How Much Does it Cost to Live In Your Car?

Let’s discuss the costs and expenses that come with living out of your car that you might not know of, especially if you haven’t yet begun the life of a car dweller. I thought I’d had enough savings to cover pretty much everything that I’d need before I started living in my car, but after a while, I found that I was sorely mistaken and brought back to the all too familiar overdraft fees and zero dollar balance bank accounts.

Today, we’re only going to cover the main expenses that most people can expect to encounter while being a car dweller. I want to conclude with a reasonable expectation of how much it costs overall to live out of your car, while considering inevitable emergencies that will occur, all while having the mindset of doing this on a budget.

I always prefer to take advantage of whatever situation that I’m in in order to reap the most benefits possible. I’m already living in my dang car, peeing in bottles in order to save money on paying rent, so I might as well go all the way live off peanut butter sandwiches and oatmeal in order to tuck away the most money for the future.

Anyways, you might be wondering, how much does it really cost to live in your car if you live frugally and within your means? Is it really worth giving up the comfort of your bed and bathroom (assuming you’re doing this by choice) to skip the two grand rent or mortgage payment? Personally, I think that if you’re smart about it, it’s one hundred percent worth it to rough it in your car for a year or more to save money.

Even with all of the costs associated with car living, the cost of living these days is so high that it doesn’t even matter. Also, some of the expenses you’re paying when living out of your vehicle are things that you would pay for anyway, even if you were still living in an apartment. When it comes down to it, there really isn’t a crazy amount of expenses that arise because of car living itself, but it will do you well to not underestimate the financial requirements before going into it.

Let’s break it down into two levels of likelihood that you’ll have to pay for these things when you live in your car. We’ll first get an approximate guess as to how much you’ll have to spend no matter what, on the essentials. Then we’ll add in the things that are probably going to crop up. We will be able to see about how much we can expect to pay per month, not counting extraordinary expenses that are specific to your situation such as credit card debt or student loans.

The Expected Expenses That Come With Living in Your Car

One of the most obvious expenses that you’ll incur from living in your car is the fuel for your home; it would be very difficult to get by on not purchasing any gas. You’ll definitely have to change locations at some points due to different circumstances, and you’ll need to use gas to go purchase things at the store, or to drive to work for that matter. Some of us have to drive a lot more than others. If you have a work from home job then you’ll probably have a much lower gas expense than those who don’t.

I like to run my car too much for my own good, to be honest. It’s always so freaking nice to have my car running in the ungodly Florida heat so that I can use the A/C and not be lump of sweat. This can lead to me burning up to a gallon of extra gas per day just idling the car. This implies that I like to spend a lot of my free time in my car which is very true, I have a lot of hobbies that involve chilling at home.

Anyways, I try to keep my monthly gas expenditure under $200 per month, which is very doable for me on most months. I’d imagine that someone who has to put in more than twenty miles per day on just driving to and from work would end up spending a little more than that. But hopefully, you could get away with around $300 per month or less on gas.

I’d say that another required expense that comes along with the car dwelling life is car insurance. You have to keep that beautiful baby insured or you’ll run into all sorts of problems. Y’all most likely already know all of this, but I just want to add this to the list. Without car insurance, the piggies can and will take you to the jail, especially if your license becomes suspended due to lack of insurance, which it will be (happened to me before).

Then, you have to think about the scenario where your home (your car) gets totaled because of a freak accident where you’re left sleeping in a tent in the woods indefinitely because you weren’t covered by an insurance company. The average cost of minimum coverage car insurance in Florida and a few other states is about $100, so that’s where we’re at with that.

There are definitely maintenance costs that come with living in your car, just as there are expenses for upkeep on a house. You need to keep your vehicle in prime working condition so that you don’t randomly break down where at best, you have to take it to the mechanic and pay a few hundred bucks, or at worst, become truly homeless without the comfort of a vehicle.

There’s routine car maintenance that is good to do every month or every few months and there is the maintenance that comes with your car getting older and certain parts going bad or needing replacing. These costs crop up unexpectedly so you should assume that you’re going to be spending a certain amount of money per month just on upkeep for your vehicle.

Whether it’s topping off your oil once a month, paying for air to inflate your tires, going through a car wash, replacing a tail light bulb, new spark plugs, new belt, new battery, the list is pretty much endless. You can definitely expect for things to come at you when you least expect it when it comes to your vehicle’s health.

I’d say that a fair expectation is $20 a month on car maintenance, assuming that your vehicle doesn’t have 150k+ miles on it, and in that case it’d probably be more like $50 per month. There also WILL be that big thing that screws up that costs you a hell of a lot more than $50 bucks to fix, no matter how old your vehicle is. That’s why we have an emergency fund, which is essential for replacing that huge part that craps out, which it will.

Most of us will have to pay for food, lest you’re signed up for EBT (which I highly recommend if you’re eligible). There are ways to minimize you’re food costs, by hitting up food banks and knowing how to feed yourself on the cheap. Buying filling ingredients in bulk and making your own food is one thing that you can do to save on costs, even if you only do that for one of your meals per day.

Even though it’s tempting to do because you’re already in a poopy situation as someone who lives out of your car, purchasing fast food and pre-made meals all of the time will add up very quickly. Some people even spend up to $30 a day on food alone, which is a whopping $900 a month, just on food, insane! I keep my average food expenditure per day to $10 or less; because to pay any more than that would hurt my soul, unless it’s for a special occasion.

For one person, I think that a reasonable monthly expenditure for food is about $250 per month, if you’re intentionally keeping an eye on your spending.

Your Planet Fitness membership will run you about $15. The gym membership is for your hygiene, mental health, and physical health. Of course, no one is forcing you to actually use the gym equipment but you only live once so you might as well do it while fit.

You will probably want to do laundry at the laundromat a couple times a month which will run you another $15.

Most of us will want a cell phone which is going to cost another fifty bucks per month. This article is not aimed for those people who are in such dire straights that they cannot currently afford to have a phone. If you can’t afford to have a phone, you’re probably not going to have many of these expenses that we hoist upon ourselves as purposeful car livers or nomadic car dwellers. I have a Verizon phone plan that comes with a 100GB a month hotspot that runs me about $50 a month.

I was thinking if I should add a storage unit to the essential expenses list, but most of us don’t really need a storage unit, it’s really just one of those very nice things to have. There will be those people that do need to rent storage space for various reasons, which will run you another $80. I’m not going to include the cost of a storage unit as one of those essential expenses; because I don’t see it to be as important as having a phone, for example.

Expenses You’ll Probably Encounter But Aren’t Required

I always have to spend a certain amount per month on different hygiene products which include things like razors, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, and a couple of other things. I wouldn’t say that these things are absolutely necessary, and some of them you can make last for a long time if really needed. There are also resources to receive these things for free, such as food banks. I spend on average about $10 a month on hygiene products.

As I said above, some people may definitely want or need storage, but it’s not really one of those expected costs that come with car living. We’ll categorize storage solutions as an expense that may occur, but not an essential one, because you may not want to pay for it. It’s about $75 a month for a 5×5 storage unit.

Entertainment is another expense that many of us indulge in because we’re all human and have a desire to be happy, and entertainment can bring us temporary happiness. I have a Netflix subscription which I think is extremely worth it, Netflix has a plethora of great anime and TV series. I purchase Steam games here and there as well. That’s about all I pay for in terms of entertainment, which runs me about $30 a month on average. You may spend more or less depending on your personality. Maybe you’re more of a social creature who needs a few outings a month, so you drop some cash at the bowling alley, or the strip club, and in that case your entertainment expenses will be a bit higher than mine.

We’re all going to have miscellaneous costs that add up every month. Whether that be batteries, new socks, or a phone charger, we have to set some money aside for that. Let’s say that if you’re really being mindful of your spending, then $100 is a good reasonable amount for miscellaneous. It may sound like a lot for random expenses, but don’t we still have to actually live a little?

Starting with the essential costs of living in your vehicle, we have fuel, car insurance, maintenance, and food, cell phone, and gym membership. These six important costs are things that you can’t really avoid, unless you’re on food stamps and can figure out other arrangements for keeping clean. All of these essential expenses add up to $635 per month. This is what I currently pay for these things, but I also have non essential expenses from the other listed items in the non essential category.

Other possible expenses for the car camping life are hygiene products, storage, entertainment, and miscellaneous. These expenses add up to $215 per month. So in total, for outbound cash every single month, you may be looking at about $850 every month if you think that you will need these things. This does not include savings or other individual specific bills. If you’re planning to put away $500 a month into savings or investments, that’s something else you’ll have to account for. You might also have a car payment, student loans, credit card payments, etc.

Conclusion

You may notice that there are more costs to the car dwelling life than you were aware of. I wouldn’t let this deter you from becoming someone who lives in there car, just be fully aware that you will still have to come up with a certain about of money per month in order to maintain this lifestyle. You will save money on the thousands you have to pay for an apartment or a house but you should still expect to need up to a thousand dollars or more every month.

Ask yourself if after being aware of the various costs related to living in your car, is still worth it for you to dive into this life? And I understand that some of us have no choice, living out of our car is the only option. This article is more for those people who haven’t been in this life yet and think that it may become their reality in the future.

I hope that y’all stay safe and taken care of out there, no one else is any better than you, we’re all human. Just keep doing your thing and grinding, if you need any tips on how to get beer money, aka extra spending money on the side, hit me up in one of the comments on these posts. There are ways to pretty easily make an extra ten to twenty bucks a day as long as you have a smartphone. See you on the next one, car livers.