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Justin Hiskett previously lived in a property in East London, and paid \u00a31400 a month for rent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He swapped his house for a narrowboat in Bath, now paying around a third of what he used to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He faced challenges due to his inexperience, something he described as a “baptism of fire” for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His boat lacked a constant water or electricity supply, and costs were exacerbated by a recent increase in diesel prices of around 40%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was on a continuous cruiser license, meaning he had to move around every two weeks, and to move a certain distance over the course of a year or risk having his license restricted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Hiskett owns a liveaboard, a vessel he built himself, and therefore does not pay VAT, saving him 20% on the price of a commercial vessel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other ways he saves money include not having the heating on and adjusting to a minimal lifestyle to save energy where “you have a very direct relationship between the the environmental comfort level and actually facilitating that”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regarding safety, Justin said: “I did get broken into once up in Hartford here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Security is quite an issue, I have had female friends of mine staying on board, they feel a lot more vulnerable and threatened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You’ve got only a little glass window between you and a footpath.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Social benefits come from a peaceful, environmental aspect where Mr Hiskett spends time with his cat by the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He says the lifestyle is ideal for people who like living alone and for people who are “more independent, a bit more adventurous and willing not to have all of the necessary luxuries in life”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This way of living makes him appreciate the small things in life, where wasting a splash or two of water before brushing his teeth can make an impact on efficient energy saving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He admitted: “things like that that you just don’t think of when you’re in a house.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Narrowboat living has become increasingly popular, but there many unseen complications that people don’t know about when they are presented with the idyllic lifestyle beforehand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":259,"featured_media":78476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n