How To Organize Your Holiday Money

When you are going away on a holiday or trip it’s something to get excited about, however, with it comes the thoughts about money. It costs money to travel and even if it is worth it, it’s best to make sure you plan and think about your finances when traveling. It can take some time to save and time to plan a trip so, make sure you are thinking things through. It’s not as simple as packing your bags and just heading off on a plane. 

It is better if you set yourself a savings goal and plan with a budget. It’s better than having to come home early or not being able to do what you want because you have run out of funds. When you are planning your next trip think about these when it comes to your money: 

How Much Do You Need In Your Budget? 

Start by writing down everything you are going to need including flights, accommodation, excursions, food, drinks, toiletries, etc. Then you can look at each section in more detail. Choose your dates and then you can start to shop around for flights and accommodation. These are usually the biggest expenses but you will pay for them before you go. It might be a good idea to have a budget for pre-bookables and then a separate budget for things you will need when you are there. Once you have sorted your flights and accommodation budget you can look at things like spending money and excursions. It might be possible to pre-book some excursions like Lakers tickets or a boat trip. It could save you some money, however, if you don’t want to plan everything down and have a schedule leave some room to book excursions at your destination too. 

When it comes down to looking at your food and drink budget, you need to consider what board basis you have at the accommodation. If you are All Inclusive then you may have a very small budget whereas if you are self-catering your food and drink budget may be considerable. You need to think about what board is best for you. Do you want to pay for your food before you go or when you are there?

What Do You Need To Pay For Before You Go? 

There are some things that you need to get before you go on your trip. Not thinking about your accommodation flights, this is more about things such as visas, travel insurance, and vaccinations. It’s important that you think about these as really it’s not smart to travel without them. Travel insurance in particular isn’t something that you should skip on. It’s something that you don’t want to have to use but would regret not having it if you did need it. You never expect something bad to happen while you are away or to need to cancel a trip but if you do you can rest easy knowing you’re protected. 

You also need to think about everything that you need to take with you: 

• Clothing for daytime and eveningwear 
• Underwear and socks
• Swimwear and cover-ups 
• Suncreams 
• Toiletries 
• Sensible footwear and water shoes
• Sunglasses and a shoulder bag
• Activities for kids 
• First aid kit
• And more

Try not to panic too much about what you need to take. Write down a list of all the items and tick them off as you buy them. If you buy a bit each month it will spread the cost and help you to budget. 

How Can You Save To Travel?

Once you know how much you need and what you need to get before and during your trip, you will need to start saving for your trip away. Try setting yourself a target on a jar or the fridge this way you can see the amount that you need to get to. 

If you find it hard to save try using an application that tracks your spending and helps you to identify where you can make cutbacks and how much you can realistically save each month. A countdown is a great way to stay motivated when it comes to savings, the more you put in the pot the more you are motivated to put in. If you find that you aren’t coming near the amount that you want for your budget it might be time to look at where you can save money on your trip. Could you go for a shorter time? Perhaps look for different flights? Maybe you can go self-catering and cook in your accommodation rather than eat out. 

How Do I Keep My Travel Money Safe? 

When you travel there is always the risk that you could lose your cash and be left in a sticky situation. As long as you make sure you keep your belongings in a zip-up pocket or bag you should be ok. Avoid back pockets or putting money into the front pocket of a backpack. These are prime locations for people to pickpocket you. 

Ideally, you should try not to keep all your money in one location and don’t take all of it out at the same time. This way if some money gets stolen when you are out, you still have some to fall back on at your accommodation or in your bank account. It’s a lot easier now to withdraw money when you are abroad. There used to be high charges for doing this, however, many banks allow you to do this for free now. It may be a good idea to have a small amount of money in a separate pocket to pay for the odd thing when you’re exploring, this way your wallet can stay hidden and you reduce the risk of it being taken from your pocket. 

These tips should help you know exactly what you need to do to finance your holiday and look after your holiday money. Do you have any other tips that could help? Please share them in the comments below.