MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Feeling hot, hot, hot. Scorching temperatures and Scottish and Northern Irish schools starting to break up mean summer is here! Over the next couple of months, millions will head off on holidays abroad. Yet don't leave prepping until the last second - scan down our to-do checklist now...

1. News. Ryanair now lets kids sit with parents for free - find out how (plus how to sit together free on other airlines). An investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) looks to have pushed the firm to allocate seats next to parents without a fee on new bookings. See our Ryanair parents & kids sit together news story for how.

Other airlines have long allowed this, if you know how. See our airline-by-airline how to sit together free guide. Plus, if you want to find the best seats on any plane, use AeroLOPA.

2. New Tool. Airport Parking: Compare the comparisons to find the cheapest at speed. Pull up at, say, Manchester Airport without a booking, and it'll cost you £500/wk to park. Yet our new Airport Parking: Comparison of Comparisons tool today found official parking for £76/wk - bookable even while driving to the airport (by a passenger, obvs). Early booking is usually even cheaper.

The recently launched tool compares three of the big four sites (we're working on adding the fourth) and automatically includes the blagged discounts we've always listed. As Rachel emailed: "I needed parking at Liverpool airport, the cheapest was £94. Thought it was worth checking your comparison checker & literally 2mins later had booked for £68. It was super simple to use. Many thanks."

We want to make it as good as possible, so please feedback. For alternatives, need-to-knows & more, read our Cheap airport parking guide.

3. Two passport checks so you don't risk being denied boarding. Check NOW that, on the day you enter the country, your passport has...

a) at least 6mths left (3mths for EU)
b) even if so, if going to the EU, will your passport be under 10yrs old?

If it's no to EITHER, review our country-by-country UK passport rules and renew if necessary. The Passport Office says you should allow "up to three weeks" to renew. Full help in Cheapest passport renewals.

4. New Tool. Compare+ Travel Insurance (includes over-65s & pre-existing conditions). We launched our new Compare+ Travel Insurance tool a few weeks ago. With it, you fill in a short question set (which gives you tips to help), and it then gives you a comparison result from two comparison sites, plus loads of other special help you don't get elsewhere, to find you the right policy.

Pip posted on the MSE Forum: "Thanks to MSE's new tool, I've just replaced our annual travel insurance for nearly £400 less than the price quoted on our renewal documents. Worldwide travel excluding the USA for £390, for two adults, one of which (me) is only 2 years post-treatment for lymphoma."

5. Booked a holiday and not got travel cover yet? Do it NOW! It's no coincidence that we've just launched the Compare+ tool. Martin's oft-quoted rule is: get cover ASAB (As Soon As You Book). If you've booked and haven't done it yet, then it becomes... do it NOW (ie, no delay... have you done it yet? No... how about now?).

Martin's big point is that half what you pay for with travel insurance is to cover you in case something happens before your trip that means you can't go...