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Saving Money On Family Vacations. Keep Within Your Budget!

Written by - Jacaranda Team

October 3, 2019● 7 minute read●

No matter where you go, it’s often costly to travel as a family. But it doesn’t have to be! Saving money on family vacations is something that is often a priority. As parents, we can sometimes build up a family holiday by thinking that everything has to be planned out and perfect. We might insist on filling every minute of the day with activities or sight-seeing, so our family doesn’t miss out. The reality is though, kids can enjoy vacations regardless of how eventful they are. Of course, starting to save money as early as possible can be an excellent strategy to alleviate stress. This also allows you to do those couple extra activities while you’re on your family vacation.

Of course, sometimes unexpected opportunities for time off pop up, or we find we may have needed to budget more for our holiday. When this happens, one option you may want to explore is a short-term personal loan for your holiday. You can even see what your weekly, fortnightly, or monthly repayments could look like merely by scrolling up and using our online calculator.

To help you start saving money on your next family vacation, Jacaranda has broken down our suggestions into three parts. We look at how you can cut back costs before you go, when you’re in transit, and during your trip!

Part 1 | How To Plan A Cheap Family Vacation

1. Book Your Flights In Advance

We recommend you plan at least 9 months to a year before you leave. If you were planning to go away in the summer, you should start to plan for that trip in the autumn. Once you have a time in mind, begin looking at flights as they become available on air carrier websites. Websites like SkyScanner are useful tools to keep track of ticket prices. Generally, the further out you book your flights, the better the deal. So you want to get them locked in as soon as you can!

2. Do Your Research

When it comes to booking flights, don’t lock yourself into one way of booking. Check online, go on the air carrier websites and call. It’s worth having a price in mind of what you want to spend so you know what you’re looking for.

Another little tip is if you’re going somewhere you’re not familiar with, see if there is a Facebook community for that area. Facebook groups can be a phenomenal wealth of knowledge from true locals. You can post a comment or question, and people can often give you some great insights on where to stay, what to do, and the best places to eat – all on a budget!

3. Take Advantage Of Points

If you have them available to you, make sure you take advantage of any air miles or points that you wrack up on your credit cards. They can really help to offset the costs of flights and car rentals.

Part 2 | How To Limit Costs When You’re In Transit

1. Pack Your Own Snacks

When you’re travelling to a destination, it’s always a good idea to pack snacks for the family. For the little snacks, especially drinks, you can save big bucks by bringing your own. The handy thing about a water bottle is that the airline stewardesses will often fill it up for you so you have a drink for after the flight.

2. Pack Kids Entertainment

It’s also worth packing some entertainment items for the kids as well – especially ‘new’ items that have novelty value. Think crayons, colouring, activity books and the like. You don’t need to splurge, but having activities that keep kids mentally active is critical. This saves you overspending at the terminal. While they have plenty of kids items available to purchase for flights, these often aren’t budget-friendly.

3. Reduce Your Luggage

For a family, the cost of checked luggage can quickly add up. If you can check just one or two large pieces of luggage, you might save considerably. What you can do to offset the cost as well, is pack a small carry-on luggage with clothing. Between a family of five or so, this can work out well. You won’t feel like it’s too cumbersome in travel.

4. Take Your Own Stroller & Boosters

While you can often rent these items, it’s another added cost. Some airlines will allow you to take boosters as an essential so you won’t have to pay for it. If it works out to be cheaper to take your own stroller, car seats, or booster consider if it’s worth the effort of lugging them around.

Part 3 | How to Save Money During Your Holiday

1. Give The Kids An Allowance

Before you go away, start saving money for your kids – or encourage them to save pocket money for themselves – so that they can have a trip allowance. That’s not to say that you won’t buy things in addition to what you give them but there’s a novelty for them in having their own money.

It can also be a great budgeting tool for kids. Say you’re going away for 10 days and give the kids $100 each, they’ll have $10 a day. With that money, they can either save up a few days to buy something more expensive or stick within the $10 range. It’s ultimately up to them!

2. Eat One Big Meal Out A Day

Another way to save significant money is to be very mindful of what you’re eating and how often. To save money, try eating just one big meal out per day. We recommend you make it supper or dinner. You can always bring some food out with you and eat a light lunch on the go, picnic-style. Or, maybe just purchase some small things to share during the day and enjoy a bigger meal in the evening.

3. Share Meals As A Family

Instead of buying each child their own kids meal, why not purchase food for the family to share? Often, kids won’t eat all of their meals and a lot will just go to waste. So, for three kids you might consider purchasing two kids meals and dividing those up between all three. It’ll save on money, the kids will have more variety and it works out on the whole!

4. Always Book Attractions Online

For certain attractions, you can really save money by booking them online rather than going to the ticket counter there loans for bad credit centrelink. You could potentially save $10 to $20 on tickets and if you know you’re going to go to an attraction anyway, why not give yourself the added convenience?

5. Saving Money By Travelling With Coupons

Having coupons handy could help you save considerably on a lot of little things. If you don’t want to deal with all the spam, try setting up a separate email for all the shops you shop in. There all your deals will collect over time, so prior to leaving you can check that email and print off any of the current deals. It’s all just a little bit of a bonus personal loan.

6. Make Time For A Few ‘Down Days’

Having down days are another important way to save money and give yourself a break from the holiday rush. What is a down day? Basically, its when you take a day to just relax without any real plans. So, hanging out at your accommodation and just enjoying the facilities there or wandering the streets for a few hours.

Down days are also just so beneficial for spending time with family and ensuring you don’t burnout. Ultimately, it will help you appreciate the big days too!

7. Take In Free Attractions

You don’t have to spend money every day to have a wonderful vacation! Sometimes, you can enjoy taking in the surrounds of where you’re travelling without it costing you anything at all. So, have a look online to see what free attractions may be worth checking out wherever you decide to go.

How Can We Help?

Taking off on holiday soon and need a little extra spending money? Jacaranda Finance may be able to help you out with quick cash loans.

Jacaranda Finance is an online Aussie lender that gives everyday people a fair go at a personal loan valued at $300 to $10,000. If you need a financial boost click here to find out more.

For other finance tips on credit scores and money hacks, check out our blog!

Want to know how you could improve your relationship with money?

Jacaranda has the cheap holiday ideas you need to read!

Written by Jacaranda Team