If you have a job that allows you to do it one of the best things that I can recommend is purchasing a cheap camper/RV and going around your country and exploring it. There are so many benefits to this. First off you get out of your hometown and its biases and can see how good or bad things truly are there. It’ll either make you appreciate it all the more or realize people are crazy there.
It’ll teach you about different ways of life and just how different people, culture, and ways of living are. Look at a country like the United States of America, different states are essentially different worlds and different parts of those states are different worlds from one another. Montana is more different than Florida than Germany is from Russia just about. And I mean in more than geography. It’s crazy how different places are, from cost of living, to culture, and much more.
You have to get out of your little bubble to understand and experience this though. You have to travel and get a feel for what lies around the next bend. For example I’ve found places that I’ve absolutely hated and you couldn’t pay me to live that people flock too because they’re well marketed and I’ve found little “hole in the wall” places that I’ve marked out as potential places to settle down because of how wonderful they were.
But I never would have experienced any of this if I’d just stayed in my hometown or home state or country. You have to travel and experience how different the world is. Especially if you’re an American. Not to get political here but I’ve seen so many people say America is the best country because that’s what the news says, go to another country, come back, and say “Hey, that place was a lot nicer in many aspects.”
Not that America is bad but you never know what is the best fit for you without exploring. Things that you think are just the way things are could very well be negotiable or nonexistent in another country or culture. If you’ve only ever lived or been in one country then you can’t help but be ignorant of at least some things and some options for yourself.
Travel, far and wide, as much as you can. And do research. Which leads to my next point.
Finding Affordable Living In An Unaffordable Country
Not all of us can just up and leave the United Kingdom, we can’t just give the middle finger to the United States and go live in a saner country, most of us are stuck where we are, at least for the time being. So what’s one to do? What are the options to find affordable living in an unaffordable country? Well the first thing to do is take a look at your job. What does it allow you? How does it limit you? Is this a place you’re planning on staying? And so on and so forth.
Can you move anywhere and work remotely? Is this an option? They might say no but with the right maneuvering this can become an option, but maybe not. So what are we going to look at then? The first rule is looking at rural over urban. Some urban areas are great and there’s a certain thrill to living in a city, unfortunately cities are also some of the costliest places to live. It may be better to have a ten minute longer commute and live affordable and safe than be ten minutes closer but being out your nose in rent.
Use your commute to educate yourself like to audiobooks and the like. Adding ten minutes will just make you smarter and give you better peace of mind when you do it like this. Don’t be scared of rural places where the plots and homes are cheaper. You may have to drive a little further but again turn your drive time into education time and this becomes less of an issue.
Commutes are never going to fun or ideal but you can make them better or worse and they certainly shouldn’t be the sole thing that you look at when deciding where to live. Now lets look at the next option ADU’s, mobile homes, and “granny” flats. These are all cheaper options than homes and depending on how you work it you can save a lot of money by choosing one of these.
If you can find land cheap it’s often cheaper to put a prebuilt home on it or even an ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit), it may not be “keeping up with the Jones” but it’ll save you a ton of money and give you a place to call your own that you can actually afford. The biggest cost with this is going to be finding land that is viable and then running power and electric to it. Shop around, educate yourself, and ask questions.
Find out all that you can before committing to anything. Look at tiny homes, trailer parks, mobile homes, container homes, and the like. With the outrageousness of the home market there are so many options that are coming online for normal people. I said it before but it won’t be long before being a millionaire will get you a basic middle class home and lifestyle. If we’re not already there. The rich get richer, the poor get more benefits, and the middle gets squeezed out. It’s happened before, it’s happening now, and it’ll happen again down the road.
Reiterating The Basic Plan
Look for rural over urban. It’s fine if you have to drive a little longer, turn your commute time into education time. Get audiobooks and courses on “tape” and learn as you go. That’s what most successful sales professionals have done and its what I recommend doing. But this isn’t an article about all that. Also many jobs are offering work from home than ever before, see if you can’t find a way to take advantage of it and live wherever you want.
Next look for “alternative” types of homes. Instead of your two story with a white picket fence look at tiny homes, container homes, ADUs, mobile homes, trailers, prefabricated homes, and the like. Look for cheap land that wouldn’t be too expensive to run plumbing and electric too. Do your research there are plenty of options here. Research them as much as possible so you can make informed decisions.
Because that’s what’s going to give you peace of mind and keep you from breaking your already fragile bank. With the right planning, a little bit of luck, and hard work you can have a place to call your own, at least for now. And that’s more than a lot of people can say.
