I agree with the advice above, but won't harp on it further as there's not much I could possibly add that hasn't been better said. Just hope you're capable and willing to consider the potential pitfalls of this lifestyle - considering your specific circumstances & limitations - in a realistic, dispassionate, well-researched, and emotionally-detached manner.
Being put in a position where you "have to" get a bus build done is not a position I would want to be in. That being said, if I were in that position, my #1 priority would be making sure the bus was either 100% mechanically sound, and/or making sure I had a permanent place to park it for as long as I needed to get it to that point. Everything else you can improvise. But one major breakdown could very well make that rent increase seem cheap. One road-going accident and your only home could be no more.
Keep in mind - buses are hard to find and expensive now when you can find them. If you've been sitting on a bus in good (low/no rust?) condition for a while that came straight from a school district w/o being hacked on in the interim, it's likely worth well more than you paid. Maybe that opens up options to you? Or maybe not.
Past that, ideally, I'd want to seal up the exterior (rivets/seams/windows) before I started building anything inside. But you may not have that luxury. Just understand that between leaks & condensation, it's easy to end up with mold/rot. So plan accordingly. Personally I wouldn't put much effort or money into interior structures until I knew I had a weathertight shell.
Building materials are really expensive now. If I were budget-limited, and not dependent on creature comforts, I'd be inclined to make it as close to camping under a steel shell as possible... reliant 7-gallon water jugs, camp stove (used outside), home-made composting toilet, small DC-powered ice chest, chinese diesel heater, and making sure you're nowhere it gets hot. That being said, even comfortable camping can be hard on someone with a bum knee.
Best wishes! Hope you get your surgery soon!
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