Taking a holiday should be a relaxing event, but if you’re stressing about how much money you’ll be spending then it’s not likely to be. Here are some top tips on how to find cheaper options for travel, cheap flights and hotels:

Use websites designed to help you find a budget holiday
There are many websites out there where you can find budget holidays and flights, and they can be budget for different reasons. Some sites such as lastminute.com look at selling you flights and holidays that are about to happen so you don’t get a lot of time to prepare, but you do get a cheaper holiday. Other sites offer budget options for other reasons from late bookings, to less popular destinations, or off peak travel times.

Be flexible
Being flexible about when you travel, or even about where you go will help you to get better deals because there will be more of the cheaper options available to you. If you don’t have to travel during school holidays, then make that clear when you’re talking to travel agents or airlines, or online.

Talk directly to people
Sometimes, particularly if you’re looking for a last minute deal, it’s possible to get a flight or room more cheaply by going direct to the airline or hotel and asking. In general, it makes more sense for a hotel or airline to fill all its rooms/seats even if it has to sell a few of them more cheaply to do so, after all, they’ve got to staff the aeroplane or hotel anyway. So phone them up and ask. You won’t lose anything by doing so.

Check for deals in newspapers
Quite a number of national newspapers (Telegraph etc) these days are offering their readers holiday deals. Some are for the UK, others for abroad. Generally the idea is that you have to buy the paper to collect a number of tokens and then send those with an application for the holiday deal. Many of these offers can be really excellent value for money getting you a holiday for a fraction of what it would normally cost you. Do however look out for hidden costs as these do sometimes apply – such as paying extra for linen, meals, etc.

No frills options
Like everything else in life today there are no frills options within airlines, and accommodation. Flying no frills tends to mean you need to take your own food, and you’re more restricted on things like luggage weight, but if you’re looking for cheap, it can save quite a lot of money. For accommodation you could look at hostels rather than hotels. Though people tend to think of these as being for younger single people, many of them do have family rooms that you can book, and although you won’t get room service or fancy décor, you will get a cheap and comfortable place to lay your head each night.