Moving onto a narrowboat

An increasing number of people are turning to canal-living as an alternative mode of living - but is it right for you? This is the kind of lifestyle that you don’t want to rush into, and it is probably true that it also requires a particular kind of personality in order to make it work and for it to be enjoyable. But if you are considering this change, there are a few things that you are going to want to be aware of first and foremost. Let’s take a look at some of the essentials of moving onto a narrowboat.

Pic Credit - CCO Licence

Decide On Your Optimal Boat Length

Once you start to look around at narrowboats, you are immediately going to discover that there are actually many types of them to choose from, and it is going to be necessary to compare and contrast them as well as you can. One thing you need to decide upon is what length you want - around 40ft is probably the minimum you would want, and suitable only for a solo individual, whereas if there are two or more of you, it might be better to look more at around the 55ft-60ft mark. Ultimately, it’s up to you.

Bear In Mind The Maintenance Costs

Living on a narrowboat is generally going to be a lot more affordable than renting a home, but there are still maintenance costs that you will need to prepare for. It is best to work out your likely annual budget for each of these and then divide it by twelve, and put aside that money each month. You need to consider the cost of diesel for the engine, coal or wood for the fire, and the cost of having the boat surveyed and blacked every three years. Likewise, there might be other costs to consider, depending on what your specific situation might be.

Get Breakdown Cover

You might not have been aware of this, but you can get breakdown cover for boats just as you can for cars, and it is definitely a wise move to make sure you have this before you move onto your boat. Such cover can protect you and get you back to a safe place should you break down, and often these policies will come with an annual engine service too. You could avoid a lot of boating accident injuries this way, so it’s definitely something to budget for.

Pic Credit - CCO Licence

Permanent Mooring Or Continuous Cruiser?

You’ll also want to decide whether you are going to be moored up somewhere permanently or a continuous cruiser. If the latter, you have to follow the rules around how much you can stay in one place. Generally, you can stay somewhere for 14 days, after which time you will have to move around 20 miles. But if you prefer, you can get a private mooring - this costs you an annual fee, but still nowhere near as much as rent on a house.

Those are the major things you need to think about if you are going to move onto a narrowboat.

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This post was written with the Life According to Steph audience in mind

Thursday Thoughts - I believe it's time for me to fly

Hanging shit wherever I want, as I always do. My house is not going to be in magazines and it's not for show. It's for me to live in and enjoy. I had this in one of the spare rooms for probably the past 10 years and it makes me so happy but I rarely saw it in there so I jammed it in right here in our bedroom.

Choosing art by Asja Boros for bedside in our room. I have one in the  middle of the gallery wall too.

Accepting MFD's desire for more precise hanging on the gallery wall that was painted this week. It's not done and we'll be swapping some things out, but I'm happy to not have shit sitting in piles to be hung anymore.

Focusing on putting covers on the risers next, so we intentionally did not have the trim painted. I desire a little whimsy on these and that's what I got. 

Thinking a lot of people have this twisted, and we were taught this so that we fight each other and punch down or sideways in a capitalist system instead of punching up. Hard work is great but it is not what makes you a good or bad person. Too many people beating their chest with the I work hard for what I have that are shitty neighbors and humans. No thanks. I'd rather live among people who are good neighbors and community members that understand work is the price of capitalism and not the marker of a good person and that people who don't work hard deserve at the least basic humanitarian needs fulfilled - food, housing, healthcare including mental healthcare. There is a better way than what we're doing now, what we've been doing for a long time in this country.

Using Mad Hippie face serums and loving them.

Wanting everyone to get vaccinated for reasons like this. 

Appreciating the fact that Gus can spend so much of his time in his declining years snoozing in the yard, which is one of his favorites and always has been.

Hanging on for dear life this week. I worked until 9:30 Monday night, 8:30 Tuesday night, 7:00 last night. Started early today, will make a stop to drive to the shore, and be back at it. Deadlines are afoot. Putting in these hours is a lot harder for me after March 2020. My brain, focus, and capacity have shifted. 

Phoning it in on every other front aside from work this week, including here. That's how it is sometimes. 

Booking a hotel for the first time since 2017? I think it's been that long since I stayed in a hotel type accommodation vs booking a private home or visiting someone at their home. I'm looking forward to road tripping out of town with MFD in August to visit a place neither of us has been before. 

Reading The Invisible Husband of Frick Island. I had two (to me) turds this week. If you ever want to see what I'm reading in between Show Us Your Books, you can follow me on Goodreads. Midway through the year I've finished 67 books so it appears that my pre-pandemic reading has returned. I read differently though, consuming books in a few hours here or there versus morning and night reading like I used to. I still do a little of both but still not with pre-pandemic consistency.

What's new with you?

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Time for Me To Fly by REO Speedwagon

TWTW - the one with the dads

Friday My brain was stuck in neutral after an 11 hour workday Thursday and two morning meetings, so instead of spinning my wheels I flexed time and hit the beach for two hours. I also got a slice of pizza and some soap oh and left my phone on a fucking boardwalk bench THEN hit two stores THEN set up my beach chair so I had to sprint back with no shoes on and hope it was there. It was.  After work I walked the boards on an errand for Aubrey, then walked down to see the sunset. I stayed up until 1 to finish my book.

Saturday I slept in until 8. The people checking out thought checkout was 11 and that threw everything off. We managed to get them out then MFD painted the door and frame their dog damaged and got the new TV we brought from Philly up and running. I swapped out shower curtains and all bedding and someone clearly had some sort of HiC and I had to pull the whole mattress on the top bunk down. It was a lot. We were doing stuff from about 10:40 - 3 since our people coming in were arriving late. I'm thankful we knew that or I would have had a nervous breakdown.

MFD went fishing in the afternoon, and I went to Boyar's to get a few things for a salad and smiled at the Juneteenth greetings along the way, then  rode my bike to the library to drop off and pick up books. I made chicken leg quarters in the air fryer, painted my nails, showered, unboxed Ben's barkbox (he is always so happy and grateful), then walked up to the beach and boards with MFD for a little ice cream. 

Sunday I was on the beach with a book and coffee by 8:30. The sun was insane. Back to the house to walk dogs and load up the car and hit the road before 11. Gus pooped in my damn car but thankfully we were not moving yet so easy cleanup and major disaster averted. I got home and did some laundry, read, rested, made your standard old school cold taco dip, and headed to Aubrey's parents. We have a nice Father's Day gathering with the two families every year and I always enjoy it. This year we tried the TikTok watermelon and mustard phenomenon. It was fine! Home by 8 and I fell asleep on the couch and didn't go upstairs until 5 am. 

Happy 65th to my Mom! Her birthday was Saturday. I dropped cards for her birthday and Rich's Father's Day off at lunch today before hightailing it home for a call.

Today is Prime Day, and even as I move away from Amazon, I always recommend the Kindle Paperwhite for people like me who must wear polarized sunglasses and/or read outside a lot both in sun and shade. It is the only e-reader I can use like that. It's $80 for prime day and normally $130.

Crushed under work deadlines this week. Hopefully see you Thursday! See you on Instagram until then, mainly in stories, which I like to remind myself and others that I said I'd never do and now I do daily.

First vacation in years? Let's go back over the basics

Are you going to be going on vacation for the first time in years? If the answer is yes, then there are certain things that you need to make sure of, and make sure that you have considered. There are so many things that you need to plan out before you can even go on vacation that the stress alone might be enough to change your mind, but we all need that break, so stick with it. If you don’t know what we’re talking about when we say ‘the basics’ then it’s a good thing that you have come across this article. Down below, we’re going to be looking at some of these, so keep reading if you would like to find out more.

Choose A Destination

Credit Link - CC0 Licence

The first thing that you are going to need to do is choose a destination. You might have a few ideas saved up from the last couple of years in which you haven’t been able to go anywhere, but you also may be struggling to narrow it down. Or, you might be in the position where you know that you want to go somewhere, you’re just not entirely sure where somewhere is. This is a common problem for a lot of people so don’t think that you shouldn’t be going somewhere simply because you can’t figure it out just yet. 

So, if you are trying to work out where you want to go, then we’ve got a few ideas for you. First, you can use the globe method. To do this, you simply need to get a globe, spin it, close your eyes and then put your finger on the globe. It will stop, and whatever destination you have put your finger on will be your holiday destination. Of course, if it’s somewhere that you have been or in the middle of the ocean, try again. This is the best way to do it because you will end up visiting places that you never would have thought about before, and these could be the best times of your life.

Or, you could find an event that you would like to attend and then head to that destination. There is bound to be more than just that one event going on, so it’s the perfect opportunity to explore a new place, where you know that you have at least one thing to do.

Sort Out Accommodation

The next thing that you are going to need to do is sort out your accommodation. Too many people leave this to the last second and then aren’t able to find accommodation in their chosen city, and are forced to venture outwards. The problem with this is that you are likely going to have to pay more than if you would have just booked it online when you did everything else, and it is going to eat into your holiday. Not to mention the amount of stress that it is going to cause you trying to sort this out when you should be enjoying yourself.

You will be able to find lots of fantastic accommodation deals online, so we suggest that you take a good look at them. Find the one that suits you best, and then go for it. Don’t think that you are going to find something better when you get there because the chances are that you aren’t.

Think About Some Activities

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Once you know where you are going, you can try and figure out some activities that you can do while you are there. Of course, there is always the fun element of simply going where the wind takes you and doing random things on any given day, however it is also nice to have some kind of structure sometimes. For example, you could visit MetLife Stadium, New York Jets/New York Giants if you are a fan of baseball and find yourself in New York, or you could head out to explore the Anne Frank Huis if you are in Amsterdam. There are so many different things that you can do, you just need to find them!

It doesn’t just have to be things to see though, there are also plenty of things that you can do. Each place is going to have it’s own fun list of attractions for people, so working out what they are shouldn’t be too hard. It could be a theme park, it could be a place where you can do water sports, skydiving and so much more.

Budget Your Money

Of course, you are going to have to budget your money or you are going to end up with none. There is nothing worse than being on holiday and running out of money with a few days left. The problem here is that you are going to be incredibly bored for those few days, especially if you can’t get any more money from anywhere. As such, we highly recommend that you budget your money before you even get on the plane. To do this, you need to work out exactly how much you have for the duration of your trip. Once you have got this worked out, divide it by the number of days that you are staying. Each little pile is going to be your money for any given day to ensure that you always have some.

If there is some left over from the day that you are on, then it can roll into the next days and so on. But, you should never take money out of a day that is ahead, because this is a bad habit to get into and you can end up running out of money this way too.

Packing What You Need

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You have got to make sure that you have packed everything you need to avoid a nightmare. You need to go through your packing checklist and ensure that you have got everything on it, even if that means that you are unpacking and repacking your suitcase three times. It is better to ensure that you have everything than to be stuck in a place that you don’t know without an item that you need. Of course, if it’s something that you can easily buy locally then it’s not going to be too much of an issue, but it’s very rarely the case that these are the items we forget.

Don’t Book Until You’re Sure

The last thing that we are going to say is that you should never book your vacation until you are sure that you can go on it. Of course, when we say this, we are not including any last minute emergencies that may or not come up, but that’s what travel insurance is for. No, by this we mean that you need to be sure that you have the time off work to go on this vacation, and you’re not booking it with the intention of requesting the time off later down the line. You should never book a vacation until you’re 100% sure that you will be able to go on it.

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the basics that you need to know if you are going to be going on your first vacation in years soon. It’s important that you do all of these things and consider everything on this list, otherwise you could be at major risk of something going wrong. Seeing as this is going to be your first vacation in years, this is certainly not something that we want to happen. We wish you the very best of luck.

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This post was written with the Life According to Steph audience in mind

Thursday Thoughts - and if you want to find me I'll be out in the sandbox

Loving yard art, this is from Hearth & Sole in Ocean City and I adore them

Urging you to check out this book, Fuel Your Best, by my friend Jen - I got one for my niece and one for the shore house kids library. She's a great person and this has a great message for kids and for us!

Monitoring baby bird status out back as the mother has squatted in my begonia and killed it because she doesn't like us to water it

Congratulating all teachers, admin and school staff, kids, and parents for making it through not the easiest of school years

Repurposing election signs to hang solar lanterns from this year to complement the mini shepherd hooks

Recommending this, I get it at Marshalls usually. It's only $7 there and that is much friendlier than Living Proof's price. Living Proof is still my favorite dry shampoo, but this is entirely serviceable most days. This is my fourth bottle.

Swapping desks, bringing the bigger one into my office and moving the smaller one into the back basement room. I need room. I'm finally getting my home office as I want it just in time for my office office to officially reopen. We have no you have to be in a certain number of days thing. I'm aiming for one day a week or one every other at least. 

Hanging out with dogs

Handing dog duty over to MFD as he's been working from the shore this week both on his actual work and on becoming Tan Mom using the sun instead of tanning beds

Arguing with people on the internet again. This time on the our shore town owner’s Facebook page with people who speculated houses are being left in poor condition upon checkout because it’s people using stimulus money. Excuse me what now? 

I told them this was classism. They told me this was not classism even though they were grouping people together by income level and assigning certain behaviors to them. They were sorry I was offended. I said I’m not offended but I’m disappointed you’re blowing smoke at me acting like issues between classes don’t exist and like you are not grouping people together by income level and ascribing behaviors to that group. 

The moderator turned off comments and deleted all of the ones under the person saying she heard the renters were bad this year assuming because they used stimulus money. One person said he doesn't think these people understand the ethics of renting a vacation home. When I tell you I lost my fucking mind, I am not exaggerating. 

Imagine being like this. Just because people make less money does not mean they do not deserve material comforts, joy, or vacations. They do not need to do with their money what you think they should do with their money. We are not here to work until we die and punching down does not put you closer to billionaires.   

Reading Two library books this week. It's been a lot of advanced reader copies from Netgalley on the kindle so library books felt good. Both were recommended in the Show Us Your Books linkup (who recommended After the Fire? and definitely Laura from Alabama + Graffiti on Milk Fed), and Milk Fed was a timely read for Pride month.

Reminding us all that making Juneteenth a federal holiday actually does nothing for Black people. How about we press the government for 1) Passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act for protection and expansion of voting rights 2) teach accurate history in schools and stop fucking wilding out over Critical Race Theory 3) Passing the goddamn Emmett Till Antilynching Act to make lynching a federal hate crime 4) Halting the destabilization of COVID relief efforts 5) reimagining public safety 6) reparations 7) Legalize cannabis 8) Decriminalize drug possession, expunge drug records, end the war on drugs  

What's new with you?

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Brian Wilson by Barenaked Ladies