Summer holidays are memorable occasions that stick with you forever. I think most of us can remember our first summer vacation away as a family, along with countless other holiday-related memories over the years.
When you have a family, going on summer holiday trips is a lot harder. Everything costs more because there are more of you! This means a lot of families either don’t go on holiday anymore, or only go once every couple of years.
You want to go away with your kids, but you also want to give them fun memories. So, this blog post will give you a host of ideas to help you save money for the best summer holiday ever. You’ll soon be able to take your family somewhere hot, sunny, and full of incredible times.
Step 1: Find your dream holiday
The first step in saving for anything is to know how much you need to save. Sit down as a family and find your dream holiday. If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
Loads of ideas spring to mind, like going to Disney World with your kids or heading off to a stunning beach resort. Maybe there’s a specific country you’ve always wanted to visit as a family. You can choose whatever you want, and then you have to calculate an estimate of the costs.
Look at average hotel and transport prices for your family, factoring in other things you’ll need to buy during your stay. It’s impossible to get a 100% accurate figure, but you get a general idea of how much this dream holiday will cost. Then, add a bit extra onto this just in case prices rise.
Now, you should be left with an overall saving goal.
Step 2: Figure out your budget
With a goal in place, you can now figure out a budget. This is as simple as taking the goal and dividing it by however many months you have in mind.
For example, let’s say your dream family holiday costs roughly $5,000. If you aim to book it in 10 months' time, you’ll need to save $500 a month. Divide that by four and you’ll save $125 a week.
Of course, you have to take your finances into account. Look at your monthly income and outgoings, then see what you have left. Your outgoings should include all the money you spend on average each month, plus any extra investments or savings. The money left should be what you can afford to save for this holiday.
Here, you can play around with things depending on how much you can afford to save. In the above scenario, you may realize that it’s only possible to save $300 a month. In this case, you should adjust when you want to book the holiday, extending it to around 16/17 months.
But, let's say your holiday will only cost $2000. If you can save $300 a month easily, it’ll only take 7 months to reach your goal.
Working out your budget will help you understand what you can afford to save and how long it’ll take you to reach your holiday goal. However, there’s a bit more to it as you can influence your monthly budget.
Step 3: Find ways to cut down on expenses
If your monthly outgoings are too high, look at where you’re spending money. Can you cut down on some regular expenses?
A few ideas include:
Switching to a cheaper grocery store
Setting a strict weekly food budget
Canceling subscriptions
Switching to cheaper contracts
Being more energy-efficient at home to cut down your energy bill
As a result, you can spend less money, widening the amount of spare cash you have each month. These bonus funds can then be added to your savings pile, helping you reach the holiday goal faster.
Step 4: Find easy ways to make more money
Sure, you could get another job, but this makes your life more stressful. Instead, find easier ways to make a bit of extra money to go towards your savings pot.
The best idea is to look up and down your home for things you no longer need. You can make a lot of money selling gold jewelry that you no longer wear. Likewise, old clothes and footwear can be sold online with ease. You could easily find twenty items that nobody in your house wears anymore. Sell them for roughly $10 each and that’s $200 straight to the pot.
You’ll be surprised how many things lie around your home collecting dust when they could be turned into money. Some other ideas we haven’t mentioned are:
Old collectible toys
Old newspapers
Old books
Old furniture
Old electronics
These four steps help you figure out how much money to save, and how long it can take to save for a dream holiday. They also set you down a path to spend less money while generating a small influx of cash. In just a few months, you can have all the money you need to go on the family vacation of a lifetime.
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