Moving from America to Taiwan 7: Managing Financial Stress

When I made the decision to move, I made the decision that I would allow myself at least six months of zero-income to focus on other things.

Sometimes holding myself to this is easy. Sometimes it is more challenging. There are times where I am grateful to enjoy the parks, the cafes, and the wonderful conversations I’m privileged to experience every day. There are also times where I experience stress, occasionally feeling panic or pressure to change my strategy.

When it comes to my strategy, the most comfortable area so far has been sticking to a budget. Surprisingly, it’s been really easy to survive on less than $30 per day. Thanks to wholesale night markets, that includes things like clothes. In the US, I could easily spend $30 for a single meal on just one Grubhub order, or could find myself making a $100 clothing order at midnight after drinking $14 worth of craft beer.

The creative process of saving has been fun, fulfilling, and exciting. Cheap local foods are amazing. The cost of coffee is negligible here. When it comes to learning Chinese, I quit my $350/week school and replaced it with five free “language exchange partners,” - people I meet with for practice sessions focused 50% on English and 50% on Chinese (another blog coming about this later). Last but not least, Yoga with Adriene is free on YouTube.

There is also an ecosystem of “freecycling” within my social sphere. When I left the US, I gave away thousands of dollars worth of clothes, electronics, and household items. Some of that energy has started to come back to me here. I often get access to free solutions to my logistical problems just by having friends going through the usual cycle of hoarding and minimalism. I didn’t have a cup, so one of my language exchange partners gave me one. Another gave me a Chinese language book about a cat. The problem of wearing pajamas to the gym was solved by meeting an italian dancer who had gone overboard with an obsession for collecting Nike athletic wear.

The financial stress comes at specific times:

• Since I moved a percentage of my savings to the stock market, I’ll experience moments of stress or panic when that scene isn’t going too well (i.e. the recent selloff of CAFD)
• When I see someone reporting some success around passive income. Since I don’t need to make a lot, I often give myself pressure to try and brainstorm small, creative ways to make passive income. For example, what if I could upload all my photos to a stock photo website and make $20/month?
• When Chase takes advantage of me and charges me ridiculous amounts for foreign transaction fees (I can’t wait to get rid of them)
• When I make a stupid decision (story below)

Panic Buying

Ready to upgrade my living situation from a shared apartment to my own (the two areas I’m willing to spoil myself are my apartment and my gym), I did a search on AirBNB to find out what my options were.

I spent about an hour looking at places and messaging hosts. Within two hours, I had four next day appointments booked across all four corners of Taipei. 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, and 6pm.

At each place, I took notes on the quality, functionality, and of course the internet speed tests.

The worst moment came when I was looking at a place I really liked. It was in a perfect location, had wonderful natural light and a great view, had a fair price, and had the wireless router close enough to the desk to make using a wired connection possible. Unfortunately, while I was looking at it, someone booked the place online and I had to leave.

In this situation, my deliberate process of inspecting the apartments worked against me. This caused me to feel stress and panic. So, when I went to the next apartment, I booked it instantly without really thinking, affected by the stressful thoughts of “if I don’t rent this place now, it will be gone and I will have no more options.”

This pattern of thinking was completely false. If I could make four next-day appointments today, I could certainly do the same another day. Just because things move quickly, it doesn’t mean there is a shortage. When I checked AirBNB’s policy around cancellations, I discovered that AirBNB had a zero-refund policy around long-term rentals. This caused me to feel very trapped and frustrated, and caused me to realize that AirBNB is better designed for short-term commitments that don’t require a lot of research or deliberate decision-making.

The place I panic-bought was 40 minutes from the gym I had previously committed too, 30 minutes form where most of my language exchange appointments were, 25% over my budget, has poor natural lighting and has a water heater in the room which I believe is some sort of health risk.

To combat the stress, I invested time and energy into recognizing the benefits of the place I had chosen. It’s in a fun location (Raohe night market), has nice furniture, and has a cool rooftop area. My hope is that I can apprecicate it like a vacation home for one month, and then return to a more practical lifestyle of living near my hobbies and social life.

Having successfully pushed away the feelings of “I’m doing this all wrong” and “I’m failing to manage my life properly,” I’m now back to my usual life of enjoying every day to the fullest, studying chinese, meeting wonderful people, and listening to chill-ass music in my room.

Recent Photographs

A cool place

My neighborhood at night

A nearby school

The bar below my current apartment