Family swaps 'soul-destroying' life in UK for Bali - but there's a downside
A British mum who moved her family abroad to enjoy a better quality of life says they have managed to save money and cut their monthly outgoings on food, entertainment and wellbeing by as much as 75%.
Lucy and her husband Paul Richardson, 35, who were 'drowning' in work and struggling to spend quality time as a family together in England, moved to the Indonesian island of Bali a few months ago. But while they have cut costs and are enjoying a better quality of life, they say it comes with one major drawback.
Lucy, 39, from Cambridge said: "I had worked all through my 20s and was sucked into the system of getting a mortgage, house and car and I certainly felt like I missed out. Paul is a builder and worked really hard and we'd both spoken about travelling but felt like we would have to wait until we were retired.
"I suppose our trigger for it [the move] was waking up in the UK and you had the house, the car, the business and children and then we would ask ourselves 'is this now our life?'. It sounds awful but we felt stuck in the cycle and we both felt this way and we felt like the UK education system just wasn't something for us."
Five-year-old Amaya enjoying her new upbringing in Bali (Kennedy News/@therichardsons04)
The Richardson family enjoying a swim in Bali (Kennedy News/@therichardsons04)The couple spent a year planning their travels and converting their Cambridge home into an Airbnb before jetting off to Bali last December. Three months into their adventure, the mum-of-three says their children Amaya, five, and their two other kids Roo, four, and Lela, one, are loving their new lives abroad. But, despite the obvious advantages of living abroad someone in the family gets sick at least once a week with sickness and diarrhoea known as 'Bali Belly'.
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Lucy even contracted dengue fever within days of landing in their new country and in TikTok videos she describes how it took her weeks to recover from the 'really horrible' tropical disease and needed to be put on a drip. The rest of the family haven't escaped unscathed either - every other week one of them is ill.
Lucy had to put on a drip after contracting Dengue Fever (Kennedy News/@therichardsons04)
Paul and Lucy enjoying their new life in Bali (Kennedy News/@therichardsons04)"The only negatives [of our travels] would be the Bali Belly and the heat when we first arrived," she said. "We were really set back when we arrived in Bali as I got Dengue fever. It knocked me out for three weeks and was really horrible. We have a good week and then a bad week. The kids just get bad tummies and it takes them a couple of days to get over it."
But despite the one drawback, Lucy says they have adjusted to the heat and are enjoying a new way of life. And as well as saving a huge amount of money on outgoings, the family has more time to spend together and experience new things which they weren't able to do back in the UK.
"Every weekend at home we spent our time at a soft play area or a garden centre and it was soul destroying," she explained. "We were always trying to find ways to keep the kids entertained in the UK. We felt like we were just drowning and now we're able to give our kids that time and invest in them. The change in the kids has been phenomenal too and we're all loving it."
People walk on the beach as the sun sets on Bali (AFP via Getty Images)Since moving to Bali, Paul has been learning to trade online to provide income for the family and Lucy monetises their TikTok channel and receives earnings from her beauty salon business back home. The Richardsons are currently paying £2,000 a month in rent for their two-bedroom Bali apartment.
But despite these upfront costs, Lucy says they have cut their monthly expenses to £1,000 compared to the £4,000 they were paying in the UK. Lucy, a beauty salon owner, said: "Childcare in the UK was so expensive. At one point we were paying over £3,500 per month for our small ones to be looked after. Within our villa price, it includes a cleaner and we are able to get our washing and ironing done for £1.70.
"In Bali we spend around £1,000 a month on food, trips out, wellbeing and this includes taxes. Wellness in Bali is super cheap and affordable and you can get a massage done for £5. At home we were easily spending between £3,000 and £4,000 a month and every supermarket shop was at least £300 and the cost of living was just getting crazy.
"Our living costs in Bali are a quarter of the price of what they were in the UK. The food is so much cheaper too and you can have it delivered right to your door." The family are staying in Bali for another three months before heading to Dubai and America and then travelling around Europe next year.
Lucy has been sharing her experience on TikTok and recommends other families should make the leap and leave the UK. "The plan is to travel the world for as long as we can and not return to the UK and stay in the boundless life of world schooling," she explained. "When we saw our children were able to go to an education centre and be with children from all around the world we knew this was what we wanted.
"It has taken us time to find our feet because we were ill at the beginning but our quality of life has improved by 100% for sure. I would say to other families if you're thinking about making this move you should 100% do it. You just don't know what's round the corner. "
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