Closing Up Life at Home

Okay so you’ve made the decision to take an extended trip with your family. Now what? One of the first things you’ll need to do is start looking at how to “close up” life at home. By closing up, I mean that you need to leave or take a pause from your current life–routines, activities, accoutrements–in a responsible and budget-friendly way before stepping into your adventure. 

When you think about all that’s needed to do, it can be daunting! But it doesn’t need to be. This post will give you the basic buckets, or categories, of things to consider. 

Where do I start when packing for long-term travel?

Some families have a year or more to plan for their Wonder Year. Others who are prompted by circumstance or a wild hair will have a shorter runway. Either way, closing up life at home is doable. 

You may have heard of the concept of “chunking.” It’s a common technique used for people with ADHD. Begin by dividing the big projects into bite-sized chunks. Then you can go from overwhelm to a systematic approach. One approach to chunking is to delegate. You could parse out tasks between partners or kids. Maybe you have the budget to hand over some tasks to a travel agent or RV consultant. Another chunking approach is to make a master to-do list and then separate it by time horizon. For example, you can organize your tasks into things that need to happen in the final week, final month, two months before launch, three months ahead, or even 6-12 months out. For me, it worked better when I planned backwards. Once I got a concrete list of things that could get done six months out, I could begin. 

We have a comprehensive list in our book, but here is a sample of the types of things you can categorize by time horizon. If you are leaving for a month or less, it will look different. If you have just three-months time, your timeline will be consolidated.

Six months or more from launch

• If you have pets, start thinking through your options for their care. It’s such a sensitive topic that we wrote a whole post on it.  
• We recommend giving a trusted friend or family member Power of Attorney. This person can sign tax or other legal documents, receive bank cards, sign leases, and handle other unforeseen tasks that might arise. Start thinking through who that might be.
• If you own your home, look for your property manager or real estate agent. (More on this below.)
• Begin to declutter. Perhaps create a fun-money account where you can deposit the proceeds from the sale of your stuff.

Three months out

• Take stock of your recurring payments and be ready to stop the ones you can.
• Make sure important payments are set up on auto-pay.
• Decide what comes with you and what gets stored.
• Sell and donate the stuff you don’t need.

Last month at home

• Decide where your vehicles are going.
• Depending on your car decision, cancel insurance.
• Cancel your utility bills.
• Spend time with your extended family and close friends!

Again, there’s more to consider, but we hope this starter list gets the wheels turning and you begin to see how to get your arms around preparing for long-term family travel. 

What do I do with my home when preparing for long-term travel?

If you’re renting, closing up life at home is a bit easier. Of course you need to give your landlord notice within the agreed upon time horizon. Then you can separate what stays and what goes before you begin decluttering and packing the rest into storage.

If you own, will you sell or rent? Short-term or long-term? Do you need a real estate agent or property manager, or do you have a trusted friend or family who can tackle those tasks? Can you store your things in your basement or do you need to find a storage facility in a less expensive town?

One family we met along the way saved for ten years to buy a big house. They had thought they wanted to have many kids, so they began to fill it. Then one day, circumstances changed, and they decided to downscale both the house and their big-family-plan to just two kids. They sold their house and traveled off of their earned interest plus a small chunk of the principal. When they returned, they purchased a smaller house that cost just the right amount for their family. 

How do I get my kids involved in closing up life at home?

Ah! We’ve got you covered here, too. This post helps get them involved in planning.

Walking out the door

Once one door closes, another world can open to you. For Wonder Year families, this is where the fun really takes off. I hope you have that giddy, butterflies–in-the-stomach feeling. You did it! Now, how will you begin to plan for your time on the road? Read this post for ideas on how to choose your destinations.

We hope this post helps you begin to see how closing up life at home can be done. Our goal is to demystify this process. That’s why we offer this and other posts to help you get out there! Oh, and we’ve also written a whole book that will give you everything you need to know.