by Rex Trulove

Created on: August 29, 2008

With all the various costs that surround us on a day-to-day basis, just to survive, one major consideration that often helps to ultimately sway the decision to go camping or not is how expensive it is. However, as strange as it may sound to many, it can actually be less expensive to go camping than it is to stay home.

Most of the time, there will be costs associated with camping. Some are largely unavoidable, such as gasoline to get to the chosen camping spot. These costs can be minimized, though. For example, with the cost of gasoline, selecting a campsite that is nearby is going to be less expensive than selecting one that requires a lot of driving.

Many expenses only seem to sway the balance in favor of being less costly to stay home than to go out camping, if we take a moment to really think about them. Soft drinks, beer, meat and other food, and ice are all things often purchased for the camp trip. However, a person staying home is probably going to still purchase each of these, with the possible exception of the ice. Even this cost can be kept at a minimum by freezing water in advance. Doing it yourself results in almost no expense, though ice usually isn't expensive anyway.

How about the cost of the equipment? A tent, ice chests, camp stove, lantern, camp chairs, sleeping bags; all of these do amount to quite a cost. But the cost is an initial one. The equipment is going to be usable over several camp trips or even many years. This means that if you figure the cost of a $30 ice chest, for 30 camp trips, the actual expense is a dollar a trip. Many of these can also be purchased in great shape but used, and a much reduced price. This further lowers even the initial cost. They have the added benefit of being useful in the case of an emergency, too, whether you camp or not.

Propane or white gas is an expense that isn't usually borne by activity when you stay at home. However, usually it isn't a large amount of money. A family of four can often get by quite well on just two bottles of propane, for a two day, two night camp trip. One bottle is used in the lantern, and the other for the stove. Since neither is going to be heavily used, not much propane is burned. Doing at least a portion of the cooking over the campfire can even minimize this cost more.

Camping at a pay site may increase the cost of the trip, however these sites are usually pretty inexpensive, especially if you don't require such things as showers. (The more amenities a site has, as a general rule

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