July 2019 Cost of Being a Nomad

Well, July sped by, didn’t it? And this month is going pretty fast too! I was considering not doing an expense report for July and just combining it with the August report. But our July expenses were pretty good especially considering that we spent lots of money on entertainment living here in the big city. And since our August expenses are shaping up to be rather large I thought I would keep them separate from July so we still look kinda thrifty just a little while longer.

A few notes before we get to July’s total:

• All expenses are in US dollars.
• We drive a 2015 Ford Transit Cargo Van upfitted for living in. It gets anywhere from 17 to 19 miles to the gallon.
• We are vegetarians and we cook – eating little packed or prepared food.

Total Money Spent

And July’s total money spent is:

$1,119.16

Not nearly as good as June, but not too bad!

And here is the break down of everything in spreadsheet form:

And now, here is the part where I’m going to talk a little bit about any of these numbers that I think are interesting.

Van Living Expenses

These are all expenses relating to the van itself, living in the van, and traveling in the van.

The total of all Van Living Expenses for July is:

$254.69

Here is a breakdown of some specific van expenses:

– Van Upgrades

These expenses are for things that improve the van. I am constantly thinking of ways to make the van more comfortable and more efficient.

$0

A big zero this month, but August will be a different story.

– Insurance

$96.07

This is our monthly van insurance premium from USAA. Since we upfitted the van on our own it is still insured as a cargo van. This summer I plan to look into whether we can insure it as a camper instead. Note to self – put this on your todo list!

– Gas, Van Utilities, Camping

Utilites: $4.80
Gas: $143.82
Camping: $10.00

I’m lumping all these expenses together because they are all higher this month because we made a little excursion. We had a little 3-day gap in our house sitting schedule so instead of trying to figure out what friend’s house we would crash at for those days we decide to get out of town. We made the van habitable again (after two months of being a work van), filled up our water tank (the $4.80 for Utilities), and headed north. Atlanta is just south of Chattahoochee National Forest so we had plenty of in-the-woods camping options available but we spent a little money ($10) for a unique camping experience and a bit of big-screen entertainment first (see pictures and captions for details). The next two nights were spent at a more traditional camping (and free) experience in the woods. We filled our gas tank twice on our excursion – it was nice to see lower gas prices outside of the city.

– Van Maintenance, Repairs, & Misc.

$0

Groceries and Booze

This is food and alcohol we buy a grocery or liquor store as opposed to in a restaurant.

$403.28

We are still eating well, $298.76, and winding down in the evenings with a sundowner or two, $104.52.

Entertainment

This category is for eating and drinking out, live music, museums, and attractions.

Here is the total for everything in the Entertainment category:

$398.75

I find this number amazing because it accounts for over a third of our expenses for July. It is mostly a whole lot of little numbers, Friday nights out, drinks out on Thursdays, a special occasion here and there, and a few lazy nights off from cooking with takeout from a burrito wrap place. Those little numbers add up quickly.

Health

This category is for anything related to our health, dental work, medical issues, and just maintenance/medicine cabinet stuff.

$5.22

Luckily we are basically healthy! No big expenses here!

Personal/Household

These are the same kind of household expenses that you might have even if you didn’t live in a van or on a boat. Like toilet paper, clothes, personal items, laundry, and phone/data plan.

Here is the total for everything in the Personal/Household category:

$57.22

$27.99 of this is for our phone bill this month! With our Google Fi phone plan, we only pay for the data we use up to 6 gigs (after which data is free up to 15 gigs). Since we are living in houses with wifi this summer our bill is super low. The other $29.23 is for some personal stuff we needed including our New York Times subscription for $4 a month.

Travel

This category is for expenses outside of usual van travel expenses like the extra costs of traveling to another country, plane tickets, tolls, public transportation expenses, and parking.

$0

No special travel expenses in July.

No Manches

This category is for unexpected or unexplained expenses.

$0

And no surprises!

To see all of our expense reports, click here.

If you are interested in reading other expense reports from people living on the road, check out these links:

Far Out Ride

Roaming About

Just Call Us Nomads

*All pics are click to enlarge.

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So what do you think? Do you track your expenses? How does this compare to your sticks and bricks expenses or your traveling expenses? Are our expenses less or more than you would have expected?