This Couple Ditched Their Apartment to Live on a 200-Square-Foot Boat for $360/Month

When most New Yorkers want to start shaving money off the monthly rent bill they shack up with roommates, move far out in the boroughs, or relocate altogether. But this savvy couple found a way to save more than $4,500 a month without leaving downtown Manhattan, though they did sacrifice significantly on space (h/t Curbed).

Mel Magazine made a video, “A Couple’s Guide to Living on a Boat in New York in Winter,” that profiles Victoria Fine and Jon Vidar, who share a 200-square-foot houseboat that’s docked in the East River, along with their dog. Jon says he’s been known to be “a drunken sailor” at times, but that being hungover on a boat is probably the worst part of sea living. And they both agree that you can forget personal space, with Victorian referencing a recent time she was sick with a cold.

Victoria and Jon bought the boat in 2013 while living in LA. They had no related experience, so have since been teaching themselves how to sail. When career opportunities brought them to New York in 2014, they shacked up in a $5,000/month Nolita apartment, but quickly decided their lives were missing the 1974 Scallywag. The couple also chronicles their adventures on their website Sail Me Om. On the decision to switch to house boat life, they say:

Traveling is the art of finding home in the unfamiliar, but even as we enjoyed our new discoveries, we couldn’t shake our feeling of rootlessness. So, as we advanced in our careers and our friends began to settle down, it seemed a choice was imminent — build our adventure or build our home. Jon and I asked each other, can we do both?

[Via Mel Magazine]

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