This is a series of continuous posts of guides, hacks and tips on the vagabonding lifestyle and nomadic methodology. -view all vagabond guides
“Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves.” -Edwin Way Teale
PRE-DEPARTURE MINIMIZATIONS //
Vagabonding is a nomadic form of minimalism, you can’t be a vagabond without being a minimalist. This is a primary prerequisite of this type of location independent lifestyle.
The act of vagabonding starts long before departure with the personal reduction of “needs” and “wants”.
Living in a big house in the suburbs or a tiny apartment in the city, you look around and feel all these “requirements” of living piling up with “luxuries” to enjoy itching at you.
There’s something about living a stationery life that keeps broadening your wants and needs more and more.
This all changes when your life becomes completely mobile, living out of a backpack with exactly just what you need and no non-sense wants. Because you have to.
But this begins before you start vagabonding by cutting out unnecessary and no longer needed factors out of your life. I’m not being metaphorical, but literal.
As a nomad, you no longer need cable TV, home internet, Netflix, phone, household utilities, magazines, cars and other contractual or commitment obligations that reduce your finances on a fixed schedule.
These should be cancelled before you start vagabonding or let to expire. But there is one service I would not give up as it’s become vital in my day-to-day life:
My US cellular service with T-Mobile. SIM cards and data is generally easy and affordable for foreigners in most countries but always having my own is a godsend.
Some providers offer free world-wide data roaming, but on 2G. But trust me, even that has become extremely useful in my travels. This also means free GPS tracking on map apps, although not full access.
It goes beyond financial advantages to unburdening yourself with distractions you can’t even use.
You can take it even further by selling the physical things you’ll leave behind as a vagabond. Things you don’t need, can’t use and will depreciate over time anyway.
The car that will just stay parked, the big screen TV that will become outdated, the empty apartment you can sublet instead, the golf clubs you’ll never use again or anything of value that you’ll have no use for.
To be a vagabond, you need to start by minimizing the back end of your life before the rest can follow.
[The featured photo features my FAST Pack EDC backback at Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali, Indonesia.]
2 Comments
“You need less to live with less.”
Great tip John… Been on the fence about putting some of my furniture including TV on Craigslist to get even more money for vagabonding when I start next month.