How To Save Money On Your Holidays
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Let’s face it, we all need a break occasional, and most of us love a good holiday, but it can be pretty expensive to get away sometimes, whether that’s staying in our own country or travelling to a new place across the other side of the world.
So how can we save money on holidays?
Create A Holiday Saving Plan
Budgeting is something that takes practice and self-control, but the good news is, it doesn’t have to be that hard. Once you’ve got a budget in place, you’ll know the areas where you can cut back and live a bit more frugally in order to save money towards your holiday.
So when you want to go on a holiday, the best place to start is with a holiday saving plan. Look at current holiday prices around the time that you’d like to go and estimate how much it’s going to cost you. Don’t forget to include both travelling and accommodation costs, plus any extras you’ll need, like baggage allowance, excursions and most importantly, travel insurance.
That’s your target goal and what you need to reach before being able to book. Lay a budget out on paper or an excel spreadsheet that you can keep track of on a daily basis. Note down all your expenditures, and once you see how much you’re spending, you’re likely to be more conscious of overspending.
When you have a goal to aim for, it does motivate you more to reach it.
Book In Advance
There are two options when it comes to booking a holiday, and that’s either booking in advance or doing it last minute. Booking in advance has many advantages because you’re likely to get the best value for your money when it comes to the choice of hotels and what sort of rooms are available to you.
Flight operators and holiday agents will likely have a variety of deals on offer, and that usually includes a certain amount off the holiday package. When booking in advance, you also may have the option to only pay a deposit with the rest due with instalments or as a lump sum a number of weeks before you’re due to fly.
This can certainly be handy if you’re not flush for cash currently or you want to spread the costs to make it more manageable for you and your party.
Look Out For Last-Minute Deals
The other option is to look out for last-minute deals. Not every hotel or holiday agent is going to be able to sell out a holiday and therefore they’ll likely have plenty of last-minute deals available to you should you have the flexibility of dropping everything in the space of a week or so.
With sites like lastminute.com available, you’re likely to find a deal that no one else would have gotten when booking further back. You might be limited in what’s on offer and the type of room upgrades available, but you most certainly will save a lot of money by holding out till the last minute.
Set Price Alerts For Potential Flights Or Hotels
There’s always the possibility that deals will come and go without you even realising and that can be heartbreaking when you’re trying to save money. However, Google has a handy way of keeping you in the loop when it comes to changes in flights or hotel costs with price alerts.
Price alerts are simple to set and are great if you’re looking at a specific date or group of hotels or holiday destinations. You can control how often you get the price alerts, whether that’s as soon as they come in, on a daily or weekly basis.
You’re free to set as many as you’d like and if you’re not sure on where you want to travel, then this is a good way of being able to see multiple destinations and if a price drops or increases, you’ll know about it instantly.
Be Flexible With Your Dates
It’s always good to be flexible with holiday dates because that might be the difference between a hundred to several hundred pounds. It’s not always possible to be flexible, but if you’re a couple, for instance, you might as well go out of the school holidays because chances are, the prices are going to dive down to a lot less.
If you’re a family, it’s much more difficult but then it might mean that you have to be more flexible with your location rather than the dates. Either that or you travel during different hours that might not be as busy and cheaper in flight costs. The more flexible you are with dates the better, so consider letting a holiday agent know when you are available and how much flexibility you have either side of the dates.
Choose An All-Inclusive Or Full Board
Choosing your board while on holiday is worth considering because although a room only, bread and breakfast or half board are cheaper, you may end up spending a lot more once you’re over there. You have to factor in your evening meal and then any snacks that aren’t covered in your package during the day. You may also want drinks, and that can come at a significant cost.
That’s why full-board or all-inclusive is worth having as your board because it means you don’t need to think about taking as much travel currency. If you want to leave the hotel to eat out on one night, you can, but you’ve got that safety net of all your food and drink being covered while you’re away.
Before you pick anything, make sure you weigh up your options, consider the increase in price from choosing different boards and estimate how much you’d be likely to spend when on holiday.
A lot of all-inclusive breaks aren’t as expensive as you think either and you may be getting a lot more out of your money by choosing this board option.
Invest In A Holiday Home
There’s nothing wrong with going to the same place every year, so long as you enjoy that holiday destination. It could be Blackpool, it could be America or Thailand. Wherever you go, there’s always the option of investing in a holiday home.
Obviously, it’s not something that’s possible for everyone, but there are opportunities out there where you can get an affordable property, and that ends up becoming your holiday destination every year. It’s an investment that will end up paying off each time you stay there. So why not buy a static caravan or a holiday cottage abroad? Whatever your preference, there’s always opportunities out there to make the most of some spare funds that you may have saved in the bank.
Going on holiday is a great way to relax and reset your batteries. It’s important to give yourself a break from work and life and to unwind, whether that’s in a foreign country or as a staycation. Whatever you choose, use these tips to save yourself some money.
First, create a holiday saving plan that will help you budget your holiday money better. Book in advance if possible and if not, look out for last-minute deals that may be available. Try to be flexible with your dates if you can, and when choosing your board, really think about which options will save you the most money. And wherever you go, have a great time and make lots of happy memories!
Also read:
How To Save Money At The Airport >>
How To Create A Family Budget >>
