Location Independent, International Jobs: Kara from Provincial Table

I don’t consider myself an expert in travel, money or simple living. My blog is a space to have conversations about ideas that can add value to life. Sometimes I talk about money, and other times the topic is growing vegetables. It’s really about all the activities that are necessary to live well; food, exercise, money, goals, self-investment, travel, gardening, minimalism and lots of other things. Habits can have a big impact on our quality of life; everything really is related. Working toward financial freedom and living frugally doesn’t have to mean operating from a place of scarcity. I’ve been so inspired by others’ stories and it brings me joy to pass it along to someone else. I hope in sharing my thoughts and experiences, I can encourage others to find their version of happy too.

I grew up in the Midwest, married my high school sweetheart at nineteen, and had four children. We’ve been married for twenty-two years.

Our oldest daughter is twenty-one and works as a gas turbine engineer in the Navy. We have three boys, aged 19, 17, and 16. Our oldest son is studying software in college and shares an apartment with roommates. Only our two youngest boys live at home now and will both be graduated from high school in two years. Since we started out so young, it seems like we’re on the verge of life 2.0 and it’s exciting! We’ve got big ambitions!

I studied respiratory therapy and worked in that capacity in the hospital setting. When we moved to Colorado, I was ready for a change and went back to school to study science, a field I’ve always loved. I have four more classes left to complete my degree in molecular biology. In order to earn some extra money and keep developing my skills, I’ve done some work part-time as a teaching assistant for the writing department at the university I attend.

My husband TJ manages a product development group for an AV company based in Orange County, California. He works out of their smaller Colorado office and travels to the California office often. He loves the creativity and flexibility of his profession.

We’ve always been frugal and have saved money as we could over the years. A little over two years ago, I began reading more about finance and learned how we could be leveraging our money more effectively.   Paying off consumer debt, downsizing our lifestyle, fully utilizing saving vehicles such as 401k, IRA, HSA and after-tax investment accounts has significantly increased our savings rate and brought us peace of mind.

In order to accomplish this, we live modestly. We own a 2-bedroom townhome and try to minimize our possessions more each year; following a minimalist lifestyle has freed up so much time, space and money. We have one car, a Toyota Corolla; we drive only when necessary. Instead, we bike whenever possible, even to the grocery store. We plan our meals, shop sales, eat leftovers, pack lunches, rarely eat out, and use our chest-freezer to minimize food waste. We use a clothesline to dry most of our laundry. We have Netflix instead of cable TV. We have a wide range of interests and entertain ourselves at home with cooking, hiking, listening to music, reading, and gardening. Rather than a miserly or spartan life, it’s full of life! And sprinkled in between is travel to interesting places. The goal is to invest in and improve ourselves along the way.

In terms of our kids who are still at home, we have family willing to come stay with them just to watch over things and be around in case of any emergency while we travel. As a sophomore and senior, our boys are pretty independent at this point. However, there were quite a few years when travel was more limited because our kids were young and required more work to care for.  During those earlier years, we always tried maximize what could be done.  That meant more domestic travel with everyone in tow.  We took road trips, which was great because our family got to see so much of the country. I think it’s great for kids to be exposed to travel at a young age.  It builds knowledge and an appreciation of history, geography, and climate.  It pushes them to try new foods and respect that, even within the same country, there are cultural differences.  We’ve had lots of fun with them and really enjoyed our adventures together.  I won’t deny traveling with kids can be work, but the benefits are worth it.

We’ve tried to cultivate independence in our kids from a young age.  They were doing little chores as age permitted.  They put out the next day’s clothing, set alarm clocks, got themselves up and ready for school early on in elementary school. We taught them all how to cook, do laundry, budget and save money as they grew so life responsibilities wouldn’t be such a struggle later on. Of course, we were there to oversee things and worked along side them too.  Now, when we travel, our boys can take care of themselves pretty efficiently because that’s what they’ve been doing for a long time.  And, I think being able to take care of themselves has been great for building confidence. Please don’t misunderstand –  I am not offering parenting advice here! I’ve got teenagers who are far from perfect (as are we all!) This is just what we did and it worked pretty well for us.

I would recommend others find ways to make worthwhile tradeoffs to live the lives they’ve been dreaming about. For me, traveling is really important. Someone else may find travel stressful and have other ideas about what to do with their extra time and money. You can’t have everything, but you can have the things most worthwhile to you. Take a good look at your expenses and trim the fat so you’re left with space for your non-negotiables.

Any tips for how others could make extended travel possible?

Take a mini-retirement, travel with a spouse, change to a more flexible career, start your own gig. If there is a way to adjust work schedules in order to travel together, do it! You’re more likely to regret missing out on great life experiences than working more hours or staying home more. Also, come up with ideas for frugal travel that work for you.

How has traveling internationally for long stretches positively (or negatively) impacted your finances? (since this is a personal finance blog!).  

Spending money on travel, even when you do it frugally, reduces how much you can save every year. Slowing our pace toward financial independence a little is a sacrifice we’re willing to make because time and life experiences are valuable. What is that little saying – there is joy in the journey? Money isn’t everything, but it can facilitate happiness in the form of enabling enriching experiences. You have to find the balance, it doesn’t have to be either/or. Saving every penny at the expense of investing in yourself is a high price.

What are your future plans for future trips?

We just finished up several weeks of travel that took us through Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, and France. It was a fantastic trip, but we’re ready to do more domestic travel for the next few months.

Don’t rule out nearby travel; open a map and research destinations that are closer to you. Road trips are great too – part of the fun is driving and seeing the amazing sights along the way. We have such a diverse country to explore.

We have some domestic trips planned for the Spring and Summer; Tucson for our desert fix, Santa Fe to fill up on green chili, California for some beach time, a few days in Vegas (for hiking, not gambling!), and back home to the Midwest for some family time. That will take us through the fall. We are just beginning to plan our next international trip for February 2019, which will include Italy for sure, but the rest is still being decided.

It’s amazing how Kara is truly able to live her priorities and make weeks-long trips possible. Find more great posts about creating happiness through simplicity at her blog, Provincial Table. And make sure to follow Kara’s truly stunning Instagram feed!