"I left my depressing concrete home to live in a caravan - rent is just £90-a-week" - video Dailymotion

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Ben John, 38, had always dreamed of living in a caravan as a child after growing up on a council estate in Leeds, UK.  After moving down to Bournemouth, Dorset, aged 23 he spent his twenties socialising before realising six years ago that he wanted a quieter life.  He bought a touring caravan for just £1,000 and moved it onto a residential site - surrounded by nature.  Ben upgraded it a year ago to a newer £5,000 caravan and spends just £90-a-week on rent, council tax and water.  In the summer Ben spends £20-a-month on electric, and a £100 in winter and £60 on diesel for heating.

Transcript

00:00100% guys you can live in a caravan full-time and it's legal I've lived in

00:04my caravan this one here for actually this one's a new one so a year here but

00:10I was literally over the other side of the campsite which is over there for

00:16five years full-time 12 months a year this 100% has to be a lifestyle choice

00:21if you like your home comforts and you like your luxuries it's probably not

00:25gonna work for you one example you have to empty your own toilet and there's a

00:31cartridge in there which when it's full you get a light that comes on inside

00:35that pulls out and then there's a tray there so that's basically your toilet

00:41you go and empty that in like this loose area and then obviously put yeah I don't

00:46know it's called blue stuff in there keep it smelling nice yeah is where we

00:49top up the water I think it's 50 liters inside which basically gives me a shower

00:54and I can wash up probably twice and make a few coffees not using this at

00:59the moment but in the winter we have a diesel heater an awning is completely

01:04your choice you don't have to have one but I mean I like the outside space and

01:08then obviously got the garden area so it's just I mean you look around so

01:18peaceful this is like a little ledge makeshift ledge that I built myself just

01:27put tarpaulin on it because when it rains because it's on an angle there

01:29you just get wet through when you're walking in and out the zip the floor is

01:33a decking floor basically it's like a deck yeah it's like decking on stilts

01:36and then I've put underlay down and then carpet on top of that big mirror fridge

01:40and freezer that's a big chest freezer I think there's gonna I think I've got

01:43like a bag of chips in there that's it you need one of these 100% in an

01:48awning throughout winter especially I keep mine on constantly the dehumidifier

01:52because otherwise and I've made this mistake before my last awning was

01:56covered in mold damp and it smells and it's because of the the moisture and the

02:01damp so this is a must I leave it on constantly it costs like pence to run I

02:05think it's like 2p an hour sure that I've missed loads out there but if you

02:08need to know anything guys just comment and I'll let you know this is inside the

02:12caravan so I've taken out a bit of the sofa there because it gives you more

02:15space you all know Suki by now and I added a desk as well I took out

02:23because they had like a dinette there you know like the two chairs with a

02:25table in the middle I took them out and put a desk there instead and yeah not

02:32much worktop space but it's alright it does the job there's my spag bol I cooked

02:37earlier ready for later for me obviously I don't have kids do I so a desk is more

02:42practical for me so that's where I sit and do my study and whatnot you saw

02:47from my previous video the toilet situation so obviously that light comes

02:52on down there it goes like it turns red when it's full and that's when you know

02:55to empty it but obviously you know what a shower looks like this is the bedroom

03:00a big I think it's king-size bed even though I don't get to like use much of

03:04it because the dog and the cat take up most of the space but yeah ignore all

03:08that I saw my washing bagged up ready to go now this is a godsend because you

03:12can hide so much shit and the springs have gone the hydraulic spring things

03:16but thank God for a didgeridoo there is a microwave which I don't use

03:21because I don't like them the fridge doesn't work the hob is brilliant

03:25because the gas bottle lasts probably a year and I use a halogen oven the water

03:30tank that I showed you earlier in the in the part one and fills up and it comes

03:34in underneath where Suki is now so you've got a big tank under there which

03:38is controlled by it's like an emergent switch is that you call it and then

03:42this thing here shows you how much water you've got left so obviously goes down

03:45when the tank gets empty and the diesel heater is under that sofa and then it

03:52comes out of the vents there which warms the whole caravan in fact it gets too

03:56hot to be fair no I don't live in a caravan because it's cheaper it's a

03:59common misconception 90% of people like the first thing to say is oh is it

04:04because it's cheap no it's because I choose this life like it's hard for some

04:08people to get their head around in it I left a home I gave up my home to buy a

04:11caravan to live in the middle of a field because I wanted to and I think if you

04:15if you're gonna do if you want to do caravan life because you think it's

04:18gonna be cheaper you're doing it for the wrong reasons you have to want to do it

04:21I mean there's people like everybody on my site you ask anybody they do it

04:26because they want to know because it's cheaper not it's not to do with saving

04:29money it's actually just because it's a way of life and I think there's a

04:33certain you've got to be a certain sort of person to live the caravan life the

04:36lady I bought my caravan from she regrets it she regrets selling it

04:40because she hates being back in bricks-and-mortar and that's what you

04:43find a lot of people leave this site and they come back because they don't

04:45like it how mad is that but yeah it's hard for I think it's because it's so out

04:49the out of the the norm in it I don't know but it's just something that I've

04:54always wanted to do since I was a kid yeah I love it

"I left my depressing concrete home to live in a caravan - rent is just £90-a-week"

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