Planning

How do you plan for a major trips, how do we keep ourselves on track?

Well, we use spreadsheets…Shannon is a project manager after all. We have spreadsheets for budgeting, to-do lists, and what to take. We’ll attach a link to these as they may be of interest to those attempting their own major trip, mini-retirement, career-break, or self-financed leave, or for the simply curious.

First and foremost, how can we take this much time off? Well, planning ahead and good money management, for starters. But some good luck, as well. I am a teacher in the Upper Canada District School Board in Ontario, Canada. Part of our collective agreement is a clause allowing teachers to self-finance leave. In other words, I have the option of putting aside a portion of my pay for a period of time and then taking a year off while repaying myself at the same rate of pay. We call it X over Y. In my case, I put aside a quarter of my pay for three years. This coming year (school year 2014-15), I will receive the money I put aside. There is no interruption in pay during the year. It is a wonderful opportunity. Teachers can choose 1 over 2, 2 over 3, 3 over 4, or 4 over 5. In our case, we chose 3 over 4 due to the age of our children. Owen will be in grade 7 and Anique in grade 11 during our adventure. We could not have delayed it a year. Anique could not miss her crucial first term of grade 12. A year earlier, and the financial burden of reduced pay might have been too much. As far as Shannon is concerned, she simply asked for 3 months unpaid leave. Her employer, an IP company in Kanata, Ontario, agreed. Of course, missing her paycheque will be a hit in the bank account, but that’s where the good money management part comes in. We always live well within our means.

Stay tuned for more detailed information regarding how to do this yourself.