Not Luxe ☼ Travel
  • ABOUT NICK & RAYCHEL
  • WHY “NOT LUXE”
  • Cambodia
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  • Teaching ESL
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Not Luxe ☼ Travel
  • ABOUT NICK & RAYCHEL
  • WHY “NOT LUXE”
  • Cambodia
  • Australia
  • Travel
  • Teaching ESL
  • Move Abroad
  • Travel Insurance

run away from home

    Raychel standing on a beach in Australia with the wind blowing

    How to sell everything & travel when you’re broke AF

    by Nick & Raychel July 14, 2019

    Can you sell everything you own and travel when you have pretty much, um, nothing valuable? We’ll cut to it – the answer is yes, but you’ll have to get creative. The truth is, you’d be surprised by how much your things are worth, and there’s always somebody who will put them to good use.

    We’ll be straight up: we did not own a car, we did own a house, we didn’t have any expensive jewellery or electronics or really anything at all. Even still, we were still able to save roughly $2,000.00 by just selling everything we owned. So let’s walk through it.


    Prefer to watch, not read? Find our YouTube Channel here.

    Sell EVERY. Little. Thing.

    We sold everything in our apartment down to the last fork. Here’s what we did:

    • Start with the big stuff. We had one couch, a carpet, a lamp and a bedside table to sell. We had a bed at the time, but we lent it to a friend. This furniture sold online for about $40-$80 each.
    • Sell small things in bundles. Even clothes.  If you don’t have very expensive clothing, but you do have second-hand items that are still in good shape, bundle them up! Just because you don’t have expensive items, doesn’t mean you can’t sell everything & travel. Put together full outfits and sell them for $20. You can also do this with household items. Don’t have a full tool kit? Sell the tools you do have in goodie bag.
    • Sell your kitchen all at once. We took all of our sets of plates, mugs, utensils. Put them into bins. Sold the entire bins.
    • Use Facebook Marketplace – especially for the small things. We tried every platform and found Facebook Marketplace to be the most effective. Nick remembers putting a headlamp on there for $2 and meeting somebody at the train station that same night to sell it.
    • No sale is too small. Like we mentioned, we would leave the house to make a $2 sale. If you want to sell everything & travel, you’ll have to swallow your pride.
    • Put your savings in a jar. Ok, you don’t have to do this. But we found it extremely rewarding. Let’s admit it – it can be discouraging going across town to sell a set of plates for $5. If you put all of your earnings in one place however, you will be able to physically see the money pile up. It makes the process of selling everything you own way less draining.

    Make the time for sales 

    We aren’t going to lie to you. It will be time consuming. So make time for your sales. Allocate a couple of months, or at the very least, a few weeks to selling everything. If you’re still working, utilize your lunch breaks. Schedule 2 evenings per week to sell. Organize your week so that you don’t have to miss out on the pleasures in life, but you still have time to get rid of it all.

    Be open to trades

    In Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver and New York there is a great resource called Bunz. If you don’t live in or around any of these cities, research Facebook trading groups.

    For example: when we were moving, I would trade small items (worth $5-$15 dollars) for bottles of wine. This helped me save on buying alcohol for all of our “farewell” social events we had planned.

    Just post what you have and name your trade. You could trade your winter jacket for a travel backpack, or something that will be beneficial to you in the future.

    Evaluate your valuables & your life

    Be realistic. Do you have enough income and/or valuables to sell everything & travel without working? If you do, great! We still have tips for you! But if the answer to that question was a big “no”, it seems like you may be in the exact same position we were in.

    We knew we wanted to travel the world, but we certainly didn’t have the income to reach those dreams. That’s when we decided we would live abroad and work while we travel.

    Evaluate your skills

    … and be open to learning new ones. There are plenty of ways to work remotely and/or abroad. If you’re thinking about getting up and running away from home, you’ve probably seen teaching English abroad a million times by now. Yep, us too. That’s what we decided to do.

    Where are you qualified to work?

    For example, we decided we wanted to teach – but neither of us have bachelor’s degrees. That’s one of the main reasons we landed on Cambodia.  Think about where you’re qualified to work, if that’s going to have to be one of your first stops.

    Research what the average-high range salary would be in the country (or countries) that you’re going to, and save up enough to get there

    Let’s use Cambodia as an example one last time. In Cambodia, teachers make 1,200 USD a month, and we knew we were going to work, so we both saved a little more than the equivalent of a monthly salary in order to move there.

    That gave us enough time and money to find jobs.

    We used this approach when we travelled through both Asia and Australia. We knew we’d each need $1,200+ to travel through Bali for a month, and $3,000+ for Australia based on average salary statistics alone. It’s a lot easier than reading through millions of differing travel guides.

    Buy your ticket – this is the hardest part

    Once you have your ticket, you kind of have to go. This was, by far, the hardest part of the entire process for us – and it may be hard for you as well.

    The good news? Once you have your ticket, you have a deadline to meet.

    —

    The point is – travelling isn’t just for people who have it all figured out. If you are open to working hard to sell your items, and open to working abroad, you are already on the right track to making a big change in your life.


    Thinking of moving to Cambodia to teach English? Our full step-by-step guide is here.

    Not sold on teaching English? Still considering it? Read: 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Teaching ESL Abroad

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Nick & Raychel
Nick & Raychel

In 2018, we sold everything we owned and moved to Cambodia to teach English.

Let’s make this clear: this journey didn’t start with money. This journey started with a desire to see the world and to do something different for a change.

We’re not going to fool you with photos of floating breakfasts and private jets. We know what it’s like to be on a budget. Although we like to take pretty pictures, we aren’t going to wake up at an ungodly hour to give you unachievable travel jealousy. We aren’t going to censor ourselves or lie to you.

What we are going to do is stay in cheap hostels, find ways to make money, give the advice that we would want to hear, and share our experiences with you honestly.

Are you in?

Not Luxe

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ABOUT NICK & RAYCHEL

About Us Hi! We’re Nick & Raychel, the Canadian travel couple behind the brand ‘Not Luxe’. Far before we were married (and on a mission to see the world), we were working…

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Instagram

  • Every choice comes with sacrifice. We chose to use our money that we work for to travel, and we continue to make that choice every day.

But making that choice means we haven’t been able to do other things that another 30 year old couple would maybe do. We sold our car, all of our things, we don’t have a stable place to live, we haven’t started a family, we don’t own a home.

We work overtime to afford our travels, and we have very little money for anything else. 

And of course, we must acknowledge that we have huge amounts of privilege to even be able to make that choice. Our strong passports allow us to see much of the world, we were born into a country where our currency is valued worldwide, and we always have a friend or family member’s couch to crash on if we need it.

So this post is not meant to complain, rather show: everything comes with a sacrifice - and if you’re considering giving up your stable life for full-time travel, there may be some things you have to leave behind.

➟ follow @nickandraychel // full-time van life & budget travel 

__

Tags: #notluxe #traveltips #budgettravel #cheaptravel #budgettraveltips  #girlslovetravel #travelgram #getoutstayout #livetoexplore #travelblogger #canadiancreator #vancouverblogger #vanlifesociety #vanlifediaries #traveldiaries
  • We’ve lived on 3 continents by travelling slow and working when we end up 🫶🏼

& somehow our travels brought us back to our home city for the summer this year for the first time in 6 YEARS! Damn.

But we’ve said it once and we’ll say it a trillion times, we will do almost a n y t h I n g in the name of travel.

Any questions?

➟ follow @nickandraychel // full-time van life & budget travel 

__

Tags: #notluxe #traveltips #budgettravel #cheaptravel #budgettraveltips #gapyear #travelgirls #travelgirlsgo #girlslovetravel #travelgram #granolagirl#getoutstayout #livetoexplore #travelblogger #vanlifeculture #vanlifediaries #vanlifeideas #liveoutdoors #vanlifeliving #vanlife #homeiswhereyouparkit #tinyhome #canadiantravel #ohcanada #canadiancreators
  • If you want to live in a van in 2023/2024, here is our roadmap for getting started with van life. 

⇾ Embrace minimalism and downsize your possessions

⇾ Research different van options that fit your lifestyle and budget

⇾ Set a realistic budget for your van purchase or build

⇾ Plan your layout and storage needs

⇾ Learn about solar power and sustainability

⇾ Source materials and supplies for your build - you can learn on YouTube

⇾ Talk to insurance companies and classify your van as a motorhome

⇾ Download iOverlander and create a budget for your travels

⇾ Connect with the van life community and attend meetups

⇾ Hit the road and embrace the freedom of van life 

➟ follow @nickandraychel // full-time van life & budget travel 

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Tags: #notluxe  #vanlife #vanlifemovement  #vanlifegirl #tinyliving #vanconversion #vanconversionideas #vanbuild #camperlife #homeonwheels #vanlifers #vanlifecouple #travelcouple  #granolagirl #vandwellers #explorecanada #travelcanada #yvrcreators #canadiantravelbloggers #outdoorscreator
  • How much I spend in a day living *basically* rent-free in Vancouver 

As many of you know, we live in a van, but we also do housesitting with @trustedhousesitters 

Transit with a compass card is $2.50 which I use frequently - especially to visit my parents who also live in Vancouver 

This day we checked out To Live For Bakery @tolivefor.bakery which I highly, highly recommend to anyone who is cruising through the city and ends up on Nanaimo 

Also popped by @welksonmain for some N/A drinks from  @sobercarpenter & @getgruvi 

And our Trusted Housesitters membership is $11/mo totalling $0.38 for rent per day

& the one day total was $18.23 

Any questions?

➟ follow @nickandraychel // full-time van life & budget travel 

Tags: #notluxe  #vanlifeculture  #traveldiaries #travelgram #livetoexplore #vanlifeculture #budgettravel #worktotravel #traveljobs #travelblogger #vandwelling #discovercanada #vancitylife #bcadventure #canadiancreator #vancouverfoodie #veganfoodie #outdoorsycreator #minimalism #housesitting
  • Things we would have never done if we had listened to ✨ fear ✨(and these are just a few)

• quit our jobs to teach English in Asia
• sold everything we owned (twice) 
• moved to a country we’d never been to before (twice)
• converted an old ambulance into a tiny home with no experience
• drove from Canada to Mexico in our van 
• met up with people from the internet and became best friends 

But mostly, taken a chance on ourselves.

We do our best to not let fear or the opinions of others lead the way. 

Do you have any to add?

➟ follow @nickandraychel // full-time van life & budget travel 

__ 

Tags: #notluxe #vanlifecouples #tinyhome #vanlifers #vanlifevirals #vanlifedistrict #vanlifeideas #vanlifediaries #vanlifeideas #liveoutdoors #vanlifeliving #vanlife #homeiswhereyouparkit #travelgirlsgo #exploretocreate #travelcouple #traveltheworld#travelcreator #travelblogger #canadiantravel #ohcanada #canadiancreators
  • Is van life really cheaper than renting? Van life costs vs. monthly expenses living in an apartment.

Not to mention the average price in Vancouver now is $2,700 - so not sure where we’d find that $1,300 rental anymore.

Any questions about van life?

➟ follow @nickandraychel // full-time van life & budget travel 

—

Tags: #notluxe  #vanlifeproject #tinyhome #tinyliving #vanlifediaries #livetoexplore #vanlifeculture #budgettravel #worktotravel #traveljobs #travelblogger #vanlifestyle #livingoutdoors #campinglife  #vanlifevirals #yvr #vancouverbc #canadianblogger
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