2021 Budget and Lifestyle: Living on $10,000 as Digital Nomad House Sitters
Another year down as digital nomad house sitters pursuing FI/RE (financial independence, retire early) and we’re happy to share our 2021 budget and expenses. We spent $10,002 for the entire year ($5,001 apiece) all-in! Now, if you follow us, you know that number blows our usual $7,000 budget out of the water, so read on to see where we spent more money and why.
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First, before you dive into 2021’s numbers, we strongly encourage you to read How We Lived on $7,000 ($3,500 each) All-Inclusive for One Year. It’s not only an all inclusive look at what we spent in 2019, but it also exhaustively dives into our financial philosophies and goals. We consider it something akin to our ethos. Plus, it’s full of a growing list of frequently asked questions and tips!
How We Lived on $7,000 ($3,500 each) All-Inclusive for One Year
Second, if you’re looking for a break down of our spending over time, we suggest taking a look at 2020 Budget and Lifestyle: Living on $7,000 a Year During COVID-19, where we not only reveal our 2020 budget and expenses, but we also look at our previous decade of spending.
2020 Budget and Lifestyle: Living on $7,000 a Year During COVID-19
2021 in Review
We can’t help but look back at 2021 with absolute gratitude. It’s been a trying year, especially when we all had hopes that COVID-19 would be a thing of the past. But, just as 2020 caused us to make a conscious choice to continue our digital nomad, full time house sitter lifestyle, 2021 did the same.
Many of our friends, family, and even strangers were convinced we would finally settle down, get an apartment, and put the nomadic life behind us when COVID-19 hit. However, it’s times like these where the tough calls need to be made, and for us gratitude and perspective guided us.
Gratitude and Perspective
We appreciate every moment we have, especially when we’re healthy, safe, and happy. We’re incredibly grateful for all of the people who keep our world going, from the trash collectors and grocery store workers, to the hotel staff and bus drivers.
If you’re wondering how to travel internationally, or simply vacation nearby and not spend a fortune on airfare or hotels, then we’d like to welcome you to the world of ‘travel hacking’. See what credit cards we carry, and how we take full advantage of the points and miles we’ve earned.
COVID-19 Precautions
We didn’t hunker down, but we also didn’t throw caution to the wind. We limited our travel and house sat in only a few regions over this year and last, but we still encountered a lot of people as we went about our life. With that said, we were probably more cautious than most.
When visiting Mexico, having Global Entry was one of the best credit card perks we’ve taken advantage of since it also gives you access to SENTRI lanes. We were able to not only regularly bypass 1-3 hour lines at the border, but we were able to quickly walk past hundreds (thousands?) of people who were not socially distancing and mask wearing was sporadic.
Tip: You’ll need to activate SENTRI on your Global Entry profile. We found this out the hard way when Shannon automatically ended up in secondary. And trust us, secondary at the San Ysidro pedestrian border crossing is very different than secondary at an airport!
While many people seemed fatigued by the initial push to hand wash and social distance, we’ve refused the temptation to ease off. Despite being the only couple on the airplane sanitizing our seats, tray tables, seatbelts, window, etc. or opting to leave our masks on even when outdoors around other people, we haven’t let social awkwardness or a desire to return to ‘normal’ get in the way of being safe.
We’re very aware of what we touch in public (including our faces), always wear masks, and spend as least 20 seconds thoroughly washing our hands between activities and when we get home.
Full Time Travel
We love to travel, meet people, take care of new pets, and immerse ourselves in new cultures. There are so many ways to travel, and when we started traveling abroad we went extremely fast during our first year. Fast travel can be hard, so since finishing that year, we’ve settled into slower travel throughout North America.
We’ve also realized that with a bit of creativity, it’s very possible to live on a low and reasonable budget in expensive countries like the United States and Canada. Therefore, it’s not necessarily a requirement to live in or travel to low cost countries, like Thailand, Vietnam, and other digital nomad hotspots to help in your pursuit of FI/RE (financially independent, retire early). Now of course, there are many reasons to travel to low cost of living countries and at some point you’ll surely be reading articles about our adventures in these parts of the world. Or, while not South East Asia, check out the articles from some of the lower cost of living places we’ve already been: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Sofia, Bulgaria, Krakow, Poland, Bucharest, Romania, Cairo, Egypt, or Marrakech, Morocco.
“It’s creativity and adaptability that allows us to have a life we not only love but can be cost effective.”
With that said, we realized this year that we miss some of the spontaneity of faster and more opportunistic travel. There’s nothing like seeing five cities in a week (what a thrill Belgium and Luxemburg were!), jumping on a $1 Euro bus to Bratislava, not knowing where we’d be in 36 hours, or walking five miles with our packs on to catch a ferry. It’s not that fast travel is better, it’s just been so long that we miss it!
On the other hand, we’ve done many repeat house sits this year, as well as stayed in close proximity to family and friends. It has really emphasized for us how we can make genuine connections with people and build wonderful relationships, even as digital nomads.
House Sitting
This year most of our house sits were near Shannon’s family. While we’d have loved to venture further afield we spent a considerable amount of time over the year helping improve her parent’s quality of life, from managing debt and finances, to cleaning and improving the safety and security in their home. This alone was a full-time job, however we’re sure you can imagine that as adults, a year of living with your parents can be challenging. We opted to split up our time, staying with them on and off throughout the year, but then assisting them remotely while doing local house sits.
Hiking Cowles Mountain, the highest point in the City of San Diego, California.
We started off the year with one of our favorite sits, caring for Bailey in Carlsbad, California. This is a repeat sit for us, and over the last two years Bailey’s family has become like family to us. To top it off, Sergio’s mother joined us for the first part of the year. It was her first experience traveling and house sitting with us. And let us tell you, she is a trooper! At nearly 69 years old, she ditched her roll-on luggage, bought a 32L backpack, and traveled from the Pacific Northwest to San Diego, California with even less stuff than we carry!
Mom and Sergio in San Diego, California at the Unconditional Surrender (aka The Kissing Statue) along the downtown waterfront, next to the USS Midway.
It was wonderful having her with us in Carlsbad for seven weeks! She helped care for Bailey and we spent plenty of time walking the local beaches and enjoying the spectacular sunsets together.
House sitting Bailey in Carlsbad, California.
The fun continued in the North Park area of San Diego, where we took care of Red, a boxer, and two cats, Louie and Cat (AKA Norman) for five weeks. Red always wanted to be close and loved to chase (but not return!) his ball. Cat was a calm cuddler and Louie was always up to something mischievous, from jumping off the roof to leaving us a half-a-lizard treat at the door. The neighborhood was great to explore by foot. We even saw a family occasionally walking their goat!
House sitting Red (boxer), Cat AKA Norman (black and white cat), and Louie (Mackerel Tabby) in North Park, San Diego, California.
After North Park, we said goodbye to Estela. We spent sometime with Shannon’s parents and then headed back to Bailey in Carlsbad for a couple of weeks. We then made our way to Hillcrest to care for Tufa and Phil (AKA Fat Phil). The last time we’d cared for these two loving cats was right when the pandemic first hit the United States at full force in 2020.
House sitting Bailey in Carlsbad, California and then Phil and Tufa in Hillcrest, San Diego, California.
In May we cared for Beau for two weeks. He was an adorable little guy that absolutely loved his walks and cuddle time on the couch with us! We followed that up with three weeks in Encinitas with Quinny, Eskimo Pie (AKA Esky), Misky, and Snowball. Quinn was a close look alike to our buddy Beau from the last sit but he was even more of a cuddle bug! Esky and Misky loved their supervised outings in the backyard and were always up for some kitty playtime. Snowball was a late edition to the sit and the first hamster we’d ever cared for while house sitting!
House sitting Quinny (Cockapoo), Eskimo Pie AKA Esky (Tortoiseshell cat), Misky (white) and Snowball (hamster) in Encinitas, California.
After a few more weeks with Shannon’s parents, we made a repeat round to care for Bailey in Carlsbad and then Phil and Tufa in Hillcrest. From there we got on a plane and visited Sergio’s parents in Oregon and then settled into a five week house sit in Austin, Texas. Mojo and Swagger welcomed us into their home, albeit in true cat fashion, hesitantly over the first three or four days. We explored the city, endured some crazy storms (seriously, even the neighbor said one storm in particular was of ‘biblical proportions’!), and then headed back for more time with Shannon’s parents.
House sitting Mojo (black) and Swagger (Mackerel Tabby) in Austin, Texas.
Sightseeing in Austin, Texas (clockwise): Statue of Julius Whittier at the University of Texas, the Texas State Capitol building, view of downtown Austin from Lady Bird Lake, the Greetings from Austin mural on the Roadhouse Relics shop on 1st Street, Willie Nelson monument and status in downtown Austin.
We then had the fortune of once again visiting Carlsbad, California but this time at a new house sit taking care of Lulu and Sammy.
“ After five years of house sitting and caring for over a 100 pets, these two Dachshunds take the prize for most entertaining pups!”
They loved to burrow under blankets together and often we’d only be able to see their small snouts sticking out, if we could see them at all. But call them for mealtime and they’d go running, usually with a blanket still on them, so they looked like little tents running across the room! It was a pleasure to care for them, so it was bittersweet saying goodbye at the end of December.
House sitting the hilarious bother and sister duo Lulu (black and white) and Sammy (brown) in Carlsbad, California.
FI/RE and Spending More Money
For us life has never just been about FI/RE, the magic number, the four percent rule or any other single factor. Our intention is greater than that. It’s about legacy, generational wealth, enjoying life now and in the future, and most of all… freedom.
The truth of the matter is, we could have FI/RE’d years ago if we really wanted to. But we enjoy what we’re doing and have had some incredible opportunities in the last five years that we simply couldn’t pass up. Because of that, we’re continuing to build a rock solid FI/RE foundation which will enable us to spend more later, but also spend a bit more now.
Hiking Annie’s Canyon Trail in Encinitas, California.
We’re not looking to one day turn on the FI/RE spigot and all of a sudden spend exponentially more. Instead, we’re opting to spend a little more each year over time. So, this was the first year where we decided to do a few things that we’d deferred previously, opted to add in a few of life’s luxuries that we delayed in the past, and continued charitable gifts.
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Our Expenses in 2021: $10,002!
Overview
In 2021 we spent a total of $10,002 for the entire year, all-in. That’s only $5,001 apiece!
Where Our $10,002 Was Spent by Category
Where Our $10,002 Was Spent by Month
Our tool box is full of resources! From travel hacking to house sitting, digital nomad jobs to privacy and security, financially independent retire early (FI/RE) to entertainment, plus travel hacking (credit cards, miles, points, and rewards), and much much more…
Comparing Budgets: 2019, 2020, and 2021
While 2019 and 2020 were surprisingly similar in total amounts spent, our 2021 budget increased by $3,000 which is roughly 40%! With that said, it wasn’t an overall increase across the board. We spent very similar amounts in most categories, but increased in a couple notable categories.
Our medical expenses in 2021 were the highest they’ve been. Between changing employers and a couple of elective medical procedures, we averaged roughly $100 more a month this past year.
Our business expenses increased quite a bit this year for one key reason, travel hacking! Travel hacking is how we usually stay in hotels for free, earn elite status and fly for just the taxes. We had several credit cards annual fees this year, however the benefits (free hotel nights, annual award points, etc.) outweighed the costs in our opinion. We also paid our estimated state and federal taxes by credit card which helped us meet minimum spend requirements to earn credit card sign-up bonuses, however it did incur processing fees.
In our ‘everything else’ category we had more miscellaneous expenses this year but this is also where we slotted a gift we gave to our parents. They’ve been married for four years but had yet to go on a honeymoon. So when an opportunity arose, we jumped on the chance to surprise them with a two week honeymoon in Hawaii!
When it comes to our lodging expenses, we gambled that travel would be returning to normal in mid to late 2021 (you can’t win ‘em all can you?) and did a Hyatt Globalist mattress run at the tune of about $500. At least it will still be good through February 2023… here’s to more travel in 2022!
We ate out more this year. Well, more like picked up prepared food and brought it home. Our fingers are crossed (but not optimistic) that American Express will continue the offer to spend a minimum of $10 at a restaurant to get $10 back next year. We had two credit cards (Hilton Surpass and the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant) that had this offer that we used each month and got a total of $20 in free takeout for nearly the whole year!
Total expenses: 2019, 2020, and 2021
2019, 2020, and 2021 compared, by categories:
2019, 2020, and 2021 compared, in monthly averages:
Don’t miss our Ultimate Gear and Packing Lists! Whether you’re traveling long-term or going on a short vacation, we'll show you how to travel with a single carry-on. We share our packing lists (his and hers!), packing tips, and our favorite gear. Plus, we discuss what we don’t carry and why!
Final Thoughts
We definitely spent more in 2021 than we have in a while. We could be hard on ourselves and buckle down next year and get back to a lean $7,000 budget. However, we’ve opted to settle into a bigger budget for a couple of reasons:
Inflation, cost of living will naturally increase over time.
Having spent $7,000 for a full year of living doesn’t mean we have to do it year after year. We remind ourselves that we want to enjoy life and that we don’t have to live for our budget, we can spend a bit more here and there.
We’ve been told that $7,000 a year is unsustainable and we’ve always agreed. We’ve kept it very lean in our pursuit of FI/RE to increase our investing, but we’ve never been under the illusion that we’d always be this lean. We’ve deliberately opted to spend more this year because we’re further along in our FI/RE journey than we ever thought we’d be.
“Our budget will purposefully and meaningfully continue to increase year over year.”
And, let’s be honest, $10,002 all inclusive for a year (especially within the US) is still pretty darn stellar… even for us! Our investing rate is high and we’re well on our way to FI/RE!
We’d like to take a moment and talk about giving. Helping others who are struggling and giving an opportunity to those that otherwise wouldn’t have one is important to us. Finding organizations that do work that resonates with you is important. For us, one of those organizations is Flyte, which “works with students in underserved communities to promote the benefits of travel, education, and cultural awareness by funding overseas educational programs”.
