What is the cost of living on a narrowboat?

You may notice that I very rarely review products or services on this blog. However, when Paul Smith from Living on a Narrowboat asked me to review his new budgeting software I felt that it was something that could be really relevant to any of my readers who dream of living on a narrowboat.

Narrowbudget 

...is the world’s only budget calculator designed specifically for narrowboat owners. The Standard version is free but the Gold edition allows you to load recent data from a real liveaboard narrowboat, save the data you enter, add your own categories, download the eBooks, Living on a Narrowboat: The real cost of a life afloat, and Living on a Narrowboat 21`Liveaboard Case studies, and it includes the Narrowbudget Cheat Sheet.

The introductory booklet points out that, “Living on a narrowboat is likely to cost you more than you imagined and is much harder work than living in a house.” 

Quick Start Guide 

Despite the title, ‘A Quick Start Guide’ I found myself six pages in before I got to the page describing how to enter data. The first few pages are all about initial log-in with repeated invitations to upgrade to the Gold version (which I already had.) So, I might suggest restructuring the Gold edition guide to begin with a ‘Quick Start’ summary, followed by a more detailed section, including trouble-shooting any log-in problems.

I then got stuck in and had a good look through every section of the process, adding estimates of my own based on my liveaboard life on a 70ft narrowboat. I also took a look at the pre-entered data Paul has offered based on his own lifestyle.

Advice

I loved the explanations, hints, advice and links in the right hand column that accompany each section; very informative. For example, in the section on propulsion diesel Paul writes,

“There generally isn't much difference between your engine's fuel consumption whether it's running on your mooring to charge your batteries or gentle cruising along the cut.”

I wanted to add here that the EU tax on propulsion diesel is a tax on leisure boating and in my opinion running your engine to recharge domestic electricity is not a leisure cost. Our family therefore declares about 95-100% domestic use in winter. Our only ‘leisurely’ cruise is to the water point!

However, I then found Paul explains this very well in a side-link from this page to his forum: “The duty paid/duty free split is not an exact science.” 

Cheat Sheet 

The Narrowbudget Cheat Sheet is brilliant because it breaks down what Paul spends on his own lifestyle. He really has thought of everything in this detailed summary of his expenditure.

I’m quite jealous that Paul’s mooring is around half the price of mine, and yet he’s in a marina with laundry facilities and an electric and water supply close to the boat. (I'm on the towpath.) So the mooring you are able to find can really affect your costs. I would add that engine repairs can be a really ‘wild card’ of unpredictable expenses, as you never know what is going to break next. 

Bonuses 

In addition to the bonuses that come with the Gold version of the software, of course you also have access to all of Paul’s site: Living on a Narrowboat. This is full of informative articles and forum discussions that answer almost every question you could think of about living on a narrowboat.

I love the visual layout of the dashboard which is the final page of the process where you receive your results. There are several bar charts that give you a graphic overview of your data. 

Passion! 

Over the past couple of years I have watched Paul develop and grow his website and I must say he is really passionate about his topic.  (He created the site shortly after he moved onto James in April 2010.) Having tried out the software it is also now clear to me that he has been passionate and thorough in his research in trying to create the best experience for anyone with questions about living on a narrowboat. The extra bonus materials included in the Gold version give the newcomer a good idea about the realities of life afloat.

I would recommend this product to anyone thinking of living on a narrowboat, it could save you a lot of time as Paul has kindly done the research for you!

***

Disclosure: The product was supplied free of charge to me for the purpose of review. The opinions are my own. This article contains affiliate links.

@BritMums Carnival goes watery and dreamy!

Take time to dream.

Welcome to the BritMums blog carnival: a collection of writing from other bloggers, loosely based around the theme of boats and water, or following dreams, because that's what my blog is about.  The idea is to grab a coffee and begin to read, drifting from blog to blog discovering new voices, ideas and dreams. If you read something you like, leave a comment and spread a little sunshine around the Internet today.

Maggy from Red Ted Art has written a post about making paper boats: Such a lovely idea, I think I would enjoy it as much as the kids. My five year old daughter suggested we write a message on one and send it out to sea, like a message in a bottle.  How to make a paper boat.

On her other site, also fitting in with my carnival theme is her Life of Pi review

Catherine writes picture book recommendations for little people near and far at Storysnug.com and recommends this pirate book. The Pirates Next Door. Matilda’s life in Dull-on-Sea is made much more exciting when The Jolley-Rogers move in next door while their pirate ship is being repaired!

And Jenny at The Gingerbread House has got a great craft idea for Valentines Day; Valentine Sun Catchers, and at her family blog Treading on Lego, she describes how to make a hand print Easter lamb.

Sarah at Mum of Three World took her family on a canal boat holiday, and enjoyed getting grubby and wearing a badge saying 'Lock Labourer'! She even found that boating made her talk to her husband more than she does in 'real life'. A lovely, funny post: Canal Boat Tales.

Sarah at Crewcutandnewt.com is a north Wiltshire mum drowning, or waving, she still hasn't found what she's looking for. She's written a heart-felt post of her family's search for a dream home near water, with countryside views, and stumbles across the history of an old lock keepers cottage. Beautiful writing.

And finally, the most watery, dreamy, canal-themed post of all from Alice, writer, traveller, dreamer and boater who blogs at Writings From the Wherever. In A Travelling Heart she asks herself 'What does travel mean to you?' She's also included a beautiful video in her post, of narrowboat travelling. 

Thanks to the lovely bloggers who have joined in today. It's been an evocative, watery journey visiting your writings! xx

Memory Book – Hobbies

Dear Daughters,

When I was little my hobbies were reading, writing and drawing. I have always loved books and we have read to you two since you were babies, so now you love books too! I remember enjoying learning to write my letters at infant school and writing poems and short stories at junior school. I was so proud when a short story I wrote was on the front page of the junior school magazine. By the time I was thirteen I was reading Jackie and Bunty comics and creating my own versions. I would pain-stakingly draw picture stories with speech bubbles for the characters. Then I would feed the pencil –coloured pages into my car boot sale typewriter and type words into the speech bubbles.

In my later teenage years I wrote angsty poems, dreamy poems and funny poems. I loved studying English literature and writing essays about Wuthering Heights. I did Art, English and Theatre Studies for A-levels and then spent four years at Art College. After a patchwork career that took me through the building industry, music industry, Friends of the Earth, the NHS and hypnotherapy, I finally got back in touch with my first true love: Writing. I became a performance poet, then a blogger and now a professional blogger and writer.

So what can I tell you about hobbies? Take notice of what you love. Do what you love to do. Never give up. Follow your heart and follow your dreams. It’s not just that my dream was to write. It’s more that I could no more stop writing or not write than I could not breathe.

Follow your dreams.- poem for my daughters.

Love

Mum

Xx

Memory Book is a monthly slot on The Alexander Residenceblog where Penny writes down some memories for her children, there’s a theme each month, and a linky.

A Day in the Life of a Narrowboat Wife

I recently had the chance to browse through Susannah Conway’s inspiring book, This I Know. Susannah’s blog, business and book were forged out of grief, and yet her words and Polaroid pictures are uplifting and beautiful. One exercise in the book suggests documenting one day in photographs. I took this as a way to appreciate the little things in life, the insignificant moments that pass you by. Had I not been documenting that day would I have chosen to walk a different way after the school run, and discover a farm with ponies? Would I have appreciated the pleasure of coffee in my favourite mug or the prettiness of bubbles when I washed the dishes? Probably not. (I hate washing the dishes!) Susannah says, don’t worry about being an amazing photographer, so I didn’t. I just snapped all these with my iPhone.

 

Visit Susannah Conway’s blog.

Please watch my slideshow and share a moment with me appreciating the little details of a narrowboat wife’s life. I would love to add music to this and future videos so any musicians out there who'd like to collaborate in return for links, get in touch :-)

#OneMums Against Poverty

On our boat it seems there’s
Never enough water for the laundry or
Electric or diesel for a family of four but
My daughters fill the boat
Up with love and laughter and
Messy fingerprints and
Still we stay afloat.

Clare blogs at Seasider in the City and has started a meme based on the theme of One Mums (One Moms). To join in the meme you just have to take the letters of ONEMUMS and describe what being a mum means to you. Michelle and Jen from BritMums are travelling to Ethiopia with ONE. They don’t want money, just your voice. ONE is a non-partisan advocacy organization dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. All parents share a connection, the idea is to join together to share the progress already being made by ONE. Follow the journey of Michelle and the team with the #ONEMums and #ONEMoms tags and sign up to ONE.

Be a Better Blogger - free course!

In November 2009 Erica Douglas launched the Mum Blogger E-Course and since then almost 1000 people have signed up and taken the 35 week course.

The course teaches you the basics of starting a blog through to how to promote and monetise your blog. The lessons are delivered weekly in manageable chunks so you can complete them around your busy life.

The course is full of information and videos to help you along your way, but it's closing this Friday September 7th. 

I can quite honestly say that this course changed my life. From wanting to simply improve upon my hobby I have become a professional blogger. I highly recommend it.

And it's free. 

You can sign up here.

Disclosure: I was paid to write about this on the Become a Mumpreneur blog but it was my choice to share it here because I really do think the course is brilliant.

My Boatshed Anniversary

It’s now a year since I began working for Boatshed Grand Union! We have lots to celebrate and it’s been an interesting year.

I first met Phil Bassett because he was the broker when I bought my current boat, a lovely 70ft trad narrowboat for sale with Boatshed. You can read the full story about how I came to work for Boatshed here. 

Last August I was introduced on the blog;

“Peggy Melmoth will be handling some of the administration and email enquiries, welcoming new clients, liaising with vendors, and updating the Boatshed Grand Union blog.”

I have also been creating sales documents, increasing our Facebook and Twitter following and have otherwise generally been making myself useful.

In October British Waterways updated their guidance for boats without a home mooring, and in December Boatshed launched Boatshed Liveaboard, after the government encouraged the idea of using boats as homes.  

During the winter the Tring summit level on the Grand Union was closed to navigation for several months. This meant boaters had to decide which part of the stoppage they’d like to moor on and remain.

The rain made up for it later in the year so some of the Boatshed team got completely soaked at The Crick boat show. 

Boatshed Grand Union and Boatshed Inland were proud to be major sponsors of the Canalway Cavalcade in Little Venice in May.The Olympics did not really affect our business, despite navigation on London’s canals being restricted. In other news of course, this is the year that British Waterways became a charity and was renamed the Canal and Rivers Trust.In July British Waterways Marinas Ltd, one of the largest marina operators in the country, appointed Boatshed.com as its sole provider of brokerage at its marinas in the South and West.

We also launched a free eBook about Living on a Boat and we’ve seen Boatshed Grand Union rise in to the top 20 of the UK Waterways websites ranking. 

We’ve sold 32 boats during the last year, and have two under offer at the moment. The Boatshed worldwide group of brokerages now has 477,527 registered customers (across our 56 offices) and of course new visitors register each day. 

I am lucky enough to really enjoy my work and look forward to another great year with Boatshed.

Disclosure: I am paid to write the Boatshed Grand Union blog. It was my choice to republish this article here which first appeared on the Boatshed Grand Union website.

Lyrical Loops

It's poetry week at Narrowboat Wife! Inspired by my recent discovery of Jo Bell, boat poet and writer of The Bell Jar blog, I am waxin' lyrical this week.

To kick off is a poem I wrote many years ago, and I will follow up with the sequel on Wednesday.

Peggy
xx





Your Mind

I want to walk through your mind

Leave no stone unturned

I want your life to unwind

To find the secrets that burned

You and when I do

I want to be amazed

To know you inside

And all of your ways

To explore every part

I want you surrounded

And when I eat your sweet heart

I want to be astounded.

(c) Peggy Melmoth

#SMDay Happy #SocialMediaDay !

Yep, I just found out there is a social media day, an annual event to recognise the digital revolution.  So, I thought I'd use this day to let you know that you can also hook up with me on line in the following places;

Twitter

Linked In

Facebook

People Per Hour

eLance Profile

My other blog

However, if you just like good old fashioned email, join my mailing list. I'll send you a free ebook and tell you real life stories about what I've been up to and what I'm planning to get up to!

Do we really need a social media day? I'll celebrate anything - I'm off to have a glass of wine!

#SilentSunday

It's me! Live! On BritMums Live!

Just a short note to let you know I'm excited to be guest posting on the BritMums Live blog today! Pop over to read about BritMums Live, what it is and why I'm going.

Is There Anybody There?

Abusy bee (Image credit: Marilyn Jane)

I am currently out of the office. Well I haven't got an office. I'm out of my blog. I am such a lucky girl because I've got too much work to do for my clients; but also if I don't spend some time studying my driving theory I will never pass that ole theory test.

So while I am out of my tree away from this blog I hope you will stop by and visit me in the other places I hang out and write on the internet:

Boatshed Grand Union - a blog about all things canal and boaty.
Canal Voyagers - a blog about places to visit on the canals and lovely things to see and do while on a hotel boat.
Boatshed Essex - The only way is Boatshed Essex - a blog about boating and sailing in Essex, check it out.
NCBA - The National Community Boating Association is my newest client; find out about community boating on the canals and more.
www.peggymelmoth.com - my own business blog about freelance writing, social media, business blogging and so on.

Back soon. Byeeee!

#CrickBoatShow in pictures

Many thanks to Waterways World for our tickets to the Crick Boatshow. Read the full story here.

See the bigger collage on Google+

#StopTheKilling

Writing is not normally a problem for me. I write a lot, and when I start I can't stop. But words fail me when I think of what is happening in Syria. I'm only one small person and sometimes it's easy to feel powerless faced with things you wish you could change. But I do have one small blog which is a "voice" on the internet. 

So I will say this. Last week 49 babies, toddlers and children were killed in Houla. 

On 1st June the UK parent blogging community united to call for action in Syria. After I read about it I wanted to add my voice.

Add your voice. 

Sign the Save the Children petition.

Sign the Amnesty International petition.

Join the protest at The Syrian Embassy in London on Sunday 10th June 12 - 2pm.

So far 84 parent bloggers have added their voices by blogging about this. If you want more details of what is happening there try reading Luci's post at Mother.Wife.Me. It moved me to tears. I tried to hide them from my own small children who sat near me, safe in our home.

A Mother’s Work

A meme is "an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." Merriam-Webster Dictionary

This meme was started by mother.wife.me.and I have been tagged by the lovely Louise at My GorgeousBoys who I am pleased to say I have met in Real Life – twice!

It’s an opportunity for women to give their personal perspective and experience on modern motherhood.

The rules are as follows:

Post the Rules

Answer the questions in as much or as little detail as suits you

Leave a comment on MotherWifeMe so we can keep track of the meme

Tag three people and link them on your blog

Let them know you tagged them

Tweet loudly about taking part using #amothersworkmeme

Here are the questions and the all important answers

Did you work before becoming a mum?

Yes, I was proud to be the administration manager for the neurosurgical operating theatres in the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. In the evenings I had my own business practicing as a clinical hypnotherapist.

What is your current situation?

After maternity leave I returned to the hospital part time and accepted a lower grade role as a medical secretary, because the admin manager role would not have worked as a job-share. When the government made financial cuts to the NHS last summer I volunteered for a mutually agreed resignation scheme and started my own business as a writer, blogger and virtual assistant. That was a struggle to get off the ground but it’s going a bit better now. I did an online course in becoming a mumpreneur with Ace Inspire.

Freestyle your chance to put your own view across on the subject?

I definitely think our society does not value motherhood as much as some other cultures. I think changes in the economy and expected lifestyle mean that more mothers feel they need to work to make ends meet. Perhaps I grew up in a rose-tinted, nostalgic 1970’s world where mothers did not work; but historically I think working class mothers usually did work. Childcare for the working class was not paid for but shared among local family members. Now we often live so far from our family members that we have to pay for childcare. To be honest it seems like a constant struggle to earn enough to justify the cost of childcare, and I sometimes feel guilty that children as young as mine have such a long day in nursery. (I work at home three days a week.)

I’m pleased that women got the vote, the contraceptive pill and the freedom to choose a fulfilling career but who was it who famously said that women aren’t just having it all, they’re now doing it all?* My husband helps a lot with shopping, cooking and childcare, but I wish he didn’t have to, as he works full time and commutes a long distance every day.

It’s really hard juggling work, laundry, childcare etc, but I think it always has been for women.  I’m currently experimenting with self-employed flexible working. I have the freedom to take the day off if my child is ill, but then I don’t have any holiday pay or sick pay, and have to make up the lost hours some other way. My husband would like to be at home with the kids more than he is, but we cannot afford for him to give up his well-paid job.

At the moment I’m working on building up my business to a point when it pays enough to contribute generously to our family income, and yet will allow me to work just in school hours so I can be there when my daughters get home: At least, that’s the dream!

I would like to tag Gemma, Penny and Kizzy.

“It’s all so different today, I hear every mother say.”

The Rolling Stones. Mother’s Little Helper.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to Ace Inspire and Amazon. (Hey, I’m just trying to contribute to our family income!)

I recommend The Secret World of the Working Mother, Fiona Millar but my favourite book ever is Ramlin Rose: The Boatwoman's Story by Sheila Stewart, which describes how working boatwomen used to juggle childcare, shopping, cooking and ‘cabin chores’ with steering the butty for twelve hours a day.

*Linda Kelsey, editor of ‘She’ magazine in the early nineties.

20 Minutes to Change Your Life

At the beginning of April I read about this lovely idea on The Alexander Residence blog. You set a timer for 20 minutes and write down 100 things you want to do, be achieve, feel, places to go, people to see and more… Read how to do it here:  20 Minutes to ChangeYour Life. It only takes a minute to read.

Random acts of kindness were one of Penny’s goals.

“And sharing the good stuff…hope someone else finds this as helpful as I did.”

I commented on her post, I am definitely gonna do this! And then didn’t get around to it. Then I got an email yesterday saying someone else had commented on her post and it reminded me. I found I had twenty minutes to spare and let myself write in a stream of consciousness sort of way.

The first thing I wrote was, Write a book, write lots of books. Drive. Pass test. Then there was a list of friends and family to visit. More writing ideas. Be myself. Feel content. Stop being afraid or anxious. Go to Italy again: India again. Visit Dad in Capetown. Be myself (came up twice!) Paint apicture. Go away for a weekend with my best friend. Take up yoga. Cook family meals. Have more time! Be less complicated, more simple, relaxed and beautiful. Simplicity. Stare out to sea more often. Be quiet in nature. Go quietly to the woods. Draw pictures. Paint watercolours outside with my children… it goes on.

Although I’d already made my Best Year Yet Plan  I loved this because it was so quick. It reiterated to me some of the things that are most important to my inner self, when the chaos of daily life stops clouding my dreams.

So just do it! 20 minutes; have a go. It was fun!

Big thanks to Penny for sharing. Pass it on.

If you missed #BlogCampUK don’t miss this review!*

It was a beautiful morning, the sun shone onto the canal water as I ran down the muddy towpath late for my train. Clare from The VeggieExperience picked me up from the station looking very relaxed, and wearing big sun glasses. She’s not worried that I’m late because she overslept anyway.

“Oh no, I’ve forgotten to wear my sunglasses and now you look much cooler than me!” I said. She laughed and said it was more about needing them for driving than looking cool. We picked up the lovely and pregnant MrsC and talked about other bloggers all the way to Birmingham; who’d be there, who we’ve met before, who we’ve read and who’s ‘famous’ in the ‘blogosphere’.

Then after getting our badges pinned on at the door I lost my travel buddies and entered the light and airy conservatory room alone. It was buzzing with bloggers and coffee and at first I was too scared to talk to anyone. But then I spoke to Nickie who writes at Iamtypecast and found my friends again and began to mingle, eat pastries and feel better.

At the first session Muireann from Bangs and a Bun was confident and stylish without being intimidating. She gave us some inspiring tips on creating your own strong brand identity, visual style, ethos and tone. She says keep it fresh and experiment and stay open to new avenues and ideas.

For session 2 I chose Creating Videos with Ian Moulster and we could hear everyone next door at the How to be a Snark session laughing out loud. The video session was a straightforward techy tutorial in Windows Live Movie Maker, but I was surprised at how easy it seemed. I felt so enthusiastic about making a little movie that I have already filmed some clips of our boat travelling through locks at the weekend. (Perhaps my degree in animation will be of use to me after all…) Did you know Flickr video hosting is better quality than YouTube and it has a rotating tool?

Lunch was a lovely selection of sandwiches and fruit. I felt shy again and so found it difficult to circulate but did chat to the lovely Louise from mygorgousboys and got some techy tips from Mark at CorpulentCapers. I was happy to meet up with HelloitsGemma again and had been looking forward to meeting Penny from The Alexander Residence in Real Life. We had lots to talk about and enjoyed the next session with SusannahConway, photographer, author and aunt. She was charismatic and full of good ideas. I scribbled furiously in my notebook as she told us how she creates and runs personal development e-courses as a full time job. It was so motivating that the very next day I began brain storming ideas to write my own e-course.

Thank goodness Session 4 was focussed on the whole new Google follow versus no-follow rules relating to sponsored content because I do not understand it. Sold links must be ‘no follow’. If you don’t do this you will lose your page rank. I don’t want to be invisible! I thought desperately. “It’s changed SEO forever!” somebody cried. I am slightly less confused about it all now but it seems that I must either go back and manually correct all of the links on my blog, ever, or go self-hosted and get a widget that does that for me.

The final session of the day was a Q&A with a panel of PR professionals. PR companies are happy to be approached by bloggers, so long as the bloggers are not simply blaggers out to get free stuff.

The size of this conference was just right. Big enough to have a buzz going on but small enough to find someone if there’s someone you are hoping to meet. I had a fantastic day and might have hugged Sally Whittle for organising it, had she not officially asked everyone not to hug her. I found every session valuable and the cakes were amazing. Did I not mention the cake?

BlogCamp is organised by Sally and the Tots100. an index of parenting blogs designed to help you find good blogs and to celebrate the most influential and engaging blogs in the UK.

 

Disclosure: I received free coffee, sandwiches, and cake. I attended five fabulous and informative sessions for free, but I paid Clare towards the petrol. My opinions are my own. If you are reading this, O’ omnipresent Google, please don’t make me invisible. 

*Ok, so my review may be no better or worse than anyone else’s, but I was attempting an attention grabbing headline – did it work?!