Smart Spending Tips For Family Vacations | Woombie

Family vacations are a fantastic way to relax, bond, and create lasting memories. Unfortunately, they can also make a big dent in your bank account as the dollar signs rack up quickly. This is why it’s so important to plan carefully and look for the best possible deals.

Of course, family vacations don't have to mean jetting off to an exotic location—which will immediately keep the costs down. However, if you’re planning a trip with the family, we’ve got you covered with top tips for ensuring that your holiday doesn’t break the bank.

Get The Timing Just Right

Traveling in peak times is always going to be more expensive than off-peak times. When sticking to school vacation times, it’s difficult to avoid the peak seasons. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still be clever about the times that you travel.

Those in the tourism industry refer to them as shoulder periods. This is the time just before or just after the peak season but before it officially becomes off peak. During this time, prices are often a bit lower than during peak season. You may need to skip a day or two of school to completely take advantage, but you can monitor this closely.

You can also look at the flights or buses that you’re taking as part of your trip. If you’re able to travel in the middle of the week, late at night or at times outside of the usual hours that people like to travel, you can often get a much better deal on your tickets.

Look At Rentals Rather Than Hotels

Another major area in your travel budget is accommodation. Hotels and guesthouses can eat into your money very quickly. Fortunately, there are so many more options for short-stay rentals that can be far cheaper for the same period of time. You could Airbnb a house or apartment in a great location and still save money on your accommodation. 

Another bonus of renting a place with a kitchen is that you’ll save on food in your travel budget. In a hotel or a guest house, you’re likely to pay a lot more because you need to keep buying meals and drinks at restaurant or bar prices. In a house, you can buy at store prices and make your own. This is extra helpful if you have little kids who are fussy eaters or won’t eat full meals. 

Invite Friends Or Family

If you have family or friends with kids that are in the same age group as yours, invite them to join you. You can split the cost of accommodation and food, and everyone gets to enjoy some downtime.

You can also save on entertainment and ensure your kids don't get bored, as they’ll all play together. This works especially well if you rent a beach house or somewhere where there’s plenty of space for children of all ages to safely explore. 

Make Your Bookings Directly

There are a lot of great third-party sites that you can use to compare the prices of accommodation, car rentals, tickets for entertainment and other vacation activities. 

The downside to these sites is that they take a commission on each ticket they sell, meaning the provider often puts their prices up to cover that loss. Once you know where you want to book, try calling the provider directly and seeing what their prices are. They may also be running specials that aren’t available on the third-party website.

When doing this research, make sure you look at cancellation and refund policies, too. You may find that these are different if you’re booking directly or going through a third-party website that has its own policies in place.

Sign Up for Apps and Savings Services

There are plenty of apps or online services that will give you a rundown of all the specials and great deals that are happening in an area that you specify. 

Sign up with a few of these apps and put in the details for where you’re traveling to. You may get yourself a great deal for an amusement park or local tourist attraction, or you may find out all about restaurant specials that you otherwise wouldn’t have known about. This can help you stretch your budget even further. 

You can also sign up for services that reward you when you spend. This can make spending a little extra on your vacation worthwhile. As you know, you’ll get something back.

Set Budgets Per Day with Your Kids

Finally, once you’ve done all your pre-planning and worked out the best ways to afford your vacation, it’s time to set your budget for spending money. It’s a really good idea to get your kids involved in this process so that they can see exactly why you’re setting limits. Plus, it helps them to get an understanding of money management and savings.

Of course, how much you include your kids in the conversation will depend on their ages. However, you can still get young children involved to some degree. It’s great to give them ownership of their spending money as it teaches them a good life lesson and helps them to grasp the concept of worth and value.

Before your trip, you can also set some savings goals with your kids. Help them to build up their holiday savings by earning money on specific chores or budgeting with their allowance in the weeks leading up to the vacation. 

Just be sure to do the budgeting and the saving with them, so that everyone is working toward the same goal—that dream vacation.

Vacation Time Doesn’t Have to Be a Costly Affair

When planning your next vacation with your family, it’s important to get started early if you want to get the best deals. You want to have the time to do your research, grab those special deals when they pop up, and ensure that you’re getting the most bang for your buck.

By getting the whole family involved in the planning, you’re not only teaching your children about responsible spending, but you’re also ensuring that this family vacation is something that everyone is excited about. 

Your kids will love the experience of having a say in what you do while away!