To live in a Travelodge

Most hotels don’t let you stay longer than 30 days

I haven't read full thread so this might have already been mentioned

Might your husband consider looking for a job as a carer or care taker with a live-in facility for you both? Boarding schools, care homes, places with gate lodges or large gardens sometimes are looking for couples where one of them is always on hand 24/7 and accommodation is thrown in to compensate for low annual rate - but would be totally worth it in your situation and I could see your DH being excellent.

I appreciate there may be nothing in the area you need to live for your work and to be beside your son, but worth just investigating that as well. There are companies which specialise in it this type of employment, including nanny agencies...nothing to say a nanny needs to be female, especially if extra care required, nobody better qualified than your DH by experience.

PS you come across as having a fantastic attitude and appreciation for the things which are truly important in life. Wishing you all the very best.

Find cheaper smaller accommodation. If you are prepared to stay in a hotel room then move to a bedsit, move further out of travel costs aren’t worse.

you could also look at lodging- some take couples and you might still be s/c. Would save a lot on bills especially. Look in the Lady magazine- some people offer accommodation in return for chores.

there is also an organisation where you can stay in return for looking after buildings - something angels.

loys of options better than a travel lodge.🫣

Very similar situation to you OP. I'm 53, partner 63 and we rent. We have no savings and will never get a mortgage because of our ages and could never afford anything in Oxfordshire even if we did!
I worry every day that the phone will ring one day and our lovely landlord will want his house back. We have been here for ten years and have a dog. Things were so much easier ten years ago to get a rental. I have no idea what on earth we'd do now.

Have you ever thought of being a site assistant for one of the well known clubs? As long as you have your own caravan / motorhome the pitch is free and the wages are fair. You can use laundry facilities free of charge. If no winter season jobs are available you can site sit.

What is late middle age? If you look into councils and Housing associations they often have separate shorter waiting lists for independent living schemes with social housing rent - even if your not from the area. For over 60s

I would find a caravan instead and save that way.

If your husband has all those years experience of caring for your son, have a look into caring jobs for similar young people. My friend works in an assisted living facility and they are crying out for people. Another friend works as a classroom support worker for young people with varying levels of disability.

Its the sort of thing that agencies are always advertising for and the money can be quite good especially if he is willing to do overnights.

Are you sure that would be the cost? 11K a year is around £30 per night which is very much cheaper than most hotels in most areas. Then you'd spend more on food because of having no kitchen, and have quite miserable evenings probably if you are saving hard.
How about signing up to one of the house or pet sitting sites? There are long term arrangements where you have the use of a nice home in return for feeding the cat or chickens or whatever and watering the garden. You could put your stuff in storage and use the Travelodge for periods between lets.

Yeah this is a great idea. And then at the end you would have the holiday home AND would be able to rent it out to people for a bit of extra income!

That is very unkind of you to say. The OP has preferences, just like you and me, and is now weighing her possibilities. Not exactly as if she looks down on a modest flat.

I forgot to add - you could stay in travelodge between house sits, or get cheap air bnb. In summer the demand for housesitters is highest, when hotels are most expensive.

Trustedhousesitters website. I know of a number of people who move from house sit to house sit in the interests of saving money and it has worked for them. Sometimes house sits are for a few months. If you have some days where you don't have a sit then check into an Airbnb for a few days. You would save a large amount of money.

You could move from Travelodge to Travelodge but there are limits to how long you can stay in one.

Do you like animals?

If you do, and decide to give up your house, you could try house/pet sitting. I do it as a means of travelling the uk, but I've been offered plenty of local sits. Some are quite lengthy as well, up to a couple of months.

Some people are a bit funny about allowing people to pet sit if they're technically homeless, but tbh you don't need to elaborate on your housing situation.

Buy a caravan or motorhome or move up north

I thought of him too 😂

Living in run down travel lodges next to roundabouts on outskirts of towns.... great

Could you afford a cheap tourer caravan and just move around as I believe you can only stay on sites for limited period?

IMO you'd be better off buying a mobile home/camper van/Winibago and moving around.

DW and I rented an Airbnb in Greece on the coast for 4 weeks from mid July to mid August 2024 for £900. Food is cheap as are flights if you need to get back quickly. No rates, gas or electric bills and plenty of sunshine. I know there are great deals for winter accommodation in Spain an other hot Eu countries and of course there are many European non EU states that will allow you to stay 90 days on a free visa. We are planning a 3 month Far Eastern trip where 1 month's rent can be from £300 and you are guaranteed sunshine or at least warm monsoon rains. It can be made to be cheaper than living in the UK and likely as not. We are both pension age so our combined pensions is less than our overseas outgoings. You would not be living in luxury and should not consider it a holiday with concomitant costs, just simple living whilst seeing something of the world. Best of luck!

Not unreasonable at all. I have used an Air B&B frequently - for work when I needed, the Air B&B host has let one of his out longer term - might also be an option.

There was a heartbreaking story about an older couple (retired) whose landlord had sold their rental home, and they'd been reduced to living in Heathrow Airport. They were waiting for the Council to house them.

You're not allowed to have them in a Premier Inn.

2k to stote "stuff" seems a waste of money

When I was saving up
I rented a room in a shared house, which included all bills
I worked 2 or 3 jobs & only slept at the property
I ate at my work plaves