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

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 vans, 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.

Of course, 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 taxi cab 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: