Nora Dunn, one of the awesome women that I’ve interviewed for my upcoming book, posted recently about the cost of her full-time traveling lifestyle. The full post, “The Cost of Full-Time Travel,” is available on WiseBread.com and offers a great breakdown of just where Nora’s money went. But I want to point out her conclusion in particular:
And even though I spent the majority of 2008 in relatively expensive
global places like Hawaii and Australia, by being creative and
realistic, I still managed to eke out a living on the road with an
income that technically would see me below the poverty line in North
America.
Nora lives on a sum of money that people not planning for long-term travel would find laughable. That’s not because Nora lives at a level below what that sort of person expects. Instead, people who with the goal of staying exactly where they are face an incredible level of expenses. Purchasing a house alone requires a totally different approach to finances: the amount of money Nora requires to finance her lifestyle would just barely cover a year’s mortgage payments in some cities — in others, it wouldn’t come close.
Thank you for the shout-out! Living on the road is a roller-coaster ride to be sure. My latest victory is in setting up a new place (the first unfurnished place we will have lived in for two years), for…drum roll please….$250. That includes everything from cutlery to furniture to sheets to even a bread maker and the full roster of appliances. It can be done!