A British family who put their house on the market and sold it within 24 hours have left the United Kingdom with just one backpack each and begun a nomadic life in Thailand, saying they now manage on a daily budget of around £35.
Josh and Katie, both 33 and from Sheffield, set off for Asia from Manchester on Aug. 22 with their children, aged seven and three, after deciding during a January holiday to Mexico that they could get more value living overseas than maintaining a UK lifestyle. They sold their three-bedroom home in April and disposed of most possessions via online marketplaces before departing.
The couple estimate the proceeds from the house sale will allow them to live on between £1,500 and £2,000 a month, with roughly £500 of that set aside for accommodation and the remainder covering food, activities and other expenses. They said their monthly outgoings while living in the UK had been about £4,000 — nearly double their current expected spend.
Josh, who works as an exterior cleaner, said the family sold "everything you can imagine" on platforms such as Facebook Marketplace and Vinted. Katie, who trained as a hairdresser, said they limited luggage to four backpacks in total and left with no return date planned. They document parts of their travels on a TikTok account, @4backpacksmanymemories.
The couple previously took an extended trip to Australia in 2015 and had considered emigrating there on a sponsored visa, but decided against it because the hours required for Katie to work in her trade would have been excessive. After researching costs while on holiday in Mexico, they concluded their money would stretch further in southeast Asia.
They plan to use online resources to educate their children outside mainstream schooling. Josh said the family will follow Oakwood Academy's materials and have arranged for a private tutor to check in weekly. He added that friends who have adopted a similar lifestyle spent between £1,500 and £2,000 a month, including accommodation and activities.
Katie said the move was partly motivated by a desire to avoid a five-day working week that limited time with their children. She acknowledged missing extended family but described the change as "an adventure" and said the children are "thriving already." The couple said they have not fixed a long-term itinerary and expect to travel to another destination in southeast Asia at the end of September.
The family's experience highlights a growing number of households that sell property and possessions to fund longer-term travel or relocations, citing lower living costs and a desire for different lifestyles. Josh and Katie said they used proceeds from their house sale to finance the early months of travel and intend to reassess their plans as they move between countries.