Van Life Expenses and Month in Review: June 2026
Check out how our stats and how much we spent on van life.
We started a series showing some of our stats each month to show you how possible it is and how affordable it can be to live the van life. You don’t have to be rich - you just have to know how to work it. 😉
Are there other things you’d like to see listed? Anything you’re wondering about? Let us know and we can add it to our month in review list.
Month in Review
Miles driven: ~2,500
States visited:
Iowa
Nebraska
Wyoming
Idaho
Longest drive day: 231 miles (June 9)
Shortest drive day: 6 miles (June 29)
Where we’re headed next:
We’re making our way toward the Boise/Meridian area for my company’s annual convention! 😍
Stays
Visit with friends: 4 nights
Nights in the van: 26
Of those 26 van nights:
Campgrounds: 8 nights
Harvest Hosts: 5 nights
Parking lots (rest areas, big box stores, travel stations, etc.): 12 nights
Dispersed camping: 1 night
Van Life Expenses
Free nights: 22
Campground costs: $142.79
Savings with various discounts: $86.21
Harvest Hosts expenditures: $108.43
(Donations, food, drinks, electricity)
Average camping cost per night: $4.76
We spent more than usual on campgrounds this month because we chose to stay inside Yellowstone National Park. It was worth every penny!
Other Travel Expenses
Groceries: ~$427
Restaurants: ~$154
Gas: ~$640
Laundry: $20
Entertainment & special attractions: $47
Total: About $1,539
Of course, we still have the regular monthly expenses that we’d have whether we lived in a traditional home or traveled full-time, so those aren’t included here.
Gas prices definitely played a role in our higher costs this month, and we also treated ourselves to eating out a little more often than usual.
Does this look like what you expected? Is there anything you’d like us to include in future monthly recaps? Let us know in the comments!
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It’s really interesting to see where you stay categorized. Thank you for doing that. You’re getting awesome experiences on a modest budget. Very inspiring for people to see.
Hope you continue to explore the dispersed sites. That’s where the west really shines. It can take a toll on the van when pushed too hard but the wild stuff can be really amazing and the sleep in remote areas can be some of the best nights.
Very inspiring that you can see all of these awesome places on such a relatively tight budget. Both Kelly and I still have high schoolers for two more years. But after that, I'm probably going to get some pretty intense pressure to retire and start traveling sooner rather than later.