Money Saving Mom®

Guest post from Genevieve

Although we had six months to prepare, the shift to one income after having our first baby was a total shock to the system.

We were in a situation not unlike many other families out there. We had a new business which was only making a little bit of money, but had so much potential that we didn’t want to “shelf it” while we had a family. And as a new mom, I didn’t want to go back to work to make ends meet. So we came up with a rather novel solution.

We packed up the family and moved to Cambodia!

We were fortunate that our business didn’t require us to have a physical presence anywhere. Our business was small, but the income was mostly reliable. We realized would make the same money no matter where we lived, so while we were only making ends meet in an expensive Western consumer society, we live a wonderful lifestyle with our kids abroad.

Our business is 100% online — we sell name change kits to new brides — but even if you don’t have an online business, moving overseas might still be possible for your family!

Developing countries have large expat communities of teachers, hairdressers, architects, graphic designers, bloggers, writers and so many other professions. These people can make decent money abroad. In some cases you only need to work 20 hours a week as you’re making the same hourly wage as if you would in the states. As an added bonus, it’s wonderful way to watch your children grow up in a multi-cultural society.

Interested? Here are some suggestions on how to gear up for a move:

Freelancer? Reach out to all your business contacts and see if any can commit to a monthly work load. Consider charging less for the added flexibility, and you’re more likely to get an ongoing contract.

Online business? All you need is a decent internet connection. Even rural South America has decent internet these days. Get a US toll free number that diverts to Skype so you can provide customer service anywhere

Teacher or hairdresser? Most capital cities have a thriving expat community and you can make decent money serving expat clients.

No special skills? Become a freelancer or create your own blog with your adventures abroad. Sites like Freelance.com and Odesk allow you to find work in data entry  writing, customer service, and more. Virtually all the jobs posted on these sites have no geographic requirements.

Benefits of Living Abroad

Cheaper cost of living. Rent, food, and travel, is all considerably cheaper in developing countries.

Affordable, quality childcare. If you’re a working mom, you can find an abundance of wonderful caring nannies in many countries. With wages from around $60 per month part-time, it’s an affordable investment

More time with family. Especially if you work from home with a nanny. Be with your kids when you want, and work when it suits you.

Consume less. Embrace a simpler lifestyle. Consumerism is hard to come by anywhere outside of North America and Europe.

Healthier lifestyle. So many of the fruits and veggies sold in the US are months old before they hit the supermarket. Developing countries are flushed with affordable and fresh fruit and vegetables, often organically grown.

De-stress. With finances less of a worry and more time with your kids, your mental state of mind is sure to improve.

Cheaper healthcare. Cost and quality of healthcare vary wildly depending where you live, but nowhere is more expensive than the US. If you have an existing health condition, check the quality and prices of hospitals where you plan to move.

Life experience. This is something that money can’t buy. Our 2-year-old is a budding tri-linguist. We love learning about other cultures!

Affordable travel. If you need a break from your break, it can be very affordable to travel to neighboring countries and get a real glimpse of how others live.

Yes, there are some drawbacks of living so far from home — Grandparents missing out is the biggest — but we will be living back home soon enough and all this will be a wonderful memory.

If we were back on the money treadmill in the states we wouldn’t have much time for socializing with friends and family in any case, and we would be stressed out all the time.

We are three years into our five-year adventure and haven’t looked back!

Genevieve Dennis is a reformed corporate stress head. She lives with her husband, Miss 2, and Miss Newborn in rural Cambodia. She and her husband run Easy Name Change in the mornings, then swim, play and socialize in the afternoons.

A testimony from Katrina who owns Edelweiss Patterns

A few years ago, I was most pleasantly surprised to hear about a dream trip to England — a tour that focused on London and Bath, studied historical costume at some world-famous museums, and included a weekend at the Jane Austen Festival!

As a long-time fan of British history and literature, I thought this sounded like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But looking at the costs involved, I knew I would have to do some serious saving to make it happen.

After talking with my family and working out a budget, I committed to going, and paid my deposit. The next ten months were spent working hard and spending very little, but the luxurious trip to England made it all worth it!

In fact, I saved enough to have several hundred British pounds of spending money — and I even had to transfer quite a few pounds back to American dollars once I got back to the States! The memories I made on that trip will never be forgotten, and these are the principles I followed to save what I needed:

1. Keep tithing!

As a pastor’s daughter, my parents had raised me with the firm belief that you cannot withhold your money from God and expect your finances to be blessed. Even when it seems that you need every extra dollar, God is the one who has given us the money and the least we can do is give Him 10% (Malachi 3:8-12).

2. Pay your bills and save the rest.

After tithe, I would pay my monthly bills and leave the rest of my paychecks alone. If it wasn’t an actual bill, it didn’t need to be paid for or purchased!

3. Cut all clothes spending.

I know, this is a very hard one! Believe me, as a total fashion enthusiast and historical costume fan, it was very difficult to see the new spring styles coming out and know that I couldn’t get anything.

In addition, it was tempting to buy fabrics to make clothes (no, you can’t save much money that way, but it sure is fun!) But I’m happy to say that despite working retail during the entire year, I stayed quite disciplined and did no “impulse” shopping.

Even though you may not have the type of wardrobe we’d like, you can still make do with the clothes you have when there’s a real goal in mind. It did mean that I really needed to purchase some new things once I came back from the trip, but you know what? That’s okay!

4. Buy your makeup during promotional sales.

I didn’t want to cut this from my budget, but I put forth effort to buy it as inexpensively as possible. At my local malls, the major makeup brands have big promotions every couple of months where if you spend a certain amount (usually $20), you get a whole promo bag of makeup.

At the time I used mainly Clinique, and when I would purchase my facial cleansers through them I would end up with a bag of lipstick, lip gloss, mascara, and face creams. One time I was nearly out of lipstick and the “free” bag I received had a bright red tube of lipstick in it — just what I needed!

5. Work as hard as you can.

While I usually didn’t work full-time, a promotion I got in my job over the course of that year meant that I had a new department to work in. And that department needed all the help they could get!

While I might have usually worked around 26 hours a week regularly, I was soon being scheduled for 30-40 hour weeks because they could tell that I loved what I was doing and did my absolute best on the job.

I know it doesn’t seem like a lot of fun to go work 8 hours days on a sunny Saturday when the rest of your family is going on an excursion up the mountain, but if you really keep your goal in mind it makes it so much easier!

In the end, I had paid cash for the entire trip a couple of months before I had to leave. It felt so good to write out the final trip payment directly from my checking account!

I had also transferred several hundred dollars into British pounds, paid cash for my airplane ticket, and (finally!) purchased fabric to make my costumes for the Jane Austen Festival.

The resulting trip to England was beyond anything I could have imagined! My tour group visited many landmarks in London, studied at the Victoria & Albert Museum, toured Kensington Palace, saw Jane Austen’s house in Chawton, and had the most marvelous time at the Jane Austen Festival in Bath.

At one point I felt like I had stepped into a BBC adaption of “Pride & Prejudice”, with the whole town of Bath filled with ladies and gentlemen in Regency costumes. Besides touring fashion museums, having afternoon tea, and attending historic churches, we also were privileged to attend an English country dance. It was marvelous!

Well, four years later, I have now signed up to take the same tour again in 2013. So you know what that means? I’m saving like crazy! It may mean giving up a few things between now and then, but I can promise you that it will be totally worth it once I get back to England.

Katrina is the owner of Edelweiss Patterns, which specializes in vintage Sound of Music costume patterns.  When she’s not designing patterns, she blogs about her historical and retro costume reproductions, participates in swing dancing, and enjoys the gorgeous Pacific Northwest where she lives. 

Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.