Should You Sell Everything to Travel the World? Probably.

If you’re wondering if you should sell everything to travel the world, you likely already know the answer: probably you should.

But don’t just take it from me, the globe-trotting, world schooling, and roadschooling mama to four, who is fueled and completely consumed by wanderlust.

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Should You Sell Everything to Travel?

It’s basic psychology, really.

Your gut usually knows what’s right for you. So, listen to it!

In the Forbes article You Already Know the Answer, the author notes that “listening to your gut may seem to fly in the face of logic or rationality, but, in truth, it’s quite the opposite. ‘Trusting your gut is trusting the collection of all your subconscious experiences.'”

Trust Your Gut Instinct

Sure, gut reactions aren’t always perfect. Your gut certainly isn’t a crystal ball, either. However, gut reactions reflect your collective knowledge and life experience. Your gut knows the good, the bad, the ugly, and the consequences of everything you’ve gone through to get to where you are right now.

So, if you’re dreaming about living the travel lifestyle or becoming a digital nomad and selling it all, listen up. The only person who knows what’s right for you or for your family is you.

But Also Do Travel Research

Of course, in making a decision as significant as selling everything you own to start a new life, you probably want to consider a little more than your gut feelings alone. For example, it’s probably wise to do some research to get an idea of how much your travel lifestyle will cost you. You’ll probably want to come up with a budget of your trip.

It might also be worth knowing how much you could save by living a travel life. Yep, it’s true, sometimes you can actually save money by living the travel lifestyle. To illustrate, check out 11+ Ways to Live for Free in Your RV or Camper Van.

Also, you might want to map out your travel dream. For how long do you want to travel? What do you want your travel lifestyle to look like? Of course, what about life after you travel? What are your plans after your epic travel adventure or trip? As well, you’ll probably want to come up with a plan for making money while you travel.

So, think of your gut or intuition as a solid starting point. You probably already know what you want, right? That is, you probably do if you’re listening closely to your heart or gut. Maybe you already know what you want to do with 100% certainty. Now, it’s time to make your dream happen!

READ MORE: Some families opt to keep their house or apartment and rent it out for income. Read Earn Money for Travel with AirBNB to learn how you can make money from your home.

The Travel Lifestyle

Sure, Instagram and influencers make the travel lifestyle look really shiny and perfect. But is it all that? Is location independent work, nomadic living, van life, or jet setting all that it’s chalked up to be?

Yes, it can be!

However, full-time travel living is also real life, so even packing it all up or selling everything you own to travel means that your real life will still follow you.

Getting rid of all of your possessions is definitely liberating. Additionally, starting over is freeing. However, life goes on, regardless of where you are in the world.

READ MORE: You might be interested in reading Fake and Real Aspects of the Travel Lifestyle: What You See Isn’t the Complete Picture.

Alternatives to Selling Everything To Travel the World

There are alternatives to selling everything you own in order to finance a lifestyle of world travel. Some popular alternatives to selling everything to travel the world include:

Keeping your house or apartment and renting it out
Selling all of your stuff, including vehicles, but keeping your house or apartment as a rental
Keeping a “home base,” renting it out, and traveling full-time, part-time, or for long, extended blocks of time
Downsizing or significantly reducing stuff and expenses, but keeping your stuff (in storage or in your house/apartment)

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Selling It All

Over the years, I’ve come to learn that I am someone who needs “roots” or a home base. For me, it’s basically a non-negotiable. I love living a free-spirited travel life, but I need a place to go home to from time to time. Severing the physical ties of a place for me just doesn’t allow me to travel or sleep well abroad. That’s just something I’ve discovered after years of travel.

However, what works for me, won’t always work for someone else.

Disadvantages of Selling All Your Stuff to Travel

There are many reasons that keeping stuff, cars, a house, or an apartment won’t work for people or families.

For starters, travel is expensive and keeping a home base while you travel only adds to expenses. However, there are ways to minimize costs such as by becoming an AirBNB host. Or downsizing, such as by selling off some of your stuff.

But keeping stuff and a home base also means that a part of your mind will from time to time be preoccupied with home responsibilities. Ugh. Really, this is not fun. Whether that’s paying a monthly storage bill, scheduling lawn maintenance, or dealing with tenants, a rental agency, or home ownership problems while you’re abroad. What this means is that when you’re sitting on the beach in Bali, you might also be sitting on the beach working out how to handle a water leak repair back home.

Disadvantages of Selling Your Home or Ending Your Apartment Lease

❌ Physical Ties Severed – When you go back to visit the area, you may feel like you are an outsider
❌ No home base
❌ No longer building equity in your home asset
❌ Potential tax implications
❌ Selling costs or lease termination penalties
❌ No address to use when you travel
❌ Losing your home phone number and your fixed Internet service
❌ No place to return to after travel
❌ Requires you to “start over” when you choose to settle down again in one place
❌ Can be destabilizing for you, family, children, or your circle of friends
❌ Loss of AirBNB or rental income potential for income while you travel

Advantages of Selling All of Your Stuff to Travel

Perhaps one of the best reasons or pros or to selling all of your stuff to adopt a travel lifestyle is that having less stuff means living more simply. Travel living makes you realize that you really don’t need much to live on or to live well. In addition, you can actually save a lot of money when you have or buy less stuff.

My kids and I are experienced travelers and know how to easily and simply live out of a backpack. Over the years, we’ve honed our minimalist living skills. Selling all your stuff helps you see that experiences and not stuff are what really matter.

Advantages of Selling Everything to Travel

😀 Save Money – No Monthly Mortgage Payment or Rent
😀 No stressing about “stuff” back home or having to deal with issues, like tenants, home maintenance, or repairs
😀 No physical ties – The sky is the limit in terms of your future plans or re-establishing ‘home’
😀 Add to travel savings from sale of house, cars, stuff
😀 Simple living – what you carry or travel with is all you have to think or worry about – and minimalist living helps give you perspective about what’s most important

The Next Steps for Planning World Travel

So, if your intuition is already telling you it’s time to set your travel dream or plan into motion, then what are the next steps?

Let the Good Times Roll

Once you’ve acknowledged what your heart and mind are telling you want to do, it’s time to come up with a plan to make it happen. This means it’s time to research and plan!

Additional Travel Planning Resources

For example, if you want to make a living while you travel, you might want to read some of my favorites on becoming a digital nomad in Best Digital Nomad Books. In addition, if you need business ideas or creative side hustle jobs to build or boost your nest egg while you clean out the house, you might want to check out 37+ Side Hustle Ideas.

Also, if you need to figure out how you’re going to pull the kids from school and start homeschooling them, you might want to check out my homeschooling, roadschooling, and world schooling resource library.

And if you’re worried that your friends or family aren’t going to support your travel dreams, you might want to read Are These 7 Fears Stopping You From Traveling?

Finally, if you’re a single or solo parenting dreaming about living the travel life, but wonder how you’ll do it with kids in tow, you’ve definitely found the right blog! Check out my tips & hacks for solo travel with kids. Additionally, check out the solo mom posts about my travel adventures with four children in tow.

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