hi jimbo, we live aboard with our 3 daughters (2 fulltime aged 14 & 6 and one at uni - home weekends/holidays) a dog, pigmi hedgehog and 4 fish! we left a 4 bed semi , large garden, even had a hottub (which i'll be honest i d miss!) i too realised all my money went on the house with not much left and having owned a narrow boat for a year - sold that and the house to fund a new boat - my advice would be to plan the boat carefully and find a good moring, we managed to fit in 3 bedrooms with loft style beds built in for the girls which gave them their own space to retreat to - if you cant manage a bedroom each then give them a "play area" for your own sanity - and a space for them to get away from you!! we spend much more time together as a family - when we lived in a house with so many rooms we rarely sat in the same room apart from to eat! now we have too!! we play games more and go for walks more - we are also aware of the impact our every day lives have on each other and are more considerate. Go for it jimbo - nothing in life comes with a guarentee and after 5 years living afloat you'll probably be able to rebuy a house with cash with the money you've saved from not paying a mortgage!
Every day is for living and its adults that should make the decisions not children - sometimes we forget we actually know best! i have just asked my daughters if they miss the house and they both said they missed different things, the 6 yr old missed her trampoline and the 14 yr old missed the landline phone for better internet connection - honest answers! but they now do much more than they ever did as we have more money..they ride horses and we travel much more than we used to.. oh and we have an allotment within walking distance of the boat..a great place to let off steam after school! and we have a playhouse/shed and swings there - as well as veg! perhaps that would help to have a bit of outdoor running space? so look out for an allotment!
hope all that helped!
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