5 Ways To Quit Your Job and Travel Full Time
Have you ever wanted to quit your job and travel full time? If so, you’re not alone! Being able to quit your job and travel full time may be much easier and simpler than you imagined!
Before you can make that dream a reality, there are a few things you need to do. In this blog post, we will share with you five things we did before we quit our job to travel full time. We hope these tips help you achieve your travel goals!
- We began to change our mindset
- We set goals
- We made some extreme decisions
- We began to get rid of stuff
- We cut expenses
We began to change our mindset
Before you quit your job and travel full time, you have to change your mindset.
When we first began discussing living tiny and traveling, our kids were still home and we had around 5 more years before we’d be empty nesters. The thought of leaving our traditional life excited us and motivated us to begin taking action.
So, the very first thing we did began to happen on its own: we changed our mindset! Transitioning from ‘normal life in a regular home, in the same town, to one of adventure and travel starts in your head!
For us, we began dreaming of what this new life would look like. We started reading blogs (like this one!) and watching YouTube videos of others who were doing what we wanted to do. Travel full time!
We set some goals
Once we knew we wanted to quit our job and travel full time, we began setting some goals.
We still had kids at home so we knew we were about 3 years away from actually being able to travel full time, so we had plenty of time to set our goals.
We created a ‘goal date’ which we put on our calendar. This was the date we were to begin to travel full time. It did not matter if it was the exact date – there would be no way of knowing that, but having a goal we could see in front of us motivated us through the years until we could eventually really do it.
We also set goals for quitting our jobs, downsizing, and eventually, leaving our lifelong hometown.
We Made Some Extreme Decisions
Deciding to quit your 9-5 job is a huge decision. You are going to be required to make some tough decisions in order to quit your job and travel full time.
On top of that alone, you are going to be deciding all kinds of things like: Where will you store your stuff? What vehicle will you use to travel with? What about finances, pets, and and and?
In reality, when you have already shifted your mindset, the decisions that seem extreme, are kind of easy and exciting!
In order to save money for travel, we sold our house and got rid of most of our belongings. For us, this was the best decision because it allowed us to put all of our focus (and money) into achieving our goal. We downsized from a 4/2 house to a 2/1 apartment. We will go into that more below, but this allowed us to cut expenses and begin prepping to live tiny.
We created a list of all the things we needed to decide. For us, that looked a little like this:
What will we travel in?
How will we make money?
How will we get mail?
How about Health and Pet Care?
How will we have internet and all the comforts of home?
We began to get rid of stuff
Downsizing is probably one of the most overwhelming tasks to take on in preparation for your new life full of travel and adventure! Before you quit your job and travel full time, you have to get rid of some stuff. At the very least, figure out where to keep it.
What will you keep? What will you throw away? What about grandpa’s antique Chippendale desk?
We began downsizing BEFORE the kids left home and continued to do so over the next 3 years. It can be a quicker process if you are great with decisions and parting with keepsakes, but for the rest of us, it just takes time!
Nearly 3 years on the road and we have a storage spot at a friend’s place and yes, Nat’s grandpa’s Chippendale desk and the dresser is staying with her sister until we have a spot in our future part-time cabin somewhere.
The thought of living in a tiny house or even just downsizing significantly can be daunting but it’s really not as bad as you think! And once you begin, it’s actually really therapeutic and freeing! We started by going through every single room in our house.
Once there was only one child left at home, this became much easier. We had many garage sales, and sold things we no longer (or never) used, yeah, I am talking to you treadmill! 😉
We kept all of our cherished memories and pretty much got rid of nearly everything else. By the time we moved into the 2/1 apartment, we could fit all our belongings in that space.
We became minimalists by preparing to go from 1100 square feet of living space to 200 or less. There are so many benefits to becoming minimal in the way you live. We love the headspace we have, free of clutter and junk!
If you like to learn more about downsizing and becoming a minimalist, check out our friend the Caffeinated Minimalist.
We cut expenses
After we had set our goals, we knew that in order to make them a reality, we had to downsize our lifestyle and cut some expenses.
We began by looking at our monthly spending and identifying where we could save money. As we mentioned above, we cut our housing expenses by over $700/month by going smaller. We figure we would eventually be in less than 200 sq feet of space, so big deal if we lose 200-300 square feet by moving into a smaller dwelling.
We also switched from cable to streaming services, got rid of our second car, and sold other ‘big-ticket items like furniture and electronics.
By doing this, we were able to save hundreds of dollars each month which went straight into our travel/build fund!
These are just a few of the things we did before we quit our jobs to travel full time. If you’re dreaming of a similar life, we hope these tips help you achieve your goals! What are you prepared to do to quit your job and travel full time?
Happy travels! 🙂
Are you ready to quit your job and travel full time? Do you have a story of quitting your job to travel? Want to know more about how full time van life? We’d love to hear it in the comments below!
