[mom-from-missouri]

If you are going to be gone from home for a month or more -you can have your telephone and dish put on a "suspend" status for a month. I did this last year, and dish network charged me $5 (but I saved 30) and the phone company did it for free (I still had to pay 1/2 of my local rate). A friend of mine told me her cable company and internet will do the same. If I cancel my internet, my company will let me keep my email address for $2.50 a month, so I can at least keep my email without having to change addresses.
Something you may want to check out as we get closer to vacation time.