Planning a gap year?

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But feeling a little daunted?

Not sure which way to turn?

Wondering where you'll end up

And what might happen along the way?

Fear not!!

We have loads of tips and advice to share with you

From our own amazing Family Gap Year!
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Fun things to do

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Gap Years for Grown Ups - Gap Year Money and Finance

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” Henry David Thoreau

Money

The first step is to work out how much you need for the trip.

To make it easier, divide the money pot into three sections:

Keeping Home Going Trip
(paid for before you go)		 Travel
(paid for as you go)
Mortgage/Rent/Storage Purchase Main Tickets Eg R.T.W. Accommodation (Averaged around £35 a night for 3)
Other Payments (Phones etc) Connection tickets which can be bought at a later date Food £15 a day allowing for snacks and ice creams (kids) & emergency bottles of wine (me)
Car payments Car or campervan hire Petrol and parking
Insurances Prepaid accommodation Phone calls home and Internet Cafes
Utilities Activities (Six times more than anticipated in New Zealand)
Bank charges etc. Shopping and Souvenirs
Tax Taxes Taxis (Sorry! couldn't resist)

Once I had worked out and guesstimated how much I would allow for each section, (breaking it into sections made it much easier to cope with, after all, section one, I would have been paying that anyway in fact I saved money there by being away. Cool how you can trick yourself when you need to!)

All in all the trip probably cost around £10 000 and I saved for two years. It was tough, I had two jobs (one from home but still it was hard work) but I gave up all the extra fun things like meals out and new clothes and things like that. Had no mobile phone, walked and cycled when I could. The girls put their pocket money back into the fund so they learnt the value of saving too.

Most months I managed to save around £500. It wasn't always easy but when you weigh up a baked bean supper against 7 nights in a beautiful hotel 12 months down the line baked beans win every time!

Raising Money Ideas

NB You can write and sell articles about your trip
Raise money, finance trip and provides a wonderful record!

Again this is divided into sections:

Ordinary Job Second Job Sell Stuff/ask for birthday/xmas money Give Up and or Cut Back
Monthly Salary Write and Sell books Car Boots Gave up Mobile Phone
Doing any overtime possible Freelance design websites Ebay Wine on weekdays
Asked for a raise! Sell my art Sounds mean but ask for money not stuff on birthdays and at Christmas. Better than the giver finding the gifts at the car boot! Trips to cinema
Do lawn mowing Cancel Sky
Face painting at car boot sales Fewer DVD nights

Once the ball started rolling it got easier and easier and the girls were very good about not complaining when they missed out on the odd treat. They have been more than recompensed and, thankfully, they know it.

Mortgage

I had just been going to lock the doors and walk away but the Grown Up Gap Year book advised me to speak to my mortgage lender just to clarify things. They talked me into having a flexible mortgage so, if I ran short of money on the trip, I could dip into the equity if I needed to. This was a big stress reliever and although I didn't need it in the end it was nice to know I had access to funds.

If you plan to let your house while you are away, find out just where you stand with your mortgage lender on this.

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Raising Gap Year Money