Time to reflect...

djbreeze

Well if you want to pay off your mortgage really quickly, why not sell your house? Seriously, please read on. It's what I did in 2006 & since then I haven't looked back. I was unhappy at work & the housing market having gone the way it did where I bought my house (7 years earlier) I saw an opportunity for change. As a single person with no ties other than friends & family there was nothing stopping me from making some (some would say fairly drastic) changes to the way I lived my life.

I put the money I made on the house (80,000 quid) into an ICICI HiSave account. That gives me a monthly (tax free, which is nice) income of about 400 quid. Not much? Well certainly not enough to live on in the UK I know, but it is in an awful lot of places. Big parts of Asia, Africa, Central & South America for starters.

So what to do when your house is sold? Well here's what I did...

I spent 6 months in beautiful Ecuador, South America, about half of that time doing voluntary work. Practical, outdoor stuff mostly, that I really enjoyed. After Ecuador I moved on into Colombia for another 6 months, spent 3 months or so learning to dive, became a Divemaster in June. I then worked for a couple of months as a dive guide and teaching basic diving skills. Getting paid for doing something that I had discovered I loved doing was a bonus. Recently I arrived in Mexico after spending a few months travelling up through Central America. So, here I am on the Caribbean coast in a little place called Akumal where I will spend the next four months or so doing more voluntary work. The work is part of a marine and coastal protection program & involves lots of diving. I have found voluntary work infinitey better, more rewarding, than the paid variety. The pace is more civilised and you tend to meet more interesting and nicer, for want of a better word, people. Next year sometime I will do another diving course that will enable me to work as a full Open Water Scuba Instructor somewhere, maybe the Red Sea, Africa, Thailand, there's loads of places I still haven't been over here including the whole of the Pacific Ocean side of Central America, Brazil & Argentina, the Galapagos Islands, Cuba & Haiti, maybe I'll work on a liveaboard dive boat (maybe I'll buy my own boat, now there's a thought!), the list goes on &, as you can see, there are a lot of maybes...

The reason I am posting this is to try to show that there are alternatives. Alternatives to being a slave to the mortgage, to the climbing of the rungs of the property ladder, to the treading of the career path, to capitalism itself. That said I concede that I have capitalism to thank (partly anyway) for being where I am now but let's not get too political, it causes trouble & it's not what the posting is for. And I also concede that if you're going to do something like sell your house & leave the country it will be a big help if you have had the sort of luck I have had along the way. Luck aside, be determined, use imagination, maintain a positive attitude and you will surprise yourself at what you can achieve. The point is that you can't not do something that you really want to do because you'll lose your way on the career path or not be able to get back on the property ladder. In principle it is wrong that we, as sentient, thinking beings, allow ourselves to be dictated to by random factors outside of our control, like the vagaries of the house price & jobs markets. Please!

"So you're selling the house, going off to do your thing, what happens when you come back?"

Well, if you come back (note, if, not when), you get a job, any job that pays enough to live on for a bit while you get yourself settled back in. You rent a flat, stay with friends or family for a few weeks. You buy a canal boat & live on that. Remember you've still got the money you made on the house sale.

So, what about it? 2008's just around the corner, the approach of the new year is a time for reflection, so reflect. Most importantly, have a think about what really makes you happy, what would really really make you happy. And do something about it whatever that is. It may mean you shock some people, probably you will shock yourself, there you go...

Well, replies, comments, etc. are more than welcome. Have a great christmas & new year,
David.

DawnW

An interesting and inspirational post, thanks very much. Good to think outside the box about alternative ways to live our lives, even if the OP's particular solution would not suit everyone.

fiveyearplan

Fantastic. That sounds like a wonderful life for you. I would possibly consider something (although maybe not so drastic) in the next few years once kids are out of school.

I'm sure you're having a wonderful Christmas in Mexico - I used to live there and have thought about moving back.

Sapphire

A very interesting post – thank you. I think fear of the unknown may hold some people back from doing what you have done, and perhaps fear of not preparing themselves adequately for the future. People with family commitments may also be afraid to make such a move.

Have you tried Costa Rica yet? I've just finished working on a book about that country. It has incredible species diversity (of both fauna and flora), and a seemingly well-organized movement involving the locals to protect the environment. The landscapes, too, are fabulous – almost unearthly and mythical looking – with several active volcanoes . . .

Anyway, congratulations on what you have done with your life. :T

Ideally, I would like to participate in two options alternately – travelling for six months of the year and having what I have now for the other six months. In fact, this is what my brother-in-law has been doing for many, many years – he and his wife were actually caught in the tsunami in South-east Asia that killed so many people (she almost died). . .

do_it_today!

Anyway, congratulations on what you have done with your life. :T

Ideally, I would like to participate in two options alternately – travelling for six months of the year and having what I have now for the other six months. In fact, this is what my brother-in-law has been doing for many, many years – he and his wife were actually caught in the tsunami in South-east Asia that killed so many people (she almost died). . .[/QUOTE]


I would love to spend 6 months here (summer) 6 months somewhere warm - how does your BIL manage it?

gallygirl

What an inspirational story!:j

OK, not suitable for everyone, but we (nearly) all have some control over our lives - stop feeling the fear folks!

Funny, I used to work a with someone in similar circs to OP - as far as I know he's still in the same job he hates - if he spent as much time thinking creatively rather than feeling sorry for himself who knows what he could be doing now.....

skint_spice

Sounds fantastic, I have family commitments here though so can't follow in your footsteps but well done on your escape and here's to the future.

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

Hi Dave, lovely idea and a dream for many people. I'm a simple soul though who is quite content to live a quiet life with mr desperate and the two junior desperate spuds in our home.

We have got children who need to get through school and further education (if thats what they decide to do) but our plan is to reduce our hours and gain a sense of freedom by not having to work long hours and have some form of financial security by having a roof over our heads that is paid for.

I say good luck to anyone who can do the selling up and travelling thing as its something to do before kids arrive on the scene. I'm fortunate that I did mostly everything I wanted to do before I settled down.

poppy10_2

Mmmm, what a dream story. I'd love to do that one day, it must take a lot of guts to just up and leave like that.

djbreeze

Desperate_Housewife wrote: »

I say good luck to anyone who can do the selling up and travelling thing as its something to do before kids arrive on the scene.

In response to Desperate Housewife...

The very best of luck with your plans, but...

Please! I'm trying to be nice here but you've missed the point a bit! I'm not doing the "selling up & travelling thing" before "kids arrive on the scene". It's not something I'm getting out of my system before I settle down. I am 41, a grown-up & already did the "settling down thing" & was fed-up (well more than fed-up actually) with boring job, mortgage, conventional life & British politics, etc. I now have an enjoyable life that is perfectly sustainable & that's the message I'm trying to get across. There are alternatives...
I have 2 very good friends, who I met in South America a few years ago. Disillusioned with their respective situations and countries' political outlooks (Australia, New Zealand), they both sold up & now run a hostel in Ecuador. Before moving to Ecuador they got married but they waited until they moved there before they started their family...

Now that's brave!

Happy new year folks...

2005CLAIRE

Wow! Wonder how many people really wish they had the guts to do that (circumstances permitting of course).:T