A thrifty couple claim they live for 'free' in London after swapping their pricey pad for a canal boat that they even rent out at weekends - pocketing more than £20,000 a year. Rosanna Irwin and her fiancé Killian Connolly had been forking out £1,700 a month on rent and bills and were keen to buy a 'fixer-upper' property of their own.
The loved-up duo snapped up the £100,000 boat, which measures 60x12ft, last summer and haven't looked back. The vessel is one long room divided into a laundry room, a sitting room/kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom - proving to be a compact but multi-functional space. "One day we were out on the canal and we saw a canal boat go by, he offered us a look inside his boat. For ages we had thought canal boats were a bit tough to live on and a bit dingy, but this was so gorgeous.
The boat dwellers, who met four-and-a-half years ago on Tinder, believe their vessel to be nicer than any one-bed apartment in London. Used to a no-frills lifestyle due to spending time in their campervan, Rosanna admits their living arrangement wouldn't work if she was 'squeamish'. "We just have a compost toilet, you need to be not-so squeamish. There are more jobs than a regular toilet, you don't just flush and forget about it. It's a separator toilet."