HAPPY AFFORDABLE HOLIDAYS!

Whether it's quality time with family or me-time on a beach, a vacation is good for the soul but it shouldn't break the bank! Use these eight tips to make sure yours doesn't.

- KEITH BAIN

1. Do your research 

Holiday budget planning should ideally start a year or more ahead of your trip, giving you time to determine all the costs, look for ways of reducing expenses, and save enough to turn your plans into a reality. Step one: use a consolidator app like Skyscanner (skyscanner.net) to assess the cost of flights, accommodations and car rentals and to determine which time of year is the most cost-effective for reaching your destination. This handy app gathers airfares and trip combinations from multiple sources, and can show you comparisons between flights at different times of the year.

While you're at it, you can determine the cost and availability of accommodation: check for discounted prices on hotel sites (like booking.com) and compare what's possible through Airbnb. There are websites (such as numbeo.com) that can tell you the average price of everyday goods and services in countries and cities around the world. Check out their various 'cost of living' indexes to get a sense of how affordable a specific place is and if it makes financial sense to visit.

2. Build an accurate budget

Use these initial cost evaluations to work out an itinerary, and then use that to create an itemised, day-by-day budget. Remember to include everything, from airport transfers to restaurant tips, gift purchases, sightseeing and entertainment.

Also, make sure that you add any activities that make the destination unique - the last thing you want to do while on holiday is impose restrictions on what you're able to do simply because they're unaccounted for in your budget. You may never have the opportunity to visit the same destination again, so make the most of the time you have there.

3. Don't miss the in-between expenses