Vacation time should never, never be a stressful affair, sadly money worries often contribute to the stress that many feel around this time of year, especially if you have kids. Planning ahead for your vacation time is best way to ensure that you have a zero stress vacation and here are my 4 top tips for saving up for your vacations.
Save Those Pennies
As anyone who has vacuumed behind the sofas will know, coins exist in abundance pretty much everywhere around the house. Something that I have done for the last few years, starting from the moment that I return from my vacations, is to save up all of the coins that I find and put them into a jar for the following year. I can tell you that most years I save up anywhere between $100-350 for our vacations, just from coins, incredible. Incidentally, make sure you get one of those jars that you have to use a tin opener to get into, it is far too tempting to dip in.
Pocket Money Hiatus
The first time I did this with the kids, they were furious and unsure how to act. Basically for the 2 months prior to their vacations I cut their pocket money by 50%, or at least gave them the choice, in return they could have a big wedge to spend on their vacations. 2 of mine agreed and one refused, until he went on his vacations with less money than the others, safe to say the following year he jumped on the bandwagon. This works really well because in previous years I would continue pocket money and then end up spending again on their vacations, this way you can teach them the value of saving and avoid unnecessarily spending twice.
Online Gambling
You can really boost your vacation spending money with a little dabble in the online gambling market. Casino games, bingo and sports betting can yield great rewards even if you just have a flutter with little bit of money. There are lots of methods online to make the most of this and lots of the sports betting sites and online supercasinos that offer bonuses and welcome offers which basically gives you free money to play with. Certainly worth a flutter.
Sell, Sell, Sell
Don’t worry, I am not about to recommend that you get into the fast-paced world of stock-brokering, although if you have the skills, it will certainly improve your financial situation. Most of us, however, don’t possess such skills and my advice is more to sell your stuff than your stocks. Anyone with kids, and even many without, will know that your house has an excessive amount of unwanted, well, crap in it that when sold can add some vital funds to the vacation pot. Sites like eBay and Amazon are great places to sell stuff and you will be surprised at what type of stuff sells on there. My advice would be to pick a day to rake around all of your closets, basements and spare rooms hunting for stuff that you no longer need, list it online and see how it gets on. Most years I add at least $1-200 towards our vacations from this alone.