WE BOUGHT A TATTY STATIC CARAVAN TO LIVE RENT-FREE — WE'RE SAVING £13,800 A YEAR

Despite both working full time, Rudi and Lauren Smith found themselves struggling with rent for their £750-a-month home in Leeds when the cost of living crisis hit.

The couple felt trapped as their expenses grew higher, leaving them with less and less disposable income and preventing them from being able to plan for the future.

Alongside the rent, they were forking out £500 on top for bills, with a couple of hundred left each month to live on.

‘It put us in a real hole,’ says Rudi, 27. ‘We thought, “this is no way to live”, so started exploring other routes’ in 2022.

After looking into alternative homes, they decided to make a drastic change, purchasing a 25m by 100m plot of land for £8,000 and a second-hand caravan for £6,000 from a scrapyard.

The ‘tatty’ caravan needed a lot of work to get it up to scratch, with the renovation coming in at a further £2,000.

However, the Leeds pair now live mortgage and rent-free – saving £13,800 each year compared to their previous flat – and now spend less than £100 a month on bills.

Rudi, a stone mason, is also able to put 90% of his salary every month into a joint savings pot, while hospitality worker Lauren’s wages are kept aside for day-to-day outgoings.

‘I have been a lot happier,’ Rudi says of their new lifestyle. ‘There is so much breathing space financially.’

Although the caravan ‘needed updating’ when they bought it, the couple were able to afford nicer materials for the refurbishment – including herringbone wood flooring – due to the small space.

Rudi now says that even though it ‘looks old on the outside,’ it’s ‘lush on the inside’ thanks to the two years of work they put into the transformation.

The land itself was also ‘rough and overgrown’, which they believe is partly why it was ‘super cheap’. But after they managed to tackle the ‘brambles up to 10ft high’, the pair love their remote new abode.

‘Having no neighbours is really nice,’ Rudi comments. ‘The closest house is at least 150m away. We can make as much noise as we want.’

The main bonus though, is the fact it’s allowed them to massively cut their living expenses.

A single gas bottle, which costs £48, can warm the home for around three to four months, and they have solar panels and off-grid electricity fitted for cheap (or free) power in the caravan. With their Wi-Fi bill of £30 a month, their outgoings come to less than £100 all in.

Explaining why they’ve been in ‘militant savings mode’ over the last two years, Rudi says: ‘We’ve got a five year plan; we want to use the money to invest in a motorboat yacht in Spain to then rent out.

‘We want to free ourselves from having to work for other people.’

The couple are now looking forward to travelling in a 16-seater campervan they’ve been renovating on the side, and say they’ve never been happier.

But Rudi highlights it hasn’t all been ‘dreamy’, adding: ‘It’s definitely not been easy. The winters are cold, and it takes a lot of work at the beginning.’

So while a budget-friendly alternative lifestyle like this might seem tempting, it’s clearly not for the faint-hearted – and DIY novices will probably struggle.

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2024-09-05T11:01:18Z dg43tfdfdgfd