{"id":234805,"date":"2023-09-05T16:20:55","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T16:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/?p=234805"},"modified":"2023-09-05T16:20:55","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T16:20:55","slug":"i-moved-into-a-narrow-boat-and-now-i-pay-just-350-a-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/i-moved-into-a-narrow-boat-and-now-i-pay-just-350-a-month\/","title":{"rendered":"I moved into a narrow boat &#8211; and now I pay just \u00a3350 a month"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>I got fed up of costly London rent so I moved into a narrow boat &#8211; and now I pay just \u00a3350 a month<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Shannon Lane, 28, says she doesn&#8217;t have to pay electricity\u00a0bills at her new home<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>READ MORE:\u00a0Couple move to Bali where their rent is just \u00a32,000 a YEAR\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A thrifty woman who swapped her one-bedroom flat for life on a narrowboat now pays just \u00a3350 a month.<\/p>\n<p>Shannon Lane, 28, originally from Buckinghamshire, grew tired of spending \u00a3950 a month to rent her shared London flat, so she chucked it in to live on a boat &#8211; and best of all she pays no electricity fees.<\/p>\n<p>While living at her former abode, she saw her bills soar to \u00a31,100 per month for just a room and utilities. And when her landlord increased the rent from \u00a3950 a month to \u00a31,020 and suggested adding one more tenant &#8211; she knew enough was enough.<\/p>\n<p>Upon searching for a resolution,\u00a0Shannon&#8217;s curiosity was piqued when she spotted a narrowboat for sale while walking along London&#8217;s canals.<\/p>\n<p>The chance encounter was a dream come true for the freelance producer. She immediately &#8216;fell in love&#8217; with the property, and with the help of a loan purchased it for \u00a324,000.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/05\/11\/75069787-12481747-Shannon_Lane_28_from_Buckinghamshire_swapped_her_one_bedroom_fla-a-30_1693911197787.jpg\" height=\"1114\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Shannon Lane, 28, from Buckinghamshire, swapped her one-bedroom flat for life on a narrowboat and now pays just \u00a3350 a month (Pictured: Sharon with her two-year-old dog Gilbert)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/05\/11\/75069783-12481747-She_lives_on_the_boat_with_her_dog_Gilbert_a_pug_mix_who_she_say-a-31_1693911197789.jpg\" height=\"749\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>She lives on the boat with her dog, Gilbert, a pug mix, who she says helps her feel safe (Pictured: Inside the narrowboat, which she&#8217;s kitted out with a green colour scheme and a funky zebra rug)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/05\/11\/75069791-12481747-The_freelance_producer_grew_tired_of_spending_950_a_month_to_ren-m-33_1693911286745.jpg\" height=\"804\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The freelance producer grew tired of spending \u00a3950 a month to rent her shared London flat, so she chucked it in to live on a boat &#8211; and best of all she pays no electricity fees. Here, Shannon is seen relaxing in front of her boat home<\/p>\n<p>She explained: &#8216;I was living in a flat in Clapton, and my rent was around \u00a3950 a month for one room. The landlord wanted to raise that price by around \u00a370 and put somebody else into the flat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;They wanted to build a fake wall and get someone else in the dining room and make it a windowless bedroom, which I&#8217;m pretty sure is illegal.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I was just basically done with renting. So I took out a loan and bought the boat on the spur of the moment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I was actually walking down the canal and saw the boat I currently live on. It had a &#8220;For Sale&#8221; sign on it, so I looked around and fell in love&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>After making the big swap, Shannon now boasts a monthly saving of \u00a31,200 a month.<\/p>\n<p>Breaking down her costs, Shannon says she pays \u00a3300 a month for the cost of the boat loan, and \u00a320 a month in winter for coal and wood heating.<\/p>\n<p>She doesn&#8217;t pay for electricity because she has solar panels, while she pays for gas on an as needed basis.<\/p>\n<p>Her insurance sets her back \u00a3100 a year, while the license fee costs \u00a3800 a year.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/05\/11\/75069793-12481747-While_Shannon_s_boat_was_in_good_condition_when_she_bought_it_sh-m-34_1693911339428.jpg\" height=\"875\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>While Shannon&#8217;s boat was in good condition when she bought it, she&#8217;s carried out minor renovations to make it her dream home\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/05\/10\/75069779-12481747-image-a-34_1693907664303.jpg\" height=\"1278\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Shannon&#8217;s cozy home features two settees, a kitchen and a toilet &#8211; which\u00a0 she has to empty out herself\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/05\/10\/75069797-12481747-image-a-30_1693907612077.jpg\" height=\"1137\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>While living at her former abode, she witnessed her bills soar to \u00a31100 per month for just a room and utilities. And when her landlord allegedly increased the rent from \u00a3950 a month to \u00a31,020 and suggested adding one more tenant &#8211; she knew enough was enough<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/05\/10\/75069789-12481747-image-a-32_1693907627675.jpg\" height=\"839\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The narrowboat is situated off London&#8217;s canals between Notting Hill and Mile End (Pictured dog Gilbert on the boat)<\/p>\n<p>She lives on the boat with her dog, Gilbert, a two-year-old pug mix, who she says helps her feel safe. She has also added security measures like locks and alarms.<\/p>\n<p>Shannon admits she didn&#8217;t do much research before purchasing the narrowboat &#8211; something she wouldn&#8217;t advise other people to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite the odds, she was pleasantly surprised with the boating way of life, as she thought it was only something &#8216;older generations did&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Now situated off canals\u00a0between Notting Hill and Mile End, she&#8217;s discovered a community of like-minded people and has even made friends.<\/p>\n<p>She added: &#8216;I didn&#8217;t know anyone who lived on boats. I just thought it was something that people in the countryside or older generations did. I didn&#8217;t know people in my generation could do it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;But I&#8217;ve had my eyes opened. There&#8217;s lots of people my age living on London&#8217;s canals and they&#8217;ve helped me settle into boating life.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/05\/11\/75069785-12481747-Shannon_is_pleasantly_surprised_with_the_boating_way_of_life_as_-a-32_1693911197791.jpg\" height=\"1132\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Shannon is pleasantly surprised with the boating way of life, as she thought it was only something &#8216;older generations did&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/05\/11\/75069795-12481747-Although_Shannon_enjoys_living_in_the_boat_she_advises_budding_n-m-35_1693911372181.jpg\" height=\"890\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Although Shannon enjoys living in the boat, she advises budding narrow boat owners to do their research before purchasing one\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I&#8217;ve always struggled to make friends. I&#8217;ve never had so many friends until now. Everyone&#8217;s a free spirit and slightly quirky. It&#8217;s great&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>While Shannon&#8217;s boat was in good condition when she bought it, she&#8217;s carried out minor renovations to make it her dream home.<\/p>\n<p>She adds that the costs of doing so has equated to nothing more than a lick of paint and some accessories.<\/p>\n<p>She explained: &#8216;I just needed to get some paint, replace the doorknobs to make it shinier and glitzy, and get some nice soft furnishings. It didn&#8217;t cost me much at all.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The bigger costs are the maintenance you have to do every year. You need to get the boat blackened, which is when you paint the bottom to make sure it&#8217;s kind of watertight. It costs around \u00a31,000, but it&#8217;s still quite cheap&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Shannon said the best thing about living on a boat is the freedom it gives her to travel, although it does have one downside that might put anyone with a sensitive nose off.<\/p>\n<p>She revealed: &#8216;The best thing about it is the travelling. I&#8217;m a free spirit. I just love being able to go wherever I want.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The worst thing is definitely the toilet. I have to empty my toilet. It&#8217;s basically a giant well. You have to take it to this disgusting point and empty it out, and sometimes it&#8217;s full or clogged up. I&#8217;ve had to do that on a hangover&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Shannon shared advice for anyone else considering narrowboat life amid the cost of living crisis.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Do your research. Find out about the way of life in general. You don&#8217;t get the luxuries that you do in a house, but if you are a free spirit, and I would say just go for it&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/femail\/article-12481747\/I-got-fed-costly-London-rent-moved-narrow-boat-pay-just-350-month.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I got fed up of costly London rent so I moved into a narrow boat &#8211; and now I pay just \u00a3350 a month Shannon Lane, 28, says she doesn&#8217;t&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>I moved into a narrow boat - and now I pay just \u00a3350 a month - lovemainstream.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/i-moved-into-a-narrow-boat-and-now-i-pay-just-350-a-month\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I moved into a narrow boat - and now I pay just \u00a3350 a month - lovemainstream.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I got fed up of costly London rent so I moved into a narrow boat &#8211; 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