Preparing - - 2wander-yonder

Preparing for your life change is as important to your new life as good foundations are for a skyscraper, and it may take some time to dig and prepare the foundations before you actually turn the key and drive out of the driveway. Here are some things for you to consider.

Your House(s). Well this is a big one for many people. You need to decide if you are going to keep your home or not. If you re going to keep it then how are you going to ensure you can pay the mortgage? You don't want to have to keep working on the road to do so, so perhaps renting it out is the answer. If you are going to sell it then how long will that take and what do you do with the proceeds of the sale? If you have investment properties then you need to ensure the arrangements are solid and will work without yo being present.

Selling. If you decide to sell your home you have a number of things to do such as preparing the house for sale by making it attractive to someone else, putting the home on the market, clearing out and doing something with the money. Remember though that you cannot quit your job or begin to close of the old life or begin the new one until a buyer is found and the deal is done, and that may take time depending on the house, area and market.

Renting. If you decide to keep your house and rent it out then it is not as simple as just putting a To Rent sign up and moving out.You have to decide if you are going to act as the agent or to engage one to do it al on your behalf. If you decide to do it yourself (to save money) you need to be willing and able (at all times) to collect the rent and fix issues if and when they arise. Using a professional agent means that you are free enjoy your new life without the hassle and can probably claim the agents fees on your tax (but check with your tax man first). Either way you will have to vet potential tenants and make sure you have landlords insurance etc to ensure your rights and bricks and mortar are protected.

If you still have a mortgage then you will need to talk to your lender to see what needs to be done to continue the loan when you are not living in the home and in some cases you might need to re-finance with an investment loan should your lender require you to.

So once you have decided on which way you want to go and have taken the steps to start the process you can work towards a date for moving out and handing the keys over to the tenants, agent or new owners.

De-cluttering, cleaning up and moving out

No matter what you do, unless you are going to rent a storage unit the same size as your house you are going to need to de-clutter and clean up before you can move out so de-cluttering is a must.

We have de-cluttered three times now and whilst we have it down to a small unit of things we want to keep, you may be different. The best advice we can give you on this is to de-clutter down to a basic level like we did on our first cycle tour. We left a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, double garage house which we had filled quire nicely. After our de-clutter and garage sale we were left with enough furniture (one set) to set up again should we need to. One bed, table, lounge, TV, toaster etc and boxes of things that would be enough to live easily and of course important and personal items. The rest went through a garage sale and sales to friends and family.

Once you have de-cluttered you will also be in a better place to be able to gauge how large or small a storage unit you will need, so make sure you get rid of everything you need to before you order the storage unit, if that is how you are going to do it. Just remember that no matter how tempting it is to take everything with you - DONT!

Your new home is not designed for that (if you are not using something every day or two then you do not need it) and your fuel bill will reflect the unnecessary weight that you are carrying. We experienced something like that on our first cycle tour and found we spent a fair bit of money mailing stuff home that we really didn't need with us and once we sent the stuff back we found we didn't miss it either.

Legal Stuff. You are about to change a large part of your life and as such you need to make sure that your affairs are in order so that your new life is as free of hassle as it can be (that's why your making the change isn't it?). As such you may need to change your will, you may need to ensure that you and your partner in life have an Enduring Power of Attorney for each others affairs because it is too late when it all goes wrong and there are a number of other things that can come into play so before you drive off into the sunset pay a visit to your financial advisor or accountant to make sure your affairs will be in as good a shape as you in your new life.

Finance doesn't really change much but your method of banking may. To ensure we had as easy a financial life as possible we simplified it down by setting up just three bank accounts:

1. being a fan of the barefoot investor's principles we established a mojo account whose only purpose is to gather dust and interest ready in case of emergency;

2. a daily living account where we keep a manageable amount for our daily needs, and

3. a high interest account (linked to our daily account) where we can keep larger amounts and where we can get interest on our funds, both of which we can administer and use electronically.

As part of your financial set up you will also need to ensure you have your Tax File NUmber (TFN) and account details ready for employers to deposit into.

Government, Organisations and Mail is another area you will need to address for long term life changes.

Electoral Roll. If like us you intend to be a person of NFA (no fixed address) you can register with the Australian Electoral Office as an Itinerant Elector and that basically means that you are of no fixed address and you do not have to vote in any election but may do so in your previous electorate as an absentee should you wish.

Mail and redirection is something you definitely need to do something about. Think about all of the mail you get, the letters, the bills, the notices, the magazines and subscriptions, Christmas and Birthday cards etc, etc, etc. We had a Post Office Box for many years and when we were away one of our children would collect the mail and then every now and then send it onto us, but this time we have it going to our eldest daughters house and she sends it to where we are or where we are going to be. But if you don't have someone who can do that or don't want anyone to do it there are a number of organisations that will allow you to use their address as your mailing address and who will then for a small fee send your mail to you when you tell them to. It's pretty simple to set up and they can guide you through the process.

You are going to have to deal with mail anyway so why not take some of the hassle out of it by cutting back on subscriptions to magazines and papers etc (they will be old news by the time you get them anyway) by either reading them online, or buying them from towns along the way.

Another reason to have a mailing address is that being of no fixed address is just too much for many Government or organisations and you will send them into a tailspin if you tell them you don't live anywhere in particular, it's not a box they recognise.

Vehicle Insurance and Registration is another thing you will need an address for, so you might need to use a friend or family members address for that, but be aware that some states require annual inspections and as such you will need to plan a trip back for that.

Storage. Now that you have de-cluttered and are down to what you want to keep you will need to start shopping around for a storage unit. Most places have an online booking facility but we recommend that you visit and inspect each of the places you are considering. Tip. If they don't welcome and inspection by you they are not worth going with and you should go elsewhere.

Depending on how long you want to store stuff you may be able to get a good discount. We have a place where we get one month free every six months and that saves us money, so don't forget to ask if they have long term rates or discounts.

You will also need to check with your household contents insurance provider to see if they will cover your stuff in storage (most won't) so you will have to consider insurance with the storage unit and most can provide it at a reasonable rate.

We are sure you will have questions we haven't addressed so feel free to contact us to ask.

Mark Twain once said "...years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - and so we will.