I remortgaged my house to move into a shipping container

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

I remortgaged my house to move into a shipping container

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==SWNS

Robyn Swan wanted a new off-grid lifestyle

A woman who remortgaged her house and sold her belongings to move off-the-grid into a shipping container says she loves her new lifestyle.

Robyn Swan, 32, bought almost seven acres of land and the container which she renovated.

The dog-walker spent several years researching off-grid living before buying the land in Stirlingshire in December 2023.

Ms Swan, who lives in the container with her boyfriend, said: “My happiness is high and my bills are low, what’s not to love.”

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==SWNS

Robyn bought land and a 40ft shipping container

Robyn spent £185,000 on the land and rents out her old house to fund her new lifestyle.

She converted the 40ft (12.2m) container in two months using material from a local builder.

She also picked up a second-hand kitchen and a bath on an online marketplace.

She told BBC Radio Scotland’s

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

: “We fully renovated the container. It is not completely finished but it is liveable now. We’ve got a bed and everything like that.

“We’ve not got any sofas or anything, we’ve just got a couple of deck chairs that we sit on at the moment.

“It looks like a fully-furnished home really, well it will do in the end.”

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==Robyn Swan

It took two months to make the container liveable

The shipping container has no electricity or hot water.

This means even a simple task like taking a bath is a mammoth effort. Robyn uses a cast-iron bath heated on an outdoor *****.

“It takes about two hours by the time you’ve heated it all up and waited for it to cool down,” she said.

She harvests rain water using a water system on the roof of the container.

Robyn said the thing she missed most about living in a normal home was having a flushing *******.

“Everyone wants to live off grid until they realise that they have to deal with their own human waste,” she added.

This task involves a bucket and compost.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==SWNS

There’s no flushing *******, but a second-hand kitchen added to the container’s comfort

As part of a mission to become fully self-sufficient she also grows her own vegetables and has eight sheep, six pigs and “twenty-odd chickens”.

Her most recent purchase is a wood-burning stove which she hopes will provide her with enough heat to handle the cold Scottish winter.

Robyn had originally wanted to buy a farm but found them too expensive.

She said she “snapped” up the land when it became available, while other interested buyers were put off by its remote nature.

Her long-term plan is to convert an old barn on her seven acres into a fully-fledged eco home.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==SWNS

A sunset view of the container home, from Robyn’s outdoor bath

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#remortgaged #house #move #shipping #container

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

For verified travel tips and real support, visit: https://hopzone.eu/