Economy

"How many a poor soul have I met well nigh crushed and smothered under its load, creeping down the road of life, pushing before it a barn of seventy-five feet by forty."

Thoreau, of course. I've been thinking a lot about him these days, and what simplicity truly is. How much can I afford to have? Well, what can I fit in a backpack?

"Most of the luxuries, and many of the so called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to life."

I might agree to that when talking about toasters and French presses and gilded bird baths. Did Thoreau carry his world on his back? No, he carried it in his head. But he had a place in Walden to lay down whatever wouldn't fit inside. If he had carried his hindrances for thirty miles in a backpack thru the Cascades he would realize even more truly what can be done without. Anyone would.

In his essay, 'Economy', Thoreau made it very clear by writing up a list of all the things on which he had spent money.


"House...................................$ 28.12½
Farm one year........................... 14.72½
Food eight months....................... 8.74
Clothing, &c., eight months............ 8.35¾
Oil, &c., eight months................. 2.00
---------
In all..................................$ 61.99¾"

This was in 1847 when he reckoned all this. Had Thoreau repeated the exact Walden experiment today it would cost him $1433.78.

So, thinking along the same lines, I sat down and wrote a list of everything I carry and the relative value of each item. These would be the necessities, the luxuries, and yes, the hindrances. I have not included food, film, and sunblock or those items that seem peripheral to the walk; of which there is only one, my ipod.

Otherwise:
Gregory Backpack.....................................................................$45
Mountain Hardware Sleeping bag & stuff sack.....................$125
Thermarest..............................................................................$28
MSR single person tent..........................................................$230
McCann's Oatmeal canister....................................................$7.50
Clothing.....................................................................................$357.35
Journal.......................................................................................$11

In all I have spent, $803.85. Or had I been alive in 1847 and got to Walden first, $34.77.

Also worth mentioning, I have received a number of items thru the generosity of others. Since I have striven during this walk to never turn away anything that was offered to me, I have acquired the following:

Steel cup,
Chopsticks,
First Aid kit,
Toothbrush,
The New Testament,
Condoms,
Camera.........................................................................................$0

Most have proved quite useful. I am very grateful for the camera, and chopsticks are far lighter and easier to replace in the woods than silverware. However, to date, I have had occasion to open neither the New Testament, nor the condoms.

Some of my choices I think Thoreau would applaud. There doesn't seem much reason to purchase a $35 titanium cookpot when a metal oatmeal can will work just as well. Some of my other choices, now that I have seen their actual cost alongside others, I find appalling. Had I used a tarp instead of a tent and opted for a different brand of boot and bought my clothing entirely secondhand, I could have saved myself $400. Thats $400 further I could have gone.

It seems that I have always stepped best when my foot came down on a dollar. The trick is to stretch that dollar to a mile, and then to ten, till your walking on pennies. The more gear, the less food. The pricier the items, the fewer miles traveled. And I suppose my fear is the fewer miles, the less of a person I will become.

So, to limit that from coming true, I am doing my best to cut out whatever is unnecessary. Is a tent needed when a tarp might work? Do I need three shirts? Are either the New Testament or profilactics useful in the solitude of the forest?

My back holds my world, and like a snail, I tote it along. I am limiting my necessities so I can appreciate my luxuries.

"The portionless find it labor enough to cultivate a few cubic feet of flesh."



Link to Thoreau: http://www.kenkifer.com/Thoreau/economy.htm

Link to a really fun historical inflation calculator: http://www.westegg.com/inflation/