I’m pretty lucky, Erin asks for nothing more than the odd biscuit or grape at the moment. In a few years, it will be a completely different story, “mum, can I have” will be the war cry. The summer holidays will be yet another financial event to be budgeted for.

In the past (dim, and very distant)when we’ve gone abroad I’ve tended to budget by the day. For example I work out a daily budget, multiply it by the amount of days and I know that’s how much spending money to take. Each day I will ‘pay’ myself the daily amount, leftovers are carried over to the following day. Money remaining at the end of the holiday is spent on a special treat, souvenirs for family and ourselves.

I think if I had a few kids of spending age I would be inclined to use a similar system, perhaps worked on a weekly basis instead. With teenagers you could give them the budget and let them learn to budget themselves.

Do you budget for summer? If so, what system do you use?

Photo by flickr user Rafa from Brazil