Thinking (living) outside the box...

As I live a relatively nomadic life, I'm always interested in reading about other people who have chosen to do the same in mid or later life.

I think most people consider us to be unusual for choosing a lifestyle out of the norm, but who determines what is normal and what isn't?

I was inspired by @vanlife post today; I recently wrote that I'd received a lot of negative criticism for an article I'd written that was published in an online newspaper and much of the criticism centred on the fact we'd sold an appreciating asset (our house) for a depreciating home (a narrow boat).

So many of us are conditioned to buy a house as early as we can and if possible, keep climbing the property ladder throughout our working lives.

We equate owning a property with security and spend much time and effort upgrading, decorating, extending and tweaking our homes (and gardens) until it's exactly what we want.

Of course, our homes are also our sanctuary and it's lovely to be able to shut the door and relax in our own secure space…bliss.

But maybe we want something more (or different) from life than maintaining an appreciating asset, perhaps our values change in terms of what we want to do with our time (and money) at this point in our lives.

When we sold our house, many people asked ‘what will you do when you get old and less mobile’ as if living in a house would be easier to manage than a boat.

So many people were challenged by the uncertainty of our projected future, feeling bricks and mortar were a guarantee against potential problems that we might encounter in later life.

We'd lived in our house for 18 years and when we came to clear it out, there were boxes of glasses and crockery in the loft that we hadn't unpacked from our previous house.

We had 24 glass tumblers, yet always used the same few, we had so many mugs, yet only used our favourite ones and I had 3 wardrobes full of clothes, yet I mostly wore the same few things I felt comfortable in.

I still sometimes buy stuff I don't need, but having so much less space means when I do that, I have to give something away too.

We use much less of everything in terms of utilities; we conserve water in ways we never did in the house, we use less gas and electricity.

I've never used a hairdryer or anything else on my hair and I don't colour it, so my hair is in great condition, if a little wild!

I iron NOTHING and fold everything, so all those hours I used to spend standing at an ironing board are a bonus.

I loved our house and garden whilst we lived there and it served it's purpose well for 18 years. I also absolutely love our ‘Grace’ and she's no less a home just because she isn't a house (boats are always a ‘she’).

Who knows what type of dwelling we'll live in in the future? As long as it feels like home, I'm open to suggestions!