Digital Nomad
Our New Year's Resolution: Become Full-Time Digital Nomads
Happy New Years! Did you stay up till midnight to bring in the New Year? We didn't! Why? For the last two weeks, we have been getting up every day at 4AM!
We're dedicated to our our New Year's Resolution: Become full time digital nomads (by working part time hours!).
When we left our jobs in May 2016, we had savings, courtesy of our Dual Income No Kids No Eating Out lifestyle. We weren't too worried about the future. It was possible we would hate cruising and immediately rush back to our old jobs within the week. Maybe we would get offers to house sit a Bahamian mansion. Or, we would run out of money and have to return to work.
During our jollifications at the boat yard this summer, we realized our finances were getting low and we would have to return to work by July, 2018. (Damn you, sail drives!) As we traveled the ICW south, we were searching for a new home base.
When we left our jobs in May 2016, we had savings, courtesy of our Dual Income No Kids No Eating Out lifestyle. We weren't too worried about the future. It was possible we would hate cruising and immediately rush back to our old jobs within the week. Maybe we would get offers to house sit a Bahamian mansion. Or, we would run out of money and have to return to work.
During our jollifications at the boat yard this summer, we realized our finances were getting low and we would have to return to work by July, 2018. (Damn you, sail drives!) As we traveled the ICW south, we were searching for a new home base.
Deltaville, VA? Inexpensive and quiet, but what would we do for work? Also, it snows there!
New Bern, NC? There's Indian food and a bakery! Living expenses are low, but so are wages.
St. Augustine, FL? Plenty of service jobs, a very un-friendly dockmaster, an uncomfortable anchorage, pesky hurricanes
Vero Beach, FL? Jobs, great winters, hot summers, pesky hurricanes
We weren't excited about our options. It turns out we love the cruising lifestyle and really don't want to return to "reality". What we want to do is hang out on the boat at anchor, work online, make enough money to cover our expenses, and cruise the Bahamas in the winter and the U.S. in the summer.
We’re starting now, before we are actually out of money, so that we have some reserve for slow periods (Chinese New Year!) and emergency repairs (dare I say, "saildrive repairs"?). At the end of each month, we'll share our expenses and income. Our goal is for our income to match our expenses by April 1.
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| Working from "home"! |
So how are we planning on doing it?
Lucy - VIPKID: Teaching English to students in China via an online videoconferencing portal. I've been working from 5AM-8:30AM (evenings in Beijing!)
Matt - Freelance graphic design, photography and writing work through UpWork, plus stock photography and video sales on Shutterstock, iStock by Getty and a few other sites.
Can it be done? Or will we find ourselves working at West Marine in New Bern and spending all our earnings on Indian food? Let's find out!
Do you have any goals for 2018?
6 comments
Happy New Year, guys! And good luck with the new jobs. I'm always interested and impressed to see how other cruisers add funds to the kitty (I did the ESL teacher gig in Auckland for a bit -- it was a great experience).
ReplyDeleteOur goal for the year is to sell Cambria. We ran into a few complications last year (long, long story), but we're optimistic and motivated sellers. So if all goes well, we'll have some good news to share by April 1 as well.
Cheers,
Stephanie
Ah, life is more tragic than orderly most days, isn't it? I'm hoping with you for a smooth sale in 2018.
DeleteIt is always interesting to hear how people make cruising work for them - it's inspiring! Happy New Year to you and David!
Happy New Year! Love your plans to live as digital nomads. May 2018 bring you both much success in that area, overall happiness, and plenty of cheese for Hastings.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ellen! We're excited about this year. We've been giving Hastings so much cheese lately he might be getting sick of it :-)
DeleteGlad to read you are still enjoying the cruising, despite the pesky saildrives. Good luck reaching your goals! Being digital nomads provides a nice balance between freedom, responsibility and achievement. Too bad boats are so expensive to maintain. But, "The less money you spend, the less you have to make" is my motto. :-) It looks like you are on the right path already, Lucy!
ReplyDeleteVery true! I actually think I'll save more money now I'm getting up at 4AM.....is that meal/dress/gadget worth getting up early for?!
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