Tracing My Spending in 2023: A Financial Journey Across Four Countries
When I began solo backpacking, I immediately knew I wanted to be a Digital Nomad.
I wasn’t sure about the process, its challenges, or costs, but my heart was set on it.
A year and a half ago, I embarked on this journey, starting in Crete. Since then, I’ve lived in the USA, Poland, Italy, and Georgia.
Now, after months of experience, I can address the question, “What does this lifestyle cost?”.
To do this, I analyzed my 2023 expenses.
For those not interested in the details, skip to the “Totals” section at the end of this story.
Otherwise, I’ll explain how I collected, processed, and presented the data.
The context
To make sense of my data, it’s important to understand my lifestyle.
At 27, I’m a co-founder of a pre-seed tech startup, Profiter.
In my nomadic life, I stay two to three months in each place, renting short-term, often through Airbnb or direct deals with homeowners. I opt for downtown living to save on transport costs.
My main activities are gym and acroyoga, which are my sole sports expenses.
I’m also concluding a loan repayment with a French amortization plan.
In 2023, my itinerary was: Poland (January to March), a three-week stint in Berkeley, California, Milan (April to May), June at my parents’ home and at my buddy’s home, Georgia (July to September), and back to Wroclaw (September to December).
I personally fund all non-work-related expenses. My startup covered stays in California and Milan for work, but I paid for leisure expenses myself.
The data
For my analysis, I used data downloaded in CSV format from my bank, Intesa SanPaolo.
While the bank categorizes expenses, I needed to regroup some for clarity.
For example, I combined all travel expenses, previously in three categories, into one. Also, any expense category under 3% of my total expenses was grouped into an “Other expenses” category.
This category includes a variety of minor expenses, and here’s a breakdown of them.
The expenses
Let’s start with the basics and plot the whole time series of the expenses through the year.
We can already see some interesting spikes, but to have a better idea of it lets sum it up with the monthly expenses in the year.
On average, my monthly expenses are around €1,800.
July saw higher spending due to vacation costs. Expenses also increased towards the year’s end, mainly due to high rent in Poland. Wroclaw, in particular, is experiencing a surge in rents due to the Ukrainian migration crisis.
To analyze my transactions more effectively, a box plot would be ideal. It not only shows the distribution of expenses but also clearly highlights any outliers in individual transactions.
This chart distinctly highlights outliers in red, indicating rent expenses. It’s evident that living in Poland later in the year was significantly more expensive. A challenge I’ve faced is Airbnb’s upfront payment requirement for rent, often leading to a single, large transaction covering three months’ rent, which strains my bank account.
Fortunately, Airbnb has now introduced a “pay per month” feature.
Next, examining my monthly expenditures by category will provide further insight into where my money goes.
This chart shows the variability in monthly expenses and the diversity of expense categories.
To get a more comprehensive view, summarizing these categories on an annual basis would be beneficial.
Despite the reservations of data scientists, I’ll create a pie chart with more than three features. Sorry not sorry.
This approach, while often criticized for its potential to oversimplify complex data, is popular for its visual appeal and ease of understanding for the general public.
The pie chart reveals that a significant portion of my expenses is allocated to rent, with the second largest category being the loan repayment at around €300 per month.
It also shows a notable amount in “ATM withdrawals” and “Outgoing transfers,” representing cash expenses and transfers that aren’t categorized further. This uncategorized spending indicates the presence of transactions that aren’t easily assigned to specific expense types.
Totals
Ok, the breakdown is cool, but how much is the total?
Well the total is… almost 25.000€ for the whole year.
Breaking down the total expenses by quarters shows that Q3 and Q4 were definitely more expensive than the first half of the year.
Considering the rent costs, if I had to personally pay for my stays in California and Milan, it would have added an estimated €7,000 more to the total expenses. This significant potential increase highlights the impact of accommodation costs in high-demand areas on the overall budget.
Summary
Living as a Nomad for a year cost me €25,000, with the loan repayment being a major expense.
My lack of long-term planning contributed to higher costs; I believe I could have saved €5,000 by finding rentals through Facebook and spending less at restaurants and bars.
Despite the mistakes, I’m satisfied with my first year as a nomad. I’ve learned a lot and am prepared to make better financial choices in 2024.
See you at the next expenses breakdown 👋
