Five Reasons Why Traveling the World is Cheaper Than Living at Home

enjoying Koh Phi Phi viewpoint – Thailand

Five Reasons Why Traveling the World is Cheaper Than Living at Home

If their claims are to be believed, thousands of people would absolutely love to give up the rat race and their mundane existence in exchange for setting off to travel the world. The biggest reason typically given for their hesitation is money. More specifically, a lack of money or not knowing how to afford world travel.

What if I were to tell you truthfully that you can travel the world for $50 a day ($1500 per month) as Nomadic Matt, one of the world’s most successful nomadic travelers, proves? How about $1000 per month, as Wandering Earl has been proving for over a decade? How about living quite comfortably for years on end for less than $600 per month, as I have been doing since 1998?

Would you finally give up your ho-hum life and follow us world travelers into a world of freedom and adventure?

My travel life, Earl’s and Nomadic Matt’s are real travel lives being played out right now in the wide, wide world by real live people. Us – digital nomads!

We all started out like you did, in a settled life in a home with a mom & dad & siblings. Then we grew up and hit the road.

So, are you going to come join us?

I’m guessing you might still need more proof and explanations about how it is humanly possible to travel the world for much less than your current dull life is costing you. Am I right?

So here you go, five concrete reasons why world travel is cheaper than living in your home country.

lots of utility bills while living in a house!

1. Travelers have no monthly bills

You know all those monthly bills you have to keep paying, month after month, year on end? Electricity, gas, hot water, phone, internet, TV, car payments, car insurance, mortgage, houses insurances, property taxes, credit card bills – those monthly bills?

Well guess what? When you’re out traveling the world, you don’t have any of those monthly bills! Nada.

So here’s a quick task for you: go right now and total up the cost of all your monthly bills. Tallied?

How much do they total? Over $1500? Over $1000? Over $600?

Now imagine not having to pay that any more. All gone! Soooo… now imagine using that money to travel the world instead of paying bills!

The money that you’ve been splashing out to pay all those monthly bills, all these months and years, could very well completely fund you world travels, instead. Indefinitely. Travel finance issue solved.

That’s right, the money you’ve been using to pay bills could cover all your main travel expenses of accommodation, food & drink, transportation as well as budgeting for travel insurance, personal supplies like toiletries, new clothes, minor medical expenses and incidental expenses.

…all we travelers have is the contents of our packs!

2. Travelers don’t accumulate stuff

You may as well face it – when you live in a house or apartment or condominium permanently, or even for a few years, you accumulate stuff. Clothes & shoes, toys & electronics, household nicknacks & appliances, tools & equipment, books & music & DVDs. And what else, specifically, have you been accumulating?

The longer you live in one place, the more you accumulate. Am I right, or am I right?

Well, guess what? When you’re out traveling the world, you CANNOT, I repeat, Cannot, accumulate things.

You have nowhere to put them and no way to carry them. The only things you can have, and the only things you can buy, are what you can physically carry with you on your back or in your suitcase. Only that.

There’s no closet, cupboard or drawer to put them in. No table or counter to display them on. No garage to toss them in.

And if you’re not accumulating things, that means you’re not spending money on them!

So think about how much money you’ve spent on ‘stuff’ in the past month. How about in the past year?

Here’s your second task: Go around your home and look at all the stuff you’ve got there. Now tally up how much you spent on all of it.

Does it average several hundred dollars a month? Several thousand dollars a month? It might not average out to $1000-1500 per month, but it’s still bound to be a big chunk of money that you could instead be using to travel.

So instead of continually spending money on ‘stuff’, use that money to travel the world!

house full of possessions…

3. You can sell all that stuff- you can unload stuff you don’t need

Do me another favor – go get ready to leave it all behind and set out to travel the world.

What I mean is, go pack up the backpack or suitcase that you would go traveling with. Pack it up with exactly what you’d take with you on your big world trip.

Now after your backpack/suitcase is fully packed and ready to go, look around your home to assess what is left over… all the stuff that you’re NOT taking with you. Whoa! I’ll bet it is a lot of stuff, right? I’ll bet it’s most of what you own, right?

How much did you spend for all that stuff? (If you did step 2 above, you have at least a rough idea of its total value)

Ok, now consider this: You can sell all that stuff. All that stuff you no longer need for a life of world travel. How much money can you gather together from the sales? That’s a great chunk of money to put towards your world trip!

eating a tasty bowl of beef noodles for $0.50 in Java – Indonesia

4. Living costs are much lower in other countries of the world

Where do you currently live? In USA or Canada? In Australia or New Zealand? In Europe?

If you answered yes to one of the above, then there is a huge swath of the world out there that is much, much cheaper to live and travel through. In those countries everything is cheaper: food, accommodation, transportation, clothes and shoes, personal supplies and toiletries, medicines and medical care, entertainment.

I’m talking ½ the costs or 1/3 or ¼ the costs. I’m talking $1-2 US for a solid meal. And $10-20 US per night for a decent room or $100-200 US per month for an apartment, bungalow or hotel room. And $10-20 US for an all-day or all-night bus/train to the next destination.

That means you don’t need nearly as much money to live (at the same standard) as you do now.

So ask yourself some questions:

If you traveled through countries where everything cost only half what you spend now, how much would you need to travel? What about traveling through countries where everything costs only 1/3 of your current costs? Then how much would you need to spend per month to live comfortably?

Of course I’m not claiming that every other country in the world is less expensive than USA, Europe or Australia. All of those places are very expensive, case in point. So if you want to travel through those regions, it won’t be cheaper.

But many other regions are very inexpensive: SE Asia, Central America, South America, Eastern Europe and parts of Africa are all considerably less expensive.

budget room in Bali

5. Accommodation can be much cheaper while traveling

How much do you pay for rent or mortgage living in the western world?

If you answered more than $600-750 US per month, then I’m here to tell you that your accommodation would be cheaper if you travel the world!

If you’re willing to travel on a budget, the MOST you’ll have to pay on a regular basis is $10-25 US per night. That amounts to $600-759 per month. Period. No utility bills on top of that. No electricity, gas, water, heat, phone, internet or other monthly payments. Just the room cost.

But wait, that’s the MOST you’ll have to pay! That’s for the more expensive countries in the world, including New Zealand and Australia, Europe and UK, even the USA. Yes, you can get dorm beds in all those countries for $20-25 US per night.

You can pay MUCH LESS than that, and for private rooms, in most countries of the world. I’m talking $5-10 US per night. To have your very own private room or stand alone bungalow at guest houses, homestays, bungalow resorts and budget hotels. That totals just $150-300 US per month for accommodation!

Here’s my post detailing all the different types of budget accommodation around the world.

But wait, it gets even better! You can easily find FREE accommodation all over the world. Yes, free. And through many different organizations. You can do couch surfing, work exchanges, volunteer gigs, go camping, and maybe even stay with friends.

Here’s a detailed list & explanation of all the free accommodation options out in the world.

Summary:

LashWorldTour with cocktail at Freedom Bar

here’s to world travels!

As you can see, then, traveling the world is not only Inexpensive, it can actually be CHEAPER than what you’re spending to continue your settled home life. If you’ve always wanted to travel the world but have been letting expense / lack of money hold you back, then let go of that limiting belief and start planning the travel life of your dreams.

Find out more about How to Afford Long-Term Travels in my series here. If you’re still hesitating, these posts will give you more knowledge, suggestions and impetus to get out here in the world – just like me, Wandering Earl, Nomadic Matt and dozens of other digital nomads who are out enjoying the wide wonderful world. Come join us!

You might also find the following posts useful:

List of Income Sources While Traveling the World

Photos of Budget Accommodation Around the World

Round-up of Budget Accommodation Options

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