Summer brings with it the opportunity to disconnect and recharge during the holidays. However, the search for enjoyment can lead to spending more than expected and, with this, economic stability is compromised for the rest of the year. Indeed, financial stress usually spikes in September, when you return to everyday life after the summer holidays.
They advise following some tricks to make the most of the months off without incurring excessive expenses. The first and most important is the design of a budget.
Creating a solid budget is the first step toward successful financial planning. It is a simple but powerful tool that allows you to quantify income and estimate the expenses that will be incurred in a given period. The ideal thing is to do it to organize the finances of the whole year and thus save for the holidays. However, the same budget can be modified to estimate and organize the expenses that will be incurred during the summer months.
There are many ways to prepare a budget, but from HelpMyCash they recommend using free templates that allow you to organize and classify expenses into fixed costs —those that represent a certain and invariable amount— and variable costs. "The second ones are the ones that have to be controlled the most during the holidays, since they are the ones that are triggered more easily," say the experts.
Keeping a budget on vacation avoids falling into the temptation of borrowing. “Asking for travel loans or using credit cards to pay in installments and with interest for hotels or vacation activities is not a good idea. Debt generates a long-term financial burden and is the main cause of post-holiday financial stress”, they say from HelpMyCash.
To avoid this, experts recommend choosing a destination that is in line with the family economy and planning vacations in advance, not only to take advantage of the fact that flights and hotel reservations are usually cheaper, but also to have the necessary time to save.
Finally, HelpMyCash recommends that all those who vacation abroad use specific cards to travel. If they do not do so, it is very likely that the banks will charge them commissions for the use of the cards, the withdrawals of money they make outside the country and even for the currency exchange if they are outside the euro zone.
Revolut bank, for example, offers free travel cards that charge no fees when paying abroad. They also allow you to withdraw money for free up to five times a month at any ATM in the world, with a limit of 200 euros, and make a 3% refund of accommodation reservations.
The N26 debit card, for its part, does not charge commissions for card payments abroad. In addition, you can withdraw money for free up to three times a month at any ATM in the euro zone.
These tricks, as simple as they may seem, help keep expenses under control and enjoy the holidays without being overwhelmed by the financial ups and downs that follow.
