Budget Tips For Travelling With Kids

OK, so you’ve booked your trip. You’ve looked online for the best deals and you’re probably feeling pretty happy with yourself safe in the knowledge that you’ve not aid a penny more than you had to.

However, that quiet smugness can soon go flying straight out of the window when you arrive at your destination and you realise money is slipping through your fingers quicker than water.

It’s so easy to end up spending more that you want to especially when the kids are in tow. No matter where you’re planning to getaway to, these tips will help keep your spending in check.

Snack Attack

Children seem to have a bottomless craving for snacks. Even when they’ve told you they’re too full to finish dinner, you can guarantee within 15 minutes they’ll be looking for a little snack! Half the fun of being away is trying new foods. So why not go to a local supermarket (preferably the one local people do their weekly shop in as that’s a sure sign you won’t be paying over the odds ) and stock on some snacks.

Give the Kids a Budget

Before you go sit the children down and tell them that they have a budget. You can either let them have their money in a lump sum and explain that this amount is to do them the whole holiday or you can give them a daily spending allowance. Either way the kids know from the off that they only have a set amount of money. Once it’s gone it’s gone. This teaches them a good life lesson and will mean they’ll think carefully about what they spend their money on.

Is It Worth It?

How many of us have bought the kids a gift only to find they’re more interested in the wrapping paper or balloons or a bag of sweets? The same is true of holidays. Are the kids really going to enjoy an expensive gourmet meal (that they will probably moan through anyway) or would they appreciate a basic meal a lot more?

The same goes for expensive theatre/ballet tickets where they have to sit still for a couple of hours. Or a “must see” site that you queue for hours only to find it’s over and done within minutes. Would they rather that or a free day at a local park, museum, beach, etc. You know your child best so save you spending for things they really will appreciate rather than doing things because you have to just because you are on holiday.