January is the month when every family feels the cost of all those presents under the tree, and when the credit card bills hit the floor with the loudest thump. Such cruelty coincides with weather which is wild and wet, and Seasonal Adjustment Disorder which is craving the promise of sunshine and time off for good behaviour.

The very act of booking a holiday gives most of us a longed for lift, but paying for it? Well, that’s a whole other sensation. Fortunately for the financially incontinent, there are many ways you can save for summer in winter. And reading this online is a good way to start.

Social networking sites, which share information between punters, are slowly transforming travel, and they are a good source of insider bargains. While many sites are geared towards the footloose independent traveller, rather than the encumbered family, some such as Travel Intelligence have zoomed in to offer families an at-a-glance list of recommended boutique and luxury hotels all over the world, all costed per room per night.

Nobody’s trying to sell you anything, and if you want to delve deeper then other sites such as World Reviewer or Travel Mag will tell you everything from how hot it will be when you touch down on the tarmac to the best local sights and restaurants.

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BACKGROUND

• 5 top tips: family holiday savings

• 10 top family holidays

• Ask our expert: large hotels for families

• Ask our expert: child-friendly cottages

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• Half-term bargains for families

If bargains are your bag, my Times colleague Mark Bridge offers families a few ideas in this Saturdays’s article on travelling cheap. My favourite tip is to post your home on a property website such as Home Link from around £30 per year, and then have other members all over the world contact you for a rent-free exchange.

Currently homes in Europe, the US, South Africa and New Zealand are among the best represented, and many swaps include renting out the family car, so only flights need to be costed.

His advice on stocking up on airmiles through Nectar www.nectar.com or Airmiles www.airmiles.co.uk makes particular sense for families, too. For example, spend of £85 per week in Tesco nets 1,000 airmiles each year - more than a return flight to Paris with BA, costing only 750 airmiles.

Top Five Tips to Save Money on the Big Family Holiday

1. Book Early. We may all have slipped into the www.lastminute.com way of living, but when it comes to family holidays – the bargains are definitely to be had at the beginning of the year. January is the month when tour operators offer the best deals, including free children’s places and often a nil – or small - deposit to pay.

Independent Financial Advisor Martin Bamford, who won the Gold Standard for Independent Financial Advice in 2007, says: “The last minute deal often proves to be a false economy. Paying in one lump sum often leads to the use of credit cards…if you book early, you will have a greater choice of destination and can pay for the holiday in instalments – saving yourself a fortune in credit card charges.”

2. Book Online. Even if your evenings are spent poring over brochures from the travel agents, book your holiday online – prices for the exact same holidays are often hundreds of pounds cheaper.

A survey by Holiday Which last year proved that there was around £250 difference between the least and most expensive brochure price, based on the cost of a two-week holiday to Mallorca in late July for an adult couple with one child.

3. Take Advice from Other Families. There is no longer any reason to turn up at a resort to find the beach covered in rubbish and the hotel half built. Many good travel forums such as Trip Advisor have family areas where you can pose questions about a specific holiday destination and ask for feedback.

For those travelling on a budget in months outside the school holidays, Mumsnet has just posted a Travel Calendar with recommendations, including low-budget ones, for 2008 on every month of the year.

4. Look Daily for Bargains. This is the time of year when tour operators change their early-bird booking initiatives on a daily basis to lure you in, so keep checking as often as possible.

Don’t necessarily plump for the obvious big names - Holiday Which’s latest report on 10 January listed the top 10 independent Tour operators which showed some of the biggest names, such as Thomas Cook, languishing at the bottom for overall satisfaction from holidaymakers.

5. Fly from a Regional Airport. Families caught up in the school holiday crush of the big airports are inviting stress, expensive transfer fees, petrol, parking and sometimes hotel rooms, when their local airport may well provide a much better alternative. Birmingham International Airport, for example, flies to 70 worldwide destinations, and has just added Montego Bay in Jamaica to their roll call. As I’ve said in the past, just say no to Gatwick and Heathrow.

Got a question any tips or questions about good family holiday deals? Email our experts Emma Mahony and Jane Owen at yoursay@timesonline.co.uk

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