My budget while hiking will break down as follows. My monthly fixed expenses that continue while I’m hiking are $26.81 for my phone and $120.97 for my health insurance and fitness club membership. I’m going to round the fixed expenses up to $150 to keep the numbers simple. That leaves me with $350 to spend on everything else for the month. I plan to spend about $25 a week on food, $25 on hostels/lodging, and $25 on miscellaneous expenses such as laundry and replacement gear. Those expenses add up to $300 a month. That will leave me with another $50 for any other expenses that pop up or to use if I spend to much on food or lodging. This budget should work fine if I can keep my lodging expenses down. Staying too often in motels and/or in too expensive of lodging has caused my previous hikes to be more expensive than they needed to be. I’ll be making a conscious effort to avoid doing that on this hike. There are some $25 or less lodging options available in the first part of my hike which should help.
If I am able to keep my monthly expenses at $500 I should come close to being able to pay my hiking expenses with my online income and passive income sources like Mr. Rebates. I want to avoid dipping into money that has already been earmarked as savings. I’ll be starting with a few hundred dollars that I have set aside specifically for the hike. Since the hike will take between three weeks to three months I feel pretty confident that I shouldn’t have to dip into my savings. When the hike is finished I’ll let you know how I did.
Interesting, I never thought of saving money while on vacation. Too bad you cannot do that every month.
It would be nice if I could do it every month. I do need to make money though and I’m sure I’d get tired of being on vacation eventually.
I hope you have a lot of fun while sticking to your budget!
Thanks. I know I’ll enjoy it – sticking to the budget will be a little more difficult.
You’re going away for 2 weeks – how are you saving on rent etc- are you hiking between a home move too?
I’m going away for at least two weeks. I’ll likely be gone longer than that. You are correct that I’m hiking between a home move. I’ll be getting a new place to live when I get back and will save on rent while I’m gone.
We started going camping a few times per summer last year and I had hoped to see a reduction in our expenses since we are usually at the campground most of the time. While it is lower, it’s usually offset by the increased costs in gas and groceries leading up to the trip, so unfortunately for us, it turned out to be a wash.
It can be a cost saver but it depends on your circumstances. Since I’m going to be hiking solo I’ll have more control over my expenses.
Where are you going? And how are you saving money if you’are only leaving for 2 weeks? Are you still in the van?
I’ll be hiking the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania and if all goes well I’ll continue hiking north from PA and will hike through NJ, NY, CT, MA, VT,NH, and Maine. I probably won’t hike all the way to Maine but I’m leaving the option open. The hike most likely will last longer than two weeks, most likely it will last quite a bit more than two weeks.
I’m moving out at the end of the month so I won’t have any rent or utility payments and I’ll save on car operating costs as well.
I had the same question about rent…this option is so much more fun than staying with a friend or family member during the interim! I’m fairly certain you may be passing through my neck of the woods.
I’ll be flying into Harrisburg and taking the city bus to the trail from there so I’ll probably be at least a couple hours away from Pittsburgh.