How to Save Money Living on the Road in a VW Bus

a family doing schoolwork outside of a vw bus while mom packs up the back

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I get a lot of emails asking me about what it costs to live like this. Some pose the question “So, how cheap is it to live in a VW Bus and travel all the time?” while others lean more toward “So, isn’t it expensive traveling around so much?”

I’ll try and break it down a little for everyone, some of the high bills, some of the lows, and some of the unexpecteds.

High Roller Living in a VW Bus

By far the largest expense you’ll incur while living this lifestyle is improvements & repairs to your Bus. The good news is, that some of these can significantly save you money in other aspects of your daily living, though whether the savings will actually equate to having spent less money than you would have had you not required the repair/improvement, well that’s probably up to how long you last in the belly of a tin can house. Here were some of our big ones:

Living Dirt Cheap in a Volkswagen Bus

Once you have the girl up and running, there are plenty of things you can do to modify your daily life to get by on dollars a day. Here are a few ideas:

The Unexpected Expenses of Life on the Road

There are a few aspects of roadliving that will hit your pocketbook where you never imagined your pocketbook was vulnerable. They’re like kidney punches and you don’t know that you’ve been beaten until you’re looking up from the ground in a hazy cloud of receipts.

As always, if you have any questions that I might be able to help out with, clear up, clear out, cut down or otherwise deforest your doubts, feel free to ask us on Facebook.