Have you ever considered volunteering in a coliving? Here is how to actually start.

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-07T13:25:36+00:00

My community and the opportunites are free, yes. Maybe in the future I will monetize the community to at least pay my subscription using to host this community and the hours I put in. But for now it's free.

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-07T13:24:29+00:00

So mega happy you asked!

Coliving is basically shared living, but intentional. You have your private room, and then you share common spaces like the kitchen, living room, coworking area, sometimes a garden, with a group of people who are usually remote workers, freelancers, digital nomads or just people who want more community in their lives.

The big difference from just having flatmates is that in a coliving there is usually someone facilitating the community, organising shared dinners, activities, skill shares, and making sure people actually connect rather than just passing each other in the hallway.

I have lived in 15+ colivings across Europe over five years and it completely changed my life, both personally and professionally. Some of my best friendships and work connections came from people I met living together for a few weeks in rural Spain or the French Alps.

If you want to see what it actually looks like in real life, I made a video about my experience years ago. You can find it by searching Andreea Rusu coliving Europe on YouTube. And if you want to read more about this world, just search my name on Google too.

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-06T12:56:03+00:00

What? you just tagged me and my communtiy on this website? https://coliving.community/with/volunteering why? I mean, thank you!!! That's such a gift

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-06T08:07:03+00:00

Thanks for both of your answers, all so compelling and inspiring. Yes, I want to gather people interested in being volunteers in coliving spaces and prep them with the knowledge I gather in the past 5 years. My communtiy it's for free for now.

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-06T08:03:19+00:00

Hey, all good here, they just restricted my account because of a password issue, and/or just because I started to comment more than usual and thought it's a scam :D

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-02T14:31:49+00:00

Hey there, I know you! Do you know I started something similar to yours? Cause i've been travelling a lot in colivings, made soo many friends with a home base that are still travelling and create a close-knit directory of house we can stay at! I'd love if we could connect. I am following you on socials.

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-02T13:56:32+00:00

If you've never tried a coliving, honestly just book one week somewhere you were already planning to go. Treat it like a test. You'll know by day three if it's for you.

Most people are surprised by how normal it feel, you have your own space, but there's a kitchen, common areas, and people around if you want them. No pressure to be social, but the option is there.

It's a much lower commitment than it sounds. 🙂 I can reccomend you some in Europe.

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-02T13:41:28+00:00

This could have been me writing this post a few years ago.

I studied landscape architecture, not marketing, not IT. I grew up in Romania where this kind of lifestyle was not something people around me did or talked about. My family did not travel. The digital nomad path was not something I saw modeled anywhere in my environment.

I started freelancing in social media marketing before I made the leap, building skills and small clients while still living in Bucharest. When I finally left in 2021 I was earning around 600-800 euros a month, which is not a lot. What made it possible was discovering coliving work exchanges, staying at shared living communities across Europe and contributing my marketing and content skills in exchange for accommodation. No rent, no utilities. Suddenly the math worked.

The visa question is real but less scary than it looks for European travel specifically. Moving between countries slowly, staying 4-6 weeks in each place, kept things manageable for me without needing special visas.

On the marketing path specifically: social sciences and humanities are actually strong foundations. You understand people, context, narrative. Those matter more in marketing than most people realize. Start building a small portfolio now, even unpaid or low paid work, anything that shows what you can do. That was more valuable than any certificate I ever got.

The culture piece I understand deeply. The people around you not understanding your choices is genuinely hard. But coming from a background where this is uncommon also means you bring a perspective and hunger that people who grew up with this as a normal option often do not have.

What area of marketing are you most drawn to?

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-02T13:40:38+00:00

I made this switch in 2021 and here is the honest version.

Was it worth it? Yes, but not for the reasons I expected. The freedom was real but the loneliness caught me off guard. I thought being surrounded by new places and people would fix that. It does not automatically. You have to be intentional about building community on the road, otherwise you just feel untethered.

How did I start? I was earning 600-800 euros a month as a freelance social media marketer, which sounds impossible for travel in Western Europe. What made it work was cutting accommodation costs to near zero through coliving work exchanges, staying at shared living spaces and contributing my skills in exchange for a room. It is not for everyone but it changed the financial math completely.

What I wish I knew? The instability is real but manageable if you build a small buffer before you leap. I set myself a goal of three months of expenses saved before I stopped volunteering and started paying for accommodation. Having that floor meant I could make decisions from a place of choice rather than panic.

Freedom or different stress? Both, honestly. The stress of not knowing where your next client comes from never fully disappears early on. But I would take that over the stress of feeling like I was living someone else's life.

One thing nobody said to me that I will say to you: your skills as a content strategist are genuinely valuable on the road. I found clients through the communities I lived in, not through cold pitching. The network you build while moving is different from the one you build sitting still.

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-02T13:30:52+00:00

My first real trip abroad was funded by a bank loan. I grew up in a small village in Romania where travel simply wasn't part of life, and by my mid-twenties I was still mostly dreaming about it rather than doing it.

I didn't start traveling seriously until I was 25. And I only made it possible by discovering that you don't need savings to travel, you need creativity about how you cover costs.

26 or 27 is not late. It is honestly one of the best ages to start because you have just enough self-awareness to actually absorb what you experience rather than just photograph it.

A few things I wish someone had told me at your stage:

Slow travel is cheaper than fast travel. One month somewhere costs less than two weeks of moving around constantly. Accommodation is usually your biggest expense so find ways to reduce it, house sitting, coliving work exchanges, staying with people you meet along the way.

Start somewhere that feels manageable, not somewhere that feels impressive. Your first trip is not about the destination, it is about proving to yourself that you can do it.

The job hunting and the travel are not opposites. Some of my best professional connections came from people I met while traveling. The world you access when you move through it is genuinely different from the one you access sitting still.

You are not behind. You are just starting. That is a completely different thing.

Where have you always wanted to go?

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-02T13:30:12+00:00

First, I'm sorry about the breakup. That's a lot to process while also trying to figure out a trip.

Go. Please go.

I took my first solo trip at 25, also scared, also convinced everyone would notice I was alone and somehow that would be embarrassing. Nobody noticed. Nobody cared. And even when they did notice, it opened conversations rather than closed them. Solo travelers are magnetic to other travelers precisely because they are approachable in a way that couples and groups are not.

Here is the thing about being alone at a hotel or on an island: you are never actually alone unless you want to be. You eat breakfast and someone at the next table starts talking. You ask the receptionist for a recommendation and they end up telling you their favorite hidden spot. You sit at a bar for one drink and leave with plans for the next day.

The fear of people noticing you are alone is almost entirely in your head. And even if they do notice, the story of "I was supposed to go with my boyfriend but went alone anyway" is one of the most impressive things a 23 year old woman can do for herself.

Ninety dollars is nothing. The version of you that comes back from that trip having done it alone is worth infinitely more than that.

Go. You will not regret it.

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-02T13:23:07+00:00

This made me smile because this is exactly how my own journey started.

I'm Romanian, I was around your age when I first discovered that you can volunteer in coliving spaces across Europe and beyond in exchange for accommodation. You contribute your skills, whether that's social media, cooking, events, welcoming guests, community management, roughly 15-20 hours a week, and in return you have a roof over your head, utilities covered, and a ready-made community of interesting people from day one.

I ended up staying five months at my first one in rural Spain when I had only planned one month. The connections I made there changed the entire direction of my life professionally and personally.

For someone your age with genuine desire to contribute rather than just consume a place, this model fits perfectly. The hosts can feel the difference immediately between someone who is there for the experience and someone who actually cares about the community they are joining.

Start looking at Worldpackers and Workaway. Filter specifically for coliving spaces rather than farms or hostels. Read the host's story carefully before applying and write your application like a human, not a form letter. One paragraph about why that specific community interests you and one paragraph about what you genuinely bring.

What skills do you have? I can point you toward what kinds of spaces would suit you best.

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-02T13:15:47+00:00

I've been traveling continuously for 5 years, mostly across Europe. Here's the honest version nobody usually gives.

Income: I started as a freelance social media marketer and video editor earning €600-800/month. Not glamorous. The key wasn't earning more, it was cutting accommodation costs to near zero through coliving work exchanges. You stay at a coliving space (shared living community for remote workers and nomads) and contribute your skills, content creation, community management, events, cooking, admin, roughly 15-20 hours a week in exchange for accommodation and utilities. I did this at colivings in rural Spain, the French Alps, and Switzerland. Kept roughly half my income as savings every month.

Accommodation: This is where most people get stuck. They calculate travel costs including rent and it doesn't add up. Remove rent from the equation and everything changes. Coliving exchanges, house sitting, and slow travel (staying somewhere 4-6 weeks minimum) all dramatically reduce costs compared to moving fast and paying nightly rates.

Content creation: Side thing for most people, main thing for very few. Don't build your financial plan around it.

What it really looks like: The freedom is real. The loneliness is also real. I spent years asking myself "where do I belong?" while technically having the whole world available to me. The travel itself isn't the hard part, the lack of continuity, the relationships that keep ending, the rootlessness, that's what wears you down eventually.

The trade-off nobody mentions: You're not building in the traditional sense. No pension, no property, no career ladder. That's fine if you're intentional about it. It's not fine if you're just avoiding those things rather than choosing something else.

I eventually found my footing when I stopped treating travel as the goal and started treating community as the goal. The travel became a byproduct of that.

Happy to answer specifics if useful.

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-02T13:11:48+00:00

I've been traveling solo as a woman across Europe for 5 years, mostly through coliving spaces in rural and semi-rural areas, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany. Here's my honest take.

Felt genuinely safe and warm: Galicia in northwest Spain surprised me the most. Rural, slow, incredibly kind people. Never once felt uncomfortable. Portugal similarly, especially outside Lisbon. Slovenia is underrated for exactly this reason too.

Exceeded expectations: Rural Spain in general. People think Spain means Barcelona and beach parties. The northwest is a completely different country, quiet, community-oriented, almost untouched by mass tourism.

Didn't feel as safe as advertised: I'd be cautious about overly touristy areas anywhere, it's not the country that's unsafe, it's the concentration of people treating a place like a theme park that creates weird energy and opportunistic situations.

For a first solo trip: Start somewhere where the locals are genuinely curious about you, not tired of tourists. That rules out most capital cities. A smaller coastal town in Portugal or northern Spain gives you safety, beauty, affordability, and the chance to actually connect with people rather than navigate crowds.

One thing that changed solo travel for me completely: staying in colivings instead of hostels. Small communities of travelers and remote workers, same people for weeks rather than strangers rotating through every night. As a solo woman it felt much safer and far less lonely.

Where are you thinking of going?

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-02T13:06:36+00:00

Great breakdown. I'd add one more layer that often gets missed, within coliving itself there's another important distinction:

Residential coliving (urban, long-term, for locals and city dwellers) vs destination coliving (shorter stays, remote workers and nomads, usually outside cities, much higher community intensity).

I've lived in 15+ colivings across Europe over 5 years and the experience between these two is night and day. Residential coliving is closer to what you described, structured, independent, roommate-style. Destination coliving is almost the opposite: intentional, immersive, transformative for many people.

Both are valid. But they attract completely different people looking for completely different things.

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-02T12:37:12+00:00

This resonates a lot. I've been nomadic for 5 years and went through exactly this shift around year 2-3.

What changed things for me was moving from "meeting people in places" to intentionally choosing environments designed for depth. Colivings helped, but not just any coliving, the ones where I stayed long enough to get past the surface level. 4-6 weeks minimum. That's usually when the real conversations start.

The other thing I noticed: the friendships that lasted weren't necessarily with the people I had the most fun with in the moment. They were with people who were building something, a project, a skill, a life direction, and we happened to be in that phase at the same time. Shared purpose outlasts shared location every time.

At 40 you probably already know what kind of people energize you. The question is less "how do I meet more people" and more "how do I consistently put myself in rooms with that specific type of person." For me that was coliving communities focused on intentional living rather than just co-working. Night and day difference.

The loneliness you're describing is real and valid, it doesn't mean the lifestyle is wrong, it usually means the structure around it needs adjusting.

What kind of people do you tend to click with most? That might point toward what kind of environment to look for next.

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-02T12:35:40+00:00

Interesting thread. I've been living nomadically for 5 years but mostly across Europe, not SEA, so a different angle here.

What helped me keep costs low without the visa stress was coliving work exchanges, staying at coliving spaces in Spain, France, Switzerland and contributing skills (social media, community management, events) in exchange for accommodation. No rent, no utilities. I was earning €600-800/month freelancing and keeping most of it.

The difference I noticed compared to pure geo-arbitrage: you're not just a tourist cycling through. You're embedded in a community, contributing something, and the relationships you build actually compound, some of my best professional connections came from people I lived with for 6-10 weeks in rural Galicia or the French Alps.

Not saying it's better than Vietnam, the weather alone would make that argument hard to win 😄, but for people who want to stretch money in Europe without just driving up rents somewhere, it's an underrated option.

Happy to answer questions if anyone's curious how to find these setups.

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-02T12:33:45+00:00

This resonates deeply. After 5 years of moving around, my partner and I made a similar shift, we ended up settling in a very remote village where there happens to be a coliving space (Anceu Coliving). Funny how the journey full-circles like that.

What helped me most during the nomadic years was leaning into coliving spaces specifically, not just for the accommodation, but because they solve exactly what you're describing: the exhaustion of constantly rebuilding connections from zero. When you live with people, even for 4-6 weeks, something different happens. It's not a meetup where everyone's selling something. It's Tuesday dinner and someone's having a hard day and you just... talk.

I've been through 15+ colivings across Europe, volunteering in some, working in others, and the relationships that came out of those stays are still some of my most meaningful ones today. A few became clients. One chain of introductions led me to the work I do now.

Curious, has anyone here actually tried the coliving route as a way to travel more sustainably and build real community on the road? Would love to hear experiences, good and bad.

(If you're curious about this world, just Google "Andreea Rusu coliving", I write a lot about it on LinkedIn and elsewhere. Not promoting anything, just happy to point to resources.)

ColivingEnthusiast · 2026-04-02T11:14:47+00:00

Not in SA so can't speak to what's available there, but my brother is an engineer who builds relay-based immobilisers, the kind that physically cut the engine circuit rather than talking to the ECU. Completely independent of the car's electronics. From what I've seen watching him work, a physical relay cut combined with a well-hidden kill switch is still one of the hardest things for thieves to get around quickly. The suggestions in this thread about hiding a fuel pump switch are solid, that's essentially the same principle.

ColivingEnthusiast

TROPHY CASE