I went through a long and rigorous process of divesting myself of the objects that I owned. I trained myself to ‘make do’ with what remained, and to treat shops as galleries, where beautiful things are admired rather than purchased. But, at some points on the new journey I have to buy something. In the context of my current life this tends to be replacements for existing gear: shirt, shoes, earbuds. I recently moved ‘books’ from the daily expense column to durables column since they are things, and they can be gifted to other people.
Five dollars a day. The equivalent of a cup of fancy coffee per day is my budget for all the new things that I have bought. Importantly, it has proved to be no constraint. While the black T-shirt in Palermo was a bargain at $2, I am happy to have spent real bank on beautiful trousers, stunning dress shirts three times a year, a new iPad. I approach these purchases with the mindset that I will love them, use them virtually every day, and repurpose them when it comes time to end our intimate relationship. Since you will be using your gear very intensely, be prepared for it to fail much more quickly than in the default world.
I use a simple form of compartmental accounting for durables. A dedicated sub account in Betterment is automatically funded each month. That way when a shoe fails and I must get a new pair, I do not think ‘damn, another unexpected expensive purchase’. Instead I say ‘no problem, I have the money pre-saved and allocated’. I currently have a sizable positive balance in this account … waiting for my next ‘phone to lose itself. Update, that just happened in Cadiz. Bought two new iphones, and still have a significant positive balance in the account.
My current style of ‘three season’ travel makes it easy to keep this budget very modest. Everything I own is useful everywhere on my itinerary. If I were spending any time in deeply frozen places my pack, and packing list (and expense) would be considerably higher.
A note on gifts. I buy very few gifts and no souvenirs but, very occasionally, I see something that I think would be perfect for a person who I really care about. These trinkets can be quite expensive, but including an allowance for them in my durables budget makes the gift seem free. It is a thoughtful and usually much appreciated purchase (that you may be carrying around for months before you deliver).