The word is out

The kids are starting to find out about us being gone next year, now we need to find some way to tell them all and encourage them to stay in band/choir. 

Today I had a kid ask what college I was going to and another kid said I already went to college, but the first replied something about how I was going back to school.  I didn't address the situation yet because I don't really know what or how I want to say it to the kids.  One student did talk with me after school about our plans so I did tell her what was going on.  It is very exciting news to tell people, but at the same time, I don't want to scare my students or upset them. 

Emily had a similar situation today as well.  One of the classes (not one she teaches) got to talking about the difference between a visa and passport and somehow the fact that we were leaving got brought up. 

Now we need to figure out how to tell the students and put their minds at ease.  Looks like Friday is going to be the day for me. 

The Beginning

It has begun.  The plans are in place and the Stover family is traveling to London, UK for 1 year beginning in September 2013.  We have applied and been accepted to graduate programs, gotten a 1 year leave of absence, and cut back on our spending in order to save our money to pay for our trip.  Follow us on our blog as we tell of our getting ready, our travels, and our return. 

Today's issue - Ways to save for a life changing trip in 15 months...

1. Have your wife cut your hair - For just $25 you can get a nice set of clippers from Amazon (I recommend the Wahl Color Pro 20 Piece Hair Clipper).  That is a savings of $20 a month for my hair cuts (1 every 3 weeks or so).  Total savings for the trip = $275

2. Downgrade your phone data plan - Emily hardly ever uses data on her phone, what with iPads now.  We downgraded her to the smallest plan.  It only saves about $7 a month, but add that up over about 15 months, and we save  $105 for our trip.  Total savings for the trip = $380

3. Get rid of XM radio in my car.  Why pay $11 a month for commercial free radio? Oh yeah, for no commercials.  For $11 a month I'll suck it up and listen to CD's and the free radio.  Saves up $165.  Total savings for the trip = $545 

 4. Cut the cable - We cut cable last January (2012) and haven't looked back.  With Hulu and Amazon, we can watch all the shows we would normally watch, for a fraction of the cost.  Cable was costing us about $75 a month.  Now we pay $8 a month for Hulu and $7.50 a month for amazon prime.  Total savings in 15 months... $892.50.  Total savings for the trip = $1437.50

Now this is not all the money we have saved up, but it has allowed us to be putting away a lot of money each month in our savings account to use on our trip.