Shantyboat living is what you say it is. Plain and simple. Well, it has to include, in one way or another, some kind of boat, though with some of the craft we may choose or build, even that requirement may get a bit hazy. But there is no single shantyboat lifestyle, nor are there lifestyle definition police. You decide.
But let’s cover a few bases to get you to your own personal framework.
Is shantyboat living poverty? Encyclopedia Britannica says…
“Poverty is the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Poverty is said to exist when people lack the means to satisfy their basic needs. ”
Let’s take that apart a bit. ”Poverty is the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions.” Shantyboat living could, for many, match this part of the definition to the letter. The mere act of living on a boat, with it’s poverty of space, possessions, and most imporantly, lack of HOUSE, puts the shantyboat lifestyle well outside the range of what most would consider socially acceptable. Most wouldn’t consider owning anything that could be called a shantyboat, let along moving into one. Most would consider living on ANY boat odd, almost no matter the size or opulence.
But the definition goes on to say, “Poverty is said to exist when people lack the means to satisfy their basic needs.”
If you are moving aboard a shantyboat as a measure of absolute last resort, and more importantly, if you consider the choices you are making as forced, as falling well below another lifestyle you truly seek, then you will be living on a shantyboat in poverty. This isn’t the shantyboat lifestyle, it’s just poverty on a boat, and given the challenges of social and legal acceptance of shantyboaters that we will touch upon later, you are going to have a tough time making a go of it.
Dictonary.Reference.Com adds that poverty is a, “Deficiency of necessary or desirable ingredients, qualities,etc. Synonyms: thinness, poorness, insufficiency.” It is my belief that shantyboat living is the total opposite of insufficiency. This lifestyle is, in almost any definition, a voluntary choice to be more self-sufficient… to live with less… to have a greater hand in making, finding, and crafting the needs of your lifestyle as you define it.
Shantyboat living is about resourcefulness, not poverty. It’s not worrying about where your next meal comes from, it’s about taking a more active hand in creating it. It’s about using what you have, and it’s about using what you find or can create with a certain sense of frugality, of living within your needs. If you see blackberries along the river bank, make pie or jam. When you next spy tomatoes at a dollar a pound at the grocery make and put away pasta sauce, or even a tomato tapenade. Buy what you need, use what you buy, and keep your eyes and mind open to what you can find or create.
This lifestyle is about redefining work, play, and leisure time.. not necessarily working less. Would you rather have more time or more money? Would you rather spend your time finding bargains at the grocery or working in a stressful job 50 or more hours per week so you can afford to eat out more often? Would you rather struggle to keep a house all it’s trappings, the costs barely met by the demands of a full time job… or do you see something more in the travels of Dave and Anke Zeiger of Triloboats.com. They’ve lived on about $5000 a year while travelling on the coasts of Washington state, Alaska and British Columbia. They take traditional jobs as they need them, but probably “work” harder and longer at creating or finding their basic needs than those more living more traditionally. There may be more time spent directly meeting your basic needs, but the shantyboat lifestyle often means spending less time working to fund the support structure required of a traditional life. It’s more about the mindset of trading skills or supplies, not buying your way into and out of problems or “needs”.
Speaking of which… some who choose this lifestyle do so to escape from humanity, but others find the lifestyle a more direct and satisfying link toward connecting with our fellow earthlings, human and otherwise. There are those whose time is best spent in the world of me, myself, and I… and there are those who seek more interaction through the opportunities to meet others… to spend more time with others.
Shantyboat living doesn’t necessarily mean a technology free lifestyle. That’s up to you, but if you turn your back on technology you are also turning your back on a tremendous resource. As we will quite frequently discuss later, technology can make the shantyboat lifestyle viable, even to the point of being essential. You don’t have to buy into the marketing mania of latest, greatest, fastest, or smallest. You can find technology VERY affordably or at least frugally. (By the way, the late, great, and somewhat shamed TV cook and personality Jeff Smith talked of frugality in terms of not of being cheap, rather he spoke of buying and using wisely and consciously. He argued that lobster could be more frugal than top ramen in terms of flavor, nutrition, enjoyment, etc)
A shantyboat lifestyle could mean:
- Living the life as you want it.
- Living within your means, and finding meaning and joy in the way you live.
- Becoming more self-sufficient.
- Making the best use of what you have, what you can find, can trade, or can create.
- Redefining success.
- Finding joy in the world around you.
- Not buying into the Madison Avenue version of the American Dream.
- Redefining your relationship with people and other creatures of this earth.
- Living more consciously, spending your time working more directly toward your goals.
- Finding new ways to live your life in the way you want to live it.
Links
Why the TV series Sex and the City isn’t real life. Some clever and informative writing in this article for those sucked in by the supposed charms of life on TV.
Urban Scavenging. It’s for written for those on campus, but you’ll find some nuggets no matter what.
Freegans. Leave the traditional economy behind.
Living simply, simply living Walden Pond now.
Bryan’s summary of what “shantyboat lifestyle could mean” lays out many salient points for individual consideration by those contemplating such a lifestyle. To me, as an architect and sailor, the term “shantyboat” carries broad meaning literally and figuratively. In strictest terms, it simply implies a crudely built house boat. In the broader sense, for me and I suspect many more, it carries a fantastic range of possibilities and implications in its ten letters.
Sailboats, Cruisers and Shantyboats have long been forerunners in sustainable approaches to design and life style. Home built, life on the waterways is a dream of many and the actual condition for an ever growing number of those (for their own reasons) choosing to spend time living on the water.
To say, as I do, that my retirement plan is a “shantyboat” is somewhat of an understatement. It is true, in the sense that it will be a boat of some sort, although it is doubtful that it will be of crude construction. First thoughts and ideas for one such boat are exemplified in the design shown at this link ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdTkCs5BZDQ ~ where the anticipated incorporation of the latest technologies in communications, lighting, energy use, conservation and generation places it in a category far from crude and construction of sustainable, ecologically friendly materials and finishes to a thoughtful and sound design sets this “shanty” apart again.
As Bryan indicates, the decision of what the “shantyboat lifestyle” shall consist is in the hands or mind of the “shanty-boater”. After all like his mind “a man’s home is his castle” and for some the term “castleyacht” may shed the associations with poverty. I for one prefer the charm and intrigue of the term “shantyboat” and intend to retire to one of some sort. I suspect the experience to be quite enriching.
JH