A THRIFTY couple have revealed their monthly costs after deciding to move into a 59ft narrowboat.
After meeting at university and bonding over a shared love of adventure, Adam Lind and Lauren Coley Lind spent years exploring the world.
After returning back home from their hitchhiking from the UK to Iran, the adventurous duo spent some time living with Lauren’s mum when Covid-19 hit.
At the time, Adam told Love Property, they had no idea where to live.
“We stopped travelling because we wanted a base, but still had these nomadic tendencies,” Adam explained.
One day when Lauren’s mum returned from a lockdown walk with a pal who lived on a narrowboat, the couple began contemplating life on the water.
Soon, they became hooked on the idea – and after they’d borrowed a narrowboat from a friend to test the lifestyle, Lauren and Adam could really envision themselves doing this long-term.
Some research later, they finally found their soon-to-be new home on Facebook Marketplace, which cost them £38,000.
Although the narrowboat was in great condition and perfectly liveable, the couple wanted to carry out some cosmetic work.
“We completely ripped out the bathroom and have renovated the bow deck into a conservatory space,” said Lauren, adding they’d also upgraded parts of the kitchen and painted the bedroom.
The boat, known as The Raman Rose, is 59 feet long and six-foot, four inches wide.
Despite its compact size, their water home provides everything the couple – and their pooch Shanti – could need.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=” We ditched our flat to live on an island by the Thames with no bridge” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6368366186112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]For the couple – who also grow their own herbs, fruits and vegetables inside handmade planters during summer – being able to explore new places while being at home is the best thing about owning a narrowboat.
Their adventurous lifestyle has since attracted the interest of close to a whopping 390k followers on TikTok – where Adam also recently broke down the costs of running a narrowboat home during the harsh winter season.
[authenticated-scripts src=”%3Cscript%20class%3D%22palin-poll%22%20src%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fpollingwidgets%2Fv3%2Fwidget.js%3Fquestion_id%3D106255%26game%3Dpolling%22%3E%3C%2Fscript%3E” type=”embedded” width=”100″ /]He said: ”This year is a bit different for us, as we’ve decided to take on a winter mooring, so we have the extra cost of £208 per month.”
However, he noted, because they’ve been able to change their license from all canals and rivers to a rivers-only license, they’ve slashed the costs from £102 to £60 per month.
”The license is what legally allows you to be on waterways and covers rubbish and recycling facilities, water point and lock maintenance,” Adam told social media users.
Another major winter cost the pair have to set money aside for are supplies, which include coal and wood for fire.
”And it’s always good to keep diesel and gas topped up in case the river floods or the canal freezes.
”Yesterday, we had a visit from the coal boat to top up our supplies – we paid £1.26 per litre of diesel, £15.95 for 20kg of coal and £45 for a gas bottle.”
As the couple are not moving their narrowboat this winter, the diesel ”will last” and they won’t need more than two gas bottles, Adam reckoned.
”We hope to forage a lot of the wood to accompany the coal.”
Other costs included £17 for insurance, £15 for Wi-Fi, as well as boat loan of £447 per month – which they still have eight months to cover.
The total costs – minus the boat loan – work out to be £412.
‘That’s why I want to run away to a boat’
The video has since received a mixed bag of responses – why others complained about the expenses, others reckoned it was a bargain deal.
One person said: ”and that’s why I want to run away to a boat.”
Someone else chimed in: ”This is so fascinating to watch.”
”Super cheap! Good job!” penned another.
”at that price point I’d rather have a house,” a critic wrote.
”It’s way more than I imagined! Wow you guys basically pay almost how much I pay for my month rent!” commented a viewer.
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