When people think it's strange that our family of six lives in my in-laws' unfinished basement, I want to introduce them to Sarah, who has a way more interesting living arrangement! I'm excited she's sharing her story here today!
It was my husband’s idea to build a house. I would never have come up with such a far-fetched notion. I tend to be the practical one and building a house is expensive, complicated and time consuming.
No, building a house was not my idea – living in a bus on the land during the process was.
It made sense: after becoming completely debt-free we wanted to avoid taking on a bigger loan than would be absolutely necessary and if we could eradicate our biggest living expense (rent) we could significantly decrease the amount we would be required to borrow for the project.
Regular expenses – Rent = at least $1200 saved per month!
Who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity when it presented itself in the form of a 1970 International double-decker ‘skoolie’ conversion posted on Craigslist for only $1000?
Well, lots of people. The reactions we get when people hear about our unusual living arrangement vary from looks of surprise to notifying social services (true story). Most, however, are simply intrigued and want to know more.
It’s not all roses
In practice, living in a converted school bus with six people (or five, when one was an extremely pregnant woman) isn’t as simple as the math might make it seem. Also, the math isn’t as simple as we thought it would be either – living rent-free can cost a lot more than one might imagine.
First, we had to fix up the bus itself. It had been sitting for over a decade in the mountains and was in sore need of an upgrade both for aesthetic and practical purposes.
We then had to invest a significant amount in set-up expenses for making a vacant piece of land habitable. We bought a solar panel, charge controller, wire, batteries and an inverter for electricity and PVC for water lines (a water meter was already present on the lot). We also had to purchase an outdoor water-heater, clothes line and various other miscellany to make things workable for our situation.
On an ongoing basis, we pay monthly for a storage pod that we keep on the property containing all of the earthly possessions that wouldn’t fit in the bus (that would be most of them). We have to buy propane for things like hot water and cooking, which is more expensive than the natural gas we were using in our rental. Our space for food storage is minimal, so we need to go to the store more often for groceries. We now live farther outside of town, so we use more gas to get places. We also occasionally use gas to run a generator for electricity if we haven’t been able to harvest enough energy via the solar panel on cloudy days.
As far as the ease of day-to-day living is concerned, things vary with the weather: a spring morning with the windows open and a nice breeze blowing through your handmade curtains while the kids play outside is completely different than a summer afternoon in the middle of a record-breaking heat wave while you’re eight months pregnant. It just is. Rainy days with no electricity for curling up and watching movies with the kidlets are also rather trying.
It’s not the easiest lifestyle – almost every task requires extra steps to accomplish (even just turning on the stove). It’s generally pretty dirty and occasionally gross (e.g. we have to dispose of our own waste every week) and I probably wouldn’t recommend it for everyone.
Bus-living benefits
There are some pretty big benefits, though. Our lot is over an acre, which means that neighbors aren’t squished in on either side of us. We have the peace of mind of being on our own land where we will be able to be closely involved in the building of our home. Downsizing all our possessions has given us a very good idea of what we can live without (90% of our belongings, apparently!) and we have definitely developed a sense of gratitude for those everyday conveniences that so many take for granted today.
In addition, although our expenses are a bit higher than we had originally anticipated, they still don’t come close to the amount that we were paying monthly in rent. Now that the initial set up is over with, we are managing to stash away a significant amount of money from each paycheck and have built up our savings account to a respectable 4-6 months’ worth of income. Due to the way construction loans work, we are now in a position to potentially start paying down our mortgage before it even begins.
Perhaps one of the biggest items on the “pro” side of things is the fact that being in an uncomfortable situation is a very large impetus to reach our goal!
Living in a bus may be unusual, to say the least, but it is enabling us to work toward a huge goal and keep our debt much lower than what it would otherwise be.
How About You?
- Would you be willing to live in a bus to save money?
- Have you gone to great lengths to put a large amount of money toward a dream?
Linked to One Project at a Time, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Thrifty Thursday, The Thrifty Couple
Sarah is a wife and mom to four living in San Diego, California. She’s raising chickens, homeschooling and is otherwise completely normal (aside from the whole living in a bus thing). You can follow along with her family’s journey into full-time bus-living and house-building at www.littlebusontheprairie.com .
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[email protected] says
April 24, 2015 at 5:43 amHow interesting! I’m excited to check out your blog to find out more of the day to day details. We have five in our family, and I’m curious as to how it works with that many kids!
Sarah @ Little Bus on the Prairie says
April 24, 2015 at 10:51 amIt’s definitely a tight squeeze – having room to roam around OUTSIDE really helps 😀
Sally says
April 24, 2015 at 10:42 amWhat about the land?
Sarah @ Little Bus on the Prairie says
April 24, 2015 at 10:54 amAre you asking how much the land cost? If so, I have a post about that here: http://www.littlebusontheprairie.com/biggest-faq/
Jayleen @ How Do The Jones Do It says
April 24, 2015 at 11:07 amYou’re my hero Sarah;0) I could totally live like on a bus … the hubster, on the other hand, would never go for it. Once the ball gets rolling on your house, it will probably fly right by!
Sarah @ little bus on the prairie says
April 24, 2015 at 11:23 amThanks Jayleen 🙂 We are hoping so!!
Linden says
April 24, 2015 at 1:25 pmWow, good for you! Somebody else brought this up too. Are you buying the land, leasing it, or was it given to you? That is a pretty big omission there! Most of us would need a place to park a bus like that, and those land payments could easily be what your former rent was. Care to spill the beans on that? Thanks!
Sarah @ little bus on the prairie says
April 24, 2015 at 3:19 pmI replied above with a link to a post that explains all the details of the land purchase 🙂
Linden says
April 26, 2015 at 8:06 amAhhh….help from family. That explains a lot. I can see why that was omitted in this article! That is a huge advantage and a bit disingenuous that it was not included IMHO.
Sarah @ little bus on the prairie says
April 26, 2015 at 9:58 amI’m sorry you feel that way. My intention wasn’t to mislead anyone.
Henry says
February 20, 2018 at 9:34 pmLinden is a sad little troll.
Becca says
April 24, 2015 at 2:14 pmLots of people around here live in a shed while they’re building a house. The benefits are obvious – They’ll want a shed anyway once the house is built; it’s cheaper to build a shed than a house; around here, buying a block also means having power attached to the block so you can save on costs by building the shed a bit closer to the road and attaching power to the shed and then it costs less to attach the house to the grid; and of course there’s savings on rent etc. We moved into a house that the owners had built – How I wish they’d lived in a shed first, because the shed we inherited is terrible!
Sarah @ little bus on the prairie says
April 24, 2015 at 3:21 pmThere was a shed on our property when we purchased it and we did consider it! I think the bus is better though – lots more room and it already had amenities 🙂
Becca says
April 24, 2015 at 3:54 pmMost of the time, people who live in a shed while they’re building, build a shed which has roughly the same square footage as their house – sometimes bigger. It’d be cold and drafty in the winter and hot as hades in the summer; but these sheds are very large and have quite a bit of space.
Sarah @ little bus on the prairie says
April 24, 2015 at 5:00 pmThat makes more sense, ours is only about 150 square feet!
The weather is our biggest challenge in the bus as well, though.
Amber says
April 24, 2015 at 4:44 pmWhat a great way to save money while you are building! I could live in a bus, a motorhome, a yurt, a tent, a shack, etc…anything if I could be on land that I owned and was building a house on. I think knowing it was temporary and helping you reach a goal would make it easier. We’re in Southern California too so your land price sounds like a steal. An acre! For less than a million! LOL, Fingers crossed that your house building gets started soon and goes quickly and smoothly, it’s really exciting!
Sarah @ little bus on the prairie says
April 24, 2015 at 5:01 pmKnowing it’s temporary definitely does help, although I have been having moments lately that have felt like it’s going to be forever!
Robert Curth says
April 24, 2015 at 10:02 pmWow. That’s dedication.
No with 6 people I wouldn’t live in a bus. But with 2 definitely 🙂
Sarah – I hope that you reach your goal and are happy all the way.
Sarah @ little bus on the prairie says
April 25, 2015 at 9:30 amThank you so much Robert! And yes, I agree, two people would be waaaay easier!
Linda P. says
April 25, 2015 at 6:52 amCongratulations on taking the steps you need to realize your ultimate goals! My BIL and SIL bought land, built the garage they would ultimately need (since this is Texas and distances are long) and lived in that with their children and dog for more than a year while they saved the money and began building their house, contracting it themselves. My brother and his wife accomplished their goal by buying a teeny house and living there, improving the property while they did, then selling it for a profit and doing the same again until their third house. For each of them, the way was tough but they each managed and you will, too!
Sarah @ little bus on the prairie says
April 25, 2015 at 9:32 amWe would have loved to do it that way as well! Unfortunately, there are strict regulations and timelines that you have to adhere to while building in San Diego which made that not very feasible for us , but I love hearing about people who have accomplished it that way!
Amanda says
April 29, 2015 at 11:21 amI wanted desperately to sell our house and live full time as an RV and live a very unconventional life. However, the husband wasn’t completely on board, so it’s a no-go for now. lol. I totally admire that you live in a bus. I can’t wait to read more of your blog!!!
Zoey says
October 29, 2015 at 10:06 pmI love unusual living situations to save money, even if they’re uncomfortable. My husband, child, and I lived in one room (not one-room apartments or studios: one. actual. room) for years before I got pregnant again, and even though it was hard, it wasn’t nearly as hard as living in a bus without electricity seems! I feel very blessed, looking back, by comparison.
Also, it was kind of fun. I hated it at the time, but now I can look back on those years and smile. We had very little, and appreciated what we did have even more.
There’s even a few habits from those days that we still use, even though we live in a two-bedroom house now. Back then, they weren’t choices by any means, but I’ve since realized they’re great habits for saving:
-Hand-washing dishes, even though I LOVE our dishwasher
-No heat or AC during fall and spring, and as much of summer and winter as we can stand
-Hand-washing and line-drying clothes
-Repurposing as much as we can
-Only buying necessities as often as possible
-No cable – though we do have internet now at $75/month, for Netflix and my work-from-home job
-Only going out to eat or to the movies if we receive gift cards to do so
-Cheapest phone plans possible
-Haircuts at home
-“If it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down” rule. This one is definitely not for everyone, but it saves us so much money on water. And we do a “company flush” where, when someone is coming over, we flush the toilets regardless.
There’s a lot more, like buying our clothes used or sewing our own, and it enables us to live off my husband’s income, save $100-$200 a month from his job, then save the entirety of my paychecks, which are anywhere from $100 to $2000 a month (I’m a freelance designer, so it’s feast-or-famine, but still).
Anyway, that’s just what we do, and it works. But I’d love to take it another step further and change our living situation; like the author, we spend about $1200, give or take a little, every month on rent and utilities in our new place. While we don’t want to go back to a one-room-only situation, I could see converted sheds, RVs, or co-housing in our future.
I have an enormous amount of student debt, as well, but we want to buy a house first. In our area, mortgage payments and utilities for a small house would be less than half of what we pay now for a rental, so it just makes more sense – that’s all the more money we could use for my debt. So in the meantime, I make just over the minimum payments on those loans, squirrel away the rest, and keep cutting costs anywhere I can.
Wonderful post! It’s very inspiring to see that building a dream home doesn’t have to become an enormous financial burden, even if it takes some tenacity and creativity (okay, a LOT of tenacity) to get there!