'We live in a caravan, work two days a week and spend just £330 a month'

North Wales Live

4 days ago

A couple have shared how they manage to work just two days a week by spending a mere £330-a-month living in a caravan.
Rachel Hale, 39 and her husband Lewis, 35, have been full-time residents of a campsite in Anglesey, Wales since March 2024, after deciding they "didn't want all our money going on bills".
In April 2023, the pair sold their three-bedroom home in Lancaster, Lancashire for £130,000 and bought a £30k campervan to travel around the UK for a year.
As their savings started to run low, they found jobs at the site through a Facebook group and have since upgraded to a £15k caravan.
With no rent or bills to pay as their pitch on the site is included in Lewis' job as a campsite warden, they save a full wage every month and estimate they will have saved £8,000 this year by October.
Rachel, a cook, said: "We got a campervan in March 2022.
"We were going away every weekend when we could and I just didn't want to come home.
"We had some savings and decided to sell up and do a year travelling around the UK.
"Last year we got our jobs as wardens.
"Literally anyone could do it, you can pick up a caravan for £1,000 and pick up a job.
"We've got the caravan and a massive field to ourselves.
"The job is March to October so you get four months off.
"We will probably have saved about £8,000 for this year.
"We're only half an hour away from Snowdonia so we tend to go there a lot.
"We have days out in Anglesey, and I love wild swimming so we'll go to local beaches".
They chose to sell their property after initially pursuing the family path.
Rachel explained: "We had a miscarriage, then a still birth, then tried to conceive for two years and couldn't.
"You have to have been trying for two years before they send you down the fertility route, but after the two or three years we'd had enough and wanted to enjoy life again."
Rachel previously worked as a chef at a local hospice whilst Lewis was employed as a mental health support worker, securing their new positions last year via a Facebook group.
'We've got it cushty here'
Both initially worked one day weekly on a part-time basis, but after realising it was more suited to a single person, Rachel moved on to become a chef at a nearby café.
Rachel explained: "It involves doing reception and check-ins, most of it is maintenance like strimming and weeding, and cleaning the facilities.
"This year now I work in a local cafe two days a week, and Lewis still works as a warden two days a week.
"Sometimes we think should we go to different campsites and travel around a bit more, but we've got it cushty here.
"We live off Lewis' wage in season and save my wage, and then we've got that to travel with.
"We each earn £1,000 per month."
With such minimal overheads, the pair spend just over £300 monthly.
Rachel noted: "We don't pay anything for rent or bills as it's included.
"It's just gas for the cooker we pay for, that's £8.75 per month.
"For our laundry we have to go and do that on site, that's £12 per month". The monthly food shop represents the couple's largest expense at an average of £240 per month.
Rachel said: "We are lucky to have five days off per week.
"The downsides are not actually being able to travel between March and October.
"You've got to go and fill your water tank as there's no running water and empty the toilet.
"But you just get used to it.
"The pros are the freedom it gives us.
"Being able to have all this spare time to go hiking and exploring, just living out in nature I love it.
"I know some of our friends say they couldn't do it because of the small space.
'We'll keep doing this forever'
"In our house, we had a man cave, I had a spare room for a walk-in wardrobe but we just got used to the smaller space, it's all worth it.
"We sold most of it and were just left with the minimum amount of clothes we needed for the van.
"My dad, Chris, died last year and he left us a bit of money so we used that to buy the caravan".
The pair are prudent with their finances, never exceeding Lewis' monthly wage and occasionally opting to park in roadside lay-bys or car parks rather than paying for campsites during their days off.
"We're going to keep doing this as long as we can.
"Eventually we see ourselves going up to a static caravan, but I can't see ourselves ever going back to house life because we'd have to get full-time jobs.
"I think we'll keep doing this forever."
Rachel and Lewis' monthly expenses are as follows: Rent/bills: £0, Gas: £8.75, Laundry: £12, Food: £240, Phone contracts: £60, Caravan insurance: £10, Total: £330.
Previously, when they were homeowners, their monthly costs were: Mortgage: £500, Council tax: £130, Water: £30, Gas and electric: £70, Subscriptions (like Sky, Netflix and Amazon): £100, Phone contracts: £60, Food shop: £240, Takeaways: £200, Total: £1,330.