5 Tips to Save Money on Summer Travel

It’s summertime! If you haven’t already booked your summer vacation, you are probably dreaming about a summer vacation. Well, at Blue Chip FCU, we are ALL about saving money and making smart financial decisions. So… of course we have you covered with 5 tips to save money on your summer travel!

• Use Rewards Points – If you don’t already have a rewards credit card, GET ONE!! This is a very easy and simple way to save money on travel! A rewards credit card will give you points for every dollar you spend. Those points can then be redeemed for discounted or free flights, hotels, car rentals and more! If you are a disciplined soul, we recommend ditching the cash and using your card for every purchase. HOWEVER, if you struggle with sticking to a budget, this would be an easy way to fall into debt by overspending. Keep track of your spending and watch those point add up fast! At Blue Chip, we offer our members a rewards VISA credit card with an extremely low 2.99% APR intro rate for the first year. And the best part… you keep that rate on all purchases made within the first year. Check out our VISA card for complete details. Visa credit cards

 

• Choose Off-Season Dates – It seems that everyone wants to travel mid-June through mid-August making those times peak season. Peak season means big rates! If you are willing to travel early or late summer, you can find huge rate discounts. With many schools starting in early August, beach rental pricing will be discounted for the 3^rd and 4^th week of August and into September. If your children are non-school age or your school district starts later in the month, this is a GREAT opportunity to save money!

 

• Look at discount travel websites – Instead of going straight to your desired hotel website, check discount travel websites first! Expedia, Trivago and Mousesavers.com (Disney vacation) are great websites to find lower hotel/flight prices.

 

• Book Last Minute – If you can be flexible with your travel dates, booking last minute is a great way to save money! Many timeshare companies are looking to book empty rooms and will give you a big discount if you vacation with them. If you know you want to take vacation during the 3^rd week of June, schedule your time off at work in advance and then wait about 4 weeks prior to your vacation week to book your timeshare. Check out www.sellmytimesharenow/last-minute-timeshare-rentals/ or https://www.redweek.com/featured/last-minute-timeshare-rentals for detailed information.

 

• Save money FOR your vacation – The best way to save money, is to PLAN for your vacation! If you have a dream vacation in mind, find out how much it is going to cost and then create a plan to save that amount. We have some great ideas for saving in our Financial Challenge Blog posts, including the “Savings Freeze Challenge,” that saved our employee over $400 in one month! Some other ideas include setting up automatic transfers in your account. This way, you will not be tempted to spend that extra money. It will automatically be transferred into the account you set up for vacation saving. You can also do the loose change challenge… every day you put all of your spare change into a jar and watch it add up for vacation money. You can even add $1 or $5 bills to watch it add up even faster!

And as always, your credit union is here to help! If you need assistance setting up a savings or budgeting plan, meet with one of our expert loan offers. Our mission at Blue Chip FCU is to help our members achieve their financial goals and that includes the dream vacation.