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Man Saves £1,000 Each Month By Living In Self-Built 'Eco Home'

Man Saves £1,000 Each Month By Living In Self-Built 'Eco Home'

36-year-old Chris Marsh used to live in a house that he rented for £650 per month

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

A man from Northumberland is saving about £1,000 on bills each month by living an a wooden 'Eco Home' on wheels that costs just £3.50 each week to run.

36-year-old Chris Marsh used to live in a house that he rented for £650 per month. Add to that his £100 electricity bill and £160 council tax, that's a lot of cheese to be forking over before you've even started.

Now, he lives in a two bedroom wooden cabin on wheels. It boasts a master bedroom, smaller bedroom, living area, shower room and kitchen. He even has all the mod cons in there like a double bed and washing machine.

Caters

Sounds good, right?

Chris used to live in Hexham, Northumberland, but is now pretty much free to roam wherever he pleases in his 180 square foot personal paradise.

However, he stays put on a piece of land that he recently bought for £110,000. He actually bought the land with the intention of building himself a house on there, but the former building manufacturer decided to try something a little different instead and spent 11 weeks creating his dream Eco Home.

Caters

Now, he works building and selling off similar versions of his own creation. Each one goes for about £50,000 and he sells around 30 of them each year to buyers across Europe.

Whatever way you cut it, that's a pretty decent wage. Factor in that he's paying about £15 per month for electricity and nothing at all for water - it's all provided by a rain collection system - then you've got some nice change in the back burner to play with.

Caters

Chris said: "My old house was lovely but it wasn't remotely economical; it had single glazed windows and oil heating that I'd rarely put on with it being so expensive to run.

"The house was constantly cold and I was tired of paying out so much money each month - it was hard to maintain and keep it up to scratch.

"I then came across these 'tiny houses' on an American website and thought I'd give it a try making one myself.

"I've now been living in my new house full time since the end of March and completely love it - I won't be rushing to move back into a proper house any time soon."

Caters

There's no catch, either. Chris has planning permission on the land, meaning that he can stay there permanently.

All that he has had to give up to live this new lifestyle is a few clothes and some storage space. Other than that, he's happy as Larry and saving for his retirement.

His business Tiny Eco Homes UK started in 2017 and Chris builds each one in between two to eight weeks and then delivers them personally.

Caters

Oh, and there's a lifetime guarantee on each one. The wood he uses doesn't rot and they can be towed with a car.

He continued: "I've sold the houses to wide range of people - from young families and elderly couples, to first time buyers and people just wanting an accessible holiday home.

"Each house is completely different and I build it the way to customer wants it making.

"People are often shocked with how luxurious they are - many want an easy holiday home, but don't necessarily want a caravan, so the tiny Eco Homes are a good in between."

You'd imagine Chris won't be hurrying back to live in a conventional house, and who could blame him?

Featured Image Credit: Caters

Topics: UK News, Interesting