Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting, and adventurous life without breaking the bank. “The less money you spend, the less you need to make” is our motto. 🙂 At the beginning of each year, I produce an expense report for the previous 12 months. This is the most recent one, for 2024.
Our first yearly expense report (2016) can be found here, the report of 2017 is here, the one for 2018 here, our 2019 expenses are located here, our total costs for 2020 are documented here, those for 2021 are detailed here, 2022’s financial summary hides here, you can find our full expense report for 2023 here, and our 2024 costs are recorded here.
These reports include ALL of our expenses, in US$, for two adults and a 60-pound dog. We adopted Maya on June 4th, 2019. Under groceries we incorporate food, produce, and non-alcoholic drinks predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and vitamins/supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor’s visits. Because of our income level, Mark and I are eligible for free health care within the state of Massachusetts. For check-ups, we both return to the US East Coast. The internet cost is for our Starlink’s monthly subscription fees. We bought our satellite dish in Lima, Peru, in September 2023.
It truly feels like the year 2025 came and went extremely fast. I still remember it starting at “the end of the world” in Ushuaia, Argentina, and what felt like mere months later, finishing in Massachusetts, USA, after our South American RV journey ended. During that last year, we crisscrossed Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and southern Brazil, covering many thousands of miles and spending even more thousands of dollars. As a matter of fact, 2025 was our second-most expensive year on record, after 2014 when our life changed due to Mark’s cancer.
As expected, the car category — at $6,000 — was the highest; a trend during those three years on the South American continent. Most of that went to fuel (around $5,000), while the rest was spent on parts, maintenance, tolls, parking, and insurance.
Groceries came in at $4,000, which boils down to $333 a month, which is very manageable. I’m pretty sure we won’t stick to that amount this year in Europe.
Our accommodation cost was higher than in other years, mostly because we spent three weeks in an Airbnb in Santiago de Chile ($800) and I took a 4-night side trip to Easter Island, where I stayed at a hostel ($200). We also “splurged” with a few weeks of real campground stays in Brazil, Paraguay, and Chile.
I have no idea how much other couples spend on dining out. Feel free to enlighten me in the comments. Our total for 2025 was $1,560. Restaurants in South America are generally cheaper than in the US and Europe, so we might have to take a step back in this category. Not that we went wild before.
Under travel ($1,484), we report our plane rides. Last year, Mark flew from Brazil to the US for his annual health check-ups, I hopped on a plane to Easter Island, and we booked two one-way tickets from Santiago, Chile, to Boston, Massachusetts, for the end of the year.
Dog Maya’s expenses hovered around $1,100. The biggest chunk went to vet visits, mostly because of a mysterious pain she developed in her neck in December. This ordeal set us back $500 between the vet in Chile, the one in the US for a consultation, and the drugs she needed. It was the first time in seven years of having her that she needed to see a vet other than for permits and shots.
We also bought dog food for around $400, obtained health permits to travel between Chile and Argentina and then to the US with her for about $150, and bought supplies like treats and toys…
The entertainment category of $800 includes my national park pass for Easter Island and three tours there, our scary rafting trip in southern Chile, a river tour in the Pantanal of Brazil, and entrance fees to other national parks on the continent.
Alcohol came in at $768. Mark and I usually have wine, beer, and a bottle of rum around. Quite a few bottles were purchased to share with friends and at a party on New Year’s Eve.
Our utility cost was $541, mostly for internet via our Starlink antenna. Our business paid for half of the monthly subscriptions, so the service is actually twice as expensive as the $435 I mention underneath. Topping off our propane cost $106 for the year.
Transportation for us means Uber and taxi rides, mostly to get to airports and city centers when camped on the outskirts. The $383 number for 2025 also includes one checked bag fee when Mark brought parts back to Brazil from his US summer visit.
Our miscellaneous category shows $380, of which the most painful part ($220) went to a traffic ticket in Argentina. We also paid money for one mechanical check of a Vario campervan we had planned to purchase in Chile, for an online ad to sell Bella (which brought us our buyers), for Mark’s new driver’s license, and for small souvenirs.
Maintaining and fixing our truck camper cost $227 in 2025, which is negligible in the grand scheme of things.
Mark and I also spent $170 on medical interventions like teeth cleanings (one for him and two for me) in Chile and Brazil and a few medications.
Gifts amounted to $165, which mostly went to the annual photo calendars I create for my family.
The computer category was $157, all for hosting fees to keep this website up and running and for our email accounts.
I think most would agree that our drinking-out category is low at $116 for a year for two people. I bet some of you could spend that on one night out at a bar with friends. 🙂 We usually opt to stay in and drink our own cocktails or organize our own happy hours.
Household supplies came to $103, our annual Chase credit card fee was $95, and we only paid $83 for a year of laundry. Most of our clothes were washed by hand with tap water at campgrounds or river water in nature. When we have the use of a free washing machine (like at our last Airbnb), we go crazy!
Mark owed the Brazilian immigration department $80 for a visa, but this allowed him to stay six months. Belgians don’t need a visa, but I was unable to get an extension after our initial three months in the country, so we had to leave. Should I have entered on my American passport?
And the last and lowest category of 2025 was clothing. Mark bought a pair of jeans on eBay for $28. We really don’t like shopping for clothes and, for some reason, our gear lasts forever. When we purged in Santiago before leaving the continent, I discarded clothes that were easily two decades old. Friends often offer us clothes that they don’t have use for anymore as well.
Speaking of the generosity of others, some of you sent donations in 2025, which took care of our web hosting, a couple of dinners, and a few bottles of wine. Thank you!
The grand total for 2025 comes to a shocking $19,552, a far cry from our usual average of $16,000. Yes, inflation is a thing and we do realize that life only gets more expensive, especially in Europe. We will see what happens this year.
Could you live off $20,000 a year for two adults and a good-sized dog, everything included? Let me know in the comments.
(It might be easier to read the table when turning your device in the horizontal position.)
And that’s a wrap! If you are enjoying these posts and would like to help out with our expenses to maintain this blog, please click on the donate button underneath, in the side bar, or in the menu bar on top. I promise Roaming About will remain an ad-free website. Thank you!
Find all our expense reports here. To learn what other full-time nomads spend each month, check out the blogs of our vanlife friends Duwan and Greg at Make Like An Ape Man.
Next up: A month long winter visit to the States
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February 7, 2026 at 11:32 am
Love the detailed accounting! I think I could swing a lifestyle under $20k but my husband definitely could not. (Who am I kidding, I probably couldn’t either but I’d like to think I could!)
February 7, 2026 at 8:48 pm
It’s been a long time since my annual expenses were less than $20k!
February 8, 2026 at 6:17 am
Hi Jacqui,
I’m sure without a dog and a husband, you could pull it off to live under $20K! 🙂
February 8, 2026 at 6:04 am
Hi Theresa,
I think spending less than $20K a year for a small family (one couple and a dog) is only possible when living abroad in a cheaper country like Colombia and Mexico or when traveling like we do (with your own vehicle or by backpacking). I’m sure that tourists on vacation and couples (with a mortgage or renting) living in a home in a first world country usually spend more than that. Just the utility costs during cold winters or hot summers are outrageous.
I’m not sure if I could live on $10,000 a year just for myself either as I do think being a couple cuts costs a bit, like for fuel or rent/camping.
February 7, 2026 at 4:16 pm
Not many couples can live on less than $20,00 a year. Wow!
I did not know that you create an annual photo calendar for your family. Brava to that too, and to your careful placing photos in your gallery–you are such a prodigious record keeper, Liesbet.
I see you are in Spain. I look forward to your reporting from Europe this year. 😀
February 8, 2026 at 6:09 am
Thanks for all the compliments, Marian. I’ve been making photo calendars for my family (as Christmas gifts) for fifteen years or so, I think. It started out just for my oma and then I added my parents and aunts. And my uncle has been the last addition. I kept the tradition after my grandma passed.
I’m not sure if you get a lot of European news in Florida, but the weather has been extremely bad and rare in southern Spain and Portugal ever since we arrived. We’ve had a couple of nasty storms with lots of rain and wind and more to come. 🙁
February 7, 2026 at 6:57 pm
Considering how overstuffed our closets are, I imagine that your clothes do last a very long time.
February 8, 2026 at 6:13 am
Hi Alex,
I can imagine how big closets have to be filled with lots of clothes. I guess I don’t have that problem since we never have big closets, haha. Sometimes, I think it must be nice to have a wide choice of clothes to wear, but I’m happy with just a small amount of clothes that last a long time, which means no shopping is needed. We also don’t have to worry about fashion or work clothes. 🙂
February 7, 2026 at 8:09 pm
Is the fellow on the right of the seven of you eating together Mark’s brother? There is a strong facial resemblance. Any luck finding a new vehicle yet?
February 8, 2026 at 6:16 am
Hi Pete,
Nope. Not Mark’s brother. He would never take selfies or enjoy being in photos, haha. And he probably would never visit us, let alone in Paraguay. But I can see the resemblance.
And nope again regarding finding our next home on wheels. We are picky and still looking for a certain kind of vehicle that is elusive and/or very expensive. We hope spring will bring a bigger inventory.
February 8, 2026 at 1:25 pm
Another frugal year, even though inflation wasn’t your (or anybody’s) friend. You saw and did a lot of interesting things in South America, but it seemed as though there was an undercurrent of “not quite feeling safe” in many of your experiences. Does Europe feel safer?
February 9, 2026 at 2:31 am
Hi Diane,
I feel most of our safety issues happened within the first year of our time in South America. Nothing truly bad happened in the southern part of the continent. That being said, the first evening the new owners of our camper wild camped in Chile, outside of the capital Santiago, Bella was broken into with unrepairable damage and some from their stuff stolen. I probably won’t report this in a blog.
So far, Southern Europe feels safe, but we do feel that tourists are being taken advantage of in subtle ways.
February 9, 2026 at 10:33 am
Oh no! How sad that Bella’s new owners had such a bad experience! I hope they weren’t harmed.
February 19, 2026 at 6:54 am
Hi Diane,
The new owners of Bella weren’t harmed and they took this unfortunate and sad incident in stride. They are young and resilient and they are currently happy in Patagonia and with their camper! 🙂
February 9, 2026 at 10:30 am
Could we live on $20,000 a year? I have not kept good track of our expenses every year, but I just checked the years that I have totals for, and we spent $22,135 in 2019. We spent 20,804 in 2020. But of course you spent much less than us those years. And everything costs more now.
We don’t separate drinking out from eating out—although occasionally we do just have drinks out. But eating out costs us from $60 to $100 each time. It is so expensive—especially if you want to drink good beer—$8 a pint at the last place we ate out here in nowhere Virginia.
Under $20,000 is amazing. Especially with surprise expenses (which we seem to have constantly) like Maya’s vet bill and the traffic ticket.
February 19, 2026 at 6:53 am
Hi Duwan,
It looks like you were pretty close to $20K a year. Our average for about two decades was $16,000 a year but those days are long gone now. It would have been hard to stick to that. The thing is that inflation is real for prices and costs, but it has never been for our wages as freelancers. I’m working for the same rate per word as when I started translating in 2009.
Yeah, eating out in the US is expensive. Other than the birthday family lunch for Carol’s 90th, Mark and I didn’t eat out during our month in Massachusetts. Of course, the weather wasn’t encouraging either. Separating drinking out and eating out is tricky, since we usually have a drink when we eat at a nice restaurant. Often, though, we drink our own water and only order food, to save money. 🙂
Every month – and year – has unexpected, “surprise” expenses. I guess it’s part of life. If we could stick to $20K a year from now on, that would make us happy.
February 9, 2026 at 7:58 pm
Ya. No. Lol, my one bedroom rent alone is 30k a year! You guys would probably both need to get jobs if you lived in North America full time. 😍
February 19, 2026 at 6:56 am
Hi Debby,
Wow, that’s a lot of money for rent. You could buy a small house abroad after three years of rent in Toronto!
If we lived full-time in the US, we certainly would need “real” jobs and work 40 hours a week, because we wouldn’t be able to afford life there otherwise. Unless, we keep living in a camper. 🙂 Luckily, there are other options.
February 11, 2026 at 6:39 am
No, I certainly could not live on 20K a year. However, I don’t go too mad with spending, pay off my credit card bill every month (so no interest), and have never been overdrawn at the bank. We don’t eat out much anymore, unless we are on a short holiday or celebrating with somebody, so our spending on eating out is low (compared to others).
I think you’ll find Europe more expensive, especially in areas where tourists flock. I’m always shocked by how much businesses put up prices during the school summer holidays. A family holiday to Spain can be thousands of pounds cheaper the week before school holidays begin. But that’s mostly hotel and travel costs. I guess it depends where you go.
I note your comment about the weather here in Europe. It’s been relentless wind and rain for weeks here in the UK, but I think Spain and Portugal have had it much worse. Still, spring is only just over a month a way, Liesbet.
February 19, 2026 at 7:01 am
Hi Hugh,
You seem a pretty responsible and frugal person. And a generous one at that, too! I can imagine that $20K per year would not pay all the bills in a European country when living a “normal” life. For us, it has been “back to the basics” for two decades, so we are used to only buying the necessary stuff to keep our – and Maya’s – life and budget going. If we would need to rent (or buy) a house in a Western country, we wouldn’t be able to stick to this amount at all.
So far, the prices in Southern Europe have been manageable (fuel and food anyway), but the weather, indeed, has been unseasonably wet and cold. At the moment, the sun is shining, though, so we are happy. 🙂