"Rather Than Paying $2,300 a Month for Rent, I'd Rather Live Here for $185,000"

British Woman in Her 20s Chooses Life on a Boat
Living Expenses Drop After Moving to a Boat
"Great Place to Live and Easy to Manage... Now, It's My Home"

A woman in her 20s living in the small British city of Bristol has attracted attention after choosing to live on a boat due to the burden of housing costs. After moving to a boat, her living expenses reportedly dropped to nearly one-third of what they were before.

According to local British media such as Bristol Live and the Daily Mail, the woman in question, Lucy Barwick (28), gave up her apartment and moved into a secondhand boat in April last year. The boat is a used motorboat measuring 14.6 meters in length and 3.65 meters in width, equipped with a kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom suitable for one person to live in.

A British woman in her 20s who chose boat living instead of an apartment. Screenshot from Daily Mail website.

It is reported that Barwick took out a loan of more than 100,000 pounds (about 185 million won) to purchase the boat. However, her life has become much more relaxed than before. Prior to living on the boat, Barwick and her partner shared an apartment in the bustling Bedminster area of Bristol, paying monthly rent and utility bills totaling 1,600 pounds (about 2.95 million won).

After breaking up with her partner, Barwick had to shoulder the entire amount on her own. Eventually, she decided to leave the apartment and live on a boat. She told the media, "I don't particularly like boating, but I soon realized that a boat is actually a great place to live and easy to manage. Now, the boat is my home." Currently, Barwick's boat is moored at the Bristol docks, and it is said that she has not used the motor even once since purchasing it.

There are some inconveniences compared to living in an apartment, such as having to prepare for heating during the winter herself and manually refilling the toilet water tank. However, Barwick emphasized, "If I had bought a house, I would be tied to a mortgage for 30 years, but with the boat, I can pay it off in just a few years, so the burden is much less." She added, "Even including mooring fees, water, and electricity, the monthly cost is only 600 pounds (about 1.1 million won). When I lived in an apartment, I had no financial flexibility, but now I can live comfortably with plenty of room to spare."

Meanwhile, it is reported that in the UK, there are quite a few cases of people choosing boats over houses due to housing prices. The Daily Mail reported, "Shannon Lane, a woman in her 20s who used to live in a shared apartment in London, also became exhausted from paying 1,020 pounds (about 1.85 million won) in monthly rent and decided to live on a boat. Although boats are smaller than houses, the advantage is that she only needs to pay 350 pounds (about 650,000 won) per month."