A 24-year-old Tesla engineer lived in a van for 5 months and paid off his $14,000 of student loans

A year and a half ago, 24-year-old Jason Roesslein headed from Illinois to the Bay Area to start work as an engineer for Tesla Motors.

He lived with a roommate for a few months, but found it frustrating shelling out $1,250 for rent each month. "That was supposed to be a temporary situation until I figured out where I really wanted to live," Roesslein tells Business Insider. "As I got further and further along in my thinking, I decided that I would try to live in a van, and I eventually pulled the trigger on it."

He lived in his "studio on wheels" - a 2006 Dodge Sprinter van - from October 2014 through March 2015, using Tesla and his gym to shower and eat most of his meals. After five months of van life he reverted back to a more traditional lifestyle, with nearly $10,000 of extra savings, some of which he diverted towards paying off his student loans in full. 

Here's what it was like: