With the average modern-day family having 2.4 children (basically, two kids!), life can be pretty hectic. Especially during your kids’ younger years if they’re very close in age, juggling the stresses of modern life in addition to looking after your children is likely to take up the majority of your time and money.
By the time children reach two years of age, parents spend an average of $12,500 per year. Therefore, traveling or taking family vacations are likely to be the last thing on your mind. But, if you yearn for adventure but feel held back by your kids, there’s no need to be! There are plenty of ways families can travel without earning a fortune; you just need to be sensible and follow the tips you’re about to read.
Budget and prioritize
When raising a family, your kids will always come first – and that’s totally normal. You should never prioritize traveling and vacations over your kids’ welfare, but there are plenty of other factors you can put aside to make saving more of a priority.
If you like to regularly go out for family meals, try planning meals at home and even encourage your kids to help out! Not only will this provide a perfect opportunity to save money, but will also get your kids involved too. Even if eating out isn’t your thing, there’s bound to be some form of luxury you and your family regularly do that isn’t wholly necessary – establish what your weakness is and come up with a cheaper alternative.
Many families also experience debt, especially if kids are born close together. If you’re victim of debt, it’s vital to accept it and take expert advice to help consolidate your debt as quickly as possible so you can fully focus on family travel.
Research deals
If money is still tight even after attempting to save, put some time aside to research vacation deals that suit your budget. The best way to identify whether something really is a good deal or not, is to figure out what the normal cost of your desired trip would cost. Then, if you spot a deal, you’ll know whether it’s worth taking or not!
Often, deals you may come across online aren’t all their cracked up to be so make sure you’re in-the-know before you hand over your money.
Be flexible
This may not be suitable for some families for obvious reasons but, when wanting to travel cheaply, being flexible is key. Typically, school holidays are the most expensive times to travel so, as long as you’re happy taking your kids out of school for the duration of your trip, you’re almost guaranteed to save serious money!
Just because you have kids, this doesn’t mean you have to say goodbye to vacations and traveling forever. As long as you’re sensible with any existing debt and do the right research, there are plenty of methods you can start using right away to book your cheapest trip yet.