Starting to plan for your summer holiday is one of the most effective ways of beating the winter blues and it will improve your January mood even more if you can sort yourself out an exciting trip abroad without blowing a hole in your budget. It is absolutely possible to have an adventurous summer holiday even if you are not wealthy. All you need to know is how to save money on expenses.
Best ways to book
Obviously booking everything from travel to accommodation is essential, but there are ways of going about it that can cut the costs.
The first travel money-saving tip to remember is that using a travel website to book your flights will be cheaper than doing it through the websites for the airlines. Sites such as Kayak and Expedia are the ones to look at for flight bookings. When it comes to accommodation, traveling to a country outside of the peak holiday periods should reduce the cost.
Create a holiday fund
If you know that you want to take a holiday abroad later in the year, then setting up a fund that you will pay a sum you can afford into either weekly or monthly is a great way to ensure you can afford to do so.
This could either be a separate bank account that the money is paid into or an account with a credit union. If saving your money is not something that comes naturally to you, have the money transferred by direct debit rather than paying it in yourself.
Reduce your living expenses
While there some everyday expenses that are unavoidable, such as groceries and utility bills, if you take a serious look at your monthly outgoings it is likely that you will find other items that you can cut back on. This could be nights out, membership fees for a gym or subscription costs for streaming services, but all of us have luxuries we spend on. If you are really keen to have that summer holiday abroad it may be necessary to cut back temporarily on these things.
Take on some extra work
Taking on additional work on a freelance basis can be a very good way of saving for a trip in a hurry. Sites such as Indeed or even Craiglist will have temporary freelance jobs available and as long as you search for ones that fit within your skill-set and that you have some experience of doing, you should be able to find something to earn you extra cash. It may be fairly exhausting in the short term, but it will be worth it when holiday time rolls around.
These are just four of the ways that you can save the money you need to enjoy a great holiday abroad without worrying about what you are spending. If you are willing to plan and prepared to make some sacrifices, it is possible to achieve whatever your budget may be.
