Family of five tired of forking out on pricey rents now live in a converted school BUS… but have to cope with frozen pipes, no heating and no hot water
Would living in this converted school bus drive you round the bend?
A FAMILY-of-five have moved into a converted school bus as they were tired of forking out on the high rent for an apartment.
In March 2014 Brian and Starla Sullivan were paying an extortionate amount of money each month to live in an apartment that barely satisfied their standard of living.
When the family found themselves struggling to afford the most basic necessities, 29-year-old aerospace assembly mechanic Brian and his partner Starla, 26, decided to buy an old school bus for £2,240.
One year - and £24,000 later - they had a snug home for themselves and their three children Charlie, three, Henry, two and three-month-old Lincoln.
Starla said: “We are ridiculous people - we are!
“We are ridiculous people and this is a ridiculous lifestyle and it just works.
“We now have money to eat the foods that we want and go to the places we want.”
The American family are based south of Seattle, Washington, in a small city called Renton.
Starla said: “$1,500 [£1,200] for living in an apartment – and that’s the cheapest apartment you could find on the market in this area.
“The apartment was about an hour away from Brian’s work and the commute was awful.
“He would work overtime trying to pay the rent, then he would sit in a car for three hours and we would never see him, so we decided to make a change.
“We pay a third of the cost now and we have money to pay off debts and student loans!”
Brian and Starla’s were inspired to downsize into the tiny home after watching YouTube videos online about accommodating, but small, houses that people comfortably live in.
Starla said: “There was this one video in particular – we called them the crazy people who lived in a blue bus.
“Yet we just kind of looked at each other and were like, 'Do you want to live in a bus with me?'”
Brian added: “I thought she was joking, but no she was serious.
“I was at work the next day and I started to realise all of these benefits like being able to be mobile and being able to move if I got a job that was 20 miles away.”
After the year-long renovation the bus is fully equipped with a full size bed, a kitchen with a microwave and oven combination, a washing machine, a composting toilet and even a bath tub for the three children to bathe together.
Starla said: "One thing that I really wanted to have, having children, was a bathtub. So we have a bathtub that is big enough to fit all the kids in, at least while they're this small."
But despite the money-saving perks of living on the bus, the Sullivan family still have their issues from time to time.
Starla said: “I wanted to feel like I was living in a tiny house, not a vehicle, and so we basically built a box inside the bus which really helps with regulating the temperature.
“We have had frozen pipes, no running water, we’ve run out of propane in the middle of the night and had no heat, no hot water, we’ve lost electricity.
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“Whenever any of those things happen, I’m just grateful that they haven’t all happened at the same time.
Brian continued: “Living in a tiny space is really a test of your organisational skills and really a test of your discipline skills because you have to keep the space clean.”
The happy family can’t see themselves moving out any time soon as they hope for their abnormal dream to continue.
“I see myself living in the bus until the kids move out,” Starla added.
“I know a lot of people say it’s not possible for us to raise kids in the bus, especially until they turn 18, but I disagree.
“They might literally outgrow the bus because our ceilings are only six feet tall.
“I don’t see us moving from the bus into anything traditional. It would be something equally ridiculous.”
Brian and Starla are documenting their family journey on their own to raise awareness to others that living like this is actually possible.
Brian said: “When you’re in a bad situation – you can either stay in the same place and die a slow death or you can get creative, think outside the box, take risks and do something scary and I think there are rewards there.
“Now we’re two years into it, and we’re living the dream.
“It feels amazing – it’s like putting on a tailored suit, you can’t describe it.”
It's not the first time a mode of transport has been converted into accommodation take a look inside the 1970s passenger plane that’s been converted into top flight holiday accommodation.