How do you plan a gap year?
If you’re like me, you think about what you would do if you had a chunk of time off work. I think about spending more time with my family, friends, and cats, learning new skills and information, volunteering, traveling to different countries, meeting new people, trying new recipes, exercising more, and trying to adopt a more laidback lifestyle and mindset.
Thinking about how to prepare to cover my expenses while I take a gap year is daunting. However, I have been planning for this inevitable experience for years now, not knowing when I would be able to actually make it happen. Ultimately, I have learned that there are at least 5 steps you should take to prepare for and plan your gap year.
Step 1 – Make a list of what you want to do
I still like to make written notes, so I started with writing my goals down on a notepad I usually reserve for my grocery lists. The goals listed in the intro were some of those I knew right away I would want to achieve although the list of countries I would like to visit is still way too long to be realistic.
How would you like to spend your time during a gap year? Maybe you want travel but maybe you would prefer to spend time at home planting and growing a garden, reading books, spending more time on a hobby, spending more time with your kids and/or your aging loved ones, or even creating a side hustle or working part time at a job that you would enjoy doing. A gap year passes quickly and the possibilities are endless so creating a list will be valuable for maximizing your time.
Step 2 – Get your finances in order
A friend and former colleague told me she took three different gap years over the course of her working life. The first time she said she made mistakes she didn’t repeat and that her primary mistake was not planning for the financial impact and incurring too much credit card debt. While it is especially difficult to save money these days as inflation has impacted the cost of everything, I have found that if you find ways to earn a little more and cut back on some expenses at the same time, it is possible to save more than you might think!
One way to reduce your living expenses is to find a roommate. This could be your partner but it could also be someone you find to share your space with. Having a roommate has been absolutely critical for my gap year planning as it has drastically reduced my monthly living expenses.
A second option is to start tracking your expenses so you have a visual image of what you actually spend and what you spend it on. I use a modified excel template and found that I could do a better job meal planning and pretty quickly began to reduce my food budget.
A third option is to capitalize on rewards credit cards. There is a ton of great content on how to maximize credit cards points but even implementing the cash back option with points you earn on your normal day-to-day expenses is valuable. I use this credit card to build points that can be converted to a cash value or transferred to hotel and airline partners. As a disclaimer, if you sign up for this card using my link, I will earn bonus points.
If taking 6 months to 1 year off from paid employment is simply not possible but you are still craving time off? Consider working part time! For most of my career I have had a second, part time job largely because it was a job I loved yet it has nothing to do with what I studied or with what I did full time.
Maybe you would enjoy becoming a barista at a local coffee shop, working at a library, animal shelter, or organic farm. You could wait tables or work in the kitchen of a favorite restaurant or at the hardware store and maybe get a discount on materials for the home projects you have listed on gap year goals.
Step 3 – Make a plan
When it comes to my time off, I am planner. I make a virtual calendar and begin to fill in information such as my flight details, ground transportation, where I will be staying, and what I will do each day. I have friends, however, that want to book the flights and go with the flow in their destination. I also know those who, at least occasionally, prefer a staycation and do not want to plan anything as that is what will be most restorative for them.
No matter how much or how little you want or like to plan, you need some kind of plan if you are taking up to, or more than, one year off from full time work. Maybe you decide that you will visit your family once per month or you will plant a garden in the springtime. Perhaps each quarter you will take a mini road trip to places you have never been. Or maybe you want to visit 20 countries or all 7 continents. In basically every scenario, it is good to have some kind of plan.
Step 4 – Take action
If you know what you want to do and you have a financial plan to cover your bases while you take your gap year, start taking action to make your dream a reality. It can be in the form of booking that flight, buying materials for your garden, signing up for online or in person courses, planning a trip with your family or friends, or scheduling a time to see the friends who live far away. By making commitments, the dream becomes more real and you will have at least a shell of a plan to keep you engaged with what you identified will be most meaningful during your gap year.
Step 5 – Think about your post-gap year return to work
If you are planning a gap year, you are most likely returning to full time employment at the end of the year. To maximize the gap year, think about what you will do as it comes to an end. Can you return to your previous position or to a different position in the same company? Have you asked your boss if you could take a sabbatical with the option to return at the end? Do you want to make a complete career shift? If so, have you begun networking with potential employers in the new field?
Having a plan for returning to work or a plan for how you will look for work at the end of your gap year will help ease any concerns you have as you part ways with your job and your company. Because the “adult gap year” is increasingly common, employers are becoming more receptive to idea of granting extended time off or at least not looking negatively at the gap on your resume.
Conclusion
By following these 5 steps, you will be well prepared to take full advantage of a gap year. With a little preparation, planning, and forethought on your return to full time work, you can enjoy your gap year to the fullest. Don’t forget to share your experiences and newfound knowledge with a potential new employer as you re-enter the working world. Having been an employer myself, describing how your gap year experiences make you better suited to fulfill the hard and soft skills of your new job can make you stand out from other applicants.
Want more ideas for where to go and what to do on your gap year? Check out my instagram page and read my article that describes 5 places you should consider going.
Are you planning to take a gap year? Have you taken a gap year already? Tell me in the comments.
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