Today’s guest post is from Kyle at OnOurOwnPath, who has been traveling with his wife for over 2 years with no plans of stopping.  If you wonder how they do it, read on…

Before my wife and I started being nomads, we weren’t really budget people. For instance, my idea of a budget would be looking at my checking account to make sure that it was above $0. Money came in, money went out. I didn’t really know where my money was going to half the time, I just new that I was being paid twice a month and that covered just about everything.

All of this changed, though, when we decided that we wanted to do extended world travel. Obviously, we would need the funds to start doing this, so we started saving money to be able to travel the world. And once we had this money saved, we didn’t want to go about blowing it on every thing that seemed like a good idea. If we did that, our trip would only last a few months.

So, we started being one of those people who keeps a meticulous budget. You know the type. We write down everything and then record it in a special budget spreadsheet complete with pie charts. Even when we pay 10 cents to use the toilet in Ecuador, we write it down. We then play with the numbers to see how much money we have left and what we could possibly do with it. Yes, we play with spreadsheets for fun.

The funny thing is that this is not a natural part of our personalities. Truthfully, I don’t think we could have done this if it weren’t for traveling. One of the unexpected side effects of being on the road has been what we’ve learned about our money.

Comfort is not expensive

We’re not the kind of super cheap travelers who sleep in a cockroach-infested hotel. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve stayed in places that I wouldn’t recommend to my parents, but we try to sleep in places that at least try to appear nice. What we’ve found, though, is that a little extra money goes a long way, whether it’s so we can enjoy a private room or to take advantage of the included activities and amenities available at many timeshares and resorts. For instance in Copacabana, Bolivia we stayed in an immaculate room overlooking Lake Titicaca that we would normally find out of our price range. To compensate for the extra cost while we were there, we decided to spend less money on doing “tourist” activities such as tours and more time just walking around and getting to know the area. As a result, we felt like we got to know the town better and had a wonderful time in the process. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt to wake up to the views of Lake Titicaca every morning.

On the contrary, we’ve also stayed in name-brand plush hotels which cost about 2-3 times a decent mid-range option. And what have we gotten for the extra price? So far, the only advantage that I can find for staying in plush hotels is that they give away better quality shampoo.

Spending should match priorities

Having a budget is all about making decisions. With only a limited amount of money to spent, we can’t do everything we want to do all the time. This makes us evaluate what our priorities are and spend our money according to these priorities. One of our priorities while traveling is to understand different cultures and interact with people in those cultures. So, accordingly, we try to spend our money on things that meet this priority instead of spending it on doing things like adventure activities, like white water rafting. We enjoy those activities as well, but it doesn’t compare to the 3 weeks of learning Spanish and living with a local family in Xela, Guatemala. Having the human connections with our host family and the ongoing connections that we made by speaking Spanish have far outweighed any eye candy that we’ve come across.

A Little Dose of Perspective Helps

If we’ve learned nothing else from traveling, it’s a sense of perspective. It’s hard for us to justify buying anything expensive when we know that the average Nicaraguan family could live off of that money for months. Just the fact that we can afford to even go to these places to see how other people live indicates that we’re not exactly strapped for cash.

So, when we do buy things, we try to buy them with our needs in mind. In the Andes of Ecuador, I needed to buy some long sleeves. Instead of trying to find a North Face store, for instance, I opted to get a locally made sweater less for than $10. Sure, the bright green fabric clashed with the rest of my clothes, but it served me well during my time in the high altitude.

Over the past 2 years on the road I can now say that being a budget-minded person is second nature for us. No matter where our path takes us, this habit will stick. It’s now apart of the fabric of who we are.

When it comes down to it, budgeting is truly not that hard when you can see the truly wonderful things that a little money can do. And we have travel to thank for allowing us to see that.

About the Author

Kyle and his wife can be found writing about their global lives at OnOurOwnPath.  They’ve traveled extensively throughout Latin America and have nearly completed a year stint as kindergarten teachers in South Korea.  Up next: Southeast Asia where they will try to continue their globetrotting as location independent professionals.

Pic: Tobanblack