Adam Poskitt moved to Bali more than 15 years ago. Picture: Sanur Diaries YouTube
An Aussie travel blogger who moved to Bali more than 15 years ago has outlined how people can escape the cost of living crisis and have a life free of ‘money anxiety’.
Adam Poskitt lives in Bali’s Sanur region where he regularly uploads videos about his daily travels around the coastal town.
Poskitt interviews locals and other international travellers who have done exactly what he did – sold everything and moved to Bali for a cheaper, stress-free lifestyle.
Poskitt’s YouTube channel, Sanur Diaries, has more than 21,000 subscribers following his low-key lifestyle.
It’s a way of living Poskitt says many Aussies are looking for but ruin by trying to bring their current lifestyles into Bali.
The cost of property in Bali
“The cost is not that significant because your weekly running costs are so low especially if you haven’t committed to a big property … if you’re just renting a cheap place,” Poskitt said in a recent video.
“I’m sure if I went and like plonked, you know, $500,000 down on a property here I’d be pretty anxious about it.
“Instead of living in a four-bedroom house close to a city go out to the bush and live in a two-bedroom place … downsizing is something that a lot of people can do [to] free up a bit of cash and live a much better life.”
Poskitt said getting scammed in Bali was rarely a big deal financially, unless it was some sort of housing scam for a bigger sum of money.
Poskitt says people can beat money anxiety if they move to Bali the right way. Picture: Sanur Diaries YouTube
Leaving Australia and Bali’s cost of living
“Leaving Australia has allowed me to free myself from that money anxiety, that money worry, that nagging feeling you have that maybe if I spend this money I’m not going to get any more,” Poskitt said.
“If your costs or your expenses here are a quarter of that what they would be in your home country, Australia for example, your savings go four times further so when things go wrong you’ve got four times as long to get back on your feet before it’s total disaster.
“In Bali, the cost of disaster when things go really wrong with your finances … the cost is not that significant because your weekly running costs are so low especially if you haven’t committed to a big property.
“[It’s] not enough to live on in Australia – by no means at all could you live on that sort of money in Australia – but when you’re in southeast Asia or in Indonesia or Bali you certainly can and you can get by.
“It’s not about being rich at all, it’s about sort of lowering the stakes, lowering your cost base so that worry isn’t so significant anymore.
“If you see people here that are worried about finances in Bali or complaining that it’s too expensive and stuff they’re usually people who have shifted their Australian or western lifestyle across here, you know, including the house they live in and buying premium products imported ingredients.”
Poskitt says he was plagued by money worries before simplifying his life. Picture: Sanur Diaries YouTube
Beating financial anxiety
“There was a time in my past where I used to think about every single little bit of money I spent and it would cause a bit of anxiety every time I spent that money,” Poskitt said.
“As time goes on that frugality becomes almost like an armour from any problems – you’re always trying to save money on everything and it becomes sort of a little bit self-fulfilling in some ways.
“The price that you pay is not really in dollars and cents it’s in other areas of your life.
“The big trap in all of this is that you cannot out-earn the worry, you can’t really start getting massive pay rises and think that this whole thing is going to go away.
“I didn’t get rich enough to stop worrying about this stuff and I don’t think getting rich enough is ever going to stop a person like me worrying about this sort of stuff but what I did do is move somewhere where that worry can’t really latch on to something.
“The worst case scenario is probably to go back to your home country with your tail between your legs and go and get a job at Bunnings or a hardware store or something like that.”
English (US) · 