A 23 second reel from @mia_in.the.wild opens inside a van, where she crawls across a bed made up with white bedding while text on screen reads “How much it costs to live in my van each month.” The reel then walks through each expense with a different scene behind every number, ending on a monthly total.
Her caption sets the terms: “I can’t speak for other van lifers, but this is what it costs to live in my van each month.” She is describing her own budget, not an average for van life, and the hashtags on the post include #vanlifebudget and #solovanlife.
The first number, “Van loan $317.31,” sits over a shot of a dark gray van parked on dry, open ground with a rocky ridge behind it. Next comes “Van insurance $268.50,” filmed from the driver’s seat with her wearing sport sunglasses. “Water” is labeled “Free” over a clip of her at a drinking fountain with bottles inside a gym. “Gas” is given as a range, “$300 to $400,” while she stands beside the van holding a fuel pump nozzle.
The remaining lines are “Electricity,” labeled “Free” while she sits cross legged on the bed making a heart with her hands; “Internet $80,” shown with her working on a laptop in a folding chair outside the van; and “Laundry $42,” shown at a laundromat as she loads a front loading washer. The last frames read “Total $1,057.81” while she dances beside the van holding a red mug.
The arithmetic is worth laying out, because the gas line is a range. The loan, insurance, internet and laundry add up to $707.81. The on screen total is exactly $350 higher, which is the midpoint of the $300 to $400 gas range. Anyone copying her format should decide up front whether to budget gas at the low end, the high end or the middle, since that choice moves the total by up to $50 in either direction.
Her caption is open about the biggest sore spot: “Yes, my van insurance is insanely high.” She adds that she has made her new home base in a state with a cheaper cost of living, “so that payment should be going down soon.” She closes with “Regardless, it’s all super worth it, and I wouldn’t give up this life for anything,” and asks viewers whether the total was higher or lower than they expected.
Two details limit what the reel can tell a reader. It lists seven lines and shows nothing for groceries, phone service, repairs or maintenance, so the $1,057.81 is the total of the items she chose to show, not everything she spends in a month. And it labels water and electricity as free without saying how, so a reader should not assume a van setup of their own would cost nothing for those.
For a reader weighing a similar move, or just curious what a month of van living costs, the reel works as a template: list every recurring bill, give a flat number where one exists and a range where it does not, and say which items you left out. Put your own vehicle payment, insurance quote and fuel use into those lines before comparing with anyone else’s total.
