I’m a Brit mum who quit ‘soul-destroying’ UK for a sunny paradise – our expenses are down 75% but there are big problems

8 months ago 3

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A BRIT mum who quit the “soul-destroying” UK for a sunny paradise claims her expenses are down by a massive 75 per cent.

But while Lucy Richardson, 39, from Cambridge, is living the dream with her young family in Bali, she admits there have been some big problems since moving to the Indonesian island.

Lucy and her husband Paul Richardson, 35, found themselves ‘drowning’ in work and struggling to spend quality time together as a family in England[/caption]

Alongside their three children Amya, five, Roo, four, and Lela, one, the family are living a dream life in Bali[/caption]

The adventure began last year after Lucy and her husband Paul Richardson, 35, found themselves “drowning” in work and struggling to spend quality time together as a family in England.

So when their eldest Amaya, five, was due to start school, they began researching ways to “escape” the UK education system for a better quality of life for their children.

Lucy 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.”

After spending a year planning their travels, the couple converted their Cambridge home into an Airbnb before jetting off to Bali last December.

“Paul had built our home in the UK himself over four years and it was going to be our forever home so it’s built to a very high standard,” Lucy explained.

“[Due to this], we were able to put it on Airbnb and now run our home as a holiday letting.”

And now three months into their adventure, the mum-of-three says Amaya, and their two other kids Roo, four, and Lela, one, are loving their new lives abroad.

Lucy said the family has cut their monthly outgoings on food, entertainment and wellbeing by 75 per cent and have escaped the UK Cost of Living crisis.

She’s even been able to give up household chores to spend more time with the kids and can have the whole family’s washing done for a measly £1.70.

“The way of life here is amazing,” Lucy said. “We’re all experiencing new things and it’s nice to invest time in ourselves which we weren’t able to do 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. We were always trying to find ways to keep the kids entertained in the UK.

“Within our villa price, it includes a cleaner and we are able to get our washing and ironing done for £1.70.

“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.”

Since moving to Bali, Paul has been learning how 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 Richardson’s 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.

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.

“In Bali we spend around £1,000 a month on food, trips out, wellbeing and this includes taxes.

“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.

Lucy has been able to give up household chores to spend more time with the kids[/caption]

The family enjoy fun days out together for a fraction of the price in England[/caption]

Making the jump and moving to south east Asia has given the family a new lease of life[/caption]

“Our living costs in Bali are a quarter of the price of what they were in the UK.”

But despite many positives to their move, the family continue to be struck down by one recurring issue – illness.

Within days of landing on the tropical island, Lucy said she was unlucky enough to contract dengue fever.

Documenting her ordeal on TikTok, the mum described how it took her weeks to recover from the “really horrible” tropical disease and needed to be put on a drip.

She also explains how someone in the family “gets sick at least once a week” and is struck down with sickness and diarrhoea known as “Bali Belly”.

“The only negatives [of our travels] would be the Bali Belly and the heat when we first arrived,” Lucy 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.

“We have acclimatised now but it’s really hot and humid and it took a lot of adjusting.”

The family are set to stay in Bali for another three months before heading to Dubai and America and then plan to travel around Europe next year.

Lucy has now started sharing their experience on TikTok and recommends other families should make the leap and leave the UK.

Lucy said: “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.

“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.

“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. If you’re always waiting you’ll never do it and I’m so glad we’ve taken the leap.

“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.”

Documenting her ordeal on TikTok, the mum described how it took her weeks to recover from the ‘really horrible’ tropical disease and needed to be put on a drip[/caption]