It’s been A LOT of work to get where we are now. We are able to make a very comfortable income. Now, our audience is large enough and The Bucket List Family is a brand that companies want to align themselves with.
Once our audience got to a substantial size (maybe 100k followers on Instagram) brands started to seek us out and pay us for the content and exposure. For a while, we worked with companies in exchange for hosted stays, flights or gear. About the time that our money was running out, our social media audience was growing to a size that brands, hotels and airlines wanted to work with us. The money we made from selling our possessions lasted us about 7 months of travel. We’ve now been traveling full-time for the last 30 months. If our “business” stuff continue to progress, we will continue our travels throughout the rest of the year and then go through the same reflective decision process all over again :) Our savings account still remains untouched. So if you’re wondering how we afford some of the incredible resorts and accommodations that we post about, it’s because we are working with them! We do marketing, photography and social media for trade or payment. Now, for the past few months, we have been working with brands, resorts, and other companies to fund our travels. So much respect for them! For us? If we wanted to keep traveling we needed to find ways to save money or make more money. We connect and cross paths with other families everywhere we go that are doing something similar and usually on a much tighter budget. Traveling can definitely be done on any budget. I hope these high numbers aren’t scaring you! While we splurge in some areas, we have found ways to save in others. We had 7 people total for 2 of the months, paid for a very expensive excursion with the whales and we weren’t choosing the cheapest accommodations. We also prefer to have a car, eat very healthy and go to a gym daily while we travel - all of which cost more $$.Īs you can see the first 4 months of our travels were very expensive. But hotels, homes and hostels are available in any price range depending on what you are looking for. So our money started stretching much further.Īnother FYI point: We prefer to stay in safe areas, that have more comfortable accommodations for our children. Because it was now just the 4 of us and also because Asia is WAY cheaper than Australia and New Zealand. Once we got to Asia, it was SO much cheaper. #worthitįor our first 2 months (Tonga, New Zealand, Australia) we were in AirBNB rental homes and had a rental car. It was SO expensive but is still the most incredible thing we’ve done in our entire lives. We spent around $8k for 12 days on a private boat. The most expensive thing we’ve done was swimming with the humpback whales in Tonga. Misc: $2,000 (unexpected charges like baggage Fees, arrival/departure fees, emergency room visit in Thailand, etc.) Housing: $12,000 (average $100/night for 120 days)Īctivities: $10,000 (Excursion with whales, scuba diving, canyoning, gym/yoga, etc.)
#JESSICA GEE FULL#
So these next numbers are averages for the first 4 months with our full crew of 7 people. We traveled with them for a few months before deciding that it was too expensive. For the first 2 months, there were 3 extra people traveling with us.
So, take that into consideration when you are looking at these numbers. Long story how we came to this decision, but we ended up bringing 3 other people with us. When we were initially planning our trip, we decided that we would take a nanny with us. In a way, start over at zero and work our way up all over again. So how do we make the most of these financial blessings? Here’s our plan : Put it all aside in savings and steady investments. We also see countless stories of money changing people, breaking up relationships, and bringing more bad than good. We see countless stories all around us of people who had what seemed like endless money and somehow lost it all. It came into our lives very quickly, and if we are not smart, it can leave just as fast. We are so grateful for the money that has come into our lives. Here we are in our late 20’s with a very unique financial situation. High up on our list is of course, travel. Garrett wrote a great blog post awhile back about our own family priorities. You can usually view someone’s priorities by the way they spend their money. One important lesson we’ve learned recently is that every person has their own priorities.