Thanks. This pretty much aligns with my philosophy. If your budget is readily available, could you post it?
I've been seeing a lot of "we live on $XX,XXX" online. That's nice, but what really inspired me was when people just posted their budgets, which since you already have one, would probably take less time than articulating the philosophy.
I personally don't set a budget (I've tried it but I spend just as much with as without a budget), but for those who do, please post as it makes your claims more believable.
We pretty much do the same thing: live country-to-country, for 3-6 months at a time, buy a new MacBook each year, run a startup, etc.
Budgets differ between country. Not just in the value of line items, but the line items themselves. For example, in Thailand you may have a budget for massages, because they're so plentiful. When you go to buy pork from a street vendor, you can have your feet massaged while eating. Then in India, you need a line item for trains, because the whole country is interconnected. Then in Berlin, you need a line for beer, of course.
So your budget changes place to place, which is why it's not easy to just "post my budget".
That said, I write a blog post in each city comparing our costs. It's not a perfect science, but hey, it's a start. I'm not sure if Nirvana's budget is for just one person. If so, we spend about the same.
Anyway, apologies in advance for the plug, but here are our costs of living in different countries. We've lived in Australia, Canada, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, India, Thailand, and now Germany. Next stop, who knows?
As an aside, there are two types of people who live cheaply:
1) those who are forced to, and
2) those that choose to.
There's nothing worse than living in poverty. I've lived out of cars, or house-to-house, basically as an itinerant for a little while, and it was really depressing. I've also worked in high-finance and made 6 figures, and clearly, that's not so bad.
But when you choose to live cheaply, it's not much different to living extravagantly. People who've never owned a fast sports car, made lots of money, or lived in a nice house, tend not to see this, but it's true.
Before I even left work to launch my startup, I scaled right back. I sold everything: cars, clothes, furniture, stuff. And you know what, I was even happier. Not jumping for joy, but just pretty content with the way things were going. I felt lightweight. I was free of bullshit. It's a nice feeling. Right now, everything I own (except websites and real estate), fits into a 32 litre bag. That's two-thirds the carry-on limit. I still don't use everything in my bag. I even have cufflinks.
Where I think this really makes a difference is with a startup. When there's just less of everything, there's more mental space for your startup.
+1 on the difference between choosing to and having to... while I haven't made lots of money or purchased big ticket items, I did make relatively much as a high school student (more than my peers) and blew it all on graphics cards, SLR cameras, airsoft guns, 23" CRTs (yes, I'm that old), and what have you. After I while I noticed that I got no permanent satisfaction out of those purchases. Perhaps it's good I realized this early.
On the other hand having money that was put into savings instead of stuff creates the feeling of power and potential. When I started saving I counted my net worth in cars (because consumerism was still my frame of reference). Imagine walking past a car lot and knowing one has enough money to buy 1-2-3, .... later 8-9-10 ... today dozens of cars (now I count in houses instead ;-) ) on the lot in _cash_ is a very interesting and positive feeling. It's the feeling of being in control and essentially being able to do what you want. Things no longer happen to you. One has financial agency. This is completely different from a reactive mindset.
I've been seeing a lot of "we live on $XX,XXX" online. That's nice, but what really inspired me was when people just posted their budgets, which since you already have one, would probably take less time than articulating the philosophy.
I personally don't set a budget (I've tried it but I spend just as much with as without a budget), but for those who do, please post as it makes your claims more believable.