The school holidays might be your children’s favourite time of the year. For parents though, those 6 weeks of holiday time may be a complete nightmare. Especially when you’re running out of ideas on how to keep the kids entertained.

Worse still, with the summer holidays being estimated to cost parents more than £600 per child, this can be an extremely expensive time.

So, to help you with the expense, here are our tips and tricks on how you can save money throughout the year so that, when summer comes, you have the money saved to keep the whole family happy:

Use a Loyalty Card

Most supermarkets offer a loyalty card to their customers (such as a Clubcard or Nectar card), where you can collect points every time you shop. Mostly, people use the points on their cards for money off their shopping or fuel. For parents, though, it can be beneficial to swap your points for family days out, such as cinema tickets or entry to places like Alton Towers.

Search for Vouchers

Before you buy anything online – whether it’s a kid’s clothes shop or items for the house – you should do an online search to see if you can find a ‘money off’ voucher. There are numerous websites that are dedicated to providing people with all the best vouchers and freebies available online. Then, any money you saved by using a voucher can be put away in your holiday fund.

Save Your Coins

Rather than paying for everything with your debit card, instead take out cash and pay with notes. Then, at the end of every day, put any change that isn’t a note into a jar for holiday cash. Label your jar ‘Summer Holiday Fund’ and you and the kids can watch your pot grow. You’ll all be surprised at just how quickly your jar fills up!

Have Sort Out Your Credit Cards

If the above idea doesn’t take your fancy, then why not consider a credit card to receive rewards. Some credit cards allow you to earn cashback, points, air miles or another reward as you spend. You can gain these rewards by paying for your groceries and fuel on your credit card, and then paying it off from your bank account to avoid any interest.

If you’ve got any unused credit cards, get these closed so you can look at a card that offers benefits. Even better, having a credit card that you regularly pay can actually improve your credit score.

A Car Boot Sale

We’re all guilty of holding on to unnecessary clutter. Especially when it comes to old clothes and toys your kids have grown out of. Well, why not have a clear-out and sell the belongings you no longer need at a car boot sale?

Not only is this a wonderful way to tidy up your home, but you can also get the kids involved too.  Tell them that you’re saving up money for the summer holidays and, if they want some extra pocket money to spend during that time, they can pick out some toys that they’d like to sell. Then just put their money in a piggy bank ready for summer.

For more inspiration for the summer, pay a visit to our lifestyle page.