About Kashlee Kucheran

Kashlee Kucheran sold her house and 95% of her belongings in order to travel the world full time, living out of just 2 suitcases! Her recently published book, ‘The High Maintenance Minimalist’, teaches others how to declutter, downsize, pay down debt, and start traveling more. For more information visit http://www.traveloffpath.com/

Materialist to Minimalist – How We Downsized

Two weeks ago we announced that we are selling it all, paying off all debts, and living life a little differently.  Since then, we have had a ton of questions about our decision and HOW we are actually doing the downsizing and purging. I feel super qualified to talk about my journey into a minimalistic life since I came from such a materialistic one! Seriously, the girl who previously lived in my brain was a shopoholic maniac with an insatiable thirst for MORE and now I am here cleaning up her mistakes and erasing the credit card debt that accompanied them.   Okay so in the sake of keeping this blog useful and not overflowing with junk, (like my closets a few weeks ago) here are the main 3 reasons WHY we are radically downsizing: To feel lighter.  I am experiencing this already! It's like a new corner of my mind has even opened up to allow more creative and positive thoughts as more and more psychical junk clears out. Items can weigh you down mentally, emotionally. To clear off debt. We are not ashamed to admit that we spent a lot of money over the last couple years and racked up some good ol' consumer debt! But it just SITS there collecting interest, and the things we bought SIT there collecting dust… so something doesn't add up. To be more location independent.  Nothing says ‘stay home and go nowhere' quite like a huge mortgage payment. But HOW right?  Although we are minimalists with training wheels, and no two minimalists rules have to be the same, here is our playbook on how you can get started too!   How We Downsized and Embraced Minimalism Step 1: We determined NEED vs WANT The hardest (but most crucial) part of downsizing is to identify what you NEED and what you WANT. Trust me, I know how much a ‘WANT' can feel like a ‘NEED!' I have had many moments in my life where I NEEDED those shoes, that car, those blender attachments and that crop top with the tags still on it from 5 years ago. The first step on your journey will be to ask yourself when faced with any object: “Do I need this?” or better yet “Does this bring any value into my life now? Does it serve me?” My socks where knocked RIGHT OFF when I discovered how many of my once treasured items and mistake purchases did NOT serve me or fulfill a need whatsoever. I was merely holding them ‘in case'. In case of what? I wanted to open a professional garage sale of crap?   Step 2: We just DID it. All of the following will mean diddly squat unless you just DO it. It's so easy to say ‘next week, next month, next year' and that is exactly how we wound up with piles of crap surrounding us. Just get er' done!   Step 3: We started in the [...]

2020-12-23T16:12:49-08:00By |

Travel Makeup Guide – Essential Beauty Packing For Girls Who Travel

If you have ever wondered what makeup essentials you need to bring with you on a trip, the best cosmetics for travellers and even how to streamline your life and learn how to thrive with less, you are in the right place! I have spent the last year designing the ultimate Travel Makeup Guide, to travel light while still having the right stuff with you to get dolled up at a moments notice! What if someone handed you a small bag and told you “Okay, you need to fit every single thing you use to get ready, all your makeup, all beauty products, everything, into this”.  Did you just freak out a little bit inside? I feel you, because I did at first too. When it comes to beauty products, I guess I am like most North American girls…meaning the drawers in my bathroom were overflowing with tons of cosmetics and creams I was NOT using, but just wanted to keep around ‘in case'. As we transition into full time travel, I knew something had to change. Don't get me wrong I LOVE beauty products, but I just don't love the idea of dragging around ultra heavy luggage because I can't let go of random eyeshadow palettes I hardly wear.   Travel Makeup Guide – Essential Beauty Packing For Girls Who Travel Here is my 3 Part ‘Travel Makeup Guide' to pack like a jet setting pro! First step is getting rid of the excess, second step is finding your key essentials, third step is making it all fit for travel anywhere, anytime! Part ONE - Determine 'Want' vs 'Need' First, I had to get rid of what I didn't use in order to make my ‘ultimate must have' list of what comes with me everywhere! Determining ‘want' vs ‘need' is easier said than done, but here are some tips. Clean out 2 drawers: Put all your makeup in one drawer. As you use it, move it to the second drawer. At the end of 30 days, the items left in the first drawer are likely not something you NEED. Use this as a template for knowing what your essentials are! The 80/20 Rule: If I had to make a bet, I would say you use 20% of all your products 80% of the time! Right!? I saw I had doubles of things, products so similar they could easily be reduced, old things I didn't like anymore, but only kept because I paid a lot for them… etc! Focus on the 20% of products you can't live without! Plan Ahead: Almost every country in the world will have the same beauty basics readily available, so plan ahead on what you might want to just pick up in your destination. For example, I don't mess around with cheap face creams, so I make SURE a good face cream that doesn't make me break out is always packed with me, but for something like a shimmer eyeshadow… [...]

2022-10-12T14:19:14-07:00By |

Top 10 Booking Hacks For The Best Hotel Deals

Trevor and I love to stay in hotel rooms. We are those people who feel the most at home when we check into a suite and place our luggage at the end of the bed. It's our 'zen', a weight off our shoulders and our guilty pleasure. But on the subject of frequent travelling, there is one thing we really don't like about hotels- paying to much for them. Over the years we have developed some great strategies for paying the lowest hotel prices possible, so we might as well share the love. Here is our insiders guide: Top 10 Booking Hacks For The Best Hotel Deals!  Listen, this blog is for people who seriously want to save money on hotels. The tips we give here are literally our secrets for being able to travel as much as we do, seeing as we are not millionaires, but our wanderlust seems to think we are.   p.s. Bookmark this page right now so you can whip it out when it's time to book your next hotel stay! #1- Time Is Money The tortoise wins the race in this game. Without patience and time to put into booking your hotel suite, ALLLLLL of the following tips we give you will mean diddly squat. When you invest your time into researching, comparing and booking, that is when you will score the best deal. In our experience the best deals don't usually just pop out of nowhere, you have to hunt them down and be ready to double check your work.   Think of what the value is for you if you did save a few hundred bucks on a hotel stay. Is it worth spending and hour or two with 10,000 browser tabs open? For us the answer is YES. #2- Try Off Season or Shoulder Season We do this ALL the time! If we really want to stay in a specific hotel or visit a certain city that is usually out of budget, we consider their peak season.... and then avoid it like the plague!   It gives me a headache thinking about paying double and being squashed amongst tons of other tourists in the middle of an area's 'busy season'. Just because it's the 'off' or 'shoulder' season does not mean it's bad. In some cases the weather might be more tolerable, the attractions easier to see, and just a more relaxed pace of life.   For example, we visited New Orleans in July, dead smack in the middle of their off season. Yes, it was hot, but we like that! We got a great deal on our suite at the Windsor Court because we didn't try and book it between February and May, which is their busiest time. #3- Compare, Compare, Compare Here is where you invest a little bit of time, and if you are anything like me, you will have multiple taps open and a notebook to jot down price differences.   Hotel [...]

2022-10-12T14:26:47-07:00By |

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