What is the best time of the year? Vacation, of course. It is a time where we can relax, recreate and finally enjoy the day without any distractions. But planning your vacation can be nerve racking sometimes, especially if you are on a tight budget.
The issue is that we all have some exotic destination on our bucket list so the trip can be quite expensive. We justify it by saying to ourselves that “deserve it” because we work hard throughout the whole year for this.
Months before going on vacation people restrain themselves from over-spending to save enough money for their dream vacation. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to do all of your favourite activities and still save enough money.
It’s time for a new perspective and start implementing tricks that won’t restrain you from anything, just change your usual ways of doing certain things.
We know the tricks and we like to share. These 5 under-the-radar secrets can help you save money easily for your next vacation.
1. Plan your vacation during the offseason
Did you know that peak-season prices can be up to higher than off-season prices?
This isn’t just for accommodation, but also restaurants, shopping, services like spas and beach activities. If you want to enjoy on an exotic destination and spend less, plan your next vacation for the off-season.
Research your location to find the peak times or call a resort and ask when the off-season is for them. You’ll be amazed of how drastically the prices drop.
2. Use cashback websites to increase discounts
Cashback or rebate websites can save you a lot of money. There are many online platforms available that offer huge discounts.
For instance, on Priceline, you will be able to book a cheap flight and hotel while earning cash back on your vacation purchase. The only thing you will lose in this situation is the time to do a qualitative research.
However, this will pay off in the end and save you a lot of money.
3.Separate travel and accommodation bookings
Many agencies promote discounted combo packages with travel and accommodation. Don’t trust the marketing tricks they use, you can sometimes save a lot more on buying them separately.
In fact, you can save up to 20% more by buying them separately. The price for avoiding combo packs is your time. You need to invest a certain amount of time to do research and find out what fits your needs the best.
4. Use airline miles for all your expenses throughout the year
If during the year you collect enough points with airline reward miles you could be getting your airplane ticket for free, or with at a significant discount. Incorporate the airline miles with the credit card and accumulate points with regular costs like shopping, eating out, buying gas and anything else you charge to your credit card.
If you also have a cash-back card you could put all the cash you get back into a separate account to save for vacation. Your credit card statement will show you how much cash back you have earned.
5. Open a vacation bank account
For many people on a budget, it’s smart to save for your vacation throughout the year. This is important if you don’t want to put off any activities you enjoy doing because you’re in hardcore savings mode just before your vacation.
Set up automatic payments into your vacation account. This will take an amount of money that you specify from your regular bank account and drop it into your vacation account.
Unless you’re barely making ends meet as it is, you won’t even notice the money leaving your account.
To make this work, you need to choose an amount appropriate for your budget.
If you apply a combination of all of these tricks in your daily life you won’t have to worry about saving money for your next vacation. There isn’t better feeling than crossing a destination from your bucket list and knowing that you’ll have enough money to live your life to the fullest.
