'We sold our Manchester home and everything we owned to move to Bali - our rent is now just £2,000 a year'

A couple from Manchester who decided to leave their old life behind them and upped sticks to Bali are now paying just £2,000 in rent a year. Matt Dearing, 36, and Carlie Donnelley, 35, sold their house in Denton along with everything they owned to make the bold move to the Indonesian island.

The pair said they wanted to move away from the UK to "escape the rat race" and were sick of "living to work". The parents-of-three also said they felt they were constantly chasing bills and not spending as much time as they wanted with their children Lincoln, seven, Delilah, four and Adelaide, one.

After the couple were sold by Bali's year-round tourism and hot weather, they put their three-bed property on the market for £365,000 and bought a one-way ticket. They say they are now living "financially free" with rent costing them a mere £166 a month as they plan to build their dream home.

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Matt, who now works as a joiner 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 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. I did a lot of research into Bali as it has all-year-round tourism, and the weather is great."

The couple booked one-way tickets in November 2022 and say relatives thought they were "mad" and didn't believe they'd go through with the move.

In March 2023, they found a three-bedroom house to rent for £2,000 a year, as well as a nearby 1,200 square-foot plot of land for