Save Money: Live Full Time on a Sailboat

Live full time on a sailboat? Is that a crazy idea? Maybe it is, but there are many people that actually live full time on sailboats. Some people manage to live on a sailboat as small as 22 feet and do it quite happily. Living on a sailboat takes a little bit of sacrifice but those that do swear by the lifestyle. Let's explore a few ways that people full-time on sailboats.

Places like Florida and California have many people that live aboard sailboats. The warmer weather makes living there a year-round possibility. Some people live in marinas and manage to work regular full time business jobs. Generally, their rent is much cheaper than living on land. There are boat slips in the Florida Keys that you can rent for $500 a month. Try living in an apartment that cheaply.

When you come right down to it, how much time you actually spend at home? You don't have to cook on a sailboat if you don't want to. You can eat your meals ashore in all the same restaurants that bachelors prefer. You basically go back to your sailboat and watch TV, listen to music or read. Then you go to sleep just like landlubbers do. A bonus is that your front yard is nicer on a sailboat.

Living on a sailboat can enable a person to be able to save for a down payment on property ashore. Another plus to living on a boat is that you can work part-time or even become a consultant and work on a computer from your boat. Your lifestyle can be carefree if you live on a boat. If you get tired of your surroundings you can always set sail for a new adventure. Try that with an apartment!

There are locations on both coasts of the United States that have moorings for sailboats. Being on mooring is even cheaper than renting a slip for your boat. Of course, you won't have electricity like you have at dock side. You can generate your own electricity by solar power, wind power or water power. There are actually devices with propellers that will generate electricity from the current flowing beneath your sailboat. You will have to be stingy with your electrical usage but it can be done. There was one live aboard bachelor that lived on a mooring in Southern California and rowed a quarter-mile to shore for work every day. He saved lots of money.

You can buy a used sailboat at a reasonable cost. If you know a little bit about buying and selling sailboats you can find 30 foot boats for under $10,000. Of course, you will need some repairs done. Most of the repairs you'll do yourself to save money. There are people that need money quickly that will sell cheaply, if you know how to bargain. Books are available on buying and selling boats for profit. Buying a sailboat in the winter months can save you a bundle. Do some reading and be flexible and creative.

There are also people that go from Southern Florida to New England and back every season with their sailboats. After all, the wind pushes the boat and these people are in no hurry. The same thing happens on the Pacific coast of the US. Sailors routinely go from Washington to Southern California or Mexico for the winter. This is a different lifestyle that many of us would not be able to live due to having a job and a family. Some people spend years just living in the Bahamas. They spend little, catch a fish for dinner and enjoy the scenery. It works for them.

Living on a sailboat is being done by thousands of adventurous souls all over the world. Some just like living in a marina. Others like to cruise to foreign places of interest. If you're willing to toss most of your land bound possessions you can adapt quite easily to sail boat living. How much you spend is dependent on what you need to make you happy. You can eat quite cheaply and you can live for peanuts aboard a sailboat. Some folks slave and dream about such a life. Others are just doing it now.