We have defined low cost camping that anywhere under $20 per night, obviously the lower the better but if you cannot stay somewhere free then low cost is the next best thing.
Staying on my parents’ property is definitely low cost. We don’t pay rent, thanks mum and dad for your support, but we do pay towards electricity and water. We have decided that since we are here fulltime at the moment that it is easier to hook up to the mains electricity than to watch out usage through the batteries, especially in winter when you are pushing to charge the batteries with the sun. We have to fill up the tanks every 3 to 5 days with water through the hose and as we are not close enough to have one hose (there is a join) we cannot just keep the hose on, that is why we have to fill up the tanks. Our waste from the sink and shower goes directly on the lawn and it has not had an impact to the grass still growing. Our toilet is a composting toilet, so we only need to empty the pee out every 3 to 5 days depending on how much we are using it and they are fine with us doing this on the property. Our #2’s only needs to be emptied once a month or two depending on how much it is used and it goes into a garbage bag and gets put into the bin, so we are pretty self-sufficient. I think it works out to under $1.50 per day that it is costing us.
As we move around Australia we will list places we stayed at that are low cost and what the Pro’s and Con’s are.