Overspending, over-indulging, and living beyond our means are definitely bad habits that most of us are guilty of committing on holiday. Whether you’re on a luxury holiday, or a simple, budget-friendly staycation. It’s one of the few times of the year when we can vacate our everyday stresses, and enjoy ourselves. Without thinking too much about tomorrow. However, when you come back home, you begin to see how much you actually spent! So, is it possible to enjoy yourself AND stay within your budget?
Here are just a handful of ways to stay money-smart, even when you’re on holiday. So you can return back home to the real world with a newfound sense of pride in your own money management skills.
Prioritise Your Needs
Is it something you just can’t do without while you’re on holiday, even if it is a budget holiday? If if doesn’t feel like a vacation without those every day life restrictions, is it a holiday? The meals out, a cocktail or two with your lunch, extravagant day trips. It’s important you’re allowed to treat yourself, but try to cut down in other areas to compensate.
It might mean you can treat yourself to those restaurant meals every single day, as long as you’re able to save a bit on your accommodation. Or perhaps you can do it the other way around. Cook in the apartment and spend money on memories, trips and adventures instead.
Try to think about this before you head off and make a mental list of what you’d really like to treat yourself to. It’s going to make it so much easier to save money while still indulging a bit.
Hire A Campervan
One really great way to save yourself money on your holiday is to hire a camper van instead of booking more expensive hotels. It is also a great way to explore your holiday location in more detail and be your own boss. Go where you want, when you want and explore as much as you can. If you do decide to do this, you should loo in advance to find out where you will be be able to park over night and plan a bit in advance, especially for the first night so you can get all bearings and stock up on all your supplies.
Most camper vans these days will have the essentials on them such as a basic toilet, somewhere to cook and a way to keep food fresh in a camping fridge, and possibly even a freezer if you’re lucky! Stock up with all the food you will need before you go, or at least the basics incase you can’t get to a store later on in your trip – water, bread, washing up liquid…etc. Then you can head off into the unknown and experience the holiday of a lifetime!
Look At Your Insurance And Phone Contract
Staying safe and money smart while you’re on holiday means you need to get a few of these boring preparations over with first. Sure, it won’t be any fun – but coming home to a massive phone bill or an insurance that won’t cover the costs of the camera someone stole from you will be way less fun.
Make sure that you have gone through it, first of all, and learned its limitations before you take anything for granted. Check out this site as well so that you can learn a bit more about mobile data roaming while you’re on holiday – and consider if you’re able to get a better plan for your phone needs.
Enjoy The Cheap Or Free Deals
Planning, research, and an eye for everything free will get you a long way in terms of saving money on your budget holiday. Whether it’s finding cheap flights or a free upgrade on your hotel room. Some people are really good at this and seem to be able to spot the freebies and discounted offers everywhere while the rest of us needs a bit more help. If like me, you need a bit of help, trying having a look at websites such as Travel Zoo who normally have loads of deals and discounted offers available… and remember to search for the free cultural offers in the specific city you’re going to as well. My husband and I have used this website countless ties over the years and have saved ourselves loads on their offers, so its well with a look before you book.
Now you should be able to lean back, relax, and look forward to your holiday without having that nagging feeling of overspending in the back of your mind.
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