- Billie Webb is a TikToker who filmed herself participating in van life final yr.
- Now she has raffled off her van to reside in a 2015 Mazda, blaming hovering fuel costs.
- Webb, who makes about $4,000 a month from model offers, has ordered a Tesla Mannequin 3 to reside in.
A TikToker give up her domiciled existence final yr to hitch the van-life motion. Now, with a $4,000-a-month revenue stream and a clear slate of debt, she’s taken the plunge to reside in her automobile. Quickly, she’ll name a Tesla her house.
Billie Webb is a TikToker and content material creator who has been touring on the street for the previous yr, in a mixture of her 1990 Chevy G20 van and her 2015 Mazda sedan.
Webb raffled off her van for $6 a ticket, promoting almost 2,900, earlier than transferring into her Mazda. Her grasp plan of dwelling in her personal Tesla continues to take flight.
Van life to automobile life
Billie Webb
Webb moved into her van as COVID-19 restrictions eased final yr, citing steep rental prices and low pay within the numerous odd jobs she was working.
“I’d even be declining going out with mates for lunch as a result of I used to be very fearful about not having sufficient cost for hire,” Webb advised Insider. “However then I began assembly different van lifers who have been additionally content material creators and seeing how a lot they traveled, and I needed to hitch them.”
Van life has develop into extra fashionable amid the pandemic and rising rents and property costs. Nevertheless it has backfired for some, with one nomad telling Insider that she grew to become homeless after trying to reside in her van.
Webb give up van life as gas prices soared, together with her Chevy operating at 7 to 10 miles a gallon and costing her greater than $100 to replenish.
“I do not know if it is a very sensible transfer for anyone to be dwelling in a van proper now, particularly in case you are touring,” she stated.
Billie Webb
Residing in a automobile, then, is a shocking pivot, given the small house, lack of facilities, and comparable strain from fuel costs.
“Now I am fairly used to it. So dwelling within the Mazda, it is not horrible for me. The one factor that I do want was simpler was the temperature,” Webb stated.
With a $20-a-month Planet Health membership, Webb can bathe frequently. Gymnasium memberships are a must have for anybody becoming a member of van or automobile life, she stated. She typically home sits as properly.
The TikToker has been capable of eliminate her automobile, credit-card, and student-loan debt, amounting to about $10,000, as she prevented paying hire and constructed up a 700,000-strong TikTok following, which allowed to her choose up model offers.
Webb makes about $1,500 from every model deal she indicators for her TikTok channel. She’ll usually do two or three a month specializing in automobile equipment. Her greatest deal not too long ago netted her $5,000 for a partnership. Insider has seen contracts and emails from her agent.
Tenting in a Tesla
It hasn’t been straightforward switching again to a automobile. However regardless of the warmer temperatures Webb has needed to take care of, she stated: “I am fairly low upkeep as an individual, so I do not, like, I do not want a king-size mattress. I do not want an enormous closet.”
Xing Yun/Costfoto/Future Publishing through Getty Photos
However Webb hopes her difficulties might be over when her Tesla Mannequin 3 arrives subsequent month.
Tesla’s camp mode allows the automobile to control its temperature and airflow in a single day, making it a extra pure dwelling than her Mazda. It could possibly make journeys far cheaper, too.
“Clearly, the fuel invoice might be a lot decrease or nonexistent, the electrical energy invoice might be decrease than the fuel invoice, and the temperature issues might be solved,” she stated. “It’s going to be actually cool — I am very enthusiastic about it.”
