We live in a ‘tatty’ static caravan and save 90% of our wages – we spend £100-a-month on bills and have no neighbours
A CANNY couple has tackled the cost of living crisis by opting for a 'tatty caravan' and can now save 90 per cent of their income.
Rudi Smith, 27, and Lauren Smith, 28, are one of the many couples who struggled with extreme rent hikes and soaring bills, despite working full time.
Fed-up with paying £750 a month for their Leeds home, the pair ditched the house for a plot of unkempt land and a shabby caravan - allowing them to save 90 per cent of their salary.
Stone mason Rudi said: "There is so much breathing space financially, it's less stressful.
"We really struggled to pay for everything, it put us in a real hole.
"We thought 'this is no way to live'."
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They decided to take the leap and bough a 25m by 100m plot of poorly maintained land for £8,000 and a second-hand static caravan for £6,000 at a scrapyard.
Rudi added: "The plot of land was super cheap - it was really rough and overgrown.
"There were brambles up to 10ft high."
Despite the caravan also being 'a little tatty' the nifty couple managed to fix it up for £2,000 and even carved out an office space.
Due to the smaller size of their new home they could splash out on more expensive materials like herringbone wood flooring.
"It looks old on the outside and lush on the inside.
"After the first month we were like 'oh wow, that's everything paid for'."
Rudi and Lauren, who works in hospitality, now have bills that tot up to just under £100 a month using a solar panels, off-grid electricity, and just £30 for Wi-Fi.
Rudi said it's not been easy with chilly winters but they spend just £48 on gas for heating which they claim lasts up to four months.
They're also able to shout about their savings as loud as they like with no neighbours - the closest home to their caravan is at least 150m away.
These reduced outgoing costs have allowed Rudi save 90 per cent of his wages each month which he's putting into a joint savings acount for the future.
With the monthly rent in Leeds averaging at £1,107, according to the Office for National Statistics, the pair are are paying a grand less than average a month thanks to their living situation.
They said were able to pocket £13.8k-a-year on rent since living in their caravan.
The team have been in 'militant saving mode' for the last two years as stretching their pennies to invest in their future.
They plan on pooling the cash they're saving from their mobile home to buy a motorboat yacht in Spain which they will then rent out.
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Rudi added: "We want to free ourselves from having to work for other people."
The nomadic duo have seemed to adapt well to mobile-home life and are looking forward renovating and travelling in a 16-seater campervan they purchased in 2022.
