Fifteen Ways to Save Money for a Thru-hike

Thru-hiking isn’t cheap, so here are fifteen easy ways to save money for the trip of a lifetime.

Eat In: get in the habit of taking lunches to work and eating at home. A crockpot is your best friend (cook dinner while you’re away!) Take the time to perfect 10 trail recipes that you won’t get sick of.
Avoid “Aspirational Overbuying”: I worked in outdoor retail for 10 years, and know full-well the perils of needing “just one more thing” before going on a trip. Your gear doesn’t get you to Katahdin, you do. Have a plan, then wait for a killer deal to come along. Check out Sierra Trading Post before buying anything. Hint: this $12 headlamp is a steal, and has gotten rave reviews from hikers I’ve talked too.
Cut your cable: you won’t die, I promise. Between Netflix and other internet content, you can watch almost everything cheap or free.
Quit drinking soda: I’m guilty of this, but really, soda is nothing but empty calories and money out of your pocket. I guarantee you’ll drop weight within the first two weeks of quitting, and every pound off your body is a pound you won’t have to drag up and down the mountains.
Quit smoking: easier said than done, but again, this is one very fast way to put money in the bank and years on your life.
Take a very small second job: this is your gear-fund job. Every dollar from this goes into your trip fund, not into your beer fund. Be creative here – odd jobs, writing gigs, anything goes.
Craigslist all your extra junk: Take a good look at all the crap you’ve not touched in your house in years. Get rid of it on Craigslist or Ebay. Bonus – the less you have, the less it’ll cost to store while you’re gone.
Minimize your car insurance while you’re gone. Talk to your agent about your situation. You may be able to cut your insurance bill in half by temporally increasing your deductible, changing to Leisure use, or other means.
Train locally: You’ve got plenty of time to train now that you’ve cut out the cable TV. Go on as many overnights as possible, but be wary of spending your hard-earned cash on traveling to far-flung places for awhile.
Be a homebody: That $20 you spend at a bar could buy you one night in any hostel on the trail.
Make your own coffee: A cheap coffeemaker or French Press can easily replace the coffee bought on the way to work every morning.
Learn to sew: careful with this, as it’s easy to go overboard. If you shop around for fabric and notions and don’t go nuts with a fancy sewing machine, you can save some real money though. My cheapy sewing machine has turned out $30 backpacks, $1 stuff sacks, $40 silnylon tarps, and scads of other gear.
Put off some costs till you get to the trail. Consider buying only a quarter of the maps you’ll need to complete the entire trail. Buy food as you go. [ insert B Jack's food article ]
Travel cheap to the trail. Post your need to get to the trail on www.Whiteblaze.net or the local University’s Ride board. You’d be surprised how my people may be willing to split the gas to get you to Georgia or Maine.
When hiking, stay out of towns when possible. This is the Number One way to cut trail expenses while actually on the trail. Every night spent in town costs far more then a night on the trail. Get in, do your errands, and get out. It doesn’t matter if it’s a half-mile out of town, as long at it’s not in town.