I've put together a Tips and Tricks blog which will help you in finding a memorable holiday without breaking the bank...

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Deciding on Dates - Choose some dates you would like to go away. If your a family whose children are in school try and choose your departure date either a few days before the children break up or a few days before the end of the holidays so you don't risk coming home to a fine. The flights seem to be cheaper on these days.

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Flights - Use Skyscanner to access hundreds of flights and airlines worldwide. Skyscanner allows you to search any destination, any month and any date which allows you to pick and choose your flights according to the cheapest departure and return dates in your set budget. You can even filter certain departure and arrival times. Flight prices do change daily so i would advise you to stick to a price your happy with. They may change and go up in price or they may go down, or even worse, they may end up selling all the seats on that flight then your back to square one! It's the risk you take.

Top Tip - Flying out of one destination and returning back into another is a great option and often cheaper if you can make arrangements home. 

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Research your Chosen Destination - Check out the resorts and attractions which appeal to you within a reasonable radius from the airport. I personally prefer not to travel for more than an hour from the airport as by then the kids are driving me insane with asking if we are nearly there!

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Choosing Accommodation - I like to use Trivago but there are many Hotel comparison sites out there. Decide if you would prefer a hotel, resort, villa, apartment or B&B. Next choose your board either - Room only, Self catering, Breakfast, Half board, Full board or All Inclusive. Use the filter options to input these into your search. Look out for the guest rating, these are marked out of 10 by reviews left by previous guests. These say a lot more than the hotel stars in my opinion. When you find accommodation you like pop the name into Google along with Trip Advisor and check out the reviews on there too. From there you can do your own research by entering keywords into the search box which will then show you all the reviews on the accommodation that mentions that word.

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Booking your Accommodation - When using Trivago be sure to hit the 'more deals' link under the green 'view deal' button. This will then show you many other hotel sites which are offering the same accommodation for your dates sometimes at a lower price, different room choices and board.

Trip Advisor offers a similar option for you to search hotels within a certain destination searching over 200 different websites to give you the best price for your required dates. I especially like Trip Advisor as it offers more filter options plus a review filter which will only pick out hotels with great reviews. 

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Voucher Codes - Check to see if there are any voucher codes available and working for certain companies. Some offer a percentage off when booking through their app. Sometimes, It can only be 5% but every little helps! Check out my blog for this weeks Top 10 Travel Codes. I use VoucherCodes, VoucherCloud and sometimes HotUKDeals which have the most up to date working vouchers available. Also, check sites like Quidco and Topcashback. These sites will automatically give you a percentage back just by accessing the company website through them. You could also do this for flights too.

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Transfers - Booking your own transfer is so easy. It may seem daunting to some people who have been used to booking package holidays before but its just as simple. You can use a Transfer comparison site for this, again like Skyscanner or Hoppa. Alternatively, Google the destination and Airport transfers and see if you can get a cheaper deal directly with local companies. You can choose to have a shared transfer (other hotel drop offs) or a private transfer. These both also give you the estimated travelling time to your hotel.

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So there you have it. My secret recipe to finding our holidays. Your welcome!