How "cheap" are you actually living?

[ridgeway]

In general the more you move around the more you spend. Gas & vehicle maintenance are a big cost on the road. These guys with the $100k RVs staying in $40. a night parks are probably spending a lot more then your average house dweller.

You can boondock for a week with rice and beans for $10. if you are really cheap. Personally I like steaks and margaritas.

 

[tx2sturgis]

You can boondock for a week with rice and beans for $10. if you are really cheap. Personally I like steaks and margaritas.

Burgers and beer for me!

 

[hugemoth]

Total gross income $1010.00 per month. I pay $1350.00 annual property tax on my house in Oregon. Nice to have a home base. Still save $1000 to $2000 per year.

My home on the road is a 28 year old Toyota pickup with over 300,000 miles that I bought new for $7000.00. Camper is homemade all metal pop top. 28 mpg pulling an open trailer hauling a $1200.00 Chinese quad.

Once every 4 weeks I get groceries, water, gas, propane, etc.. I'm a life long vegetarian .

Bought a brand new car in 2018, cheapest new car sold in the US, $11500.00. It sits in the garage most of the time.

Point is that with some planning you can live a great life on very little money.

 

[bullfrog]

^^^ You need to write an illustrated pamphlet with all your detailed budget and sell it online or if you are feeling generous do it here. I assume you have an early 90’s 4 cylinder manual transmission pickup that you drive conservatively. Would be interesting to see you camper set up.

 

[Tony's Dream]

I have put some money aside for my travels. I want to travel through all the lower 48 states in 5 years. If I can keep costs down to $300 a weej, my plan will succeed.

 

[Naturelover2]

I was doing great when I started out been out at a year now. When I went to Florida last November I got gas for as low as $1.65 a gallon. Coming home I had to pay $2.75 and up. Today I paid $3.15. So my original budget plan for saving for the emergency fund. And so far I’m not able to save anything. I am scared of traveling without any money for emergencies. I have people I can rely on but I don’t want to do that. I can’t stress how much having an emergency fund can’t take the stress out of your life. But I am living cheaply on $1100 a month just not saving anything.

 

[highdesertranger]

Last year in Arizona I was paying 1.65 a gallon for diesel. As of yesterday it is just below 5 bucks a gallon in California and I have seen it as high as 5.50 recently, ouch. 2 weeks ago I paid less than 3 bucks a gallon in Arizona so it has gone up there too.

Highdesertranger

 

[bullfrog]

Again one of the disadvantages of living in a recreation area is fuel prices are a dollar or two higher than in urban areas. The electric bicycle has been getting a workout!

 

[crofter]

...Bought a brand new car in 2018, cheapest new car sold in the US, $11500.00....

Well that was smart. Thanks for sharing your budget.
-crofter

 

[travelaround]

I am living cheaply on $1100 a month just not saving anything.

My income is usually less than that. My father (an accountant) always said, "Expenses rise to meet income."

Gas in my backwoods corner of far-northern California is $3.80 right now. A lot of people here travel north to Oregon (about 130 miles) to get gas as it normally costs a bit less. Right now it is at $3.17 and up in Medford.

 

[RoamerRV428]

yea gas sucks the money right out of your wallet fast
up up it all goes, life expenses ain't coming down so everyone plan the best ya can, it is all one can do!

 

[john*thomas]

Just to note on loans and credit rating. I have no loans. I owe nothing outside of a small credit card balance. My score is 790.

I've been through the divorce thing, deciding which bill to pay and which one can be put off. Considering bankruptcy. It's no fun. I got lucky and landed a decent job and a new wife that is really good with money. I've always been frugal, mostly out of necessity but we were able to pay everything off and I retired last year at 58 and she retired last year at 55.

We do not have the million or more that many "experts" tell you that you have to have to retire or at least retire early. You can retire for less than the "experts" claim. It helps I live in a low COL area. We didn't take expensive vacations. We didn't buy expensive cars (though my wife always had a late model vehicle) We both could have worked longer and bought the motorhome with a fireplace and big screen television but neither of us were interested. Frankly I'm a bit burned out on people. LOL. I bought a 87 Nissan motorhome. Needs some work but because the initial costs were so low I can do that. I will likely end up with less than 4k in it. Well a little more when I add a generator.

I live in WV and there are a ton of places I can go to get away from all the traffic and crap easily within a few hours drive. My daughter is a junior in college (my wife started planning for this as soon as she was born so it's all covered) and once she is done and employed we hope she takes the house and all involved with that. It will give us a home base (at least for awhile) and we should be OK especially in 2.5 more years where I hit S.S. age.

Maybe at some point I'll be interested in the get together thing but right now I'm interested in getting away.

 

[LoveCareThinkDo]

I already owned my minivan. I spent $2,000 for all the solar and wiring. $300 for my fridge. Maybe $250 for my cabinetry. Maybe, maybe another $400 for other things that I didn't already own. I've lived in it for about 3.5 years. So that's (2,000 + 300 + 250 + 400) ÷ (3.5 x 12) = $72.23 per month for rent and electricity. I'll probably upgrade to a bigger van in a couple of years. So that's really more like $45 per month, when I spread it over 5.5 years.

Most of the year I barely travel at all, other than to go into town to get supplies every three weeks, so my fuel bill is way less than when I had a job in a city. When I do travel, I'll go a few hundred miles then stay for a few weeks. So, let's estimate 300 miles ÷ 21 days = 14 miles per day. That's far less than my regular commute and weekend activities used to be. Plus, I get to go hiking every single day.

I pay about $4 per month for water, and $25 for a shower and porta-potty dump, so that's far less than most apartment dwellers pay for water and sewage. 

My food, phone, and internet bills are the same, except I'm not tempted to eat fast food all the time. I treat myself to a nice pizza when I go into town and I appreciate it more. Because I drive my car less, I have fewer repair bills. My mechanic says I probably got another 100k miles in this thing.

So, yeah, I think I'm saving a little bit of money.

 

[G0ldengirl68]

Excellent topic I hadn't seen before.  I am wondering, and need to really get down and explore prices for the National or State Parks I plan to stay in, if, I can't boon-dock, or end up not wanting to.  I can't say how it will be, even if I will go full-timing, but finding out the difference in cost is a priority, and still be able to save up for emergencies, or possibly and bigger rig (Van) in the future.  The other thing is of course, the quality of life "out there" rather than where I am now.  I "think" it would be better, but I'll only know if I try it, with a Plan B for backup

 

[highdesertranger]

Last year I paid for a campsite exactly one time. The only reason was I was tired it was late afternoon I was driving from Oregon to Arizona and the campground was easy in and easy out drive though spots. I spent exactly one night there and it cost me 8 bucks. Other than that I didn't pay to camp anywhere the whole year. In fact in the pay envelope I only had 7 one dollar bills I had to put 4 quarters in there, LOL.

There is nothing wrong with campgrounds but they get expensive. I just wanted to point out that a lot of us don't use developed campgrounds.

Highdesertranger

 

[G0ldengirl68]

Yes, I see so many boon-docking, and if I were truly set up for it I would. I'm actually doing that (with Doug and crew) coming up around the 3rd or 4th of June, so I'll get a taste of it. Did it up the Elk River 6 years ago, but there were those Vault toilets and a nice, swimming hole. Just 23 miles, but on one lane (rock-slides but not too major to get through) But again, I'm 6 years older.

I'm glad I get to try it when I meetup with Doug and crew, and see what more I need, as well as being able to have some friends to meetup if I try to go further than "known" territory. I know the area they are camping in, and the highways to get there atleast

 

[Naturelover2]

In a year I’ve been full-timeing I’ve spent $60 on camping sites. That was three weeks at $20 a week at a friends farm in Florida. Right now I’m on top of Bower’s mountain in Perry County Pennsylvania where I have 10 days to camp for free in a Pennsylvania forestry department site. From what I’ve read on here I don’t think it’s as easy to do this on the East Coast as it is on the west. I just can’t see myself anywhere but a hardwood forest. Or at least some place with a lot of green.

I always was a person who liked to buy things. I disciplined myself to go to thrift stores and bargain places as much as possible. But living in a van is miserable if you keep buying things. There’s just not enough room for things you think you need. A project for the next couple of days is to go through my cabinets and anything that I haven’t used much in the last year needs to be justified or gone. The only exception would be my little nature library. I have about 25 field guides in the van. I have a library of over 500 nature books in my storage sheds with the entire collection from the nature center. I’ve got to make a decision that’s very hard on those things in the storage because the price just went up, now I’m paying $150 a month. I still can’t bring myself to get rid of all those field guides, in the van, I enjoy using them for learning. I really need them now that I’m older because there’s lots of things I can’t remember till I look them up again. In addition to the books in the sheds are thousands of butterfly and insect mounts, fossils and minerals and gems, pinecones, seashells, Skeletons, antlers, and much much more. I’m looking for a place to donate the stuff I just can’t see getting rid of the collection it would hurt. It is Basically my life‘s work. $150 a month from that storage shed could start building a nice emergency fund. I just haven’t had the strength to do it. I got rid of thousands of things I thought I never would be able to part with this is my last struggle. Reality is I’d rather die and let somebody else deal with it then part with it myself.

Really living cheaply and minimally takes a great amount of discipline. And discipline has never been one of my virtues.

 

[G0ldengirl68]

Maybe at some point I'll be interested in the get together thing but right now I'm interested in getting away.

You and your wife sound very wise, and I also relate to the "getting away" part.  I just need to be around at least a few folks as I am on my own with a little dog.  I know some ladies are much more secure than I am about camping on their own than I am, so I'll see how everything goes.  It's just going to be a test-run for me.  I'm getting too old to make any poor decisions, or be too hasty   At the same time, I didn't want to wait another 4 or more years til I saved enough for a better rig to at least start trying this out.  I do have a nice apt. to come back to, but I sure don't want it to be the end of the line for me.

 

[G0ldengirl68]

Really living cheaply and minimally takes a great amount of discipline. And discipline has never been one of my virtues.

I don't have a lot near and dear to me, but what I have is not going to be easy to get rid of either.  Another thing is the creature comforts I've become accustomed to.  I say I am too old to make a bad decision, but at the same time, can I "afford" not to try life without all the creature-comforts and maybe discover it's a real load off my mind.  It's a hard decision, although in the past, I discarded belongings because I felt I had no choice, a couple of times, I didn't have a choice.  Now I have to decide, and this would be one of the hardest in my entire life.  

This forum is good for learning the good, bad, and the ugly on becoming a nomad.  Especially a nomad with low income.  One thing for me personally, is not to have some "pie in the sky" expectations on how wonderful it will be, but be realistic for myself and have a Plan B.

 

[travelaround]

It is Basically my life‘s work. $150 a month from that storage shed could start building a nice emergency fund. I just haven’t had the strength to do it. I got rid of thousands of things I thought I never would be able to part with this is my last struggle.  Reality is I’d rather die and let somebody else deal with it then part with it myself.

Try contacting museums of natural history to see if any would be interested in having your nature collection - that way it wouldn't go to waste and you would be blessing others with it. If that doesn't work, maybe find another collector who wants it.

When I left Idaho in 2019 I gave away as much as I could then put the rest into a storage locker. In August 2020 I went back to Idaho to get my things. I wanted to save money on storage and do it before the bad weather returned. Almost all those things I moved burned in the forest fire less than a month later. Just saying... it would have been better to give away all my treasures than to carry them into a mobile home that was about to burn. Bless others with your stuff, if you can. When we move on to heaven we won't be taking any of it with us.