A COUPLE who spent their house deposit on a van now save £1,800 a month on bills.
Robert Bolohan, 28, and his wife, Mariona, 26, decided to give up on saving for their dream home and created their very own “apartment on wheels“.
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The couple started thinking about the van life in spring 2021, but were so busy building their business they were not sure it would ever be anything other than a pipe dream.
They started to watch videos of van conversions and nomadic living on Instagram and a year later in March 2022, their dream started to become a reality.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Robert said: “We were about to give up on this several times, until this van popped up out of nowhere on a Facebook group.”
The couple took the plunge and bought a seven-metre, 17 seater Ford Transit for £13,500 off a seller in Hull.
Before the pandemic Robert and Mariona were living in a studio flat in Hayes, west London spending around £1,800 per month on rent and bills combined.
To save money for a house deposit they moved in with Robert’s parents in Uxbridge, but very soon found their dream of becoming homeowners littered with obstacles.
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As well as the house prices and interest rates rising, running their own translation company, Lotuly, was also complicating things.
Robert said: “During the pandemic, we made the move from self-employed to company directors, but we need to wait until April — when we’ll have full accounting for two years— to be able to use our broker to even think of buying a house.
“It’s not an easy process for us.
“We went to see loads of houses, and, even if they were within our budget, they weren’t what we wanted.
“There was always something that stopped us going forward with it.
“When you start to picture something in your mind, it’s hard to tick it off.”
This is when the couple decided to change course and use the money they had saved for a deposit to buy and convert the van,
They saw it as a way of travelling without paying commercial rent, and one where they could also be self-sufficient, living off grid.
It took almost a year to complete the van conversion with Brexit, and supply chain issues causing delays and driving up the costs, but the couple still managed to do it without taking out any loans or getting into debt.
They made the van lighter, insulated it, and replaced the windows, along with soundproofing and installing a skylight.
They also installed solar panels on the roof and rechargeable lithium batteries which mean that the van is fully electric.
There is an integrated kitchen and bathroom with a compostable toilet, as well as water tanks, a heater and indoor and outdoor showers.
Robert and Mariona designed the van’s layout from scratch and did not scrimp on any of the materials saying “The idea was was to make things comfortable for full-time living”.
Robert said: “Everything is more expensive, even though it’s a smaller space. It took a long time to find the right products.”
In addition to the van’s original cost of £13,500, the couple spent £31,500 on the renovations including £4,000 for a mechanic.
Robert added: “Some of our friends tell us we’re nuts, but when we show them the van, they’re really impressed.
“It looks like an apartment, even though it’s a small one.
“But you can pay a lot more money for a shoebox in London.
“We’re eager to travel and try living in different cultures.
“We do this for our business, and we help others see that through written words, but experiencing it is different.
Mariona adds: “Maybe it’s like a young mid-life crisis.”
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