Rachel Hale, 39, and husband Lewis, 35, sold their three-bed home in Lancaster, Lancashire and now spend just £330 a month
A couple have shared their secret to working just two days a week – by splashing out only £330 monthly while living in a caravan. Rachel Hale, 39, and her husband Lewis, 35, have been residing full-time at a campsite in Anglesey, Wales, since March 2024 after deciding they “didn’t want all our money going on bills”.
Back in April 2023, the duo flogged their three-bedroom house in Lancaster, Lancashire, for £130,000 and snapped up a £30,000 motorhome to explore the UK for 12 months. When their cash reserves started running low, the pair secured employment at the site via a Facebook group and have since moved up to residing in a £15,000 static caravan.
Without any rent or utility costs to worry about – thanks to Lewis’ role as campsite warden including their pitch – they’re banking an entire salary each month and reckon they’ll have stashed away £8,000 by October this year.
Rachel, who works as a cook, explained: “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.”
Rachel outlined the perks of their seasonal work: “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.”
After enduring the heartache of a miscarriage and a stillbirth, followed by two years of unsuccessful attempts to conceive, Rachel and Lewis decided to sell their home and seek a fresh start.
Rachel said: “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.”
Formerly a chef at a local hospice and Lewis as a mental health support worker, the couple found new opportunities last year via a Facebook group. Initially, both worked part-time for one day a week, but it soon became apparent that the role was better suited for one person, leading Rachel to take up a position as a chef at a nearby cafe.
Rachel said: “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.”
The pair have contemplated exploring different campsites but feel quite settled where they are: “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.”
Living frugally, their monthly expenses barely exceed £300.
Rachel said: “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 couple’s largest monthly expense is their food shop, averaging £240.
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.”
Reflecting on the transition from a house to a caravan, she said: “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.”
To save money, Rachel and Lewis sometimes opt to park in lay-bys or car parks instead of paying for campsites during their travels.
Rachel expressed their long-term plans: “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
Rent/bills: £0
Gas: £8.75
Laundry: £12
Food: £240
Phone contracts: £60
Caravan insurance: £10
Total: £330
Rachel and Lewis’ past monthly expenses as homeowners
Mortgage: £500
Council tax: £130
Water: £30
Gas and electric: £70
Subscriptions (such as Sky, Netflix and Amazon): £100
Phone contracts: £60
Food shop: £240
Takeaways: £200
Total: £1,330
