Checking your finances after your holiday

Your holiday is over. You’ve had a good, relaxing break but it’s time to go back to work. Now take a moment to check your bills and bank statements. This will help you avoid any nasty surprises. The end of your holiday is a good time to review your spending and you may even discover something that allows you to make savings on your next holiday. 

Checking costs for future travel planning

When your holiday has just finished can often be a good time to start planning the next one. To make sure your next holiday goes off without a hitch, it’s a good idea to check your holiday spending. Ask yourself the following questions: Did you plan your budget properly or were there things you could have done better? Were you surprised by unexpected expenses? Where could you make savings in future? The answers to these questions could serve as the basis for planning the budget of your next holiday. Work out what you spent in total and then divide this amount by the number of months until your next holiday. This gives you the amount you need to save each month for your next holiday, which you can transfer to an instant access savings account by direct debit.

Checking your bank and credit card statements

But before you set that up: Straight after your holiday, you should check your bank statements, the amounts debited and credited and your credit card statements. You can do this via your online banking or in your banking app. Make sure no amounts have been booked twice and check to see if there have been any unknown or suspicious transactions. If you are not sure about anything, contact your bank immediately. They will help you check to see if the transaction can be reversed, if necessary. In the case of non-authorised direct debits, this can be done up to 13 months after the date of the transaction.

With credit card statements, it is particularly important that you keep the receipts from your holiday destination. Unlike with direct debits, it is not possible to reverse credit card transactions. If something is wrong, you should contact the bank that issued your card immediately and make a note of how much money you spent and where.

Exchanging or donating foreign cash

But what can you do with US dollars, yuans or Turkish lira that you didn’t spend at your holiday destination? If you bring this money back home with you, you are likely to find an exchange office that will at least exchange the notes back into euros. However, these services usually incur an expensive fee and the exchange rates are often not the most favourable. So, only exchange the cash if you have a large amount, otherwise it may not be worth it. It is generally not possible to exchange coins at all. 

One option that will put a smile on someone’s face is to take the money left over from your holiday and donate it to a good cause. Donation boxes can often be found in shops and banks or send the cash by post to Welthungerhilfe (WHH) or UNICEF, for example. If you flew to your holiday destination, then you can usually find donation boxes at the airport where you can put all your coins and notes. Your donations will go to support aid organisations which use the money to fund social projects. Of course, you can also just keep the money and take it with you when you go back to the same country again another time.