Cost of living crisis? Just swap your flat for a boat!
COUPLE SLASH BILLS AFTER MOVING INTO CANAL BARGE
A COUPLE says they have slashed their monthly outgoings in half by swapping their rented Manchester flat for a boat.
Jack and Gemma Cox, both 29, now live on the waterways between Manchester and the Yorkshire Dales in a two-bed wide beam narrowboat, along with their pet tortoise Teacake.
The couple, who want to be closer to Gemma’s family in the Dales, decided it was time to start saving for a house.
Paying £1,000 for rent and bills, and putting money into a help-to-buy ISA savings account, the couple realised they were looking at an average house price of £280,000 for a two-bed.
Knowing it would take a long while to achieve their goals Jack, a secondary school teacher, and paramedic Gemma decided they were going to buy a boat instead. In doing so, the couple have managed to cut their outgoings by £500 a month to half of what they were paying before.
Gemma explained: “We took a loan out to buy the boat, and even still, the boat was way under half the amount of the houses we were looking at. We pay £550 a month paying it (the loan) off each month. That is our only proper outgoing each month, the only other thing is getting the toilets pumped which is £15 once a month too.”
Gemma admits that their plan ‘started off as a bit of a laugh’ but it soon became a reality.
“We kept thinking about it, and Jack kept saying ‘imagine living on that boat.’ When we realised it was only an hour away from us we decided to go and view it. Two weeks later we had put the deposit down on it and were about to move onto it.”
She said the couple had to do ‘a lot of research’ before the change, admitting that moving onto a boat takes ‘a lot of hard work and time.’ Even after the move, ‘things did tend to go wrong a lot of the time,’ she said.
But their new way of life has turned out to be a much cheaper option than their previous home. Gemma said: “We were paying £650 in rent for a twobed terraced house in Manchester, and then £450 in bills that included our gas, electric, water, council tax and internet.
“We now use solar panels for our energy, and when it starts to run out in the evenings, we use a camping stove and camping gas, so we don’t have any bills to pay now. Our phones have unlimited data so we just use the hotspot from our phones too. We live a completely nomadic life, and we’re always on the move.”
The Canal & River Trust takes a yearly £1,100 fee, which covers being on the water, as well as using water at the canal water stations.
The couple’s new pad has been a hit with friends and family, according to Gemma. “Our family and friends love it, we have never been so popular,” she said.
“Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves as this is our real life, when we are sailing and there are ducklings and forests it is so beautiful, it’s good for your soul.”