Crawley couple move into van to save money for a house

Flavia and Luke say living in the van means they can save for a house

A couple have moved out of their rented flat and into a camper van in order to save money for a house.

Flavia Catavitello and Luke Norris, from Crawley, from West Sussex, are both 23 and work full time, but felt they would never be able to save enough to afford to buy.

They have invested £13,000 into buying and converting a former roofer's van into a mobile home.

As well as saving on rent, they say it also means they can afford holidays.

"One of our salaries was going on a rented flat that we were getting a lovely home from, but nothing in 20 years' time," said Ms Catavitello.

Mr Norris said: "When you're renting it feels like you're chucking away money.

"One of our salaries is kept in savings now."

The couple bought the van for £6,000 and spent £7,000 fitting it out

They managed to get the van habitable in 14 weeks, with an air cooker, bed and shower, and are now parked at Mr Norris' family home.

"My dad's a mechanic," Mr Norris said, "So we didn't have to buy the tools to do the work, but all our weekends for 14 weeks, we didn't do anything, we just did this so it was ready to move in."

In August, the couple used the van to travel from Crawley to the city of Pescara in Italy, a round trip of 2,500 miles through six countries, including an overnight stay in Switzerland.

Ms Catavitello said: "If we drove to Italy in a normal car we'd have to stay in a hotel, whereas we paid two Euros to park overnight by this beautiful lake.

"When we woke up it felt like a dream."

The couple can live, work and holiday in their van

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