Today – How parents can better budget over the summer months
It is no surprise that during the summer holidays, parents are faced with unprecedented costs – not least due to the need for childcare with children off school, but also the need to buy more food, plan activities to keep children occupied during the day, and often, to purchase new items for school such as uniforms, sports kit and stationery.
Our recent survey of UK households found that a quarter (24%) of parents’ summer budgets goes on funding children’s activities, including summer school, kids’ clubs and sports camps. This alone is already taking up a huge chunk of household spending, but that is really just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the summer costs for the average UK family.
How parents can better budget over the summer months
It’s all about planning
According to the Money Advice Service, the average cost of sending a child under two to nursery is £222.36 per week for full-time care. This is a hefty figure by itself – but combined with the inflated cost of holiday care, alongside all the other summer necessities, many families are left in a pinch.
Our research also showed that the average parent spends between £180-£200 on school uniforms per child, per year. As most uniforms need replacing before school starts again in September, this is another factor parents need to consider when planning their summer spending.
Making a list of the family’s income and outgoings is an easy way to see how the small things can quickly mount up – and to understand what spending is essential and where certain areas can be cut back, whether that’s a weekly takeaway on a Friday night, or a rarely-used gym membership – every little helps.
Saving for summer
Many families already save during the year for Christmas, and should think about using the same tactics to save for the additional spending needed during the summer months. Once you’ve made the list to see where money can be saved, putting some of these funds aside each month, where possible, could help to ease the summer spending burden on parents.
Another trick to save money is The Loose Change Challenge. The ‘putting money in a jar’ trick has been a moneysaving tool for decades, but in today’s world of contactless payments, fewer and fewer people have pennies lying around.
The digital solution lies in The Loose Change Challenge, which is an easy way to save money. All you have to do is check your bank account on a weekly basis, and move any ‘loose change’ into a savings account. For example, if you have £50.73 in your bank account on a Friday, you take the 73p and put it into another account, and do this on a weekly basis.
Whilst it may not seem like much, over the course of a year, the average person can save around £180 in these small increments, which can be put towards the cost of a school uniform or holiday childcare.
Funding the summer holiday period is always going to be a tricky time for parents, especially as the cost of childcare continues to rise. But with these moneysaving tips and tricks, parents can begin to budget more effectively and ease the summer spending worry.
this blog post How parents can better budget over the summer months was sponsored by Ferratum
