Milwaukee, WI, March 9, 2020 – Chris Kochan and Sarah Shaeffer debated housing options as they lived in their own apartments across the country from each other paying a combined total of over $3,500 a month in rent.

Chris lived in Cupertino, CA paying $2,600 in rent for a one-bedroom apartment near Apple’s headquarters where he worked as a Global Supply Manager on the iPhone team. Sarah lived in Milwaukee, WI paying $960 in rent for a one-bedroom apartment near her college; UW-Milwaukee. They had a passion for travel, but paying over $3,500 together in rent and living separately did not allow for much beyond traveling back and forth between Wisconsin and California to visit each other.

Fast-forward 3 years, Chris and Sarah now live together in a school bus conversion. Known as a “skoolie” in the tiny house community, they now have the ability to travel wherever and whenever they want in their skoolie known as @SkoolieLivin across social media.

Their skoolie is a retired 30’ 2000 International 3800 school bus and they converted it into a luxury tiny house on wheels for less than 1-year of their previous rent costs!

Over the last year, Chris and Sarah have been working on SkoolieLivin.com to create a resource for others looking to convert a school bus of their own into a tiny house on wheels, which is now live! They detailed out their entire skoolie school bus conversion build, built a Skoolie Classifieds section to find a skoolie or school bus for sale, and written a list of detailed articles on their blog including a feature on different school bus conversion ideas.

“It was a complete lifestyle and career change for me,” says Chris, captain of SkoolieLivin. “I went from working an office job in the Supply Chain field that sort of fell into in college, to turning my passion for the past 10 years of building websites and doing search engine optimization into a full-time gig. All of this from the comfort of our skoolie with the ability to travel full-time for just a fraction of our prior living costs.”

Sarah got on-board with the school bus conversion tiny house for different reasons. “We almost get washed up in thinking we need to go to college and make a decision about our career within those few years that will last the rest of our lives, even though we don’t know who we truly are yet,” Sarah said. “After 4 years and changing my degree 3 times, I wanted to experience the world and learn more so I could figure out what my purpose here on Earth is. Most people who went tiny before us had expressed how living on less has increased their happiness, self-awareness, and personal fulfillment. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to give it a try, and they were right!”

Collaborate with Chris, Sarah, and Skoolie Livin™

Chris Kochan and Sarah Shaeffer have a goal to educate others about\ alternate living, especially the option of tiny living for others out there who are struggling financially, don’t feel like they want to follow the normal course of life outlined by society or are just looking for a change. They welcome the opportunity to collaborate on skoolie tours, videos, articles, interviews, or other content to help push the alternative living movement forward. To collaborate with Chris and Sarah, contact them through the contact page on SkoolieLivin.com.

Media Contact

Chris Kochan

Milwaukee, WI

SkoolieLivin.com