I'm excited for you...I did the same about 12 years ago and the 2 1/2 years I ended up taking off remain some of the best of my life. Thought I'd share a simpl

I'm excited for you...I did the same about 12 years ago and the 2 1/2 years I ended up taking off remain some of the best of my life. Thought I'd share a simple budgeting tool I used to help alleviate/delay the inevitable monetary stress. I first decided how much of my savings I was willing to spend on the sabbatical. I then divided that amount into three buckets. The first was small and was my fun bucket (I think mine was b/w $3-$5k). I worked my ass off and it was time to have a little fun. The second bucket is the oh-shit-its-time-to-get-a-real-job-again bucket. I assumed it would take me at most 3 months to find the right job, so this bucket equated to 3 months living expenses. That leaves the remainder for your "core" second bucket. When I was spending from this bucket I never once thought about what I'd do AFTER the sabbatical because I knew I had that covered financially. I simply focused on the sabbatical itself and had an amazing experience. Good luck and have fun!