Last Updated on September 28, 2021 by Leslie Stroud
We at 7 Wayfinders have been getting A LOT of questions on how to afford traveling full-time. We always respond with the same thing- we just went on the road doing exactly what we were doing before we left! We’ve owned our own business for years and were already remote. However, that isn’t the answer for everyone. In an effort to get you brainstorming and feeling empowered, I’ve asked some of my new full-time travel friends to guest post and tell you how THEY are doing it!
Welcome @TheWallaceReboot!
Hello! We are so happy to join you here with the 7Wayfinders! We are a traveling family of 6 and we have been traveling for 20 months now and NOPE, we didn’t win the lottery. We get asked that often, it makes sense that most people’s first question is how do we afford it and we get it. We spent our lives, up until a few years ago, living paycheck to paycheck and trying to maintain the balance of “so happy, but wish it was us” as we watched family and friends take lovely vacations every year. We seriously could not see how to afford a yearly vacation, let alone full-time travel!
There is so much to our story that leads us to where we are now that you are welcome to dive into over on our YouTube channel or social media accounts, but for the sake of letting you get on with your day and maybe some travel planning? Here’s the short answer to “how do you make this work financially?” We lived off of savings from selling our house, cars, furniture, etc., for the first 15 months. We are now back to no savings and living paycheck to paycheck to be perfectly frank with you. We do have a bit of security in that Wally is a retired US Marine and receives around $1200 usd per month. This isn’t enough in most places that we’ve been so far to support all 6 of us, but it is money we can count on each month and we are very grateful for that. Secondly, Wally teaches English online to supplement our budget and support our family.
Some things we do to keep costs down and allow ourselves to keep going are to find rentals for a month or more, we find we can get discounts doing this and we prefer this slower travel as it gives us time to really experience a bit more of local life in an area. We lower our expectations a bit. We do try and have a few comforts like a washing machine when we can, and wifi is a priority, but other than that a kitchen is the only sticking point. A kitchen is a must in a longer stay so we can shop local and cook at home, this is one of our biggest money savers. Even in places like Thailand where the street food is delicious and cheap, it still adds up times 6 people! We’ve sweated like crazy in hot countries with no a/c and we walk to the store. We save for our must do bucket list items, but we pick our top couple and say no to the rest saving them for next time.
I will add that around 4-5 years ago now, I messaged a family on Instagram to ask how they did it. They were so sweet and helpful and I still walked away completely defeated. I could not for the life of me figure out how to apply their answer to me. I promise you though that your answer is out there too. There are endless ways people are making this work. Keep focused on your dream and you will find the way, hopefully you’ll get on your own travel path soon, whether an awesome vacation, full-time travel, or something in between, but we hope our paths might cross. It’s fun out here and we love to connect with new friends. Hope to see you around and happy travels!
Love, Tam
Want to see more of The Wallace Reboot? Check them out here!
Youtube: The Wallace Reboot
Instagram: @thewallacereboot
