Summer Holiday Saving Tips for Families
Family camping (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It’s great to be able to go on a holiday with your whole family, but it’s very expensive to do when there are a lot of people. Luckily, there are many ways in which you can save a bit of extra cash when going on holiday and your week away together won’t become quite so expensive. If you’re hoping to get away this year with your family, but you’ve done some research and the prices seem a little too high, here are some holiday saving tips to help you and your family have a break at a much cheaper price!
1. Choose camping or a cheaper option
Instead of choosing to stay in a nice hotel with your family, why not choose a caravan or a week away camping somewhere? Most kids love camping and being in the outdoors, and while it can be a little inconvenient, especially if your children are younger, it’s definitely a cheaper way to take some time off. You can invest in a good tent and pay a small fee each night to use the camping site, which will be fully equipped with toilets and other facilities to help you make the most of your holiday. Most camping sites are in great locations too, so there’s plenty to do for the kids, whether they want to run around and play football together or go and see the animals at the local animal centre.
2. Share the holiday accommodation with friends
If you do choose to stay in a holiday home or even a large caravan, it is better if you can find some friends or another small family and share the accommodation costs. For example, if you have a family of four and you can get together with another family of four, you can hire a holiday home for the week and split the costs between you. Some holiday homes are quite large and will be able to fit eight people, and it means that you’ll only be paying half the cost for your holiday. If you don’t want to share your holiday completely with another family, then come to an agreement which involves only sharing the house but then going separate ways during the day to go sightseeing or on other adventures.
3. Consider house swapping
This works best if you know another family who lives quite far away and they’d like to have a cheap holiday too. However, getting in touch with other families you don’t know can work just as well. If you want to do this, make sure your house is nice and clean and presentable for when the other family comes to stay. You could even swap cars for the week too, although this could be inconvenient if you have to travel from your house to theirs. House swapping is completely free, and your kids will feel like they’re having a real holiday!
4. Don’t pay for your holiday on a credit card
Whichever holiday you choose, whether it’s going to a sunny location or travelling a couple of hours away to a countryside location, try to have enough money to be able to pay fully for the holiday instead of paying for it on a credit card or by taking out some other kind of loan. Using credit cards to pay for expensive holidays means that you’ll have to pay off the debt over the next few months, maybe even years, and you could find yourself taking out further loans in the form of debt consolidation loans in order to reduce payments and take away some of the stress.
Category: Vacation
