I save £100s every month living in a home on the water – it’s tiny and cold but the savings make it SO worth it
A WOMAN has told how she saves hundreds of pounds every month thanks to having a home on the water.
The YouTube star known as ‘Kris Atomic’ took to the social media site to mark the first anniversary of her moving out of her London flat to go and live on a narrowboat.
At the end of 2022, Kris along with her boyfriend Andrew Kendall and their cat Matilda made a drastic change to their lives and moved into a 70ft narrowboat with the aim of living, working and travelling around the UK in it.
Reflecting on their first anniversary, Kris said having bought their boat in Stoke-on-Trent they spent a lot of their time “cruising and having lots of little adventures” around the Midlands.
Kris said: “Then in autumn we started the slow journey south towards London.”
She added: “It’s always been the plan to come back by boat but we haven’t been in a rush to do it.
“We spent our time living near small villages lovely market towns and quite a few stretches of nothing but fields and sheep but still the lure of London remains.”
In fact, during their travels Kris said she had been talking to other boaters about mooring in the capital and discovered that many boaters actually hate it and won’t go further south than Watford.
They said it was difficult to find moorings and facilities were limited and often “out of action” – as well as horror stories about crime.
Kris said it was a “mystery” just how anyone got a mooring for their boat, with many tied up side-by-side.
After being in Camden, North London, for a while the couple then moved on.
But has Andrew explained, first they were out of water and so had to go and fill up.
He said: “Sadly we’re now out of water so we’re going to have to go and fill up our tank; go through some locks and then plan our next adventure.”
Kris added: “We had to make a decision about which direction we’d travel in next.
“Every winter the Canal and River Trust has a programme of stoppages for things like repairs of blocks or work on bridges or the toe path.
“This means that between October and March you can’t navigate the network as usual because parts of the canal are closed, sometimes for months at a time.”
She said: “So in winter even if you’re continuously cruising you have to sort of pick an area that you’ll get locked in on.
“And the upcoming closures would affect several parts of the Grand Union which meant that we had to decide.
“Do we head further into London or turn around and start heading back for the winter for a few weeks?”
Easily one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life
Kris
In the end they decided to head back up to the Midlands.
While travelling, Kris started following Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way which is a sort of course to follow and she started writing in a journal every morning which she thought was a far better way to start the day than by scrolling on your phone or reading the news.
As they head north, and various trials and tribulations going through the various locks, Andrew spotted something in the water and got a grabber and went to investigate.
It turned out to be an “old school” Nikon camera but Kris said it would be a “miracle” if it worked.
Despite the cramped conditions, there was enough space for Kris to grow a tomato plant inside, which she had hanging over a window.
Looking back on the past 12 months, Kris said: “Reflecting on my first year of living on a boat it’s been a hell of a ride.
It’s been a joy… I didn’t realise how much I would love the actual travel aspect of living on the move
Kris
“I had no idea what to expect when I first suggested we buy a boat.
“I actually didn’t think that much about it.
“I was somehow completely certain that I’d like it and looking back that’s totally not a given.
“I could have hated it – some people do.
“Andrew approaches things in a quite analytical way and is quite sensible and data driven and of course had experience living on a boat.
“I’m definitely more on the intuitive side. For some reason I just thought it would work out and I didn’t really consider the alternative.”
She added: “But then maybe if I knew too much I might not have gone for it.
UK'S MOST EXPENSIVE CITIES TO LIVE IN
A 2023 study by chartered surveyors Stokemont found these cities are the most expensive in the UK to live in...
- London (£3,075.14 – estimated monthly cost of living for a single person in the city centre, including rent)
- Bristol (£1,913.86)
- Edinburgh (£1,735.90)
- Manchester (£1,682.63)
- Leeds (£1,604.77)
- Belfast (£1,567.48)
- Newcastle (£1,557.90)
- Southampton (£1,547.50)
- Glasgow (1,539.22)
- Liverpool (£1,532.77)
“It’s ended up being easily one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.”
Kris said the move had been triggered by the rental market in London and admitted that if there had been reasonably priced places to live she probably wouldn’t have ever considered living in a boat but she said it had “completely changed” her life.
The move also helped her realise just how burnt out she was or that how much being in nature would help.
She said: “Basically, it’s been a joy… I didn’t realise how much I would love the actual travel aspect of living on the move.”
Kris said the change of scene had been “perfect” and she had so many “fun memories,” adding she felt she had lived more in this one year than in many years beforehand.