It's two months into our trip, and I ran the numbers to see how we're faring in comparison to what we would be spending living a stationary life in a typical apartment.
Here's a little mock-up of what our bills would likely be living in a modest apartment on a small budget with two people, three cats, four dogs, and a goat:
Rent:
$1200+Pet Rent $10/animal ($60)
Bills:
$60 Internet
$100 Phones
$40 Water
$30 Trash/Sewer
$150 Electric
$35 Cable
$375 Food
Animals:
Cats $30
Dogs $40
Goat/Misc. $30
Cars:
$350 Gas
$100 Insurance
$30 General Maintenance
Miscellaneous & Entertainment:
$175
Total: $2805
This is for ONE month.
That means that EACH person's share is $1403, and that doesn't account for any car issues, house issues, medical or vet bills, or home/pet/medical/dental insurance.
Living this way it would cost us $33,660 a year.
Now let's look at our own budget as it has fallen for this trip. We've been to doctors, vets, had car troubles, and other unexpected costs.
Our biggest expense is gas. My car has traveled around 7,500 miles since I left NC for the first time to pick up Dan. Estimating an average of 20mpg, that's 375 gallons of gas. Gas prices have ranged from $3.00 to $3.70 per gallon, so we'll say an average of $3.40 to be conservative.
Gas Estimate: $1275
Rent isn't really a consideration when living on the road, but we do occasionally stop at a paid campsite to have electricity when it's excessively cold or hot or when our battery needs recharging. So far (this accounting is up until we left Colorado), we've stayed six nights at four paid campsites.
Campsite Fees: $150
Food is one of our main expenses besides gas. We try to only eat groceries, but when driving more than five hours it becomes increasingly difficult to resist fast food and snacks.
Groceries: $160
Fast Food: $100
Eating Out: $100
Dan simply can't survive without cigarettes and soda in massive quantities. An estimation is 24 packs of smokes and 50 two liters of soda.
Cigs and soda: $200
The animals eat quite a lot, too, and at any given time we are carrying up to 140 lbs. or more of pet food. It's too expensive to buy smaller bags. In Texas a woman working at a cat rescue donated about 40 lbs. of cat food and 40 lbs. of litter to us, and so we haven't had that expense.
Pet Food: $45
Side-by-side with pet food comes other pet supplies and veterinary care. Frankenstein got spayed in Texas, Juno had a chunk taken out of her neck from a fight, and there were additional vet bills after that. We also add in the cost of vaccinations and health certificates before leaving from NC.
Vet Bills: $260
Pet Supplies: $30
The car has needed a new radiator fan, oil change, air filter, and spark plugs since we've been on the road. We also had to buy two new trailer tires in Texas. Additionally we've made some animal-proofing modifications to the camper door, and before leaving I re-caulked some areas of the camper.
Car and trailer repair: $250
Additionally we've spent money on miscellaneous items. I'll estimate eighty bucks or so.
Miscellaneous: $80
Laundry: $20
Before leaving on the trip I bought the car, the camper, installed the tow bar and hitch, and bought a few choice items. Some expensive items, like the marine/RV battery and battery charger, were gifted to us. I'll list these costs here but not include them in the total. The camper also came supplied with a lot of essential equipment that we didn't need to buy, saving us a few hundred dollars.
Car: $3850+$250 plates
Camper: $900+$20 plates
Tow Bar and Hitch: $200
Inverter, Fans, Shower Pump, Sealing Food Bins, etc: $150
Donated, already owned, or included with camper:
Tool kit, heater, dog crate, cat crates, backpacks, suitcases, tarps, blankets, ropes, first aid, medicines, toiletries, cookware, tripod grill, propane stove, propane, air compressor, cooler, lanterns, flashlights, shovel, broom, extension cords, adaptors, lights, marine/RV battery, battery charger, emergency supplies, machete, taser, bug repellant device, canned food, binoculars, and more. Estimation: >$500
Our cell phones are flip phones, so the bills are negligible. Mine is $15/mo on my parent's plan, and Dan's is prepaid and little used. My health insurance and car insurance are still on my parent's plan for this year, so those expenses are not included.
Total for two months of living on the road with two people and six animals:
$2670
For one month, that's $1335. Which is about $670 per person.
For one year it would cost us $16,020. And that's with unexpected vet and car bills.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
If you've ever dreamed of living on the road but don't think you can afford it,
you're wrong. We're doing this with six animals, upping our expenses by at least $150 a month. The added weight takes a toll on gas mileage and space, and we have to pay for campsites during weather that is too hot or cold for the animals to survive without electricity when we would otherwise deal with it and just have a free campsite.
We haven't even been trying to conserve very much. For example, we get an average or 20mpg towing the camper fully loaded. The camper weighs 900 lbs. and then our gear is another few hundred. Without the animals and their gear it would be about 400 lbs. lighter, thus saving gas.
A typical gas stop gets us about 14 gallons of fuel. At 20mpg that's 280 miles. When we're driving heavily, chugging up mountains (hard to do when towing with a four cylinder), accelerating and decelerating quickly, driving in cities, and driving with old spark plugs/air filters/tires needing rotation/low air pressure, we get 17mpg or less, which is 238 miles per tank. When we drive conservatively, we get 22mpg or even more, coming to about 308 miles per tank. Without the camper it can be as much as 27mpg.
All of that means that driving habits, car maintenance, and weight can create a difference of more than 70 miles per tank! We've filled up about 27 times, and that means if we are running at 22mpg as opposed to 17, we can go an extra 1890 miles with the same amount of gas money! That's a difference of more than $300 in two months of EXTENSIVE travel.
Without pets, with good gas mileage, no cigs, soda, eating out, fast food, or snacks, and only free campsites, that drops the budget by about a thousand dollars. That means for one month and only one person, this is doable for around $500.
That's compared to over $1300/mo living in an apartment.
As far as free camping goes, most public lands allow you to stay for 14 days at a time in any 30 to 60 day period. That means that you could easily find six free campsites, stay two weeks at each in rotation, and have a free place to live all year in amazingly scenic locations.
Save a little money, but you don't need a lot. We started with about $2500. Websites like Helpx.net and WWOOF are great for getting free food and places to stay for volunteer for, and lots of them will pay extra for more work. There are lots of people needing help with odd jobs, there are internet-based jobs, and there are campground host opportunities with free sites and paid hours. It's also easy to earn lots of travel money fast by selling your old stuff, working for Amazon, doing seasonal harvests, and tourism work along the way. So what are you waiting for? Just do it!
