Van Life Costs - First Month on the Road

Heading into our van life adventure, one thing that we were hyper-focused on was our van life costs. We had some money saved from working full time, and did not have a ton of money coming in each week.

What did that mean? It meant that the more we spent, the shorter our adventure would be! So we HAD to minimize costs, because we wanted to adventure as long as possible!

Photos from Month 1’s Adventure

We are going to give you a 100% transparent view into our expenses we had in our first month on the road. Here we go!

Gas

Budget: $500 || Actual: $410.65

Shell (3 fill ups)	$117
BP (2)	$79.51
Speedway (2)	$72.99
Holiday (1)	$40.72
Chevron (1)	$35.64
Other (2)	$64.75
Total	$410.65

Concerning gas, we were pleasantly surprised with our first month on the road. We expected to have to fill up every few days, so 10-12 times throughout the month. We were also expecting gas prices around $2.50 throughout the country.

In reality, we had to stop for gas 11 times, but gas was more like $2.20 per gallon or so usually. In some parts of Tennessee and North Carolina, we were under $2.00 even!

Our strategy to find cheap gas prices was this. Once we were under 1/4 tank, Julie would open up Get Upside and search for gas places on our route in the next 50 miles. We’d find and stop at the cheapest one, whether it was 2 miles away or 48!

If you decide to download Get Upside, use code ‘2GZ28A’ for an extra $.15/gal cash back on your first gas purchase!

Groceries

Budget: $300 || Actual: $418.25

Wal Mart (4 times)	$112.94
Publix (3)	$93.32
Dollar Tree (4)	$46.29
Winn-Dixie (1)	$35.67
Target (1)	$33.39
Dollar General (2)	$26.59
Family Dollar (1)	$19.58
Gas Station Coffee (15)	$29.62
Other (4)	$20.85
Total	$418.25

Groceries ended up being more costly than we were hoping, but to be honest we had an aggressive goal. Our goal was to each eat 3 square meals per day for $5. 2 people means that is $10 per day, and with 30 days that means a $300 budget!

We ended up spending $418.25, which translates to just under $7 per day per person. That does sound really good, considering that’s about the price of 1 Chipotle burrito, but we want to do better, and we think we can.

Towards the end of the month, we got much better at minimizing costs, with a few different strategies:

Know What to Buy at Each Store

This is definitely the main area we improved at over the month. At the beginning, we had large shopping trips, spending $70 and filling the van with food.

Towards the end, a ‘large’ shopping trip for us was about $20, and we stayed pretty consistent with what we had in the van. We did this by knowing what to get at different stores.

For instance, we knew that the Dollar Tree sells everything in the store for $1. However, there are certain things you don’t necessarily want from the Dollar Tree. We now know that we can shop at Dollar Tree, Dollar General, or Family Dollar for our dry goods. We get pasta, pasta sauce, salsa, chips, paper products, and any sweet treats.

We go to Wal Mart, Publix, Winn-Dixie, and Target now only for fresh produce, milk, bread, eggs, and meat. Really, we are only going through the fresh sections at these stores, leaving ‘dry goods’ shopping for the discount stores.

What We’re Buying

Over the course of the first month, our diet has changed to better fit our budget. That is not to say we are eating badly. We have found DELICIOUS meals that we can make for EXTREMELY cheap!

Here are some items that make it into our grocery cart every time:

Rice, Beans, Corn
Avocado, Onions, Bananas, Oranges, Potatoes
Pasta, Pasta Sauce
Bread, Eggs, Lunch Meat, Cheese

Doesn’t sound too bad, right?? Now, we are usually hunting for deals. So if apples or nectarines are on sale, we’ll go for those instead of oranges. If Thai curry and noodles is on sale, we’ll get that instead of pasta and sauce.

With this shopping list, we are usually able to make a few days worth of food, and the bill is usually about $20. We are confident that we can hit our $300 goal in month 2!

One of our Favorite Recipes

Lodging

Budget: $300 || Actual: $296.14

Townsend, TN KOA (1 night)	$43.14
Boyd’s Campground Key West (2)	$174
Harvest Hosts (2) (yearly subscription)	$79
Total	$296.14

For lodging, we did hit our budget, but looking backwards we think our budget was too high. The main reason we believe this is we discovered Harvest Hosts!

We first anticipated going to a campground or hotel 3 or 4 times every month. The reason being in case we weren’t able to find consistent showers, or just needed a break from parking lots.

Enter Harvest Hosts! We paid one annual membership fee that cost about as much as one night in a campsite. Therefore, this cost won’t be in our monthly costs going forward, so we think our budget for lodging can be $0 for month 2!

Click this Image for 15% off your Harvest Hosts Membership!

Auto Maintenance

Budget: $200 || Actual: $216.43

Oil Change @ Firestone	$100.43
AAA (yearly subscription)	$116
Total	$216.43

For auto maintenance, we had another charge that will be charged for month 1 but not any other months for the year: AAA. We chose to get AAA for peace of mind.

We did NOT want to break down in the middle of nowhere and have no one to help us out. Especially in a place we are unfamiliar with! We got a AAA membership for $116/year and now if we ever need a tow or help getting our keys, we are good to go!

We also got 1 oil change and diagnostic for about $100 in month 1. We are hoping this will be an every-two-months expense. Therefore, if all goes perfect, our Auto Maintenance cost could be $0 in month 2! Fingers crossed…

Other / Entertainment

Budget: $200 || Actual: $688.15

Eating Out (4 times)	$64.29
Drinking Out (4)	$100.07
Excursions (2)	$258.50
Planet Fitness	$23
Miscellaneous	$92.29
Cash Expenses	$150
Total	688.15

Okay, this is where we broke the budget, and badly. We spent WAY too much on entertainment in month 1. We basically spent our first 3 months budget in month 1. Just an awful performance by us.

Looking at what we spent it on, the majority came with nights out for drinks and excursions. We can definitely limit these expenses moving forward, as we don’t have any excursions planned for any months coming up.

In addition, since we are improving in our cooking strategy, we should be able to limit any eating out moving forward. We are hoping that this expense comes WAY down to under $200 per month moving forward.

Total

Expense	Budget	Actual
Gas	$500	$410.65
Groceries	$300	$418.25
Lodging	$300	$296.14
Auto Maintenance	$200	$216.43
Other / Entertainment	$200	$688.15
Total	$1500	$2029.62

All in all, we failed at sticking to the budget in month 1. However, we feel that we got WAY better at cost-management towards the end of the month.

Therefore, we are setting a MORE aggressive budget for month 2, and we think we’ll be able to hit it!

Month 2 Budget

Expense	Budget
Gas	$400
Groceries	$300
Lodging	$0
Auto Maintenance	$100
Other / Entertainment	$200
Total	$1000

No guarantees that we end up hitting this, but we are fully confident that we can! And either way, we’ll be back to let you know whether we succeeded or failed.

If you liked this article, use the below image to Pin it and save for later!

For over a decade he’s reported on Olympic Games, CrossFit Games and World Cups, and quizzed
luminaries of elite sport, diet and power and conditioning.
Sam can be a REPS degree 3 qualified private coach, on-line coach and founding
father of Your Daily Repair. Sam is also Coach’s designated reviewer of
therapeutic massage guns and fitness mirrors.
Now you understand the method to carry out the Arnold press correctly, you’re little question itching to place it into follow.

We may help with that, as a outcome of naturally the Arnold press has featured
in a spread of exercises. There are a couple of pitfalls
to keep away from when performing the Arnold press, so we requested Bratland to offer some prime suggestions to assist you press with the most effective of them.

Ought To you be beginning with your left arm, then you must
be kneeling on your left knee. This variation is great for
constructing balanced power and mass via your shoulders.
As it’s not seated, and rather in a half-kneeling place, it additionally requires your core to
get entangled.
The Arnold press is mostly carried out so as to attain one or all of the following advantages.
However earlier than choosing up a pair of dumbbells and twisting
your arms upwards, it could be very important absolutely understand
what the Arnold press is within the first place. These looking for a change in their coaching program
or much less time spent doing accessory movements will both benefit from including
the Arnold press into their exercise plan. To perform the
method Arnold dramatically demonstrated in the movie Pumping Iron, bend at the waist and support your body weight with one hand on the knee and seize
a dumbbell with the other hand (a). Right Here
is the Shoulder train made well-known by Arnold Schwarzenegger!
The Arnold Press is a variation of the Dumbbell Shoulder press that targets different are.
Set up an adjustable angle bench to 90 levels and select the desired weight from the rack.

Since this exercise strengthens all the shoulder muscle tissue, it improves overall
shoulder well being including shoulder mobility.
So, just make sure you stretch properly before and after
your exercise. There are several advantages of the Arnold press when carried out with correct Arnold press kind.
It is a superb all-around exercise for strengthening your physique and constructing muscle.
To grasp the Arnold press, you must just ensure you hold your chest up and
do not slouch or arch your back. You must
also just make sure you focus in your shoulder muscle tissue performing the movements.

In any case, the exercise is finished through the rotation necessary with dumbbells and in distinction to the conventional shoulder press with a barbell option.
If performing the Arnold press to focus on all three heads of the deltoids, few workout routines are as effective
a substitute as the kettlebell halo. Whether Or Not after the bench press or
a couple of sets of rows, the Arnold press nonetheless meshes
fairly properly into such training sessions. It may even be used as the primary
compound movement in a extra shoulder-focused upper physique workout plan.
The majority of bodybuilders will generally perform 2-3 exercises so as to actually create a complete shoulder exercise.

Earlier Than you push your arms straight up, convey your elbows out to each side, twisting your arms.
Doing the Arnold press alone can work out several muscular tissues in your
physique. Rotate your arms so your palms face away from you on the top of the motion. Besides that,
you still need to keep the standard weight lifting principles in thoughts.
One of the things that stands out in Arnold presses is
that they work all three components of the deltoids.
Additionally, you want dumbbells or different compact weights
that allow you to rotate your wrists simply.
If the Arnold press is creating signs of pain and soreness in your joints, it might be time to try
another with much less rotation. One of the closest of those
is solely the regular dumbbell shoulder press – of
which requires no twisting and is strictly a vertical pushing movement.

Bear In Mind to carry out both the overhead extension and the wrist rotation motion in a simultaneous manner.
In addition, the arms themselves ought to start barely forward of the cranium, rather than immediately to the edges.
Each the Arnold press and barbell shoulder press have a number of variations that can be utilized to focus on totally different areas of the shoulders or adjust the issue
level. By understanding how the Arnold press works and which muscles it targets, you may get started with this exercise safely and effectively to succeed in your health objectives.

Obviously, one exercise that works one muscle
group is not going to get you to your health objectives.
For more exercise ideas, do that full-body workout to make sure all your muscular
tissues are totally developed. Figuring out the place to place this train is simple – wherever you could have
normal shoulder urgent movements! The following guidelines all assume you’re doing 6-8 (or more
sets) of urgent (flat and incline) per week, break up
over 2 or more periods. This keeps you within the scapular aircraft,
with out the stress that inside rotation may cause.
For those that wrestle with shoulder troubles, this could be a variation you’ll be
able to employ to nonetheless target the anterior delts
with out the frustration of nagging injuries.

The last benefit of the Arnold press is that it reduces the quantity of
weight required. Some of you might really feel this
could fall into the drawbacks section. That may seem like an odd “benefit” however it can genuinely be helpful.
The first reason is that a lighter dumbbell is much
less complicated to get into place to press. Once you might have developed respectable overhead pressing power, the toughest a half of dumbbell shoulder presses can usually be merely kicking the weights up into position.

References:

Legal Steroid Alternative, Git.Nosharpdistinction.Com,

2,569 thoughts on “Van Life Costs – First Month on the Road”

Git.Nosharpdistinction.Com

March 24, 2025 at 2:49 pm

For over a decade he’s reported on Olympic Games, CrossFit Games and World Cups, and quizzed
luminaries of elite sport, diet and power and conditioning.
Sam can be a REPS degree 3 qualified private coach, on-line coach and founding
father of Your Daily Repair. Sam is also Coach’s designated reviewer of
therapeutic massage guns and fitness mirrors.
Now you understand the method to carry out the Arnold press correctly, you’re little question itching to place it into follow.

We may help with that, as a outcome of naturally the Arnold press has featured
in a spread of exercises. There are a couple of pitfalls
to keep away from when performing the Arnold press, so we requested Bratland to offer some prime suggestions to assist you press with the most effective of them.

Ought To you be beginning with your left arm, then you must
be kneeling on your left knee. This variation is great for
constructing balanced power and mass via your shoulders.
As it’s not seated, and rather in a half-kneeling place, it additionally requires your core to
get entangled.
The Arnold press is mostly carried out so as to attain one or all of the following advantages.
However earlier than choosing up a pair of dumbbells and twisting
your arms upwards, it could be very important absolutely understand
what the Arnold press is within the first place. These looking for a change in their coaching program
or much less time spent doing accessory movements will both benefit from including
the Arnold press into their exercise plan. To perform the
method Arnold dramatically demonstrated in the movie Pumping Iron, bend at the waist and support your body weight with one hand on the knee and seize
a dumbbell with the other hand (a). Right Here
is the Shoulder train made well-known by Arnold Schwarzenegger!
The Arnold Press is a variation of the Dumbbell Shoulder press that targets different are.
Set up an adjustable angle bench to 90 levels and select the desired weight from the rack.

Since this exercise strengthens all the shoulder muscle tissue, it improves overall
shoulder well being including shoulder mobility.
So, just make sure you stretch properly before and after
your exercise. There are several advantages of the Arnold press when carried out with correct Arnold press kind.
It is a superb all-around exercise for strengthening your physique and constructing muscle.
To grasp the Arnold press, you must just ensure you hold your chest up and
do not slouch or arch your back. You must
also just make sure you focus in your shoulder muscle tissue performing the movements.

In any case, the exercise is finished through the rotation necessary with dumbbells and in distinction to the conventional shoulder press with a barbell option.
If performing the Arnold press to focus on all three heads of the deltoids, few workout routines are as effective
a substitute as the kettlebell halo. Whether Or Not after the bench press or
a couple of sets of rows, the Arnold press nonetheless meshes
fairly properly into such training sessions. It may even be used as the primary
compound movement in a extra shoulder-focused upper physique workout plan.
The majority of bodybuilders will generally perform 2-3 exercises so as to actually create a complete shoulder exercise.

Earlier Than you push your arms straight up, convey your elbows out to each side, twisting your arms.
Doing the Arnold press alone can work out several muscular tissues in your
physique. Rotate your arms so your palms face away from you on the top of the motion. Besides that,
you still need to keep the standard weight lifting principles in thoughts.
One of the things that stands out in Arnold presses is
that they work all three components of the deltoids.
Additionally, you want dumbbells or different compact weights
that allow you to rotate your wrists simply.
If the Arnold press is creating signs of pain and soreness in your joints, it might be time to try
another with much less rotation. One of the closest of those
is solely the regular dumbbell shoulder press – of
which requires no twisting and is strictly a vertical pushing movement.

Bear In Mind to carry out both the overhead extension and the wrist rotation motion in a simultaneous manner.
In addition, the arms themselves ought to start barely forward of the cranium, rather than immediately to the edges.
Each the Arnold press and barbell shoulder press have a number of variations that can be utilized to focus on totally different areas of the shoulders or adjust the issue
level. By understanding how the Arnold press works and which muscles it targets, you may get started with this exercise safely and effectively to succeed in your health objectives.

Obviously, one exercise that works one muscle
group is not going to get you to your health objectives.
For more exercise ideas, do that full-body workout to make sure all your muscular
tissues are totally developed. Figuring out the place to place this train is simple – wherever you could have
normal shoulder urgent movements! The following guidelines all assume you’re doing 6-8 (or more
sets) of urgent (flat and incline) per week, break up
over 2 or more periods. This keeps you within the scapular aircraft,
with out the stress that inside rotation may cause.
For those that wrestle with shoulder troubles, this could be a variation you’ll be
able to employ to nonetheless target the anterior delts
with out the frustration of nagging injuries.

The last benefit of the Arnold press is that it reduces the quantity of
weight required. Some of you might really feel this
could fall into the drawbacks section. That may seem like an odd “benefit” however it can genuinely be helpful.
The first reason is that a lighter dumbbell is much
less complicated to get into place to press. Once you might have developed respectable overhead pressing power, the toughest a half of dumbbell shoulder presses can usually be merely kicking the weights up into position.

References:

Legal Steroid Alternative, Git.Nosharpdistinction.Com,
Best Undress AI

March 25, 2025 at 8:12 am

35887 612276Absolutely composed content material material , Actually enjoyed examining . 615970
click here

March 26, 2025 at 4:52 am

199133 799719Read More HERE. I bookmarked it. 971037

Gas