4 apps that will help you save money for your dream holiday.
[updated 20 April 2022]
You’ve done your research, trawled through the dozens of sites to see who has the best deals and finally booked that holiday, you’ve been eyeing up forever. Now the saving begins!
Gone are the days, where you had to put on your fineries and make an appointment at the bank to get your finances in order and put something aside for your next single parent holiday. Mobile apps are the way to go when it comes to saving and investing.
There are a few, in particular, you might want to have a good scooch on. Here are some of what we think are some great apps to help you save for your holidays and life in general:
TopCashback
Cashback sites are everywhere these days, but I still stick by TopCashback as being the main one that actually can help you save a good bit. Whenever I’m shopping on my laptop or phone, I used to go straight to a site and buy something, but now with the App beside my browser, I always remember to click it first when shopping.
The app will track you buying something on any website and see if you can get a percentage back on what you buy. If you don’t mind notifications popping up, they do have cracking deals sometimes. I’ve seen people getting £15 off their first Just Eat, and regularly get around 4-5% cashback when using Booking.com and Amazon. We think that every little helps especially when you are a single parent.
The money that goes into your cashback account every time you shop, can add up quite nicely over time – a welcome extra when you are saving for a holiday. Honestly, it’s a penny pincher’s dream, especially if you love getting a little something back every time you shop.
WeSwap
Budgeting for a family holiday and knowing what your per diem is going to be can be stressful. I think it’s true to say, many of us will overestimate when visiting the bureau de change and come home with foreign notes that spend years tucked away in the back of a drawer – only to be forgotten about.
Swapping currency can be a hell of a lot easier if you have a card with a flexible budget, especially if you can flip flop between currencies on a big trip – going interrailing or travelling north and south in Ireland for example.
I like WeSwap because you get a physical card that is linked to an app on your phone. You load money into your account and then choose the currency you want to swap it over to. You can just swap money once you are abroad and you get an ok exchange rate too, but if you choose to swap three of five days in advance, you can save some holiday money as you get a much better exchange rate.
It’s quite handy, but I do recommend loading a little money on your account a week or so before you travel. Sometimes you’ll have to provide a photo ID and bank statement as proof it is you using the account for the first time, and if you’re doing it by the pool and get asked for security, you’re essentially locked out of your money.
Scottish Friendly
Sticking strictly with saving for a moment: If you have a long-term savings goal in mind, and need a nice lumpsum for a special family holiday to celebrate a big birthday, retirement, or another milestone, you should get an app like this to invest a little bit of money each month into an ISA. I won’t go into the nitty-gritty of what ISAs are and how they work, but they’re essentially saving accounts where you can pop money tax-free with interest growing from cash or against stocks. The latter is a little riskier, but the return could be substantially higher – that’s the name of the game in investment.
You should have a look at this app if you’ve been thinking of saving for your kids or yourself in the long term and want to do it with some tax-free allowances in place.
Plum
Plum is one of several savings apps around. This one will periodically take money from your bank account and pop it in your Plum account.
Whatever their algorithm is, it works out what you usually spend each month and takes out a little transaction here and there in a way that the saver wouldn’t take notice of (e.g. it might take £11 one day, £15.16 the week after). It will always let you know what your bank balance is every day, when it’s going to take money out and lets you change your savings mood, So, for example, if you wanted to save aggressively for a holiday you can set it to keep taking money out and putting it away in case you forget.
The app also has the option to round up every purchase you make and put that spare change in your account, essentially doing what Moneybox does – only you don’t need two apps for it.
How are you saving?
Are there any mobile apps you’ve been using to save a little extra every month – be it for a single parent holiday or another luxury? If you swear by them and they work well, get in touch and let us know!
And if you enjoyed this post, check out these articles, which might help you save some money on your next holiday:
