Stay in one spot
This is the easiest way to minimize expenses.
- You’ll decrease your transportation costs if you’re moving around from place to place. Airfare will be a huge expense if you’re flying, but taking short trips every weekend will also add up.
- You’ll be able to take advantage of longer-term deals on housing
- You can get the lay of the land and find the best cheap eats in your neighborhood
- You can cook and not waste groceries
Choose a country with geographic arbitrage
The term geographic arbitrage is often used in the FIRE community to refer to the savings of moving from a big city like San Francisco to a place like the Midwest or a rural area where prices for everything are lower. The same concept applies to sabbatical costs. If finances are a major concern, don’t move to Singapore or London. Everything will be more expensive. Choose either countries with low costs of living, or smaller towns within a target country. You can get sense of inexpensive countries that retirees like with this list. Sometimes tax reasons lure a disproportionate number of American retirees. Many offer a lower cost of living with reliable medical care.
Rent out your primary residence
Decreasing your sabbatical expenses includes your expenses in your home country. Remember to include these in your costs. Continuing to pay $6,000/month on your mortgage means you have that much less to spend on expenses while on sabbatical. In many places in the world, your mortgage alone would be a bigger expense than your total cost of living in another country.
Go in the off season
Figure out when high season is in your destination, and don’t go then. The shoulder seasons are usually nice, and catching some of the shoulder and low season means your housing expenses, and competition for high-quality housing, will be drastically reduced
Try living like a local
Go to the grocery store. Don’t eat out every night. Go to a cafe and get to know the people there. Have your kids play pickup soccer games. It’ll be much more memorable than zooming past another famous sight on an organized tour.
Skip the fancy international schools
Some of these are more expensive than private schools in the US. If you’re on a budget, these are not going to be a good choice in most countries. There are many ways for kids to learn. Put them in public school, get them a private tutor, put them in local youth clubs, do some online lessons to supplement if needed.