We’ve been living in an RV and traveling with our horses since June 2018. The most common question we receive about our lives as digital nomads is how we afford it. This is usually asked with a tone of astonishment. People can’t believe that it’s possible to travel full time and not break the bank; with horses nonetheless! In my opinion it’s not that hard when compared to owning a home, raising children, etc. I’ll explain how we do it.

How we make money

At this time our income comes entirely from Gunks Apps, a digital rock climbing guidebook platform that Byron and his partner Christian started in 2014. The income from this venture is very small but it continues to grow. We hope that it might one day sustain us completely.

Byron has worked in tech for his entire career. He was employed full-time by a small software company in New Jersey until just recently. It took years to convince his boss to let him work remotely, but once he did we were free to hit the road. We live modestly, so Byron was able to funnel the majority of his salary into savings after we moved into our trailer. That gave us a good cushion in case of emergency.

My contributions to our income are more diverse. Sometimes I barter my skills like horse training, hoof trimming, and riding instruction for things we need. I have done odd jobs around horse camps, like housekeeping, repairs, and maintenance. I’m currently working on a few books about our travels and my experiences in organic farming. Hopefully, these will generate income one day.

Finding work

Jobs are out there. They aren’t always listed so keep your eyes and ears open. Many small business owners don’t advertise that they need help. Don’t be afraid to network and promote your skills. In our first year, I received two full-time job offers from campground owners after doing a few odd jobs for them. We wanted to stay mobile so I turned down the offers but certainly could’ve stayed put and worked if needed.

In 2019, I picked up a gig working for my friend, Guinevere, after chatting with her at a wedding. She mentioned that her business, Aerial Acrobat Entertainment, was growing and she was beginning to become overwhelmed. I could relate since I’d had similar feelings when I was running my own business. I offered to manage her sales and marketing remotely so that she was free to handle producing events. It was a lot of fun learning about a unique industry (cirque entertainment) and I was able to work on my own schedule. Unfortunately, her business has suffered since COVID-19 hit and I am no longer employed. I give this example to encourage you to look around at the people in your network and see who needs help.

Our earnings are meager but we keep our spending low too! Personal finance is a calculation of income minus expenses. When our income was higher, instead of increasing expenses to match, we squirreled money away. We have peace of mind because we can dip into savings to deal with unforeseen circumstances.

What we spend money on

We have two broad categories of outlays. The first is human expenses, which include living and travel costs. The horses’ expenses make up the second portion of our overall cost of living.

Camping

First, let’s analyze camping fees. These are most similar to rent or a mortgage which usually takes up the majority of a person’s budget. The cost of camping is the biggest unknown when planning for this lifestyle because rates vary widely between facilities. We have paid anywhere from $12 to $60 per night to stay at an established campground with our two horses (a future post will go into more detail about how to find affordable places). Rates can certainly be higher since they increase based on amenities like electric, water, and sewer hook ups. Private campgrounds usually give discounts for weekly and monthly stays.

When we first started out, we were living in horse campgrounds exclusively. Over time we got more comfortable with boondocking, a term for camping without facilities. We learned what we needed in order to function off-grid and made a few modifications to our rig. Now, we can easily live out in the boondocks (get it?) indefinitely.

Boondocking is the key to keeping living expenses low. It’s perfectly legal to camp on most public land, like Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or National Forests, for free as long as you follow the rules on length of stay. These restrictions vary by area but in general most places limit dispersed camping to 14 days in the same spot. We travel all over the West camping on public lands. When we want to stay some place longer than the limit, we will stay at a private campground, horse boarding facility, or with friends.

In 2020, we spent only $1,615 on overnight lodging. This includes boarding the horses for one month while we were in New Zealand (pre-pandemic). Then, we spent two months dry camping at a ranch in Nevada at the height of lockdown. We also paid for one night at a horse motel in September while in transit from Oregon to Idaho. We spent the rest of the year boondocking on public land or dry camping at friends’ farms.

Campgrounds vs. Boondocking

I was curious how that compared to 2019 so I went back through our itinerary. We spent about 8 months living at horse camps in 2019. A few of those stays were for less than a week as we moved from place to place. Most were for two weeks or more, which provides a significant savings over daily rates. All told we spent $6,514 on camping in 2019. Converting our rig to function off the grid was a major benefit and saved us nearly $5,000 in camping fees in 2020.

Food and cooking

Groceries are our next biggest expense. We spend $750 per month at grocery stores. This includes beer, wine, and occasional household supplies. We use propane gas for cooking and running the refrigerator. One 33 pound tank lasts us about a month, and costs around $30 to fill.

Phone and internet

Verizon Wireless is our phone and internet provider. We have unlimited data plans and use our phones as hotspots if we need to work on our laptops. Sometimes we’ll drive to public Wi-Fi and hang out for a few hours. Byron and I are on a family plan which costs us $154 per month. We used to have T-Mobile, which was about $100 per month, but the coverage was not as good.

Travel and auto

Gasoline is our biggest travel-related expense. We spend about $400 a month on average. Our Ram 2500 is not an efficient vehicle to begin with and hauling heavy trailers definitely doesn’t help. Insurance on our vehicles comes to $83 per month. Maintenance on the truck averages to $130 per month.

Additionally, we had both the travel trailer and the horse trailer serviced in March 2020. The brakes needed to be replaced and the bearings were repacked with grease. The mobile service technician kindly let me look over his shoulder and ask questions while he worked. He was genuinely happy to have someone take an interest in his trade. It was well worth the $2,400 price tag. I’ll be able to service the brakes myself in the future because of what I learned and save a lot of money by doing so.

Horse expenses

We own two mares: Mackenzie and River. They are currently in good health; not requiring any medications or extra expenses. However, every horse is different and will have unique requirements. Their needs also change with age.

Feed and hay

Horses require two percent of their body weight in forage each day. Ours weigh about 1,000 pounds each. That means each one should consume 20 pounds of forage every day. A one hundred pound bale of grass hay costs $15-$25. I supplement their hay diet with a small amount of other feeds. Sometimes we can replace hay with grass if we have access to pasture. In total, we spend an average of $310 per month on feed.

Veterinary

The horses get vaccinations and Coggins tests annually, and fecal tests (for internal parasites) semi-annually. Health certificates are required for interstate travel and are only valid for 30 days so we get them regularly. I averaged all of these veterinary costs from the whole year to get $50 per month.

Hoof care

I keep our horses barefoot and do all of our hoof trimming myself. Our total hoof related expenses for 2020 were $1,100, including hoof boots, accessories, replacement trimming tools, and supplies.

Total costs

Our grand total for 2020 came out to $30,219. That averages out to $2,518 per month or $83 a day for both of us and our two horses. 

You can see now that our lifestyle is pretty darn affordable although not luxurious. We live primitively; primarily dry camping with no electric, water, or sewer hook-ups. Obviously, your expenses will depend on your individual needs and wants. 

Our hope with this blog is that we can inspire those of you that are dreaming of adventure to get out there. Your time and health are not guaranteed, so don’t waste them! The hardest part of transitioning to a full time traveling lifestyle is not the financials; it’s letting go of your preconceived notions of what life is supposed to be.