I spent about $5k on the adventure at age 31. Gear was about $2k of that. Anything can be done for cheap; what
should be done for cheap is an entirely different question. You have to spend on shoes and insoles (unless you plan to hike barefoot--the guy who tried it my year didn't make it, but it has been done). Everything else is optional. There are tradeoffs to weight, cost and comfort with every gear decision you make. Keep in mind that every extra ounce you carry on your back equals more calories you have to burn to carry it 2000 miles, so what you save on cheap gear you may wind up spending on extra food if you don't buy a certain basic level of weight performance. I would try to shoot for a base pack weight (all gear not including food, water, and the clothes you wear hiking when it's warm and sunny, of about 20 lbs). Your big 3 are your tent (or tarp or hammock if you go either of those routes), pack, and sleeping bag. I spent about $200 on each back in 2006. (I actually went through 2 different packs on the trip--they were both just under $200). I spent $275 on my shell jacket. You can get one for less, obviously, but I don't regret it. (See thread
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/what's-the-most-you've-ever-spent-on-an-article-of-clothing/) Frog toggs were a popular option for people trying to do shell layers on the cheap, but it's not gore-tex, and you're going to get wetter in pouring rain sooner. If you already have a decent shell, that may be fine. 2 places you can easily save on gear: Swiss gear trekking poles at Walmart for $20 are about as good as the $130 I spent on my Leki Makalus (not purchased specifically for that trip), and you can make yourself an alcohol stove for free out of a soda can and save yourself the $80 I spent on my jetboil. You get to save weight too, but you do have to get a pot. The ALDHA guide is a must have, IMO, but don't buy it 5-6 years out--it's updated annually, and things do change on the trail from year to year, although if you join, apparently now you get access to it in .pdf form for free. All other reading is purely optional. I enjoy Bill Bryson, but for the entertainment value, not the educational value. The lowest cost hike attempt I met out there was a kid (by that I mean just out of college) trying to do the whole hike for $700. Not my recommendation. It's nice to be able to have a few beers in town with your trail buddies, splurge for a hotel room (split 4 ways, of course) every couple of weeks, and to stay in hostels for $10/night every once in a while without worrying about doing a couple hours of work-for-stay after a long day of hiking. I spent 171 days on my trip. If I were to do anything differently, it would be to do it slower.
I'm PMing you the link to my journal, which includes descriptions of most of my basic gear selections. It's available on request to anyone who is interested. I'd post it, but it identifies me by name, and I like to keep a thin veil of anonymity on the public forum. Whiteblaze.net is a good forum for trail specific advice (or at least it was back when I was researching), and there's an AT group on Facebook now as well, but feel free to ask any other questions you may have here.
