Let’s face it-budgeting for vacation rentals can be a bit of a problem, if you don’t know what you’re doing. So how exactly do you do in order to make it to your goal to hire a vacation home this summer?

First of all, you need to start budgeting. There are several ways that you can do this. Your best way is to see just how much disposable income that you have. Now, you don’t need to use ALL of it-half is a really good place to start. But the point is that the disposable income is the first thing that you will want to save. It doesn’t hurt nor take away from anything-making it perfect!

Secondly, begin to cutt back just a little bit. Look at what you don’t HAVE TO use every month, in addition to disposable income. This means that pretty much anything that you usually buy that you don’t need may need to travel. For example, if you get a large latte each morning before work, then you probably don’t need to go to that exact store/do anything of that nature. You also can probably buy a whole can of coffee for four days worth of shop coffee and spend quite a bit less. The point is-stuff like that can go and it opens up a lot more money for you and your vacations rentals.

Finally, keep an eye on what you are saving. Make sure that you are saving reasonable amounts. If you aren’t, you may want to delay any vacation rentals that you had in mind for a much later date.

Before you start budgeting however, you need to get an idea of your location. Where do you want to rent your vacation house at? Also keep in mind that you can sometimes get a discount if you book early-make sure to ask.

After you know where you are going to stay, you need to get a rough estimate of how much you CAN save. Keep in mind that you will probably save a lot less than you anticipate, unless you are extremely strict when saving.

Make sure to also look online so that you can find a few good companies with vacation rentals. You never know what kinds of deals you will find online. If you aren’t sure if you can make it to vacation without having to spend loads on said vacation and your friend is looking to take a vacation too, then you may want to consider sharing. This not only makes it a lot easier on you, but also on them.

There are many Brits that would love to escape our glorious British weather and spend two weeks in a tropical destination! You just need to prompt people you know that you have a Florida vacation villa. The following are the key groups that you should target:

Friends, relatives, and colleagues: This group is an excellent source of bookings. Not only is there a trust element of renting a villas thousands of miles away from an owner that they personally know, but this method is very cost effective. You can easily send an email or Facebook messages to your friends and relatives. At your workplace you can leave a flyer on the staff noticeboard. At social gatherings, such as weddings, Christmas or birthdays mention you have a Florida vacation villa. Offer them incentives like a small ‘friends and family’ discount or provide a ‘thank you’ gift voucher for referring your villa to someone they may know who is planning a holiday to Florida.

Your neighbours: Neighbours are also a good source of bookings. With neighbours why not post low cost flyers in your street informing the neighbourhood that you have a rental villa in Florida. Again, you can offer incentives like a ‘neighbourhood’ discount or provide ‘thank you’ gift vouchers for referring your villa to someone they may know who is planning a holiday to Florida.

Use local newspapers and magazines: There are many free and local newspapers and magazines where you can advertise your villas. The readerships for these papers are still significant, despite the growth of the internet. You can place a low cost advert in the classified section or you can try out a larger ad and place it in the holiday section of the news paper or magazine. However, keep the costs as low as possible with this form of advertising as the cost can quickly spiral! Remember you should have a compelling advert and you can also include special offers, such as ’10% off for January’.

Newsagent / Supermarkets: You can easily place a postcode size advert in your local newsagents window. A good place would be a high street newsagent opposite a tube station or bus stop. Placing a small advert in supermarkets such as Tesco’s, Asda or Sainsbury’s can yield good results. Most supermarkets have notice boards behind the checkout tills or even a designated commercial advertising section. Make sure your postcard advert visually stands out amongst all the other adverts.