I did something fairly foolish recently. I upped sticks (and my few-ish belongings) and moved to Toronto. I did it for love. And a desire to live life on my terms. I’ve spent a decade largely doing what I was expected to do. I went to university. I picked a STEM degree. I got a good job and stayed in good jobs with commercially viable organisations. Then, I quit last month and am now an unemployed, homeless, woman of the world.

In order to achieve this, I had to save about 6 months of expenses – projected at £1,700 a month. My plan is to stay unemployed for up to 6 months while I date and figure out whether Canada is going to be my home for the foreseeable future.

The central theme of my life is delight – delighting myself or others. It comes through in my belief in nurturing relationships with friends and family; doing meaningful work that makes the digital world easier to navigate; learning about the world I live in; and engaging in entertaining activities by myself or with others. I love food, travel, sports, video games, outdoor activities, continuous development, arts and culture and tech. None of these is cheap by default. 

Over the last couple of years, I managed my to go from a financially clueless and irresponsible big-spender to a medium spender. Someone said that we should design a life that we don’t want to take a vacation from. This time in Toronto is my chance to live a delightful life while staying on budget.