Potty Patrol and the Throne away from home

When your decision is to stay away from the city for 2 weeks at a time, you will need a toilet unless you are comfortable taking a stroll in all kinds of weather whenever the urge hits you. Some campgrounds will have at least a vault toilet but even these may be locked at certain times of the year. Once you decide on a toilet, you can investigate the various kinds. The three types are portable potty, cassette, and RV toilet attached to a black water tank.

The campground toilet is a simple portable potty that will have a capacity of 5 gallons or less. It is an all in one type of arrangement. Some come with water and a black water tank. Others, are just a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat attached to it. The simplest camping toilet uses a metal frame with a plastic bag attached for later disposal. All of these are available and can be very frugal. If you are living alone, either of them will work. If you want to use them outside, a pop up cabana is an added convenience for weather and privacy. The cabana can also be used with an outdoor shower.

The RV toilet is either connected to a black water tank or to a cassette. The cassette is removable for dumping into another toilet or using a dump station. The black water tank of course must be dumped at the dumping station. Cassette toilets contain the fewest uses before you have to worry about emptying. Black water tanks on the other hand vary so much. You can have anything from 10 to 30+ gallons depending on the size of your trailer. The lightweight hybrid that I have contains a small black water tank. Dumping stations are readily available although in a pinch you may be charged a few dollars.

I have learned through sailing friends that it is a good idea to keep extra water to pour into the toilet for smell control. Install a sink sprayer in the bathroom to help clean the toilet bowl. I also have one of the bag style toilets and a shovel as a backup just in case that I keep in the truck. I may even purchase one of the cabanas for showers outdoors and the occasional outdoor use of the bag toilet. There are many toilet varieties available and the one that suits you is mostly due to your gender and comfort level.

Free or low cost camping for RVs

Here are some of my thoughts on what I personally plan to do with my new simple life. My intent is to travel as frugally as I can. After looking at what might be frugal, I settled on volunteering, work camping, visiting, boondocking, working, and long term BLM. Occasionally, I will insert low cost or free camping when available. However, if I move around too much then gasoline becomes a much larger cost.

Volunteering is usually done for government parks but can be done for many organization. I prefer working for one of the parks but not cleaning bathrooms. With volunteering, you can get a spot to camp with some utilities also. What you don't get is much cash if any at all. Check the volunteer site and look for ones with RV hookups. The advantage of a volunteer gig is being able to stay put for months while only paying for your food. It is a low cost way to see some great scenery and give back to nature preservation or your favorite cause. If you perform enough volunteer hours, you may qualify for free admission to federal parks.

Work camping comes in so many flavors that you just have to see what is out there. It usually means being a host and cleaning bathrooms. It is normally set up for a couple to work 20 hours a week each so as a single you would have to work more. From what I have learned, the better compensation is at the places where people least want to be. You can sign up for long term gigs working many hours for nothing more than a camp site so be careful and ask for details. I would consider this if the terms were right but it isn't high on my list.

Don't forget about visiting friends and relatives. A new label for this is "couch surfing". It may be something like staying with your parents for a month while getting hot meals and a warm bed. It saves a month's work of expenses and you get to visit during the holidays. It can also be parked in front of a friends house while being plugged into their electricity. You still have to sleep inside your RV but you might get a free meal or two. Either way, schedule one or two during the year to save money if you can.