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The moment I figured out my 'home base' was a trap
For about a year, I kept renting the same apartment in Lisbon for 3 months at a time, thinking it gave me stability. I'd work from there, then take short trips, always coming back. The tipping point was looking at my bank statements from last quarter and seeing I'd spent over $4,200 on that place, but I was only physically there for maybe 6 total weeks. I was paying a premium for a storage unit with a kitchen. A friend visiting from Mexico City flat out asked, 'Why are you paying Lisbon rent to live in Oaxaca and Seville?' It was so obvious once someone said it. I was clinging to the idea of a home base out of habit, not need. Now I just book places as I go, which is cheaper and way more flexible. Has anyone else gotten stuck in a similar setup without noticing?
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margaretj406mo ago
Honestly that just sounds like a minor budgeting hiccup. People spend way more on way dumber stuff, like a fancy car lease they barely drive. At least you had a clean place to come back to with your stuff already there. The convenience has to be worth something, right? Not every life choice needs to be hyper efficient.
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leep896mo ago
Oof, that hits close to home. I did the same thing with a cheap cabin a few years back, paying for a whole summer of peace and quiet I never used because I was always on the road for work. I basically bought a really expensive mailbox and a place for spiders to live. It's wild how you can just accept a cost as normal until the math slaps you in the face.
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