Whether you want to move to Portugal or travel the world, there is usually one small hurdle to getting there – a tiny thing, actually. All you need is enough money to make it happen. (Simple, right?)

Okay, maybe not so simple. 

When we first decided to travel the world, we had no idea what it would cost. In fact, we joked that only millionaires could do something like that, and we were hardly in that category. We spent hours researching what it would cost, where we could go, and how we could make it happen. We could have easily turned into professional researchers, constantly thinking about our dreams and all the ways they could or could not work out.

That’s when Warren snapped. “We should just pick a number and start!”

Lightbulb moment.

You see, the key to a big change in your life, whether it is moving to Portugal, traveling the world, or even saving up to start a business or go back to school, is action. We get so caught up in the mountains of information at our disposal that we often take the easy road to living our dreams by just imagining them over and over in our heads. It is a poor substitute for actually living those dreams.

What lessons did we learn during our 25 months of saving for our round-the-world adventure?

Action is more important than research.

You can always go back and refine your numbers, your plan, and your timeline after you start working toward your dream, but you can never go back in time and start saving, doing, and making things happen.

We set up our savings account shortly after we decided to travel around the world. We weren’t sure if our trip would be $10,000 or $1,000,000, but we knew we had to start saving asap. We moved our existing vacation fund over and started evaluating our budget to see where we could cut expenses, earn extra money, and sell the things we didn’t need.

When we finally came up with our “official” savings numbers, we were already actively saving and we only had to refine our contribution numbers a bit.

You can go ahead and plan to your heart’s content on your dream…after you get the ball rolling.

Give yourself a daily reminder

One of the first things we did was buy a huge map of the world for our wall. We affectionately called it “Dream Porn” because it made us feel all gooey inside. We could imagine a fantasy life just by looking at it. It was a great motivator for us to see it every day and be reminded over those 25 months what the sacrifices would pay for very soon.

Another perk of the map was in selling our things. You see, we decided very early on to turn this one-year adventure into a long-term, open-ended trip. That meant getting rid of all our things – house, car, possessions – and we became Craigslist (the US equivalent of Gumtree in the UK) selling superstars. When people came to our home to pick up the treasures we sold on this online classified service, they saw the map. We told them our story, why we were selling everything, and not one person asked us for a discount. Those of you who sell things through these sites know that people *always* ask for a last-minute deal when they pick something up.

When you see your daily reminder you’ll stay motivated toward your goal. When other people see it, they’ll be able to better support your dream because they can visualize it, too.

Tell people to hold yourself accountable.

Speaking of other people, they can be the “make it or break it” components to your dream. Some people will cheerlead you all the way to the finish line, and other people will physically throw themselves onto your path to act as human speed bumps to slow you down. The key is to state your dream and make it non-negotiable for the people around you. They will accept it or they won’t, but neither one will impact your decision to do it.

Does that make sense?

You see, everyone will have an opinion on what you are doing, and knowing who is supportive while you save will give you a huge clue as to who will be supportive when you actually start living your dream (we all know the saving part is hard, but not nearly as difficult as the life changes you have to make to live your dream). You need to know who these people are from the start so you’ll know who’s on your team long-term.

As for those who don’t go along with it, that’s out of your control. Sometimes it is a goal that just doesn’t fit in their world view, or your new actions no longer fit in their lifestyle so they hang out with you less, and sometimes your attempts to improve your life shine a light on something they don’t want to look at in their own. It doesn’t matter what the reason is, you just have to know it is not your issue. Bless and release. You have enough to think about in your quest to live the good life, and that kind of negative energy is a waste of time.

When you tell people your dream and show them you are actively working on it, you will get a variety of responses. But the key is knowing you are now publicly accountable to both the cheerleaders and naysayers, and that is a powerful motivation to continue your plan. You are now “that person who is changing her life” to everyone you know. Isn’t that a great reputation to have?

After you reach your dream

I’m writing this to you about one year into our trip around the world. We’ve seen some amazing sights, met incredible people, and been reminded over and over again that this was the perfect decision for our lives. But we’ve also learned something else. When you achieve something really big – show yourself that you can back up your intentions and make things happen – you will never be satisfied with the status quo again.

We’ve now decided to make this trip a lifestyle, and our next challenge will be to work on our website development business and writing projects to fund our continuing travels. We arrive in Thailand soon and will attempt to live only off what we earn writing and creating websites as a test for living this way long-term. We are continuing to challenge ourselves to take action toward living our dreams instead of just thinking about it.

Whether your dream is moving to Portugal, traveling the world, or something in between, you can use the three tips below to turn your dream into a reality. What are you waiting for?

• Action is more important than research
• Give yourself a daily reminder
• Tell people to hold yourself accountable

 About the author: Betsy Talbot and her husband Warren quit their jobs and sold everything they owned to travel the world in 2010. Their new digital guide Dream Save Do: The Step-by-Step Blueprint for Amassing the Cash to Live Your Dream is on sale October 18, 2011. Follow their adventures at Married with Luggage.

****Win a copy of Dream Save Do in our giveaway starting tomorrow**** Giveaway now closed

I’m excited to announce that one lucky reader of Move To Portugal will be able to win a copy of the new digital guide: Dream Save Do by entering our giveaway which starts tomorrow…..don’t forget to check back then for full details.

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Three life lessons on turning your dream into reality is a post from: Move to Portugal

Oh how 2011 is moving along.  I had high hopes for Septembers mini goals but in the end the results were a bit hit and miss.  Hey not to worry, life’s too short.

Ok, so how did I do?

Health (Back to basics)

• Sign up to Sparkspeople.  Continued with Live Strong in the end as you can still track your daily food intake with the basic membership (which is free)
• Drink lots of water. 50/50.  Somedays lots others not so much! Must do better with this.
• Lose 3lbs.  CHECK! But it’s only weight lost, gained and then lost again.
• Eat ‘cleaner’. Difficult to measure but I’m going with 50/50 on this as well.
• Sleep more.  FAIL! Enough said really.

Financial:

• Make at least £300 in side income. CHECK! Made at least £500
• Keep grocery spending below £280. CHECK! Grocery spending came out at £250.23
• Add an extra £350 to moving abroad fund. FAIL!  Too much spending in September!
• Send £657.66 extra to the mortgage. CHECK! Sent an extra £100 to make the over payment £757.66
• Keep holiday (Portugal) spending below £400. CHECK!

Personal:

• Finish reading The Wealth Cure by Hill Harper –FAIL! No excuse just really behind on my reading.
• Return library books (on time!). CHECK!
• Do a car boot sale. No. Took everything to the charity shop instead so counting this as a CHECK!
• Drop clothes at charity shop. CHECK!
• Get a quote for house painting (outside front). CHECK! Added lounge, which has been completed. Still waiting on the outside to be done.

All in all not to bad!  I’m especially happy to add a little extra to the mortgage over payment, which I did to reduce the balance below £108k when the payment goes through this week.

How did you do with your goals in September? 

Back Thursday with my mini goals for October

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(photo credit)

September 2011 Mini Goals {Review} is a post from: Move to Portugal

(Lisbon Design Museum – Life List goal completed)

Good morning!  We’re back from Lisbon and as always after a holiday I feel fired up and ready to go.  Our goals are at the forefront of our minds this morning and we can’t wait to continue taking small steps towards our ultimate goal of moving to the country that we love.

One of the steps is to keep working towards financial freedom, and for us that begins with mortgage freedom.  We want that mortgage debt gone.  With the current economic climate we can’t see ourselves buying in Portugal for a long time, so it makes sense to keep paying down our UK mortgage until eventually it’s gone and we own our home.

But we need to keep a balance.  We have to balance out being frugal with living our life.  So even though we’re stepping up the mortgage overpayments next year, we’re still going to travel and finish the house.  Finally!

Ok today which is all about cleaning and getting my son packed for university.  I can’t quite get used to having 3 adult children, which I have now.  I wonder how it happened.  And how it happened so quickly. Anyway my son leaving means we’ll be changing our budget again. All good as I love playing with spreadsheets

Have a great day!

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Saturday Miscellany is a post from: Move to Portugal

Tuesday we left Lisbon to spend the day in Cascais – Taking the coast line train from Cais De Sodre (4.40 Euros)

Wednesday we took a tram hill top tour – 18.00 Euros (25% discount if you’ve bought Santa Justa lift tickets).  The journey took about 100 minutes and takes you to areas you would perhaps miss on foot.  A great eye opener to how big the city is.  And beautiful.  The view from the top (you can hop off the tram) is wonderful.

The view from Parque Eduardo Vii looking down onto Marques Do Pombal Square.

We’re having fun, but these hills…..!!!

Lisbon – Cascais, Hill Tram Tours and Walking! is a post from: Move to Portugal

Lisbon: Monday we headed up the Elevador De Santa Justa to the Bairro Alto district…..more photos

Lisbon – Bairro Alto is a post from: Move to Portugal