That is, finding ways to reduce the costs of our home by renting something out on our property.
In the last 2 homes we’ve lived in, we have covered all of our primary housing expenses just by renovating a garage space and putting it on Airbnb. This reduced our ongoing housing costs to essentially $0.
We moved into a new house last year and we’ve been trying to figure out how we want to “hack” it. Once you get used to not having housing expenses, it’s hard to go back to paying them. 🤣
We’ve had multiple options:
- There is a large storage shed in the backyard that we could renovate.
- There’s a separate wing of our house that we could wall off for guests.
- We could build an additional small structure in the backyard.
But, honestly, we didn’t love these options for a variety of reasons.
That’s when we had an idea.
Unique Airbnb experiences are becoming more and more popular. And I knew a guy who retrofitted an old Airstream and had great success renting it out on Airbnb. He was making upwards of $20k per year doing this. Then he could use the Airstream for travel when it wasn’t rented if he wanted. And if he ever moved, he could take it with him.
Part of our concern with the original 3 options mentioned above is that, since we move so often, we have to keep doing extensive conversions to get something ready for Airbnb. With a vintage/retro Airstream solution, we could potentially take our “Airbnb” with us when we move.
We haven’t made a final decision yet, but this has been our favorite of the options.
And, believe it or not, you can find some great deals on Facebook Marketplace.
You could buy an old vintage Airstream for $5-10k and do the overhaul yourself, if you’re handy.
Or, you could buy one that’s already been renovated. Not too hard to find.
Or, you could go new (obviously a lot more expensive).
My youngest daughter is begging for this house hack because she wants to take the Airstream on the road when it’s not being rented. Haha!
$20k per year would easily cover our housing expenses here, so we’re definitely tempted. And we’ve seen some really cool ones on Facebook nearby.
I’ll keep you updated on whether or not this ever materializes.
The reason I share this is just to remind you that there are so many creative ways to “house hack” and reduce your primary housing expenses to nearly $0.
Why not find a way to cover your basic housing expenses so more money is freed up to support your ministry? And once you live nearly free, you’ll have a hard time imagining going back!
