Have you been thinking about how to get time off work next year without blowing through your holiday allowance too quickly?

If you're clever about it, and fast enough with the annual leave forms before everyone else in your workplace gets in with their requests, you can bag yourself more than two weeks away from your desk by only booking half the number of days off.

There are five main points during 2018 when you can be crafty and really stretch out the time you have for putting your feet up while using up minimal working days from your holiday entitlement.

Some people might say it's cheating the system, we prefer to look at it as being smart.

Here's how to make your annual leave go furthest next year:

Easter 2018

You can take eight days off for a 16-day holiday. If you book off March 26 to 29 and April 3 to 6 you are working it in such a way that the bank holidays and weekends fall just at the right times.

May 2018

Take four days off for a nine-day holiday. By booking off May 8 to 11 you are able to bank nine days of holiday thanks to the bank holiday on May 7.

You can do the same trick at the other end of the month. With a bank holiday on May 28, you can book May 29 to June 1 off work to get nine days away for only four days off.

August 2018

Another cheeky chance for nine days away for just four days off comes up thanks to the bank holiday on August 27. Book off August 28 to 31 to take advantage, or grab an extra day on August 24 to get a 10-day holiday by only taking five days off.

Christmas 2018

If you book off December 24, 27, 28 and 31 you will have 11 days of holiday. The weekends and bank holidays fall in such a way that you only need to take four days of holiday.

All added up, you can have 54 days away from the office while using 24 days of leave.

Think of all you can get done in 2018 with this simple holiday hack. Taking time away from work is good for our health and wellbeing and with these tips you can get the rest you need.

And don't forget, you can start the canny holiday planning straight away by getting yourself a 10-day break this Christmas with only three days off.

Book off December 27 to 29 and you'll not have to work from finishing on December 22 to returning for the new year on January 2.

Of course, we realise all these tips assume you work Monday to Friday and you don’t have a job that often necessitates bank holiday work. We're sorry if they don't work for you.