Van Life Expenses and Month in Review: May 2026

Check out how our stats and how much we spent on van life.

I think a lot of people think you have to be wealthy to travel full-time, but it’s all in how you do it. I like to share some of our stats to show you how possible it is and how affordable it can be.

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: ~1,200

📍States visited: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa

🚐 Longest drive day: 140 miles on 5/30

⏱️ Shortest drive day: 1 mile on 5/21 😂

😡 Disagreements: 3 and all his fault! 🤣

Stays

🏨 Hotel: 2 nights (which were free with credit card travel credit)

🏠 House sitting and staying with friends: 11 nights

🌖 Nights in the van: 18

Of those 18 nights...

🌲 Campgrounds: 3 nights

🅿️ Harvest Hosts: 14 nights

🛣️ Rest area: 1 night

Van Life Expenses

🆓 Free nights: 22

🌲 Campground costs: $60

💰 Savings with Passport America discount: $50

💵 Harvest Hosts expenditures: $78 (donations, food, drinks, electricity)

💵 Cost per night average for the month: $4.46

🛒 Groceries ~$520

🍽️ Restaurants ~$81.20 (this is higher than normal this month because we went out for our anniversary)

⛽️ Gas ~$320

🧺 Laundry $10.50

That totals about $1070. Not too shabby in my opinion! Of course, we have normal expenses we’d incur whether we’re traveling or in a traditional home, so those aren’t included here.

What do you think?

---

🍺 ☕️

Will Work for Beer or Coffee!

We don’t charge a subscription fee for our newsletter, but if you love what we’re about, please consider buying us a drink. This really helps support what we do.