What is boondocking? The urban dictionary defines boondocking as "No fresh water, electricity or sewer untilities while camping in an RV. Living without conveniences such as municipal electricity or water, indoor plumbing, or grocery stores, especially when camping with a recreational vehicle; roughing it."

Now that we have our definition, how do we live this way? If you are in an RV, you fill your water tank for showers, dishes, etc, and buy jugs of water for drinking and cooking. If you have no water tank, you use jugs of water for everything, like we do, or collect rain water for everything but drinking and cooking.

Most people who boondock use solar power, batteries, and/or a generator for power. We use all of the above. Our solar charges our batteries for daytime (we don't have enough solar or sunlight to last beyond a day), and we run the generator with a battery charger hooked up to the batteries twice a day to make sure they are full enough to get us through the day and night. We only cook or run electric heaters when the generator is running.

Many people use propane for cooking and heat to cut out how much they need to run their generators.

Sewage collects in your black tank, all other water collects in your grey tank, and you either need to find a dump station or call a sewer truck to come empty your tanks.

It's a completely self-sustaining lifestyle where you are ultimately in charge of fulfilling all of your basic needs.

boondocking, sef-sustaining, basic needs, off grid

We even built and installed a rooftop solar shower for when it's warm out, and we love it.

If you are somewhere that allows fires, many people cook their dinners that way as well.

We installed a residential fridge into our RV, but be careful of this because they use a LOT more energy tha electric/propane fridges do. No fridge? No problem! Others use coolers with ice, or put coolers outside in colder weather to keep their food.

For laundry, you can either find a laundromat, install a washer if you have room (but again, two or three loads will use ALL of your fresh water), or use rain or bottled water, scrub by hand and hang to dry.

If you are not retired and work from home, we simply boosted our gigs on our phones to be unlimited (they slow after using 25 and 50 gigs) and we either work from our phones, or tether to our computers. We also tether for our kids to watch Netflix or the Disney Channel, or they just watch on our phones (most of the time).

My biggest tip? Before buying or bringing things, check their wattage/voltage and keep it all as low as possible to conserve your battery life.

There are a lot of people out there who live this lifestyle and love it, and a lot as well who fear this type of life because it's unfamiliar in our current times.

It takes planning, work, and constant knowledge and learning. For those of you planning to live this way, or who already do, good for you! Remember not to get discouraged!

For those of you who think people are crazy or homeless for choosing this lifestyle, one must never judge that which one doesn't understand.

The Boondocking Packing List

Food for as many days as it will keep. (If you're like me, coffee too!)
Lighters
Flashlight
Fire extinguisher
Carbon monoxide/smoke detector
Big jugs of water (fill RV water tank if can, but remember, fresh water tanks are generally larger than grey tanks, so do dishes and shower into containers and "water" plants with it after)
Extra gas and propane
Buddy heater/electric heaters (for backup)/fan
Generator (solar with batteries optional)
Firewood (if cooking outdoors, or drying clothes in damp or humid weather)

Electric or propane method of cooking
Fridge/cooler or both
Toilet or bucket
Thick quilts to keep warm (if it's winter)
Clothesline and pins
Toilet paper
Indoor/outdoor pots and pans
Barbecue utensils (small outdoor grill if you wish)
Plastic plates and bowls
Cutlery
Dish soap
Shampoo/conditioner/soap etc.
Dish and bath towels
Comfortable clothes that you can layer

Comfortable walking shoes and one pair of sandals
A cool weather jacket and a lighter jacket/sweater
Toque and gloves
Extra oil and fluids to top up rig/van and generator
Basic tools (drill and screws, universal screw driver, lug wrench, tape measure, pliers etc)
First aid kit
Horn to scare bears and other furry friends away

I also highly recommend getting a backroads map for the area you are boondocking in. There are SO many logging roads!

Be sure to also check regulations with where you are for bylaws and legal overnighting.

Happy boondocking my friends🧡 If any of you have questions for us, please don't hesitate to ask!

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