Summer is here and many of us will be traveling and going on vacations. It's peak travel season and unfortunately airfares are up, hotel costs are up, and as we all know gas prices are up too. There are a lot of added costs that can sneak in during the summer season, so how do you stretch your dollar for the most fun in the sun? we have put together some tips to help you save money this summer.

1) Travel Midweek - With Airfares the best way to save a significant amount of money is to travel midweek. Travel from a Tuesday to a Tuesday or Wednesday to a Wednesday and you can save 5 to 25% doing this. Of course not everyone wants to travel midweek, so you can also look for discount coupons online at sites like airfarewatchdog.com

2) Prepay Hotel - You can save more by paying for your hotel costs in advanced rather than making a reservation and paying when you checkout, up to 10 to 15% savings.

3) Drive Smart - If you're going to be driving, a good way to save gas is to not drive aggressively, if you don't speed and keep your car well maintained it can help you save money on gas.

4) Food Coupons - Eating out can be costly, but you can save money on dining out by using coupons. Because of the recession many upscale restaurants have started to offer coupons and discounts, visit sites like coupons.com, restaurants.com, and groupon for restaurant deals and discounts.

5) Childcare - Many of us send our kids off to summer camps or sleep away camps for the summer and this can cost quite a bit. A great way to knock down this cost is to apply for childcare tax credit which the IRS gives up to 20 to 35% back on the cost of the camp. Also look for less costly camps, check with local town camps, YMCAs, and boy scouts girl scouts.

6) Air conditioning - If you upgrade your air conditioning with an energy efficient system you can save on electricity and you can also get a $300 tax credit for having an energy efficient system. Before you buy visit energystar.gov and look on there to see of what you're going to buy meets their standards. With an energy efficient system you will also save money in the long term.