From budgeting, to booking to looking beautiful on your holiday!

Whether you're going away as a couple, a solo explorer, a family or as a big group of friends, holidays need budgeting for. You need someone knowledgeable to book it for you so you get the best value for money including small details like car hire, boat hire & other fun stuff and you want to look beautiful - without carrying 20 cases aka Rose boarding the Titanic!

So how to approach it all?

Over in my private facebook group the 3 women who can do all this for you had a good old giggle & natter on a live - can't share it with you because it's within the sanctuary of the group but you are most welcome to join & watch on replay whilst you're doing your ironing: https://www.facebook.com/701029814/videos/337972568407104/

Here is a summary so that you can get the feels for whether it's for you or not.

I'm Lucy and I create budgeting toolkits so that you can simplify making your own bespoke budget for the season of life you're in now.

What does that mean?

Well if you're buying your first home, or a busy mum, getting divorced or setting up a micro business for example, you have different needs.

Each has a gorgeous ebook so that it takes you by the hand and helps you get to where you want to go.

You can check them out here, oh and there are many more options to come this year:

https://www.budgetingandplanning.co.uk/budgeting-planners

Ok so Alison I've introduced in two other blogs you can read those here but short story is she's a very well travelled lady and is an experienced Travel Counsellor.

Annabelle is a personal stylist with House of Colour and she can help you to feel your best at this stage of your life by choosing colours & styles that best suits you & works for your lifestyle. For £280+ you can have a complete makeover, what a lovely gift for your next birthday. You'll learn a skill you will have for the rest of your life and you'll get a proper colour palette, like a paint chart you can take with you when you go shopping so that you can make the right choices.

She also knows how to cram 16 pieces into a small carry on and make 40 outfits out of it, 40!!!!

This will save on the what to pack stress not to mention money with less luggage as many airlines charge a fortune for this.

Making memories is as important as having a rest when you're away, do you take millions of photos?

Are you in any of them?

Do you feel like you want to hide behind something or feel & look uncomfortable in your pictures?

Our shapes change over time, our colouring also can change including hair colour which makes a huge difference.

Having a lack of confidence with your shape, you'll feel better in the right fitting clothes and styling them for your shape & comfort. Now get in those selfies & photos! You'll regret it if you don't.

A capsule wardrobe will make your work, home & holiday wardrobe work for you really easily and stop you spending money on things to make you feel good that aren't always the right choice for you.

Not sure how to make one?

There's a sample and a blank checklist for you in this family holiday organiser:

https://www.budgetingandplanning.co.uk/product-page/family-holiday-organiser

We talked about:

• Cruises. Not all cruises are the same, many of them now including Virgin & Seabourn 6* and 7* don't have an evening dress code & if you've not done a cruise before then exploring the med on board a smaller ship is a great way to try. To see several destinations & not to have to pack & unpack this is a wonderful way to travel. If you do have a dress code those gowns & dinner suits take up a lot of room.

• Repositioned cruises - what a fabulous idea - these are where the ships need to be repositioned from it's final destination back to Southampton for example. They need to turn it around basically so instead of just heading back with the crew they have passengers on there for one or two land stops only. Could be Bermuda then Miami then UK but if you love being on the ship this is a brilliant way to do it with a massive reduction in price. Speak to Alison!

• Honeymoons & mini moons. So many destinations to choose from but your budget doesn't have to be in the thousands. Many Greek islands are stunning for example and you can have a beautiful villa for a fraction of the price of a long haul Maldives for example. Or you can island hop and do a week on one a week on another perhaps?

• Bali is a beautiful destination and seasonally it's still great in our summer unlike a lot of Asian destinations where you need to go in our Winter. You can also get good value for money here.

• Long stays with family or a road trip you will have to consider taking enough but not so much it is ridiculous.

• Laundry facilities are available in many destinations to help especially with kids & babies & if you are on a cruise ship then it's easy to arrange. You might want to take a small bottle or sachets of detergent so little ones who's clothes get grubby quickly can easily be sorted.

• Using hammam towels & scarves as versatile multi tasking items to travel with

• How to use jewellery, belts & styling to change the look of an outfit to give you more choice

• Hand luggage allowances for example with British Airways are still generous with 20kg but the budget airlines will charge you for everything so your bargain flight might not be so great after all.

• Alison can snaffle all the bargains for you, spending hours on the internet might be something you love doing & that's fair enough. But having someone who has insider knowledge & contacts you'll be hard pushed to find something on your own. You can find her details here

• Your budget might not quite match up with your original chosen destination. For example if you want to go to Dubai you could instead try Ras Al Khaimah which is more authentic with souks and the old town & is still an up & coming area so the prices are better value for money. You can still go into Dubai as it's only 70 km away.

• Packing - lots of support in the above family organiser, but as a top tip we talked about putting some of your things in each others cases just in case one of them goes missing, and it's happened to one of us!

Couple of bits to note:

If you are booking your own thing & using Airbnb, as great as these are & I've used them really well a few times, be mindful they are not protected. So if you end up being somehow double booked or something goes wrong you will likely lose your money.

Staycations in the UK this year are crazy money. We have a beautiful country & I love to explore it but for a summer holiday this year it's looking more hefty than many european holidays.

I will have a brand new camping location to share with you soon in Kent near the coast so do hop over to Facebook, like the page & be notified of new posts & you'll see it and much more!

Has this been useful? Interesting?

Feel free to leave comments, like & share.

Love from

Lucy x