Enjoy Spring Break Without Breaking the Bank!
Between family vacation and teenagers heading out with friends, the ways to overspend during the spring break season are endless. Even more unnerving are all the ways in which your finances can be put at risk. Credit safety and security should remain top priorities at all times. You need to be monitoring your credit constantly, this way you don’t end up with more debt than you expected once the holiday is over.
No need to worry, spring break can be everything you had hoped for while also sticking to a budget. There is no reason to break the bank just for some fun in the sun! Rather, you can take the advice of our savvy savers at www.missmoneybee.com and learn how to make your spring break expenses more secure and manageable.
•Stay close to home. Traveling is expensive—particularly at peak times of the year which includes the spring break season. This usually makes flying somewhere special and staying at a nice hotel even more expensive than it would be at another time. To minimize cost, stay close to home and plan fun local activities to do over the break.
•Use only secure websites. If you do decide to travel over the holiday make sure you are using only secure websites. You can tell a webpage is secure if the URL web address bar says “https://” instead of just “http://” (the address bar will also typically be green). If you don’t see the “s” then the site is not secure and your credit information may be at risk.
•Set a daily spending limit. If your kids are going to be doing their own thing, make sure to set a daily budget for them on what they can spend. You can even make this a fun financial lesson in budgeting by giving them a set amount of money each day and allowing them to plan their own activities accordingly. This needs to include the cost of food and entertainment for the day.
•Don’t allow open credit card access. Giving a teen unlimited plastic use most likely guarantees an unwelcomed surprise when your next bill comes. Especially, if your teen is going on a trip with friends—say to Cancun or Daytona—open credit line access is a recipe for disaster. If you’re concerned about them traveling with large amounts of cash, a better option is a prepaid debit card.
•Review next month’s bill. Carefully look over your credit card statement to make sure there aren’t any extra charges. If you find any discrepancies, call your credit card company immediately to dispute them. If you find you have too much credit card debt that’s entirely of your own doing, make a plan to pay back what you owe ASAP.