When we first contemplated moving to a different country, it sounded expensive. I wasn't sure how we could pay for it. But as we sat down to crunch numbers, we thought that with some planning, discipline, and help from above, it might actually work.
I wasn't sure about whether I should share specific numbers on this blog, but decided I would in case there was anyone out there who wanted to do something similar. I hope you can see that it's doable. We don't make a ton of money, and we had to and have to work off a fairly tight budget. But it's definitely possible with a modest income and sufficient desire.
Basically, we estimated we would need to save $15,000 to cover expenses beyond the regular expenses we would be paying anyway, such as food, gas, and utilities. Additionally, we used another $6000 from our savings for our car, which we hope to be able to mostly replace after selling the car before coming home.
In terms of the regular monthly expenses, such as food, gas, and utilities, we knew many things would be cheaper here, so our hope was that things would more or less even out. And so far, that has been the case. We pay less in utilities here but more in entertainment (since we're here for a limited time, we tend to do more excursions and activities than we would do at home). We pay less for some food, more for other food, especially of we want a taste of home.
Here is a summary of our estimated $15,000 budget, followed by a more detailed explanation of each expense category and how it has worked out so far. Also keep in mind that Costa Rica tends to be one of the more expensive of the Latin American countries, but for us it is worth it for a higher quality of life.
| Expense | Amount |
| Rent | $6500 |
| Airfare | $2500 |
| Visa Renewal Trips | $2000 |
| Passports | $500 |
| School Curriculum | $300 |
| Luggage | $100 |
| Miscellaneous | $3100 |
| Total | $15,000 |
Rent: $6500
This was our biggest expense. We were lucky enough to find a nice place for $650 a month, and since we'll be here a total of 9 months, that makes $5850 plus a refundable $650 deposit. Other places in Costa Rica, near the beach or closer to San Jose, tend to be more expensive. For example, we know someone in Escazu, near San Jose, who pays $2000 a month for a small apartment in a safe neighborhood. We are up in the mountains in a non-touristy town, and our house is great for us--it just takes more time to get to the beach or the airport.
We are still paying our mortgage on our home back in the states and not renting it out. If you were to rent out your house, that could certainly help. In our case, we didn't think we would be gone long enough to warrant the hassle and expense of moving all of our stuff into a storage unit and finding and screening renters. We have trustworthy relatives staying in the house, who take care of it and manage our mail and other issues that come up, like the leaking water main in the foundation wall.
Airfare: $2500
For six people, airfare can be expensive. While we had initially budgeted $2500 for this, we were hoping that because we had plenty of time to prepare, we could find a good deal; however, it seems that there really never are great deals from Utah to Costa Rica. It was looking like it might cost $2500 just to get us all down here. At that point, we started searching for other options.
Our trip down was largely paid for by credit card points; we opened a couple credit cards, one in my name and one in Michael's, made the required amount of purchases, paid the balance in full, and used the points to buy the tickets. It ended up costing us about $500 to get us down here. So we have $2000 remaining in this category to get us back home.
We got different credit cards with a different airline for the trip back, and it's looking like we'll do pretty well again. There are various fees, such as annual credit card fees, extra luggage fees, hotel stays, etc., that increase the price a little. But if we're able to stay under budget here, we're hoping to use the extra to supplement any losses on the sale of our car, so that our savings doesn't suffer too much.
Visa Renewal Trips: $2000
Every three months, we have to leave the country to renew our tourist visas. For the first renewal trip we went to Nicaragua. The next time we'll probably go to Panama. It's not cheap to get our family of six around, with food, lodging, and gasoline. We budgeted $1000 for each trip, and the first time, since we wanted to combine it with a fun vacation, we ended up cutting it pretty close.
Passports: $500
Michael and I already had passports, but the children each needed one. With photos and fees, $500 was a close estimate.
School Curriculum: $300
We spent a few dollars upfront to purchase math curriculum materials for the children. Additionally, there were monthly subscription fees to the homeschooling service K12 for math, but that came out of our regular monthly budget. Though the kids attend school here, we didn't want them to get behind in math. They are also in the public school, partly because the private school was too expensive. The type and quality of the school would be a bigger concern if any of the kids were in high school.
Luggage: $100
Anyone who has bought a set of luggage knows that $100 is very cheap for six people. But we went the cheap way buying used at Deseret Industries (a thrift store). We just needed the luggage to make it to Costa Rica and back, and then most will probably be thrown out or donated back to DI.
Miscellaneous: $3100
There were a lot of unknowns going into this, and we went through a large portion of this money near the beginning. Most was spent on purchasing appliances and other supplies for the house. Our house came furnished with furniture, but we needed to buy a washing machine, refrigerator, stove, blankets, pillows, pans, and dishes. Again, we hope to sell some of those things before we go home to resupply our savings. It might be worth noting that we didn't buy a TV or microwave here, because they didn't fit into the budget.
Additionally, this fund also covered fees for school registration and a specific type of required insurance for the children, setup fees for the internet, car insurance and other unexpected expenses of which there were many.
Total: $15,000*
I put an asterisk here, because we weren't sure whether we would need a car before we came and didn't include it in our budget. After we arrived, we realized that it would be much more difficult to get along without one, since we are not in a bigger city and decided to buy one. So while we technically needed $21,000 we will be able to recoup most of that $6000 expense before leaving. Ultimately we should be able to have had this experience for what it would cost us to buy a brand new base model Toyota Corolla with standard options. We think the trade-off is worth it.
How We Did it
So how did we get the money we needed? Essentially we saved it by putting our retirement savings on hold for a little over two and half years. We were willing to postpone retirement for a couple years to have this memorable, once-in-a-lifetime experience while our children are young. We still contribute to our 401(k), but have not been saving beyond that. Thus, we were able to save $500 a month for 30 months.
We were able to save that much a month largely because we have been blessed to be able to live for years with no debt but our mortgage. Our two cars, which were both bought used, have no payments, and are each 15 years old. While saving for the trip, we were tempted on a new car and home improvements but had to say no to ourselves to make this happen. We try to live frugally--maybe not as frugally as some but probably more frugally than others. We are an average middle class family without a six figure income. We made a plan, followed through, and did this together.
I remember on our trip here, Michael and I looked out the airplane window as we were landing in Costa Rica and said to each other, "We did this! We actually did this!" It was pretty amazing... It still is.
