50 Ways to Prepare for a Remote Year

I’ve been working remotely for years, if you consider my home office remote. Although I do travel quite a bit, the majority of my time spent working is isolated from the rest of the world. Next to family and friends, travel is my number one priority.

So when I learned about Remote Year in mid-April, it piqued my interest immediately. Spontaneous as I am, I applied two days after discovering RY on a whim. A week later I was interviewed. A month after that I was signed up to start the year-long adventure within ten weeks. It would turn my world upside down. It meant packing up my life and leaving my home of 23 years.

The first thing I needed was a list. Where does one start? I started by replacing all the floors in that house. Now this may not be everyone’s first thought, but I do tend to be a tad over-ambitious. And what a great way to empty out your house… fast! Just book those busy contractors and watch your belongings fly out of the door!

Even if you decide to avoid the notion of a home reno at a time like this, there are plenty of other lists to create. Like a creeping rhizome, my initial list grew sublists, secondary lists and associated lists — everything that I needed to do before leaving for a year.

Here, I’ve summarized my last few weeks of madness into 50 Ways to Prepare for a Remote Year. If I called this article 500 Ways to Prepare for a Remote Year, nobody would read it, never mind actually do it!

PREPARE YOUR HOUSE

If you’re fortunate enough to leave someone behind in your house, then you don’t need to worry about this section. Nevertheless, getting rid of stuff is a great way to start letting go of the weightiness of our physical existence. Besides, you’ll feel so much lighter when you get back.

1. Research and book your storage. You’ll have stuff that needs to be put away for a year. Rule #1 — Once those closets are emptied out, you’ll definitely have WAY more stuff than you think.

2. Start downsizing your stuff. Identify the stuff you really, really, really want or need to keep. Then separate it from the nice-to-haves and not-to-haves. There will be several stages of letting go — the stuff you don’t want to get rid of will eventually go. But be gentle with yourself through the process. It takes time to process loss. Like the loss of a loved one, you need to grieve letting-go of your stuff. Some stuff will definitely be easier than other stuff. Don’t underestimate the emotional power of our attachments.

3. Have a yard sale. This may be a personal preference, however, I recommend you do it because it will give you a perspective on the value of your stuff. Things that you think are valuable, will lay abandoned at the end of the day. A harsh perspective that you can’t get any other way. Yard sales are a reality check of current marketing conditions for your crap. Listen to what the market is trying to tell you.

4. Donate books to your local library. Unless you're seriously attached to your books, let someone else enjoy them. Go through your library, book-by-book, and create ‘keep’, ‘maybe’ and ‘give away’ piles. Put all give away books in a box and drop them off at your local library… along with all the maybe books (honestly, if you have to think about it, you don’t need them.)

5. Other ways to get rid of stuff:

a. Local charity — pick up/drop off. Do this often to eliminate clutter. The more you pass along, the more clarity you will get — the end is in sight.

b. Create friend packages — carefully select meaningful items that you want to leave for your friends, family or neighbors to remember you by while you are travelling.

RENT OUT YOUR HOME

If you’ve never done this, it can be a little intimidating. Just make sure you have all the appropriate documents ready when that perfect tenant comes along.

6. Download a rental application with a space for references and lease agreement template.

7. If you’re renting out your house, ensure you get the right rental insurance for your home early in the game. I left it to the last minute and I’m still working on the forms. Fingers-crossed I get the policy in place soon! Make sure your tenants have their own content insurance.

8. Arrange for a property manager or someone that can inspect the home on a monthly basis and make financial decisions in the case of emergency repairs. The insurance company needs this for the rental coverage.

9. Prepare your house for rental — do whatever it takes to make your house look like something out of House and Garden. The better it looks, the more rent you can charge. Research competitive homes in your area to determine what the market value of your rental property will be.

10. Power wash decks, repair any issues that will make the house look shabby. A shabby house attracts shabby tenants. Upgrades will provide great rental ROI.

11. Trim, weed and get your garden into the best shape possible. Curb appeal. You can be guaranteed that tenants won’t garden to your standards.

12. *Extreme measures only for the strong of heart*
 Replace all hardwood flooring — this may seem like an insane thing to do but this dramatic choice of preparation actually has quantum benefits.

a. Forces you to clean out your entire house prior to actually packing.

b. You have a great place to come back to.

c. You get a higher caliber of renters interested in your place.

d. You can charge higher rent.

13. Have your heating vents cleaned.

14. Get your furnace maintenance done.

15. Have them check your air-conditioning while they’re at it.

16. Do a preventive plumbing and drains check — fix any slow drains or leaky faucets.

17. Check outdoors for any potential problem areas that can be fixed before you go. Nobody wants to get a call about a leak or worse when you are on the other side of the world.

18. Create an appealing rental description of your house — review competitive ads in your area and borrow some of the wording to enhance your listing. Stage your property and individual rooms to create the most appealing photos for your ads.

19. Place ads — I used kijiji.com and viewit.ca in Toronto, had results within 24 hours and rented the place out in under a week. Results may vary.

20. Consider short-term rental so you can move back in at the end of your trip. Renting furnished let’s you keep lots of your stuff in the house and saves on storage. Go with a reputable service that finds executive relocations, film people or insurance claims relocations. They pay the most. I’m told visiting professors at universities pay the least. Even less then the freshly divorced men with children and hefty support payments.

21. Make sure you get a credit check, letter of employment, call references and diligently investigate your potential tenant. This is not a popularity contest. They don’t have to like you but you have to trust them.

22. Provide written ‘instructions’ for the home. Let them know about the little idiosyncrasies of the house. If they are aware, they may take a little more care.

PREPARE YOUR CAR

23. Wondering if you should sell your car? Do a keep search to see how much the market might pay for it. That will give you a dose of reality. Is it worth storing? Or could you use the money more? If you really like your car and it’s worth more to you than what you’ll get on the market, keep it.

24. Find parking for your car — city dwellers, I recommend asking friends that live in apartments or condos near you. There is surely an empty spot that someone would rent to you for the year at a reasonable price.

25. Have your car thoroughly cleaned to avoid storing your dirt along with the car for a year. Darn… didn’t get a chance to check this one off my list.

26. Call your car insurance company well in advance to schedule the reduced coverage to fire and theft only. It takes those guys a while to sort that out.

FORWARD YOUR MAIL

27. Find a person you trust to receive your forwarded mail.
 Then do them a favor…

28. Call all mail marketers to be removed from promotional mailing lists. Months before leaving, rather than recycle unwanted addressed mail, call or email each sender and request they stop mailing you.

29. Arrange for mail forwarding through the post office. In Canada, it’s cheaper to say you’re moving permanently ($90 for one year of mail forwarding), than it is to do a temporary change of address ($250 for the same year.) So you changed your mind in a year and moved back in. At least you don’t have to pay for the mail forwarding when you return ’cause you’ll be there.

CHECK YOUR HEALTH

30. Get your annual general physical done and get any prescriptions.

31. Book dentist and teeth cleaning appointment — get any dental or gum surgery done at home by a qualified professional if needed… you don’t know what you’re going to get abroad. It may save your trip.

32. If you have local government health care coverage, then check out the rules around leaving for extended periods. In Ontario, OHIP will grant you up to one years’ extended absence without having to reapply. Up to five separate years for business and two separate years for vacation. Just get your employer to write a letter saying you’re required abroad for new business development. If you’re self-employed that’ll be easy!

33. Travel insurance. Know this… not all travel insurance is created equal. Look for coverage that is not like your typical week vacation coverage, where if something happens, the insurance company just wants to get you home so that your local insurance covers the rest of the treatment. Protexplan.com insurance covers you for any and all medical conditions (pre-existing may require some underwriting) for the entire duration of your trip. So you can see a doctor on route and make claims without being forced to fly home prematurely.

34. Get a mani-pedi. You deserve it after all of this.

PREPARE YOUR TELCOM

35. Schedule all your changes for a few days before you actually leave the country so you can be assured that the changes are made before you leave. You know what telecom companies can be like. Rogers, I’m talking to you.

36. Mobile phone — if you’re taking it with you, then get it unlocked so you can use local SIM cards along the way. (Rogers charges $50, it could go up from there.)

37. Schedule a cancellation date for your home phone. You don’t really need it now anyway. I had my home number ported to my mobile. So when I come back there will only be one number. My one and on.

38. Schedule a cancellation date for cable TV.

39. Schedule a cancellation date for internet.

40. Call the telecom company (Rogers in Toronto or other disappointing service provider) back on or after the scheduled change date to get them to do it right this time. I spent 2 hours on the phone the morning of my departure to finally get those service changes figured out. Urgh!

41. Return all rental equipment for internet, cable and phone to telecom company.

PREPARE TO PACK

This is not a packing list. There are plenty of places to find suggested things to bring on your trip and that will vary depending on destinations, climate and personal preference. These are some suggestions about the process of packing. I’ve also included random things that I wish I had. Though in the months to come I’m sure that will change too.

42. Do your final load of laundry the few days before you leave. That will give it time to dry and not wrinkle so much in the suitcase.

43. Only pack items that you regularly use at home. If you’ve never used those face cream samples you found under the bathroom sink, you’re unlikely to use them while you are away. The same goes for clothes.

44. Start with your favorites for all seasons. Then plan for at least three rounds of editing.

a. Edit #1 — remove any unnecessary duplicates, separate out the seasons. If you can, ship some of your clothes ahead to accommodate weather and refreshing your wardrobe. Be prepared to ship some stuff home or donate it to charities in your new destinations.

b. Edit #2 — remove things you haven’t used in the past three months. Take pictures of things if you can replace items with photos.

c. Edit #3 — Pack your suitcase and weigh it to stay within flight weight restrictions. Some airlines allow for 23kg check bags but others are only 20kg. Remove more stuff.

45. Random things I wish I had — a tea towel and a dish cloth/brush.

46. Electronics — bring a power bar from home with a surge protector, then bring one plug adaptor. That way you can plug the bar into the wall using the foreign adapter and you still have several regular plugs available for charging multiple devices at the same time. The surge protection will save you from blowing up appliances like blenders, hair dryers and other motor-driven or heating devices. Brilliant.

47. Water bottle with loop for carabiner.

PREPARE FOR TRAVEL

48. Check that your passport hasn’t expired. Sure you’re a seasoned traveler and have traveled all over the world and more. Even more reason to check your expiry date. Travel confidence can sometimes edge on arrogance. And that can kick you in the butt when you least expect it. It happened to me a few years ago.

49. Give yourself plenty of time to get to the airport. The stress of preparing will be compounded by the stress of travel. Cut yourself some slack and don’t mess with the departure time. Plenty of time at the airport will give you time to wind down before boarding the plane. You’ll need it!

50. Treat yourself to a Priority Pass airport lounge for a couple of hours preflight. Celebrate that you survived these past few weeks and months. It just keeps getting better.

It’s hard to believe that all I’ve done in the past two months can fit into a list of 50 things. Within each one of these 50 things, there were another 5–10 tasks. So congrats for making it through. I hope it inspires you to pursue your remote year.

Finally, it’s all done. As I sit on the plane heading to my first destination, Lisbon, I can feel the stress starting to melt away. With a stopover in London, the lists quickly fade into a distant memory. All I have to do now is start this journey of a lifetime.

For more articles on my Remote Year Brand Abroad travels, check out getrealbranding.com