We bought a static caravan to live rent-free we save 13,800 a year [Video]

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 …