We gave up city life to live on a 40ft boat – it’s so much cheaper than buying a house… and we can travel the world
A COUPLE from Surrey gave up their “city life” to live on a 40ft boat and travel the world – and they saved them a ton of money.
Zach Seward and Becka Eva, both 27, came up with the luring idea while they were locked in their university house during the pandemic.
After doing some intense research, the pair came across a 40ft vessel with two rooms, two bathrooms, a huge kitchen, and a lounge area with just above the deck that offered great views.
Finally in March last year, they decided to buy the boat for £38,000, before spalshing another £10,000 on further renovations.
On average, a first-time home buyer in England needs to save at least £62,470 for deposit, according to a data revealed by Helifax.
Even after spending close to £50,000, the passionate travellers saved a ton of money when compared to other couples of their age who buy out their first homes.
And they can now travel around the world in their mobile home, something that they always planned to do.
Becka told MailOnline: “As much security as there is in getting on the housing ladder and paying into a mortgage, the thought of that sent us running.
“We knew we wanted to see the world, and of course, we could have bought a place and rented it out, but we wanted true freedom.
Zach said it was an adventurous challenge that the couple wanted to get in, and that this was the right time to do it.
“Home is wherever we want it to be. We have the rest of our lives to buy a house and settle down, but doing this kind of stuff when you’re getting older, it can get challenging”
“We both wanted to do it now whilst all of our family are pretty healthy. So it doesn’t really matter as much as being away for long periods of time.
“We both worked normal jobs that we enjoyed but we could see ourselves getting locked into these jobs until retirement and that was scary. We thought that if we didn’t do this now, we were probably not going to have a chance to do it again.”
However, getting their first “dream house” was not as easy as it seems.
The couple said they saved up as much as they could during university while working maximum hours, including nightshifts.
They even sold the majority of their belongings, including Zach’s car, surfboards and clothes.
“When most students were splashing cash on nights out, we decided to save the pennies and work as many hours as we could,” said Zach.
“My first job out of Uni wasn’t my dream job by any means. I worked 60-hour weeks, working night shifts, but it was a means to an end.”
Zach and Becka shared a room in a four-bedroom house in Wales – and paid just £350 a month.
To keep their outgoings under budget, they set a weekly grocery cap of £20.
Becka added: “It was a pretty challenging period of our life. It kinda felt like we had this dream, but it just felt so far away for months and months and I remember thinking, is it worth it?
“Before we even found the boat, we were just saving for the sake of of it. But when we found it and our offer got accepted, it was a relief.”