I didn't want to pay rent anymore, so I bought a $9,000 ambulance. I've converted it into a mobile home that I use to travel the country.

• Kaden Smith, 23, wanted to live close to nature but couldn't afford rent in Colorado or Arizona.
• To escape high rents, he moved into an ambulance he bought off of Facebook Marketplace for $9,000.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kaden Smith, 23, who lives in a retired ambulance that he purchased for $9,000 and spent $8,000 converting into a livable space to avoid paying high rents in the US. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

My name is Kaden Smith and I am 23 years old. I grew up in an average, middle-class American family, and I'm the middle child. I'm from Fishers, Indiana. Growing up, there wasn't much to do there but read books — it encouraged me to travel in the future.

After graduating high school in December 2017, I enrolled in Brigham Young University and moved to its campus in Idaho. During my time at BYU, I lived in a dorm house with nine roommates and was paying around $450 each month in rent.

Living with so many young guys made meeting people easier and also motivated me to travel with other people rather than by myself.

In 2022, before graduating, I decided to unenroll from BYU.

I knew that after I left BYU, I wanted to live in a place where I could be outside more and participate in activities like rock climbing. However, I realized I wouldn't be able to afford rent in the cities I actually wanted to live in like Boulder, Colorado, or Sedona, Arizona.

My uncle convinced me that buying a van would be a good option and fun, too. During 2022, I spent months shopping for a van on Facebook Marketplace. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one that was large enough — I'm 6 feet tall — or within my budget of $10,000.

One day in October 2022, my dad sent me a Facebook ad for a retired ambulance that was available for sale for $9,000. He thought it was funny but I was so sick of looking for a van, I was interested. I transferred him money for the purchase and we bought the ambulance that same week.

I used all of my savings to renovate it

When I initially bought the ambulance, I was still a college student living in Rexburg, Idaho, and working a full-time job at a pizza parlor. I was making around $400 a week in wages and tips.

My tuition was $2,100 a semester, but I had already saved up a lot of money before coming to college, so I was able to barely get by and not take out any student loans.

In between semesters, I would fly back home to Indiana, where the ambulance was stationed, and work on renovating the vehicle. Over the course of a year, I converted it into a livable van. I spent about $8,000 on various improvements, including installing and rewiring the lighting, renovating the interior to accommodate a bed, and adding a sink and a hot-water heater. I also tore out the ambulance's emergency lights.

To afford renovations, I used money that I saved up from work, as well as profits from the sale of a car that I purchased by myself at 19.

By May 2023, the ambulance was fully renovated and ready for me to move in.

For the last six months, I have been traveling across the country in my ambulance and haven't been in the same city for more than two weeks. In August, I finished a road trip that took me to California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho.

Living in an ambulance has been very affordable because I don't have to pay rent and have limited expenses. If I'm driving around and not stationery, my gas bill is maybe $200 a week. A lot of times, if I'm on a road trip, I'll park at Walmart, Cracker Barrel, or on government land, so I never pay for parking.

Van life has also made it more affordable to travel internationally. For the last month and a half, I've been traveling throughout Asia. I've visited Thailand and Indonesia and have spent about $1,500 on food and accommodations. During my travels, my ambulance has been parked at a family friend's house in Idaho.

One of the biggest lessons that I've learned living full-time in an ambulance is that I prefer to spend money on experiences rather than material possessions. People don't need as much stuff as they think they do.

People my age want more than a nine to five

I began documenting the ambulance and my travels on Instagram and TikTok. At first it was just for fun and started off almost like a joke. However, that changed when I made my first 62 cents on the platform.

I wasn't on social media previously, so I never believed that it was possible to make money from vlogging. When I made those first few cents, it just broke this barrier in my mind and I decided to start taking it more seriously.

I now share more of my travels online. If I post a video that is more than a minute long, I get paid from TikTok views. I also do sponsored posts and work with numerous outdoor companies. I don't like to share exactly how much I make because social media gets upset, but I'm earning above the median salary for the typical American, which is around $69,717.

From what I've seen and heard, I think a lot more young people are interested in different lifestyles. There's just a big sense of helplessness when it comes to finances. A lot of people go to college and acquire about $60,000 in student loan debt by the time they're 21. They might have a degree, but they're financially constrained and stuck in their career.

I think that's why a lot of people my age are forsaking the nine to five and pursuing different ways of living or are interested in witnessing it. I get a lot of comments and DMs from people that say, "Hey, I saw your video and it inspired me to buy a van and travel."

I think I'm really lucky to be in the position where I can be an inspiration to others.