If you’re about to go on holiday and you’ve checked out the exchange rate, you might have realised you’ll be getting fewer Euros or Dollars for your money than you will have done at any other time this year.
That is because the value of the pound has dipped to its lowest rate since November, sliding against other currencies on the back of Brexit concerns. At the time of writing, £1 buys around €1.10, whereas in 2015 it bought €1.40.
To help make matters a little less painful, we’ve rounded up some of the ways you can make your pounds stretch as far as possible on your holiday.
Don’t buy your currency at the airport, and shop around.
First things first - if you can avoid it, don’t buy your currency at the airport.
Moneycorp, at Gatwick airport, was offering just 0.94 euros for every pound at Gatwick this week. If you leave changing up currency to the last minute it will really set you back.
It’s also a good idea to shop around. Check out the exchange rate online at a few places - such as M&S, Tesco Bank and the Post Office before you buy.
It can also pay to order in bulk online, too. Money Saving Expert has a handy tool that lets you compare the best rates, which you can check out here.
When you are on holiday, shop like a local.
For lots of people holidays are about enjoying meals out and testing out local food. But tourists can sometimes be charged a lot more than locals for food if they seek out the touristy restaurants.
Try buying food from the local supermarket for a picnic on the beach for lunch instead of heading to a restaurant, or asking around for some recommendations from locals about where they really go to eat.
If you’re thinking of hiring a car or going on a tour, shop around.
If it’s boiling hot where you’re going and you have a family in tow it can be useful to have an air-conditioned car to get you around for the week.
But while most of us will head for the well known car-hire brands, these can be by far the most expensive. While it’s important to make sure that any car hire firm is safe and professional, you might save a lot of money by shopping around for some alternative local providers.
Or if you don’t drive, consider ways you can use public transport like buses to cut down on your taxi costs.
And when it comes to organised tours don’t just feel you need to immediately sign up with your travel operator - hunt around, you might be able to get the same trip cheaper elsewhere.
Hunt out great deals on holiday gear before you travel.
Now we’re approaching mid-August which, sad to say, is fast approaching the final weeks of the summer holidays, there will be lots of great deals on things like suncream and aftersun to look out for. It’s worth buying things like this now, as cheaply as possible, before being caught out abroad.
While you can’t bring liquid through airport security, you can bring food as Money Saving Expert points out. So you could save a lot of money by bringing sandwiches for the plane rather than dishing out for expensive airport food.
But don’t bring so much that your luggage is over the limit - it’s worth weighing it before you get to the airport to avoid being stung with charges for excess baggage.