Jonathan and I own a home. Our mortgage is $1628.36 per month. When we decided that we wanted to travel, we rented it out.

From our renters, we receive $1500.00 every month. This means that we still have to pay $128.36 every month out of our own pocket towards the mortgage.

Here in Quito, Ecuador, we are renting a 2 bedroom apartment, fully furnished, and with all utilities included. Our rent here costs us $600 per month. We upgraded to the faster internet service for an additional $20 per month.

This means that for our housing and utilities cost, we pay a total of: $620 + $128.36 = $748.36.

A note on utilities: In Colorado, our average monthly utilities cost for 2009 was $100 / month.  Because utilities are included in our rent here in Quito, we save an additional $100 / month on utilities.

Previous mortgage payment every month= $1628.36.

Monthly rental = $748.36

$1628.36 – $748.36 = $880

This means that we save a total of: $880 + $100 = $980 saved every month on housing cost.

Adding cars, phones, and our housing, this gives us a total of just under $1,830/month to use in a different way than we had been using it before.