The whole point of this blog is to chronicle my nomadic adventures and travels. But a huge part of my journey is overcoming a tiny obstacle that most of us face: money. I don’t think you’re reading this particular blog entry because you have an endless supply of money.
You may recall, I had to budget in order to purchase my vintage camper. So of course I will be employing those same methods in order to achieve my vanlife dreams.
Cash Stuffing
The envelope method, also known as cash stuffing, is my proven choice. Mainly because it restricts me to using just a specific amount of money.
I trimmed as much as I could from what I spend. Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon Prime are the only subscriptions that I am keeping. Speaking of Amazon, I set a budget for that too. I buy way too much crafting stuff after getting an apartment and so that has to be reigned in. I spend a lot of money on eating out since I live alone and hate leftovers but not anymore. Eating out once a week with a maximum spend of $20 and making meals at home is how I have trimmed my food budget. I already stopped over spoiling Willow with dog treats and toys every month.
I also wanted a visual accountability method, so I created a cute little chart.
The solid lines represent each $1,000 and the dotted every $500. I had to make it more manageable to try and make a goal for each month. $10,000 is the amount of my budget for the purchase of the bus and the build. If I can find a van cheaper than I anticipate having to spend, I might be able to lower the budget of the build. Each month I am making a goal of putting $500 towards the build.
You can also start a Go Fund Me or Facebook Donation drive to ask your friends and family to help pitch in too. Don’t forget to sell all the extra things you won’t be shoving into your bus on eBay or craigslist. I made a few hundred dollars to fund the purchase of my vintage camper a few years ago doing just that.
I also want to point out that I am not waiting* until I reach the $10,000 mark to purchase the bus and do the build. That way I can make this dream a reality sooner rather than later. That would make my dream at least 2 years away and I don’t want to think that I’m still 2 years away from roaming the country.
*Update: I did not purchase a van or bus & do a build but instead purchased another camper that was bigger & fit my needs better.