Budget + Travel + Kids

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Plant a seed - Create a vision board or whiteboard with some places you’d love to visit. Have this board in the heart of the house. This is something the whole family can contribute to. Buy an inspirational travel book and place it on your coffee table for all to see.

Write it down - Start formulating the details of the trip on paper, a rough budget, an itinerary with specific things you’d like to do.

Get your finances in order - what is your disposable income per pay cycle? If you're not sure just how much you can save, you can write down your expenses for a few months, and highlight all the unnecessary expenses. Alternatively you can try out an app like Pocketguard.

Set up a holiday bank account - Once you know the amount you can set aside each pay cycle, set up a separate holiday bank account. Change the name of the account to the specific trip you are planning.

Be consistent - Demonstrate to yourself that this amount of saving is achievable for a few months.

Work out your budget - Write down the big expenses for the trip; flights, accommodation, activities, food, spending money. Remembering that your home expenses like bills and the mortgage/rent won’t stop while you’re away.

Spending money – it’s hard to know exactly how much you will need but you should work out your daily budget and try to stick to it. Plan to shop at local markets, bakeries and street vendors for meals, splashing out on nice restaurants here and there.

Set a deadline - Once your finances are on track, you need a deadline, maybe 6 months, a year or more.

Plan your itinerary - Visit a travel agent or start researching some great itineraries online. A few great resources are Rome2rio with all ways to get from A to B. The website Wanderlust will show you great towns to visit along your route.

Don't overstuff your holiday - Be thoughtful about the length of time, the number of destinations and the travel time between your destinations. If you're cramming too much in, it is exhausting and unfun, especially for little ones. I recommend 4 nights in one destination, this allows 3 full days to explore and some down time too.

Pay in advance – have all your big expenses paid for before you go.

Get an amazing flight deal - Kiwi.com is a great place to start, this booking platform finds cheap flights other sites simply cant. You can also subscribe to a few airline mailing lists and lock in sale fares one year in advance. For example, Singapore airlines has a great ‘early bird’ sale in September each year. There are also some great flight specials around 'Black Friday' nd 'Travel Tuesday' in November.

Make the most of your stop overs – Hit the multi stop-over function when booking your flight and explore the stop over destination for a couple of days. If you have long-haul flights, this is the perfect way to break up the journey into more manageable trips, especially with little ones in tow.

Get your passports ready – This process can take a few months, check the expiry if you already have one and organize your children’s passports. Remember that in some countries you will need at least 6 months validity to enter.

Book accommodation - There are camping and camper-van adventures, hostels, Airbnb’s and hotels to suit all budgets. My favorite websites are Airbnb and booking.com.

Book tours and entry tickets in advance – Skip the queues and guarantee entry by booking tours in advance. Get your guide and Viator offer amazing tours, although you’ll save money if you book entry tickets directly.

Free activities - take advantage of the free attractions and activities that a city has to offer such as parks, walking tours or scavenger hunts.

Traveling on a budget with family can be a challenging but rewarding experience. With careful planning and some creativity, you can enjoy a memorable family trip without breaking the bank.