How Much Did We Spend in 2024? Our Annual "Digital Nomad Budget" Report!

The plan was to spend more money this year. So did we succeed?

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Eight years ago, back when Michael and I were “normies” in Seattle, we spent around $85,000 a year, not counting taxes. And in a city as expensive as Seattle, that meant we lived a relatively modest lifestyle.

In 2018, our first full year as digital nomads, we spent $41,000 — and our lifestyle felt considerably more lavish.

We didn’t realize how expensive America was compared to the rest of the world, nor did we know how low we could drive our expenses simply by living at least part of the year in more “affordable” countries.

Yes, this is incredible Western privilege — obviously. It’s also worth noting that wherever we live, we’re really good at stretching a dollar.

Since that first year, Michael’s and my costs have gradually risen — partly because of inflation and partly because we could afford it. In 2022, we spent $56,000; in 2023, we spent $60,000.

But even so, we were still pretty far under budget. So last year, we challenged ourselves to — er, please don’t hate us! — spend more.

Did we succeed?

As with last year, I will look at the different spending categories one by one, with commentary, and then give our overall total spending at the end.

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Lodging

Some dates overlapped, so months are used for clarity only; for various reasons, we also paid for days we didn’t use, so the total number is greater than 365. All figures are in USD and include all taxes, fees, and gratuities.

January

• Sydney/Whale Beach, Australia, Airbnb, 15 days: $2,131 ($142/day)

This place right above a Sydney beach was expensive but extraordinary.

• Sydney, Australia, transit hotel, 1 day: $85

• Seattle transit hotel, 1 day: $108

• Port Townsend, our timeshare condo, 12 days: $900 ($75/day)

February

• Valencia, Spain, Airbnb, 45 days: $3,771.96 ($84/day)

Honestly, there was just something “off” about our two-bedroom place in Valencia.

March

• Instanbul Airbnb, 31 days: $2,008.38 ($65/day)

Our two-bedroom Istanbul apartment felt claustrophobic — but it had a cool sunroom and an amazing view of the Golden Horn!

April

• Fethiye, Turkey, hotel, 9 days: $469 ($52/day)

• Fethiye, Turkey, hotel, 3 days: $169 ($56/day)

I really enjoyed this Fethiye hotel, Orka Village Hisarönü, with a mini-waterpark and possibly the best breakfast buffet we’ve both ever seen.

May

• Fethiye, Turkey, apartment, friend of a friend deal, 32 days: $1200 ($38/day)

Loved this spacious, affordable, two-bedroom place in Fethiye — except for the cacophonous, early-morning call-to-prayer from the mosque next door.

June

• Istanbul, Turkey, transit hotel, 1 day: $39

• Barcelona, Spain, transit hotel, 1 day: $169

• Back-to-back one-week Mediterranean Virgin cruises, 14 days: $2800 ($200/day)

July

• Oslo Airbnb, 29 days: $2,111.32 ($73/day)

We’d booked a fabulous place in Oslo, but they canceled on us at the last minute. This last-minute alternative was cramped and dark but the host was lovely.

August

• Portsmouth, UK, apartment, 10 days: $1016 ($102/day)

• Liverpool, UK, Airbnb, 17 days: $1,094.35 ($64/day)

Our one-bedroom place in Liverpool looked better than it was, which was extremely cramped.

• Southampton transit hotel, 1 day: $89

September - October

• Caribbean Princess, 4 back-to-back 2-week cruises, 56 days: $11,937 ($213/day)

November

• Bristol, UK, Airbnb, 58 days: $5,034.28 ($87/day)

We ADORED our massive, stately, two-bedroom apartment in Bristol, whose entire address was “Tudor House” — no street number!

• Southampton transit hotel, 1 day: $89

December

• Transatlantic cruise, Sky Princess, 17 days: $3144 ($185/day)

• Stayed with friends in San Francisco, 4 days: $0

• Stayed with my brother in Seattle, 2 days: $0

• Seattle Area Airbnb, 9 days: $682 ($76/day)

• Seattle Airport transit hotel, 1 day: $120

Annual Total: $39,167 (or $3264/month, or $107/night)

Some observations:

• We spent almost $15,000 more this year on lodging than we did in 2023, but there’s a good explanation:

  • We took seven different cruises for a grand total of more than three full months at sea. As a result, the totals here also include food, entertainment, transportation, and more; this raises spending here but will lower it in other categories. Incidentally, for two of those three months on cruise ships, we had balcony cabins (often deluxe ones); for one month, we had interior cabins. The quoted cruise prices are for two people, double occupancy, and also include all taxes, fees, and gratuities.

  • Unlike previous years, we spent most of 2024 in “expensive” countries: Australia, Norway, the UK, and Valencia, Spain, during a famous festival.

  • We deliberately chose better accommodations! We also mostly opted for two-bedroom units to give us more personal space.

• For comparison purposes, our pre-nomad, pre-2018 Seattle-area housing costs were: $2700/month (mortgage + utilities): $32,400/year or $89/day.

• As always, when examining our annual lodging costs, it’s important to point out that as nomads, our “vacation” costs are now $0 (since we’re basically always on vacation). Our annual holiday costs previously averaged around $3500. If we subtract an inflation-adjusted amount from the annual total, that means our lodging costs are still only a few thousand less than our total housing costs used to be back in Seattle.

• In addition to Airbnb apartments and hotels, we also had our usual mix of other unconventional lodgings: our time-share condo back near Seattle (which is working out perfectly for our purposes); a friend-of-a-friend cash deal in Fethiye, Turkey; and occasionally staying with friends.

The ethics of cruising are complicated, but damn, Iceland is beautiful!

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Food

Groceries: $5340 ($445/month)

Restaurants: $5736 ($478/month)