What to do with your possessions

It's only when you decide to go away for a bit you realise how much stuff you have! A career break can be a great opportunity to have a clear-out.

There are separate sections on What to do with your house and What to do with your car.

What you will do with your stuff depends on:

• How long you'll be away for
• What you're doing with your house (renting it out, selling it or leaving it)
• How much stuff you have
• Whether or not you have anything valuable
• The number of friends/relatives you have with a lot of tolerance and garage/attic space

Self storage

Using a self-storage unit is generally a reliable and cost-effective option. Pack up your stuff before booking your space so you'll know exactly how much you'll need. Check out the storage facility before committing to anything and ask lots of questions (eg who else has access to my storage unit?).

The most important thing about self storage is to make sure your stuff is insured. The storage company might insist on compulsory insurance, or you can get your own.

Selling your possessions

Selling your possessions means you have more money for your career break and less to worry about. The easiest way to sell stuff is on eBay. It's quick and easy to set up (if you don't already have an account) and you can sell almost anything to anyone. An alternative if you're selling books, music (records, CDs, tapes) or films (videos or DVDs) is to take them to your local second hand bookshop or music shop. For selling larger items, if you don't want to use eBay, the classified section of your local newspaper is usually a good bet.

Giving away your possessions

Giving away your possessions is a great way to start your career break - you're cutting free, plus you're giving something back!

Most people give their unwanted possessions to charity shops - although you might want to invite your friends to have a root through the bags first. If you have a huge amount of stuff, the shop might come and collect it - give them a call and ask them about this.

If you have things like old clothes which are too horrid or tatty to wear, you can recycle them. Your local council will tell you where you can recycle fabrics, shoes, wood and other things.

If you've got things that are hard to get rid of (like electrical goods), try freecycling them. Freecycling is an internet-based system where you post your free stuff online and see if someone wants it. Go to www.freecycle.org or search the web for 'freecycle' and the name of your town.

Lending your possessions

There are several reasons why you might choose to lend your possessions to a friend or relative while you're on your career break:

• If you're renting out your house, you might want to protect something from damage
• You might only have a few things which aren't worth putting in storage
• You might want to save money on storage
• Your friend might be able to use them
• Some items don't cope well with storage (books, computers etc) so you might prefer them to be used

Safe deposit boxes

A safe deposit box is a lockable box in a secure location designed for storing valuables like expensive jewellery or important documents. Most safe deposit boxes are located at banks, but you can use a safe deposit box firm instead. No-one else is permitted to see what you are putting in your safe deposit box, and no-one else has a key to it. Note that banks generally charge for each visit you make to your box. Keep a list of what you have put in the box (or take a photograph). Keep this updated if you add or remove anything.