Interesting ways to fund?

[Neurosis]

I was thinking of different ways to fund my thru-hike and I started consolidating my spare change and collecting cans to deposit. Is there an interesting method you used to fund your hike? If not, is there another more productive way of gaining a little bit of cash other then what Im doing? Share your opinion!

[Lone Wolf]

a JOB perhaps?

[zoidfu]

I was thinking of different ways to fund my thru-hike and I started consolidating my spare change and collecting cans to deposit. Is there an interesting method you used to fund your hike? If not, is there another more productive way of gaining a little bit of cash other then what Im doing? Share your opinion!

You any good with your mangina?

[YeOldeBackpacker]

You beat me to it!! I have to type faster

a JOB perhaps?

[DesertMTB]

LW read my mind.

[Neurosis]

a JOB perhaps?

Thats realy clever lonewolf. But nonetheless unnessacary. Maybe something on topic next time?

[DesertMTB]

It is amazing how much change one can collect from serving people food.

[Jack Tarlin]

Neurosis:

A few quick ideas:

*Get a second job, or a third
*If there's one nearby, try and get a part time job with an Outfitter
*Open a separate bank account for the trip, for DEPOSITS only. No
withdrawls from this account unless they're trip related
*Kill ALL un-necessary spending, i.e. try and go without buying any
new clothes, CD's, books, magazines. Keep dining out to a minimum.
Bring lunch from home to work. Rent movies, don't go to the theater.
Patronize the library and not the bookstore. No vacations, concerts,
or other frills; your hike will be this year's vacation.

Everyone complains about how hard it is to save money, but that's because they don't take the time to write down EVERYTHING they spend money on. If you do this for a week, you'd be amazed to see how much money people fritter away each week on junk food, designer coffees, magazines, lottery
tickets, clothes,restaurant food and drink, etc. In short, people spend a ton of money each week on stuff they don't need. Everyone has closets and shelves filled with stuff they bought and haven't used since the week they bought them. Master the art of only buying stuff you really need, and you'll start saving money. Put it into the bank in a separate account, and you'll have trouble spending it.

[Lone Wolf]

Thats realy clever lonewolf. But nonetheless unnessacary. Maybe something on topic next time?

it's right on topic. you asked what you could do to earn money, i said get a job. so to answer your question, get a job to fund your thru-hike. DUH

[zoidfu]

Do mommy and daddy have deep pockets?

[hobojoe]

Returning old year's gear to REI, Dumpster diving/starving one's self, working an unnecessary ammount of overtime. I also found a bunch of old bikes + parts and have been building commuter bikes and selling them to college kids. Selling ANYTHING to college kids, it seems they have so much money they can barely walk.

[Neurosis]

[quote=Jack Tarlin;558388]Neurosis:


*Kill ALL un-necessary spending, i.e. try and go without buying any
new clothes, CD's, books, magazines. Keep dining out to a minimum.
Bring lunch from home to work. Rent movies, don't go to the theater.
Patronize the library and not the bookstore. No vacations, concerts,
or other frills; your hike will be this year's vacation.


Awesome advice and I have been doing this, alot! I even took my car off the road and I now walk or bike to work, and Im also about to work for the AMC Huts in NH for the summer which will further allow me to leave my car off the road, which is one less bill and that much more saved!

[hobojoe]

*If there's one nearby, try and get a part time job with an Outfitter

Can we say employee discount??

[Bob S]

A very simple way to fund things is to just put a few dollars away for the hike from each paycheck.


I have found easy ways to make extra money for pet projects or outings. I make homemade antennas and sell them at hamfest (Amateur radio swap meets like a flea market) and I also make folding camping tables out of wood and sell them at the local campgrounds and also at hamfest.

Working in my spare time I can turn out a lot of tables & antennas and can easily make $500.00 at a hamfest. I go to 5 or so of these every year. I keep telling myself I should sell on e-bay but never seem to get around to doing it.


Try to find a craft item you can make and sell. It’s nice to get an extra $500.00 play money several times a year.

[bfitz]

Jacks outfitter job idea is a good one specially if you can get a discount on gear! Also, here in VA we can get free mulch at the dump and fill a truck with it, then roll through townhouse rows in early spring and offer to mulch their hedges. Usually 20-50 bucks a house and you can do a lot in a day. Also bring a ladder and offer to clean their gutters for 50-100 bucks. A gas powered leaf blower will clean out a gutter in a jiffy. In mass shoveling snow might work the same way. Someone also recommended once delivering phone books and yellow pages. Even getting some conditioning by running them up stairs in apartment buildings in a backpack....think entrepreneur. I've made mad money selling fancy grill cheese sandwiches at concerts.

[Neurosis]

it's right on topic. you asked what you could do to earn money, i said get a job. so to answer your question, get a job to fund your thru-hike. DUH

It was implied that you already work a job, this is obvious. The post was regarding small things such as saving spare change and collecting cans to earn a little extra cash.

[capehiker]

I was thinking of different ways to fund my thru-hike and I started consolidating my spare change and collecting cans to deposit.

Along those same lines, see if your local dump will pay out for metals (brass, steel, etc.). Then look around on the days where neighborhoods can throw out large items. I funded a two week trip out west (food, travel lodging, trinkets) just by curb shopping over two months. You can make some serious cash. If I saw a car in the driveway, I knocked and asked if I could take their metal. If no one was home, I snatched it up real quick. LOL

[Neurosis]

Along those same lines, see if your local dump will pay out for metals (brass, steel, etc.). Then look around on the days where neighborhoods can throw out large items. I funded a two week trip out west (food, travel lodging, trinkets) just by curb shopping over two months. You can make some serious cash. If I saw a car in the driveway, I knocked and asked if I could take their metal. If no one was home, I snatched it up real quick. LOL

Wow, I never knew that, I'll definetly look into that. I know a lot of places that just throw away scraps like that. Thanks.

[zoidfu]

It was implied that you already work a job, this is obvious. The post was regarding small things such as saving spare change and collecting cans to earn a little extra cash.

No, it wasn't implied. I thought the same thing LW did

[Jack Tarlin]

Oh, I forgot a big one:

If you smoke tobacco, drink liquor, or smoke pot, try to cut your use in half. You'll be amazed at the savings.

For example, if one is pack-a-day smoker, and if smokes cost, on average 4.50 a pack, that's around five hundred bucks saved if you quit a few months before your trip. Cut back by half and you'll STILL save a couple hundred. Or switch to Drum or American Spirit and roll your own; you'll save money and probably find that you're smoking less.

Cut back on weed, too, or better yet, give it up.

As for drinking, do it at home. If I have three Rolling Rocks at home, it costs me $2.50. The same three beers at my favorite pub, after tipping, costs twelve bucks.

And don't be a beer snob. Drinking Rock or PBR won't kill you.

One other thing: Try cooking at home more. Last night I cooked dinner for a friend. We had a beautiful roast pork loin, three vegetables, a beautiful salad, garlic bread, and a bottle of wine, all for 20 bucks. Same meal in a restaurant would have cost twice that. (and we had the leftovers for lunch!)

In any case, there are lots of things you can do.