I bought a £4.2k shipping container tiny home – now I only spend £260 a month on food & all bills, my rent is nothing
A WOMAN shared an insight into her rent-free life in an off-grid container in rural Scotland.
The 33-year-old harvests rainwater and grows her own food to keep her costs low.
Robyn Swan sold all her belongings, and moved out of her home to live off-grid in December 2023.
She bought a seven-acre piece of land near Stirling for £185,000 and had a 40 foot by eight foot container built there to live in – costing £4,200 to buy.
Robyn began living out her life-long dream of going off-grid – with an aim of becoming completely self-sufficient.
She started out without electricity for eight months, saving up £4,500 to have solar panels installed so she could generate her own power.
Robyn also began growing her own food, rearing her own animals – including chickens, rabbits, and pigs – and harvesting her own water too.
Over a year on, Robyn says she’s around 40% self-sufficient – spending just £260 a month on expenses such as council tax, food, and her phone bill.
“Once I bought the land, we didn’t even start in a caravan – we moved straight into the container and built it around us,” said Robyn, a full-time dog walker who lives with partner Luke, 29, an electrician.
“The container is a full house now – I chose what insulation and double glazing I wanted, so it’s a lot cosier than a caravan.
“My monthly bills come to £259.43 – I only need to pay council tax minus water, some food, and my phone bill.
“I was spending over £1,000 a month living in a house, so I save around £750-a-month which goes back into the land.
“It’s amazing to see my ideas coming together.”
Robyn sold all her possessions – including her car, furniture, and TV – and remortgaged her house so she could rent it out to cover the mortgage.
With the cash she generated, she bought her land for £185,000 then started on building a container to live in.
It had been on the market for six years until she snatched it up because potential buyers kept pulling out.
For the first two months, Robyn slept on a mattress the floor of the container as it was being made, as the camper van she planned to life in broke down.
Robyn bought a a second-hand kitchen from Facebook marketplace for £5,000 and set up a bed.
Are tiny homes legal in the UK?
TINY houses can be in the UK regardless of whether they are on a trailer base or not. The legality of tiny houses is all to do with where it is and what you use it for.
According to Planning Geek, constructing a granny annexe in your garden usually means you’ll need planning permission, especially if it has a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen.
This is because it’s seen as a separate living space rather than just an extension of your main home.
However, if you’re thinking about converting an existing outbuilding, like a garage, into a granny annexe or a tiny home, you might not need planning permission.
That said, it’s important to make sure the space doesn’t end up being a fully self-contained unit – for instance, if the converted area doesn’t include cooking facilities, it might not be classified as a separate dwelling.
It’s also worth noting that, while certain small outbuildings can be constructed under permitted development rights, the NAPC points out that this usually applies to structures like sheds or garages, rather than self-contained annexes.
According to The Tiny Housing, a tiny home on wheels must not exceed 2.55 meters in width to be road-legal in the UK. Also, with a standard car licence, the length cannot be more than seven meters.
While tiny homes offer an alternative living solution, they must comply with local planning and building regulations.
Always check with your local council to ensure compliance with all regulations.
She got a fridge and freezer and had a full bathroom installed inside the container with a working shower and a WooWoo waterless toilet.
They lived off battery packs for eight months until their solar panel system was installed.
“I just had to adapt – you definitely get better at seeing in the dark when you’ve been doing it a while,” she said.
A water harvesting and filtration system was installed, as well as a log burner – and a dog walking client now gives Robyn wood to burn.
This year she erected a polytunnel so she could start growing fruit and vegetables on her land – meaning she would need to rely less on supermarkets.
Robyn used to spend around £80 a week on food shops but now spends a maximum of £30.
She still buys some food including dairy, as she doesn’t own cows, or “the odd takeaway or wee cheeky bottle of wine” – but aims to purchase as little as possible.
She also regularly uses an app called Olio which allows her to collect free food from shops to prevent anything going to waste.
She now grows “anything that can survive in Scotland” – including carrots, potatoes, turnips, tomatoes, strawberries, kale, and berries.
In addition, she has started farming chickens for meat and eggs, and rabbits and pigs for meat – as well as sheep, although currently they’re only used to keep the grass trimmed.
“I hope by the end of summer, we’ll be growing all our own meat and vegetables,” she explained.
“I don’t do dairy, so if that goes well, all I’ll need to buy from the shop will be butter and milk.
“I’m hoping we’ll be able to create a market garden and sell our food back to the public.
“We already sell our own eggs from the chickens.”
At the moment, Robyn spends her days “digging holes to plant trees in” with the help of a local university student, who in exchange parks their mobile home on Robyn’s land for free.
With an aim of transitioning to become 70% self-sufficient by summer, Robyn has been so busy that she hasn’t repurchased her TV and said she doesn’t miss it.
“It’s quite tolling on your body, but I’d like to keep living off-grid as long as I can,” Robyn added.
“It provides a peace of mind – if anything happened in the world, I know there would be no food shortages for me or my family.
“I wanted to live a healthier lifestyle and produce my own food – this way, I know exactly what goes into it.”