How to organise your car, pets, belongings and other bits and pieces when you take a career break.
Car
- Sell – most do. More £ for career break and less to worry about.
- Lend to friend – insure them, give documents and discuss in advance what happens if damaged, broken etc
- Store – use professional car storage. £15 pw basic, extras from £4 – driving, polishing, sorting road tax.
Pets
- Most lend to friend
- Discuss in advance what happens in case of accident or illness – trust them to make decisions on your behalf?
- Pet fostering – ask vet
- Give or sell pet (not to shelter)
- Wait
The rest of your stuff
- Many use parents garage or attic
- Otherwise storage co (from £25 per cubic metre) – make sure belongings are insured.
Money
- Both before you go and while away – always be cautious
- Credit card insurance – only one number to phone to cancel all cards, plus emergency cash loan. Around £20 a year - ask your bank.
Bits
- Insurance – repatriation, extend policy, free FCO email alerts (www.fco.gov.uk/travel)
- Mail redirection – around £35 for 1 year, about twice as much for international – assign someone to take care of any surprises eg random final electricity bill
- Decide how to stay in touch. International mobile, global sim card, email, blog, landline, snail mail?
- Finally, find out about destination.
Organising all this is overwhelming. But if you put the effort in now, you’ll be rewarded with a worry-free and more fulfilling career break.
