We have tracked our spending from breakdowns to diesel since moving fulltime into our van. I am going to breakdown how much living in a Van, Motorhome or Campervan costs in the UK per month. I’ll share all the details with you, so you know how much Van Life UK Costs!
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How Much Does it Cost to Live in a Van, Motorhome or Campervan per month in the UK?
The cost of living in a van per month for us cost £832 for two people. However, we also broke down which increased our monthly spend to £1,301. Below I will break down these costs and show you how much we spent in diesel travelling around Scotland, how much our ‘bills’ were and how much those unexpected costs set us back.
Van Life can be a very cheap lifestyle but it can also throw unexpected costs at you that you haven’t budgeted for. Below I share our monthly costs of living fulltime in our van in the UK. We have also shared the products we love and used in our van build.
We also share the costs of travelling Norway in a van
So, what is the cost of living in a van per month. Here are the costs for 1 month living Van Life in the UK.
Planning a Van Build?
Our custom long wheelbase design, the Workspace Adventurer, has all the measurements and details of our van, with two office spaces & flexible layout
1. Diesel (£357) – Our most significant expensive for Van Life
This is where most our budget goes. Of course this bill can change dramatically depending on how much you drive. Technically you could spend £0 on diesel, however, we live Van Life to travel so we spent £357 on diesel this month.
There are apps to tell you where you can get the cheapest petrol such as petrol prices if you want to keep your costs down further.
2. Food (£320) – A universal expense
Every lifestyle has food as a cost so I won’t write too much here but of course you can make this as cheap or as expensive as you like. We try not to eat out and instead opt for making food in our van. After all having our home at the end of a trail head is kind of one of the advantages of Van Life. This month we did end up going to Costa twice due to breaking down (more on the cost of this later).
3. Parking (£32) – UK Parking Challenges
In the UK parking can be a nightmare. We do try and avoid paid parking but sometimes it is inevitable so we did end up spending £32. Most of these costs are due to spending over nights in car parks.
NB: It is important to note while in Norway we have spent £0 on parking so this cost will depend on where you are.
4. Bills (£123) Wi-Fi, AA Breakdown Cover, Phone Bills, Audible
All lifestyles have bills and Van Life is no different. Here is a breakdown of our monthly bills:
- AA breakdown Cover (£14)
- Phone bills (£16)
- Audible (£8)
Total Monthly Bills – £123
We don’t pay rent or have a mortgage so these are our true monthly bills we pay. we have chosen to go with the more expensive Starlink Wi-Fi to allow us to work from the road. You could save money here by choosing a motorhome Wi-Fi unit that uses a SIM card. We did have Smartie for £20 a month for unlimited data.
5. Breakdown (£469) – Unpredictable but not Unexpected
All vans breakdown so it is important to have an emergency fund for when the inevitable happens. We had our handbrake shoes go so we spent £469 getting them fixed before our road trip to Norway.
This breakdown did cause us a lot of stress and we had to go to three different garages before the van was fixed. We were very grateful we used Revolut to track our spending which helped us save up our emergency pot of money.
Total Cost For One Month Living Van Life In The UK
Total (£1,301)
Total without breakdown (£832)
This is how much Van Life in the UK cost us for two people living full time. There are a lot of different factors that will affect your cost if you live in a van. It is good to keep in mind all our activities were free – such as hiking and swimming. We also didn’t do our laundry this month but don’t worry we did it very soon after and it cost us £21.
Essential Items for a Campervan
Perfect for vans without an oven. You can cook bread, pies, cakes and more just by using your gas stove. This really is a game changer in the kitchen.
For cosy nights in the van, this is the perfect projector. This projector is small, lightweight but has great picture quality. We love this and use it all the time.
A must have for condensation which will build up quickly in your van and cause mould. We used this daily in Norway and was a real life-saver in colder weather.
If you don’t drive your van or motorhome enough then this can save the battery from dying. Plug it in and solar energy will top up the battery.
