Whatever your vacation budget, by the time you get to your destination most of the money has been spent on airfare and lodging.Now it’s just you, your purse or wallet and a finite amount of money for food and fun; how can you make it stretch?
One good way is to take ten per cent and put it aside, either literally, in the safe in your room or figuratively, in other words ‘forget’ you have it in your account. This is for emergencies. Divide the rest by the number of days you are away, counting the day you arrive and the day you leave as one, unless your flights are very early or late. Whatever this sum comes to, take it out and put it in a separate purse or wallet and only take that out with you. Your booking with hotels.com discount codes hopefully led you to do some investigations into local transportation and what denominations they take – in some countries, buses don’t give change and they mean that literally; if you give them a huge note, tough. You either travel for that amount or get off the bus so it makes sense to have change. The hotel will be able to help you with that – it is a good idea to make a mental note when booking with hotels.com voucher codes whether there is any kind of bureau de change in or near the hotel.
Then comes the clever bit. If at the end of day one, you have some money left, don’t add all of the next day’s allowance to it. What you do is make up the amount left over to the daily total. This way, day 2 has ‘cost’ you less than the daily average. If day 2 comes a little more expensive you might spend everything, but only up to your pre agreed personal limit. This way, you won’t get to day six of a nine day holiday and be skint – you might have some money spare which you can use for a special meal or a trip. This is a great way to manage your vacation money while you are away.
If days average themselves out and if you don’t need your emergency money, you may well end up at the end of your holiday with some cash in hand. You could use it for souvenirs, duty frees, a slap up meal or a day out, but if you are a real bargain hunter you will save it until you get home and book another trip!
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written by: Monique Rowe
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Image courtesy of: hinnamsaisuy / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
