Matt Dearing, 36, and his partner Carlie Donnelley, aged 35, were tired of the daily grind and yearned for a change. They felt trapped in the cycle of working to pay bills, leaving little time to spend with their three children.
Determined to escape the rat race, they set their sights on Bali, enticed by its year-round tourism and tropical climate. They sold their three-bedroom property in Denton, Manchester, for £365,000 and booked one-way tickets to Bali in November 2022.
Their decision to uproot their lives and move to Bali was met with scepticism from relatives who said they were “mad”. In March 2023, they found a three-bedroom house to rent for just £2,000 per year. Additionally, they purchased a 1,200-square-foot plot of land for £100,000 with plans to build their dream home. The cost of building in Bali is significantly lower than in the UK, saving them an estimated £236,000 overall.
Matt, a joiner by trade who now resides in Ubud, Bali, said: “This was something we have wanted to do for years. A couple of times we would go over to Spain, and I was looking for cave houses as I wanted to go off the grid.
“In the UK it got to the point where I wasn’t spending much time with my kids, I would spend about an hour with them before bedtime. I was constantly chasing bills and working.”
The couple extensively researched Bali, enticed by its thriving tourism industry and idyllic weather. Matt said: “The return on your investment here is amazing.
“We sold the house we were living in and doing up for £365,000. With that money, we were able to buy a 1200-square-foot plot of land to build two villas on. We have struck gold – this is everything we want.”
He added: “For us, being financially free is literally freedom to do whatever we want with the kids, compared to working 10 hours, seven days a week sometimes.
“I have always dreamed of dropping the kids off at school and picking them up – I can do that here. The people here are lovely and show a lot of gratitude – it ticked all the right boxes.”
When Matt and Carlie divulged their plans to family members, they said: “Everyone was calling us mad”.
He explained: “But for us, life is too short, and the world is too vast to be confined by conventional norms. We wanted our kids to experience more than just being indoors all the time.”
Since their arrival in Bali, the family spent three months exploring the country before settling in Ubud. They used their savings to purchase land for their future home and are currently residing in a separate three-bedroom house while construction is underway.
The couple’s inspiring journey is chronicled on their TikTok account (@serenitylivingbali), where they hope to motivate others to take similar leaps of faith. Carlie, a beautician, expressed her excitement about their new life.
She said: “It has been exciting, it is a different life. I spent more time with the kids while he was at work, we were missing out on having Matt with us.
“It is great, I am loving life, the weather and just exploring different things – we are outdoorsy.”
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