living in a caravan

saadz2k5

hiya im a student at sheffield hallam university

i am originally from manchester

basicly for 2nd year i want to live in a caravan

i figure its the cheapest option for me, cheaper then a shared student house or halls for example

i currently pay 95 quid all inclusive for rent at my halls

want to really reduce that to a minimal amount

i have a car also...

anyways ive seen caravans on autotrader for 600 quid that look really good

anyone know where i can park my caravan and what the costs involved are...

i wanna live somewhere between sheffield and manchester then i have easy access to both.

thanks

Volcano

Your biggest problem with this is:

saadz2k5 wrote: »

anyone know where i can park my caravan and what the costs involved are...

Issues are: poor security, you're going to need electricity (no, honestly, it's no fun going through winter without electricity, trust me), using gas to heat and cook? It'll freeze in Winter. Can you find a site open throughout Winter? Site fees seem to run at around £10-£13 per night, are you really saving much more than halls? Getting dressed at 3am, going out into the rain and wind just to use the loo is a pain.

Hope it's not too depressing, just my experience from a long time ago. Best of luck, but remember a student loan is the best kind of debt you'll ever have!

MarzipanFish

Hi there, I'm living in sheffield too (i'm at shef uni)

I assume looking in the peak district would be your best choice. There's a nice looking site at edale which is on the train line between sheffield & manchester.
At normal prices though, it would work out more expensive than a house though!

To save money, i think your best options would be either
- Look for a house a bit further away for cheap. Rents in sheffield go as low as £40 a week if you're willing to walk further (Walkley is cheap but your walk to shef hallam would be about 45-50mins) I pay £50 a week and live 30mins walk from the train station (about £60 including all the bills)
are you willing to walk further/ would the petrol costs of living further away balance out?
I know Eccy road's the area of choice for hallam students, but landlords are fully aware of that to take full advantage

- get rid of the car cause you'd save more than moving into a caravan with less of the hastle. The return train to manchester's only about a tenner so even if you went every week it'd be much cheaper than the car insurance.

MarzipanFish

I searched for the cheapest houses left for you. You'd need 3 other people to live with you though!

I also looked to see if i could have got a cheaper flat for myself by waiting and wish i'd not looked!

1. 47 Cromwell Street, Walkley Mid terrace property with 4 bedrooms sharing living room, kitchen and bathroom.
Date available: 13 September 2009
Rent: £43.00 Per Person Per Week

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2. 96 Hoole Street, Walkley Mid terraced property with 4 bedrooms sharing living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom.
Date available: 01 July 2009
Rent: £40.00 Per Person Per Week

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3. 20 The Nook, Crookesmoor Mid terrace property with 4 bedrooms sharing living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom.
Date available: 01 July 2009
Rent: £42.75 Per Person Per Week

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4. 24 The Nook, Crookesmoor Mid terrace property with 4 bedrooms sharing living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom.
Date available: 01 July 2009
Rent: £42.75 Per Person Per Week

DCodd

You may find it difficult as, I beleive, there a rules and regulations regarding "living" in a caravan. Most sites will not allow for "residential" and the ones that do usually require them to be static caravans.

So check this out before you fork out any cash!

davetrousers

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

£600 for a caravan would pay for 60 weeks rent at £100 per week! That's your rent for the next 2 years taken care of even for all inclusive halls!

No it wouldn't. it would pay for 6 weeks: 6 x 100 = 600

Phase

Volcano wrote: »

Your biggest problem with this is:



Issues are: poor security, you're going to need electricity (no, honestly, it's no fun going through winter without electricity, trust me), using gas to heat and cook? It'll freeze in Winter. Can you find a site open throughout Winter? Site fees seem to run at around £10-£13 per night, are you really saving much more than halls? Getting dressed at 3am, going out into the rain and wind just to use the loo is a pain.

Hope it's not too depressing, just my experience from a long time ago. Best of luck, but remember a student loan is the best kind of debt you'll ever have!

I'm not sure there is a good kind of debt.

I am also at Sheffield Hallam!

Stubert

I agree, if you look slightly outside the student ville lands you'll get a considerably better deal. If even its a couple of streets away from the main student areas.

I imagine if you live out in the sticks, its going to be hard to have any sort of social life. As mentioned caravans are going to be freezing in the winter.

Driving into the city and parking to park and the daily misery I'm sure it would cause, I'm sure you'd be better off living in a house.

Oldernotwiser

davetrousers wrote: »

No it wouldn't. it would pay for 6 weeks: 6 x 100 = 600

Oh my goodness; what was I on when I wrote that?

greenpixie_2

The thing you'd want to do if you were going to live in a carvan is make friends with a farmer if theres any around you. You could put the caravan under a tree and hide in somewhere in return for watching his sheep or something.

greenpixie_2

the colds not that bad, just need two blankets instead of one and keep all windows shut, they keep body heat in quite well actully

My friend lived in a tent for the first two terms of one year, he didn't find it that bad showered in halls, only had to stop because he got trenchfoot