Being able to travel wherever you desire, whenever you want while working with something you like and love , likely sounds like the dream life to most people. But it also may seem like a far-fetched dream scenario that’s incredibly difficult to realize.
A lot of human think you have to be incredibly wealth and crazy rich to be able to live this kind of lifestyle, and that traveling is an high-cost lifestyle. But how much money do you really need? It’s probably way less than you think.
You may be surprised to know that living a nomadic lifestyle can actually be much cheaper than living a regular life in a place.
Factors That Influence Your Potential Budget.
1, Countries
How much you will spend rely strongly on the countries you are going to travel to and live in. Whereas you can live fairly low-cost in most Asian countries, it will be way more expensive in Australia or North America. When you begin a digital nomad life, you might prefer to go to a place where you can discover many other remote professionals. These places are not only excellent to make new buddies, and to network, but they are also very reasonably priced. Perfect examples would be Saigon, Bangkok, Budapest or Medellin.
2. Accommodation
That depends on your own preferences. Are you agree with staying in simple apartments or fairly cheap Airbnbs, or do you prefer comfortable hotels, or apartments? Even though, they are the cheapest options, I can’t suggest dormitories or couchsurfing, as it is super tough for a digital nomads to work in there (people get in and out all the time, noisy, temptations to go out partying etc.).
Depending on where you’re traveling, the $7,000 can effortless be cut in half. If you’re on a backpacker shoestring budget in Southeast Asia, where nightly rooms can bottom out at $10 per night, you only need to budget for about $4,000. However, some people recommend preserving some sanity for your first year on the road, and budgeting a bit more than that. Even entry-level employees can travel full-time on a budget.
3, Food
If you eat out every day, you will, of course, spend way more much money than when you prepare you own foods. Grocery shopping and cooking saves you a lot of money. Or just buy local street food, which is often super cheap and sometimes delicious, too.
As every avid foodie knows, life is too short to have a awful meal; and traveling the world is no time to skimp on gastronomical indulgences. In order to treat your palate on the road, be prepared to spend anywhere from $150 per month to $400, which comes out to anywhere between roughly $2,000 and $5,000 just for food.
These amounts are taken from the averages of first-year digital nomads. If you’re looking to cut down on expenses, attemp to book accommodations that offer free breakfast. Also select spots near markets, which will incentivize you to shop and cook for yourself.
4. How long you intend to stay in a place?
Are you planning to stay, 1, 2, 5 or may be even 12 months? This is a very neccesary question to ask, as it can have a big impact on your costs. In general, the longer you stay in one place, the cheaper things become. For example, if you’re renting an apartment, you can negotiate a cheaper rate. If you are buying a gym membership the rate for 3 months is always better than paying monthly.
However, the biggest cost is going to be relocation and setup expenses. If you are moving around each month to a new place, the travel costs and time wasted to get set up again will have the biggest effects on your pocket.
So if you’re looking to maintain your costs to a minimum, stay in one place for longer periods, If you’re more like YOLO, I need to see as many places before die, then expect your expenses to jack up. Just keep in mind this when you are considering where to go, and how long you intend on staying there.
