are actually just really stupid with their money and the more money they have the more they think they have to spend it to survive.

>>2828580 (OP)
3-5k / month
What currency are we talking? Yen, Yuan or something like that?
Because basic surviving, anywhere in the western world, should be easily possible with 1k, and barely with 500€/$. In most other places, it's going to be a lot cheaper, in Japan, for example, you could survive on ~20k JPY, or ~200$. When i was living in Okinawa, for example, I had 30k / month, and put back 10-15k, despite paying rent and buying (more expensive) european food.

>>2828638
>a few grands at most

>>2828580 (OP)
>3-5k a month
>>people pay more for vanlife than I do for my house
I love watching retards fail at life.

I make regularlife on less than 1k a month, what's the point of living in a car if it's costing you big bucks like this

>>2828614
Damn you got fleeced to fuck and back lol

>>2828614
I can't imagine bragging about being fiscally incompetent on /out/ of all places. I'd be deeply embarrassed to admit something like that.

I've been full time 'vanlifing' in my pickup cap for seven months now. I spend about $3000/month. I track my expenses. For May:

Gas: $888 - I move around a lot, prob $150/miles a day, with shitty truck/cap MPG.
Lodging - $618 - Some Dispersed, lots of national forest, state forest and some state park primative when I want a shower.
Entertainment - $300 - Ferry tickets, museums, and state park annual passes
Maintenance - $370 - A little high that month. Basically, things I want to buy that are not "regular" buys, as well as replacement parts, etc.
Grocery - $458 - Includes regular buys like detergent, bug spray, sunscreen, but mostly food
Eating Out - $186 - Bars, diners, etc
Subscriptions - $249 - XM, Starlink, InReach

>>2828580 (OP)
>7000/m to live in a vehicle
Where exactly is the money going? I live in my SUV for half the year and get by on just paying for gas and groceries. I park in forests and occasionally parking lots. All my gear (solar panels, cookware, bed frame, fridge, battery, fans, roof storage box) probably cost under $1500.

>>2828638
Never jump straight into van life. Try it out for a weekend living in your car and then you'll understand how the inconveniences pile up and make life hell. You're constantly gonna get harassed by cops telling you to park somewhere else, you'll always be paranoid of hooligans smashing your windows while you sleep, the days will be long and uncomfortable and the nights will be either way too hot or way too cold to sleep depending on the season. You won't be able to escape the insects no matter how many nets you throw up. It's not a life for people used to comfort looking to save a few bucks on rent. It's mainly for avid campers who wanna pack up all their shit and travel wherever they want and sleep in their car when they're too tired to set up a tent.

This is very obviously a troll thread and anyone who responded to it genuinely needs to be banned for never having touched grass.

Back when 4chan was good this kind of obvious trolling would have been deleted. You are stupid.

>>2829186
not true but I wasn't exactly being forthcoming with information about myself in the OP

I live like this and don't spend a ton lol

>>2828580 (OP)
How are these people making 7k/mn while vanlifing? I have a remote job that pays well and I can't even imagine wanting to deal with working 8h a day in a van for it while sitting in like a parking lot with wifi

>>2828580 (OP)
You know there are people with 5 dogs who live the, "van life" on an $800, "disability" check and $200 of food stamps, and they STILL manage to support a daily meth habit, right?

>>2829370
No they don't. I get that it's a meme, but the reality of that situation just isn't possible.

>>2828580 (OP)
things like vehicle maintenance and gas which will each up a bunch of the cost. Buy groceries and not fast food to save where you can.

The real cost is actually building up a proper traveling rig.

>>2828593
talk like a fucking adult or go back to one of the incel containment boards. This is a place for serious discussion. Your kind aren't welcome here, or on places like /ck/, /auto/ or even that radioactive hipster hellhole /mu/.

>>2829367
>I can't even imagine wanting to deal with working 8h a day in a van for it while sitting in like a parking lot with wifi
You don't have to. There's Starlink, or you can pay your phone company for an unlimited mobile hotspot to do remote work. There's also delivery services and other work you can do, it's not all spreadsheets and date entry.

Plus the professional have sponsorships. And then there's guys like Timmy Truck House Life who build a cabin on a flatbed truck, lived in it for years while he built up his own property.

There's options. Lots of them. Stop hanging out on 4chan and research things for yourself. Like an adult.

>>2829379
>Stop hanging out on 4chan and research things for yourself. Like an adult.
No thank you. Maybe you should go back to plebbit if that's more your speed.

Death to all van dwellers.
Fucking homeless hobo scum.

>>2829381
>>stop eating McDonalds 3 time a day fat ass
>y-y-you are just one of those jack-in-the-crack fags!!!1
Stop using the internet for a parasocial substitute to healthy human interaction retard.

>>2829900
there he is

>>2828580 (OP)
Shiiiiiiiet if you don't care about the glamour and vanity of your van?

>Twin mat bed
>Tote for clothes and ranger roll them
>Tote for kitchen and toiletries/hygiene
>Butane stove and some bottles and shit
>Propane fridge
>Shitty little Walmart folding table
>Screws and washers to secure shit so you can anchor a table and the propane tank to the wall so it's not banging around
>Camping shitter and frebreeze

Now you just got to get
>The cheapest insurance fuck the terms and shit get the least nosiest
>Maybe register your car under an LLC or some shit so you can use address services for LLCs do a two year registration

Uhhh some food preferably 300$ worth so you don't burn gas city driving back and forth
Load up on water


Get AAA

The first shit is just like initial costs but you can easily get

>140$ shit insurance
>300$ monthly food
>Water cases like 15$ for two big ones
>YMMV on gas cost so I'm not including this
>your AAA subscription
>25$ If you get Visible for your phone plan
>Pirate FUKKEN EVERYTHING entertainment wise

If your gonna van life don't park in the city to sleep! Drive out to the outskirts maybe a trailhead a rest stop or some bumfuck nowhere area.... think of it like "driving home" this way noone bothers you and finds out your vanlifing also get organicmaps and download shit so you have offline maps or get physical maps find a nice little fishing area you can drive to and now you can save money on food

Vanlife Is so fucking comfy bro's you just gotta spend a shit load of time on marketplace and craiglist in your county or state looking for random shit to make money

>>2830075
Also not including maintenance as that varies but you can survive cheaper than a apartment van-lifing if your keen on finding hidden gems free shit and not being a consumer and learning to fix ya shit

Several years back when their kids were young and before they got divorced, my buddy would get a campground spot for the summer Up North here in Michigan and there was a couple who worked as paramedics and lived in a camper, half the year here and then they'd go down to Florida for the winter.

So how are the van lifers here paying for their van life?

Van lifers are all going to jail.
>https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/ending-crime-and-disorder-on-americas-streets/

I could do it on 2k

>>2829370
This

>>2828580 (OP)
Torch the hobos.

You can't be a van life hobo in America anymore.
President Trump will send the National Guard to throw you in jail.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/ending-crime-and-disorder-on-americas-streets/

>>2834661
the country is healing.

Van? Please. I've lived 2 out of the last 3 years in a sedan.
You get used to it. Only way to save money really, I work full time. Zero debt but in a debt based system that's really a handicap, damn my extreme moral opposition to usury.

This is America.
You are not permitted to exist here unless (((they))) can drain your bank account for the privilege.

>>2835107
It always amuses me how the mentally ill hate the people who decriminalized mental illness so much.

It always amuses me that people think the world owes them anything.

>>2829378
>talk like a fucking adult or go back to one of the incel containment boards. This is a place for serious discussion. Your kind aren't welcome here, or on places like /ck/, /auto/ or even that radioactive hipster hellhole /mu
lol

>>2835341
Society literally exists to make barbarism less appealing. If it fails to do this, barbarians.

>>2835341
Ah yes, the world owes you nothing but simultaneously you owe it to the world to contribute

>>2828580 (OP)
What the ever living fuck do all these people do for work? Trust fund babies? How?

>>2828580 (OP)
There are some days I want to buy a travel van, something manageable and not a massive RV, and go southwest during the cooler months, the pacific northwest during spring/early summer, and just drive around and see what's going on out there. I live in East Tennessee so that would legitimately be a new environment for me.

>>2835841
Probably some useless WFH tech job that consists on 'meetings' and a few emails.

Vehicles break down.
Large vehicles have parts that cost much more.
The transmission of an rv breaking will cost you tens of thousands.
Basing what living out of a traveling vehicle costs without factoring in repairs and maintenance is disingenious.
It is not just gas and groceries, and even rental sites.
Ut is also vehicle payments, insurance, and repairs.
Also guess what you do when your stuff is in a vehicle that breaks down and goes to the mechanics working for just over minimum wage.

i was traveling out my truck for about $600/mo before covid. a hefty portion of that went straight to beer and gas

i have fellow homeless friends who vanlife for much less than that
no job = lots of free time

>>2835841
>>2835957

hustle culture brah gotta get out there and stack that bread, fuck working for the man, maaaaaan

>>2835739
Yes.
You get air for free.
If you're lucky you get drinkable water.
Everything else you have to farm, hunt, or otherwise labor for.

>>2836068
>labor in a way that allows you to spend 11/12 months of your time fucking off
>for 11 months everyone thinks you're a total bum
>NOOOO YOU CAN'T DO THAT YOU HAVE TO CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETY NOOOOOO

>>2836125
calm it with the antisemitism
Mr. Shekelstein expects all of you back in office tomorrow.

>>2835970
Eh, better than sitting in a cubicle for 8 hours a day.

>>2836137
lel I was just kidding anyway, you're right but i'm trying to laugh at our terrible situation

check out this shit i'm writing about what lead to that picture if you want
https://rentry.co/Hoboentro

shoutout to Scroton and Busanon if you're reading this, dont worry I haven't written about you shitters

>>2830077
>>2830075
One of the few useful replies in this thread

>>2836165
ay did you write that? thats actually not half bad.

>>2836206
yeah thanks anon
it's me in the photo above with that flail pile around the camper, picture was about a week and a half after what was in that intro

>>2836165
Like the other anon said, your writing isn't half bad. Keep at it, and good luck to you.

You can be a van life hobo if you go and do it in the middle of the desert.
We don't want to see you.

>>2837198
No, I don't think I will

except for the winter time lmao

>Fall down rabbit hole as watching some camping videos to see how a new tent reviews of 'van life' videos
>Some will be guys with tricked out custom vans sitting in an alaskan blizzard cooking and doing crafts or some shit and is a very comfy blend of survivalist and travellogue
>But most are just a lonely man or woman in a shitty tranny van looking like they are on the run from real life, an abusive ex or debts and living like a bum and vlogging about it.

Which do you think leans more to the truth? the bearded hippy with his drone shots, soft guitar ambience and bushcraft meets grease monkeying their way around the country versus the misery displays?

>>2837463
I think the people remodeling vans for glamping generate more views. The term then became a euphemism for homelessness.

>>2828641
>>2828682
>>2828680
can you guys seeth any harder lmao, sounds like he went on an actually nice YEAR long vacation.

>>2835970
>GoodStuff 4 Sale
Where?
I'll take that red umbrella i guess, $3, and $4 for the dog.
But ive only got 5 bucks on me... deal?

>>2828580 (OP)
I spent sixteen weeks on the road in my Nissan minivan last year. Started in Colorado in late April, headed east through the Ozarks to North Carolina to visit my family for a couple weeks, then headed north through the Virginia Appalachians to Michigan before returning to Colorado and moving into an apartment. It was a shitbox which started off with severely worn tires and severe cooling system issues, but I managed to avoid breaking down and keep maintenance & repair costs in check.
>Total cost: $3430.62 ($30.63 per day)
>Miles covered: 8079 (72 miles per day)
>Gas: $1050.46 ($9.38 per day)
>Food: $1066.66 ($8.99 per day)
>Maintenance & repairs: $817.18 - the majority being a new set of odd-sized tires
>Marijuana: $260.63 ($2.33 per day)
>Miscellaneous: $295.99 ($2.64 per day)

The van was an impulse purchase from Craiglist, bought after three months of vagabonding around on foot (in towns, not /out/) and cost me $3400.

>>2835970
There is only one reason to live this kind of vagabond lifestyle in a blighted urban environment, and that is easy access to hard drugs.

In a decade of van travel, I spent very little time in large urban areas. 100 nights spanning 14 states on my last trip, and only 3 of those nights were spent parked on pavement in a built-up area. However, in some states like Texas I was basically stuck with Walmart as the only option for a hassle-free overnight stay.

>>2836137
I wish cubicles still existed, it's all open plan office hellscapes now.

>>2828580 (OP)
800$ a month is the minimum. Still too expensive.

>>2828580 (OP)
The median person in the USA:
>is 39 years old
>makes $40K a year
>has $8K in savings
>is $80K in debt

If people are saying "You can make vanlife work on $5K a month!" they're literally upper middle class, but living in a van. People look at vanlife and think "Ah, finally, a way out, a way to live freely and inexpensively." Well, not if the cost of vanlife is more than what 50% of the population of the United States makes. This is literally a hobby for the rich. Only 33% of the USA makes more than $60K a year. This was never a realistic option for people who are otherwise failing to get ahead in life.

>>2838111
Nice, thanks anon.
>>2837463
I think vanlife is fine for snowbirding or long trips / national park hopping / gapyear like above, but it is essentially homeless drifting otherwise. Miserable, lonely after so many months.

>>2835841
Seasonal work I guess. Or work in trades and just wrap a job and fuck off for a few months, come back, start new job. Or moving around from one temp job to the next. Lonely life, that.

>>2838249
>not an option for people failing at life
First off, $5k per month is a number you pulled out your ass. Its living in a vehicle, it's obviously cheaper than the equivalent life renting a place, if you don't spend all day driving long distance. Its literally being homeless + van.
Secondly, correct, if you can't get ahead then quitting work to live homeless isn't going to help. Where did you get that idea?

Also, minor quibble
>median income is $40k
Median income for people with FT jobs is $60k, and in major metros its more like $80k+

>>2828580 (OP)
vanlife will to some point get cheaper the more money and effort you spend on the initial setup. and most instagram vanlifers spend all their money and effort into making it look like a wooden cabin and then suffer from poor milage, crap electric systems and such, but they dont care they only sleep in urban parking lots anyway. if you look at overlanders, they have no limits on what they spend on solar, lifepo batteries, charging setups, various types of cooking gear, fridge/freezers and such. but their interiour look industrial because bringing the whole lumberyard into your van increase weight = shit handling and mileage, and they usually go for reliable fuel sippin diesels. they build their rigs to spend months in places where you can barely get fuel so better be self sufficent or survive on very little.
so with the latter, you can definetly make it with only the cost of fuel (depending on how much you drive around) and cost of food (raw products), the first one it depends on how many starbucks coffes and foodoras you have each day.

>>2837569
>https://youtu.be/IAhGUXeOz0U

>>2828649
Hey, your map looks similar to mine, except mine is concentrated mostly between Oregon and Texas, southern route through Arizona.
I lived in my car for a year making relatively little money (WAY less than these "omg only 4k/mo" posters are talking about.

>>2838192
I just want a cubicle and a job where I make 500k/yr (inflation adjusted) to do nothing like the boomers had.