HOW I FUND MY EXPEDITION

MAY 14, 2023

One of the most common questions I receive is: How do I pay for everything? Am I a trust fund baby? Am I a millionaire? Do I have a secret wealthy husband paying for all of my travels?

The answer to ALL of those questions is resounding: No.

Short answer:

I pay for everything myself and am living off savings.

Long answer:

1. WHO I AM AND MY BACKGROUND

Discovering Minimalism

I didn't have ties when I lived in society. I never owned a house, had kids, didn't collect things and never bought new vehicles so lived without the expenses tied to those life decisions.

One of the things that changed my life is when I discovered Minimalism.  This was a game changer. The reason I am able to live on savings is because I adopted minimalism in my early 20s. In 2012, I read a newspaper article about The Minimalists. They were 2 friends who worked 80 hour weeks, made 6 figures, owned several cars and property, but weren't happy. They had everything, but it still wasn't enough. They talked about how once they decluttered their lives from the excess, they became much happier. I was so inspired, I clipped their article out of the newspaper. They were doing a book tour and I attended one of these talks with my friend Lucie in San Francisco with about 20 people before they blew up and got popular. I purchased one of their books and was hooked.

I started to question my purchases and challenged myself not to buy anything for a month unless it was a necessity, such as food, gas to get to work, or medicine. I can tell you this was very difficult for me at first. I needed to unravel the mindset I adopted from growing up in an American consumerism culture and resist impulse urges to buy things. We are constantly bombarded by advertisements everyday on buses, cell phone ads, the internet, magazines, the branding on our clothes, and it takes very conscious effort to unravel all of this.

How Minimalism Changed My Habits

It was difficult to break this habit, but I did it, and thus I began a different way of living. I focused on what truly matters and was happier. My closet was less cluttered and I saved so much time not going shopping, browsing the internet for more stuff or needing to have the mental space to decide how one brand new piece of clothing would "make me feel better" about myself. Hint: Confidence comes from within. These changes in habit helped me save a lot. So I pose the question to you, how much do you spend on non-necessities? How much could you save if you put that money towards savings?

Environmentalism and Minimalism

As a young adult, going to college really shaped who I was. I became an environmentalist after taking some courses about sustainability in college and learned one of the best things an individual could do to help contribute to the fight in sustainability was to reduce our consumption habits. This combined with my discovery of minimalism just made sense.

2. WHAT: CAREER AND MENTALITY

I worked professionally for 10 years in the architecture industry. Entry level architecture jobs make you question whether you chose the right major, but it leads to better pay once you're out of the grunt work stage and become a junior level employee. I knew I didn't want to work for 45 years straight after I got out of college, so I was always saving for something: a house, wedding, kids, a big trip? Who knows.

I prepped and brought lunch from home as much as I could save versus eating out everyday. Being brought up in an Asian household, we are taught to save our money. This is a benefit, but on the other side, unfortunately, most of the time, the elders in my culture never splurge on things for themselves. They work so hard and just give the money to their kids or grandkids. I had to undo this instillment and tell myself it's okay for me to spend money on myself. I could write a whole other blog on this, so I'll just stop here.

3. WHERE: LOCATION MATTERS

I'm from the Bay Area in California, one of the most expensive places to live in the United States. Our wages along with everything else is higher. There is a common misconception that everyone in the United States is rich. Let me clarify that myth.

To put things in perspective, in my suburban city

• A 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1,100 sq ft/ 102 square meters is about $800,000 USD or 731,280 Euros

• An entrée at a decent and not fancy restaurant is $25 with tip and drink/ 23 Euro

• The average cost for a new car in California is about $48,000/ 43,876 Euros

The takeaway? The wages are high, but it costs a lot to live in such a region. One of the reasons that much of the world thinks US citizens are rich is because our dollars stretch a lot further in non-first world countries, so from our perspective, if we pay $8 for an entrée, it is considered cheap to us because we haven't seen those prices since circa 2000s. So we might spend more when we're abroad because we usually wouldn't be able to indulge in those experiences in the US.

This blog was a lot longer than I intended, but I hope that answers everyone's inquiries. Summary: Live how you want, but in order to make this big moto expedition come to life for myself, I worked hard, saved and lived like a minimalist.