Inspired Travels With Patti

How to RV Full-Time for Just $600 a Month: Cheap Living, Boondocking & Free Camping

• Patti Hunt • Season 2 • Episode 33

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What if you could travel full-time in an RV for as little as $600 a month? In this episode of Inspired Travels with Patti, I sit down with Amber Adkins, who spent two years traveling across the country in a 19-foot trailer—without breaking the bank. Amber shares practical strategies for dramatically reducing travel costs, from boondocking on free public lands to leveraging long-term visitor areas and state park passes. She also dives into creative ways to earn money on the road, including workamping opportunities that can fund months of travel. This episode is packed with actionable tips and inspiring stories that prove travel doesn’t have to be expensive to be life-changing.

  • How Amber lived on just $600/month while traveling full-time
  • What boondocking is and how it eliminates camping costs
  • How to stay on free BLM land for up to 14 days
  • The $180 LTVA pass for 6 months of camping
  • State park annual pass hacks (e.g., New Mexico)
  • Finding cheap or free activities (museums, hiking, local spots)
  • Using apps like Campendium and iOverlander
  • Workamping jobs that pay + cover living expenses

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Get Your RV Life On For Cheap

SPEAKER_00

What if you could travel full time in an RV really cheap? Amber, what's the least you have ever spent in a month living in your RV?$600.$600. Yes, I know that sounds unbelievable. My guest and I are going to talk about that today. We're going to talk about ways to camp for less or even free, some hidden spots that you probably didn't know about, and how to make RV life surprisingly cheap. I want to welcome my guests to Inspire Travels with Patty. If you're new here, I created this podcast and YouTube channel to inspire you to live life more fully. And that for me is through adventure, unique experiences, and exploring new places. My guest, Amber Atkins, spent two years living full-time in an RV, going across the country in her 19-foot travel trailer with her partner Patience. Their journey took them across the country and back, all while learning how to make life on the road affordable, flexible, and meaningful. By staying in free and low-cost campsites, finding inexpensive ways to eat, earning money along the way, and seeking out cheap or free things to do. Amber discovered that travel does not have to be expensive, to be unforgettable. Her RV journey shaped the way she sees the world and helped confirm that travel was always going to be part of her life's work. Welcome, Amber Atkins, to Inspire Travels with Patty.

SPEAKER_01

Thanks, Patty. I'm super excited to be here today.

Why Go Full Time

SPEAKER_00

And I am super excited to have you because I know trying to RV and do it less expensive is certainly on people's minds. So we're going to jump in. But before we give people those tips, share your story, how you started traveling full-time in an RV for two years. How did that conversation even begin?

SPEAKER_01

It was something that I have dreamed of doing since I was in high school. And I finally got with a partner who was interested as well. So as soon as uh I was just watching some YouTube videos and she was interested, and I was like, Oh, would you really want to? And uh right when the spark was lit, um, we spent about a year or so saving money, preparing, renovating our camper, uh, and then we took off.

SPEAKER_00

That's awesome. Thank you said that your journey shaped the way you see the world. How so?

SPEAKER_01

Before I hadn't gotten out of my city too much, and it was it and neither had my partner. So it was an experience for us to see the different types of cultures, the different types of ways people live and how they enjoy their time. And it's it's completely different in every state, and it it's so so awesome to see that.

Renovating the Trailer

SPEAKER_00

And that is one of the big points in this podcast and YouTube channel is to show people that travel really does change how you think about your local area or the world. So we really connected on that point. Now I know you and your partner took a 19-foot travel trailer and redid it, renovated it. Give us the quick story on that and the renovation.

SPEAKER_01

We did a few renovations. The first one was kind of making sure everything was gonna work while we were on the road. And then as we were living in it, we realized this could be over here, that could be there, this would fit us much better. So we ended up basically gutting the inside and moving the sink to the left and moving the bed to the right, and it fits us a lot better now, right?

SPEAKER_00

And of course, it's less expensive if you take an RV and you renovate it yourself. That is not something I could see myself doing, although I'd like to be able to tell somebody I'd like this here and that there, because I definitely have ideas of a setup. So, you know, that would work if somebody else is doing the work.

SPEAKER_01

That is something that did save a lot of money. If you're willing to, when things break, do a little bit of the work, look up some YouTube videos. And I had to do that a few times, but I was always like ready to learn, and that that's really important.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. When you're R Ving, you have to be willing to learn. You're gonna make mistakes. You have to learn from those mistakes. That is a big part of RVing for sure. Now, your whole goal though is to make RVing cheaper, and I'm using that word cheaper. I know some people say, oh, less expensive. No, cheaper, we're talking here today. Why was that important to you to find a way to travel cheaper?

SPEAKER_01

I didn't want to wait till I was retired. I wanted, I worked in a nursing home before I did this, and I saw a lot of the people missing out on things that they could have done in life, and that was a big inspiration for me to just lock in and do it scared. Um, I I was, you know, I was nervous. Anything could have happened. We did leave with a little bit of our savings, but but doing it when I wasn't completely sure, um, that was what the motivation for being a little more inexpensive and a little less, you know, a little more freeing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, less prepared, just doing it scared. I'd love that. Um, certainly part of, again, why I do the podcast, like living life fully. You don't know, and I didn't even know that part of your story, but you don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring. So I'd love that. Why is it important for you to now share with both of our audiences how to do this, how to RV cheaper?

SPEAKER_01

Because, like I said, it did change my life. Um, and I want more people to be able to experience that. And I think the more people that can experience traveling, the better we're gonna be as a whole.

Boondocking Basics

SPEAKER_00

Yes, I'd love that. Okay, so let's jump into some ways to travel cheaper. One of the big things we talk about that are costly when we travel is, you know, where we're gonna camp, where we're gonna park the RV. So let's start. You and I talked about boondocking. For my audience who doesn't know what that is, let's explain what boondocking is and what people need to know about boondocking.

SPEAKER_01

For me, I see boondocking as parking somewhere and you don't, you're not plugging in, you're not taking the water, you you're self-sufficient inside the camper. And so that can you can be anywhere boondocking. Um, and I found a lot of places on the road that were I didn't want to spend more than$10 for a night. So we would stay at very cheap sites, which a lot of those are in the middle of the country, Missouri, um, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, Nebraska. There's a lot of really inexpensive camping in that area, and it it's very, very cool to see. And some of them you're just pulling right up off of the highway, and you have a plot of desert, you pick your spot, and and you can stay a lot of these places from not the private camper ones, but the BLM Land, um, Bureau of Land Management, you can stay there for between 10 and 15 days, and I think that's also how we saved money because gas is expensive too, moving the camper from here to there. So staying it somewhere for a couple weeks before we moved on really helped lessen that expense.

BLM Land Stays

SPEAKER_00

Boondocking is the idea, and I have interviewed people about boondocking in the past, and I will say that it is different for different people. Different people use the word differently. It's fine for our purpose and definition, it's anywhere that you are parked that you are not connected to electric, water, sewer. That is what we're using as a definition for boondocking. Anyone listening to the podcast that wants to dispute that, please do. We're happy to hear your thoughts. So boondocking can be, I was out when I came back to Pennsylvania in the RV. Friend of ours had a farm. There were no connections at all. It was on a farm on a nice piece of property, but that was boondocking in my eyes. You also mentioned Bureau of Land Management, BLM land. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Because those are areas that somebody can boondock on.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so there are a lot of BLM land, um, mostly out west. Um, it a lot of it that I found was very accessible, um, right off the highway or a main road, and you just then on a dirt road, usually driving down, pick your spot of land, and you're there for a couple weeks, and it it's free, and no one's there to bother you, and you have the land to enjoy, hike around. It it's great.

SPEAKER_00

I would imagine, and I do not know that I ever stayed on BLM land in my three years for for anybody listening that doesn't know my backstory. I traveled full-time in an RV for over three years, crossing the country three and a half times. I don't know that I ever stayed on BLM land. So this is interesting. Now, when you're staying somewhere for the the week, two weeks, because like you said, you save money by not traveling as much, but then I imagine that you park the trailer and you go out and then explore the area. In your case, you have a truck. So in the truck, right?

SPEAKER_01

We would go explore the area, hiking. Uh, a lot of our things we like to find and do botanical gardens are usually really inexpensive. There were a lot of zoos we found, like um more private, smaller zoos, that would be$10 admission, which was really good. Um, museums will usually have a day of the week that you have free admission. So we would look for things like that to find something that would be still very enjoyable, but to save the money a little bit.

Long-Term Visitor Areas

SPEAKER_00

I want to emphasize the fact that while we're talking about saving money, we are also talking about enjoying the time, having the experiences, being able to adventure. You're just finding ways to do it for a lot less money. So there are so many things that people can do. And that is something I'm learning and seeing because I always saw travel, quote unquote travel, as being expensive, paying to go to the expensive places. But, you know, this is why I wanted to have you on because there is so much that you could do. I'm getting ready to go to Washington this week of this recording. And in Washington, a lot of the museums, the Spisonians, Spisonians are free. I think I'm saying that right. Anyway, museums are free. The the zoo there, which is one of the largest zoos, I believe, in the country, is free. So let's continue on and talk a little bit more about you had mentioned long-term visitor area stays. Again, never heard of that. Can you explain?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, this is, I think, the diamond in the ruff here. Um, LTVA, there are five or six of them lining the Arizona-California border. Now you pay one price and you can stay, you can go between all five of them for six months, basically the winter season. And what this year is still$180. I know they've been talking back and forth about raising it, but for$180, six months you have land to stay in. So different spots offer different amenities, but the one that we frequented was in a place called Winterhaven. How can you beat that? Winter Haven, California. So we had water at the front, a dump at the front, trash at the front. There was a place where you could actually register to get mail. Um, they had a lot of gatherings. I think I sent you a picture of one of the full moon uh parties. They had pancake breakfast, ukulele classes, singing classes. It was a great community to be a part of, and that happens every winter right on the border. And it's even um quartzite is a part of it. And I know a lot of people have heard of quartzite. Um quartzite is a part of the LTVA as well, so you can go up to the RV show, the gem show, and then come down and have a little less crowds.

SPEAKER_00

So we you said$180. Is that$180 a month? Six months for six months, the whole time. Yeah, and you're not sure if they've since raised the prices. I did check.

SPEAKER_01

It's still it was$180 this season, so I'm not sure if next season they'll raise it by any, but it's still very, very cost effective. I mean, and that's per camper, not per person.

State Park Pass Hacks

SPEAKER_00

Okay, so your camper for six months,$180 in a pretty amazing sounding place because you're in an area where you could go explore so many different things. That is great information. Never heard of it. I did stay in quartzite. We went to the show in quartzite one time, so I did stay there one time, which was a cool place to visit. Wow, that's that's really incredible. Okay, let's talk a little bit about state parks and local parks. I have stayed in a couple of those, and they were really inexpensive, and they have for me, what I saw was a variety of different types of amenities, what they had to offer. So, what was your experience with that?

SPEAKER_01

Some of some states actually have a pass where you can pay to stay at their state parks for a year, and that's what we did in New Mexico. We paid, it was I think 225 for out of state, but then you can actually go to their parks and stay for uh up to two weeks, and they they're the actual you know, part you got showers, you have you have the hiking trails right there, gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Um, and I I'm not sure I'm sure more states have deals like that, but for a year and 200 bucks, you have a place to stay all year long.

SPEAKER_00

So you don't pay them when you go to the park?

SPEAKER_01

No, yeah, you have they'll give you a pass for your truck or whatever you're driving, and you can go right. You can you can make reservations or you can use the first come, first serve. If you want hookups, it's cheaper if you pay for that. So this would still be boondocking for the 225. You'd come to one of their free first come, first serve sites um that don't have hookups, but if you do want to pay for the hookups, it's uh it's um a discount.

Daily Budget Living

SPEAKER_00

That's incredible, and again, I didn't know about this. Like I started RVing, I guess it's six years ago now. That's five years. Okay, a long time ago. Never heard of this. Thank you. That that's really incredible to know that for$200, some dollars a year, and then you could go boondock on these rounds, and then when you want to say be hooked up so you could get, you know, everything filled up, your tanks filled up, your tanks, your other tanks empty, yeah, you can be on electricity and and have all that, to have that at a discount, that's that's great. Yeah, awesome. Okay, so tell us about other ways to save on daily life. You talked about finding those activities and adventures that cost little or no money. Are there other ways that you save just being out in an RV and living life on a daily basis?

SPEAKER_01

Um, another thing that I really like to do is when we came to new cities, I would look up if they had any discount grocery stores or resale grocery stores around, which I like to find things any. I like to be the little explorer. So I like those stores. So you can always find something interesting. Um, but that's kind of how we save money on our food bill a little bit. Uh eating, you know, rice, chicken, very basic. So that that's how we save money on our food bill. Um, we had we had a nice little couch, a blow-up couch and a little awning for the outside, and we would watch movies under the stars all the time, and just a lot of a lot of things that we could do in the camper or around the camper that that would be fun for us.

SPEAKER_00

So really getting out and being part of nature, and I'm gonna ask you something, and whether we add this to the podcast or not, I'm not sure because I did not talk about this before. If you know money weren't necessarily something you had to think about, and all of us have to, what would be a dream that you'd love to do, something you would have loved to do, or still thinking about doing if money weren't an object?

SPEAKER_01

I would have had a bus if money weren't an object. Um, and that's just because winds are scary. The winds can be a little scary, and the but a bus would be more gas as well. But I I just think I think a bus would be amazing. Um, that that's my goal for next time we go back out. I'd like to renovate a bus and have a small car towed behind because then I think I could easily get to other places without having to worry about the gas.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. And so you would still find those free events, be part of nature, sit out and watch the stars, all of these things that I just really never had done. You know, sitting out around the fire and watching the stars or watching the sunset or the sunrise, that was just not something I had ever done. And it is one of those things that I truly loved about traveling. Honestly, truly just being out in nature, sitting by the creek and listening to the water flow by. It's just those are the things that, you know, people think when they go out on these trips or they take their quote unquote vacation. It has to be these big elaborate things. And there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, there are big things that I certainly want to do, but there is so much to experience. And so I I I love that we're doing this so people can be open to having some of those experiences that, like you said, they are life-changing. They really are.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. And it was, it's the the moments like waking up and being able to see the sunrise over a mountaintop just from my bed, and the walking out, and the skies are just so open and beautiful. And that that is something I do think, even if money wasn't a question, I would probably be on BLM land more than in a campground because I love the freedom and the space and not worrying about your neighbor and just being with the nature.

Apps and Memberships

SPEAKER_00

That sounds amazing. Yes, I agree. So, talk about some apps. We talked about finding BLM land and boondocking and long-term visitor area. Um, LTVA, you said, are there certain apps or tools to help you find these places?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I did use um Campendium and iOverlander a lot. Uh, I know iOverlander has kind of changed a little, but it's a good reference tool for sure. Um, both of them uh have a lot of spots where you can find paid camping, you can find free camping, you can find a pull-off that someone just was like, hey, I parked here for the night and it worked out, no one messed with me. There there are reviews, and so you can I would always have a backup plan. I had the one I was going to and the one just in case it didn't work, but it it was it was always we were always able to find a good spot to stay, and we never felt unsafe.

SPEAKER_00

I will put all of that in the show notes for people who are listening that'll all be there to help. I have a couple thoughts on things that could help save. People money. Open Roads Fuel Card saves on diesel fuel. They now also have a program for gasoline. So checking out Open Roads Fuel Card, there's a link in the show notes. That'll save, especially today with fuel prices, might not be a lot, but it saves money. As you had said, sometimes, you know, to save money, staying in an area longer was more helpful. I also have used, if you're not staying on BLM land, I use Thousand Trails membership. I saved a lot of money using that. They were not BLM land, they were most of the time full hookups. Um, I do like, I gotta be honest, the full hookups. I did stay for a while in a in Lake Mead outside of Las Vegas.

SPEAKER_01

Lake Mead is beautiful.

SPEAKER_00

It is beautiful, and that is boondocking. So that, and I'm I'm not sure. I think there is BLM land there.

SPEAKER_01

So Governor's Wash Road was one of my favorite spots to stay out there. As far as I know, they shut it down just for now because there was like crime and they were trying to clean up the area. So hopefully it'll be back open in the future because that was one of 360 gorgeous views there. That was one of my favorite spots. And only a half hour away from the Vegas Strip. You couldn't beat that.

Workamping to Earn

SPEAKER_00

So much to do in the area. So when hopefully that'll open back up, people get the opportunity to go there. I stayed there and I love it. But again, having a thousand trials membership, having activities and amenities in a campground was a little bit more my speed. I was able with my membership to stay in a campground, ended up costing in the long run probably$10 a night, which is another way for people who want to save money, don't necessarily want a boondock, like the hookups. If you have family and kids and you want those activities, their membership have all changed over the last couple of years. So for anybody interested in just hearing about what those memberships entail, um, somebody that I know, love, and trust, I have their name and phone number in the show notes, and you can reach out and ask whatever questions you have to see if that's a right fit. The point here is there are different things for different people. Different people enjoy different parts of RVing, different types of camping. So we're trying to provide those. As I think of other apps, or if you do, we'll add to post on social media because the the apps I think are really helpful in, you know, giving people like, how do I find these places? What do I do? When I first started RVing, I probably had 10 or 20 apps, a little bit too many. Find the ones that work for you. You made a couple good suggestions on them. So find what works for you. Okay. So we talked about making RVing cheaper. There's also ways to bring some money in. And I know you've done some of those things. So can you talk about ways to bring money in when you're out there on the road?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, um, work camping is an awesome, an awesome gig. Um, a lot of the times you can get your hookups for free and payment. Um, sometimes you can work for just hookups. Uh, kind of just depends what you're looking for and where you're trying to connect. But the first job we did was the Montana Beet Harvest, and that was so cool to experience. Uh, it was long hours, it was cold, but it was a one-month commitment, and we made we made, we worked seven shifts between the two of us, 12 hours each, and we made we walked away with about$10,000.

SPEAKER_00

Which that's crazy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and because they would pay you for the days that you couldn't go out in the field because of weather. Beets are very temperamental.

SPEAKER_00

So we're talking about beets B-E B E E T. Okay, just so people are clear.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, but not red beets, sugar beets.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, oh, sugar beets. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

This is something I didn't know, but if your bag of sugar does not say sugar cane, it comes from beets. So a lot of the sugar that we eat comes from beets.

SPEAKER_00

I didn't know that. Okay, so there are jobs out there, ways to do things. Work amping, as it's called, W-O-R-K-A-M-P-I-N-G. Again, I'll put that in the show notes. There's a whole um website and there's groups on Facebook about work amping, which, like you said, you know, some people work in a campground.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we did that as well. Um, we worked right outside Salt Lake City, uh, right on their mountain, and spent a summer at the campground, 72 degrees all summer long, while it's 102 down in Salt Lake. It was beautiful. We saw moose, um, but we we got paid, we worked 40 hours a week. Um, we got full hookups while we were working. So it it's a great deal. And and I will say, we applied for several jobs, and we had offers in California, we had offers in Utah, we had offers in Texas, so we could choose where we wanted to spend our summer. It was awesome.

Final Takeaways

SPEAKER_00

That is incredible. And again, then you have time and you could go out and explore, and you're, you know, in the campground and in nature. That, yeah, I mean, that's so helpful. Okay, as we wrap up, so much good information, so much help for people who I talk to people all the time, and they're they would say, Oh, I wish I could go RVing or camping, you know, but I can't afford it. I don't have the money, it's an expense of whatever it is. So, you know, being able to give people options for ways to go out there and do it is just great. Is there anything else you want to add that we didn't talk about?

SPEAKER_01

I don't think I have anything to add besides uh just doubling down on just get out there and do it. Um, live life scared. You never know what is gonna change your life and get out there and do it.

Connect and Next Steps

SPEAKER_00

I love that. That is perfect. Um, I want to thank you for being on. How could people connect with you if they have questions, just you know, to be able to connect?

SPEAKER_01

Um, I actually have a travel Facebook page um because I I am also working on a opening my travel agency and we didn't talk about that.

SPEAKER_00

I'm sorry. Let's let's talk a little bit about that. Let's totally miss that. Let's talk about you are looking to be a travel agent.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I opened my agency in October and I've been building my group, and so I'll link the we can link the my Facebook group here. Um, I do have some videos from my times uh in travel, so we can put my Insta on here too. I haven't been updating it recently, but I'm thinking to get back into it. Um and yeah, so I'm just working on I love travel, it changed my life, and I want to make it easy for people to change theirs with travel too. So love to connect and uh chat travel with anybody.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you for that. And I will post all of that in the show notes, and I'm gonna encourage people to reach out to you, ask questions, um, get in. This is how we learn as we go. Like I said, it I started RVing five years ago, and so much of what you said I had no idea. So reach out. Anyone that has questions for me can um reach out to me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, send me a private message. All of my information, all of my social is at Inspire Travels with Patty. If this topic inspired you, I'd love for you to follow and share. And again, thank you, Amber, for taking the time and being on and sharing so much incredible information.

SPEAKER_01

No problem, Patty. It was great to be here.

SPEAKER_00

Travel isn't just about where you go, it's about how you live. And I want to remind you, I think both of us want to remind my audience to live life to the fullest every day.