'I sold all my belongings to live rent-free in a container - harvesting rainwater and growing my own food'

• Robyn sold all her belongings and left her home to live off-grid
• She spent less than £5,000 on a container - and saves around £750 a month
• The 33-year-old rears her own animals - including chickens, rabbits and pigs

A woman who followed her dream to live rent-free in a container has told how she’s saving around £750 a month.

Robyn Swan, aged 33, sold all her belongings and remortgaged her home to buy a seven-acre piece of land near Stirling for £185,000, before spending £4,200 to have a 40ftx80ft container built there.

She lived without electricity for eight months while she saved up £4,500 to have solar panels installed and 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.

Council tax and phone bill among only expenses

Having made the leap in December 2023, Robyn says that just over a year later she’s already around 40 per cent self-sufficient.

Living in a house was costing her more than £1,000 a month, but she now spends just £260 on expenses such as council tax, food and her phone bill.

Robyn, a full-time dog walker, who lives with partner Luke, 29, an electrician, said: "Once I bought the land, we didn't even start in a caravan - we moved straight into the container and built it around us.

"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."

‘I bought a second-hand kitchen on Facebook’

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 £185k 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 live in broke down.

Robyn bought a second-hand kitchen from Facebook marketplace for £1k after being quoted £5k to buy it new, and set up a bed.

She got a fridge, 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.

She said: "I just had to adapt - you definitely get better at seeing in the dark when you've been doing it a while.

"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.

‘My weekly food shop is less than £30’

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.

She said: "I hope by the end of summer, we'll be growing all our own meat and vegetables.

"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 per cent self-sufficient by summer, Robyn has been so busy that she hasn't repurchased her TV and said she doesn't miss it.

Robyn added: "It's quite tolling on your body, but I'd like to keep living off-grid as long as I can.

"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."

Would you like to live off-grid? What would you miss most? Let us know in the comments section below.