After sleeping in a converted NYC taxi, I have a new respect for the young professionals living in vans to save money

Kathleen Elkins/Business Insider

Housing can be a major money suck. Take San Francisco, where the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is about $3,500 a month. Prices in my home base, New York City, are just as egregious: $3,300 for a one-bed.

A handful of professionals seem to have figured out a creative solution to this real-estate conundrum: Rather than settling into overpriced apartments, they're moving into trucks, sailboats, and tiny homes. They seem to be onto something brilliant — besides saving up to 90% of their income, living tiny means a less cluttered (and more minimalist) lifestyle, an alluring prospect in today's fast-paced world.

It looks brilliant on paper — from a safe distance — but I wanted to know what it's really like to make a lifestyle change of this magnitude. So I moved into a van. Specifically, a taxicab converted into a "rolling room," which I found on Airbnb for $50 a night ($39 plus the cleaning and service fees).

I only spent two nights "living tiny" before I happily moved back into my overpriced Manhattan apartment — but two nights was more than enough time to answer all of my questions.

Here's how it went and what I learned:

I knew that my level of preparation could make or break the experience, so I packed diligently — yet lightly. I made sure that each item I brought would serve a specific purpose. Among the things that made the cut were: work clothes, a few toiletries, two washcloths, an extra blanket, portable speakers, a laptop, a book, and melatonin to help me sleep.

Kathleen Elkins/Business Insider

Two last-minute additions — toilet paper and hand sanitizer — were game-changers. We (I brought my roommate along) also bought two bottles of water on the way, which we figured we would use to brush our teeth and wash our faces.

Kathleen Elkins/Business Insider

We made the easy commute from Manhattan to Long Island City, Queens, where we found our home for the next two nights parked on this dead-end street.

Kathleen Elkins/Business Insider

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