What do you bring on holidays that makes you look cheap but in your mind is entirely practical

[AnotherTroyforHertoBurn]

I will start.

I bring a food container with detergent only for emergencies, refuse to wash clothes on holidays.

I also bring dishwasher tablets in case there aren't enough in the villa.

Ditto a starter roll of toilet paper as the last time it was like sandpaper.

This is not done out of meanness, this is because to my mind foreign supermarkets are for oohing and aaahing over the different foodstuffs and drooling at the fish counter.

A holiday is not for turning down the aisle of mundanity in the supermarket and buying the above. They come with us every year and they come home again, they are well travelled.

DH has stopped arguing. Only took 34 years.

Tea bags. I come back with spices, herbs, cheeses..,

If I run out of dishwasher tabs o ask the owner for me
always provided
it is in their interest anyway

I have some washing tablets that I only use on holiday (I use powder at home-cheaper) and dishwasher tablets. I’m too tight to buy a whole load in resort. However, we are going to a place we’ve been to before and there is a Lidl so no worries about ‘foreign stuff’. We mostly live on amazing seafood and cheese.

For me

and if I turned up and toilet paper like sandpaper, again I’d ask for an alternative
again in their interest. Who wants a review to say “sandpaper toilet paper and owner refused to provide an alternative”

I bring a sharp knife as always blunt!

Tea bags and loo roll.

to my mind foreign supermarkets are for oohing and aaahing over the different foodstuffs

Absolutely. I buy herbs, spices etc to bring home. The best dried oregano I have ever tasted came back from a holiday in Crete. It was so aromatic and delicious.

Teabags, dishwasher tabs (we usually go to France and have never known these to be provided), toilet roll, soap. It doesn't make sense to buy a whole pack of dishwasher tablets or toilet roll while there and the exchange rate means it's often more expensive. Also a sharp knife. IME French gîtes will have at least three receptacles for making a flan but no sharp knives.

Also washing powder because we usually stick swimming stuff, towels and underwear in the machine on holiday and there's no point buying an entire box while there.

Every time. Dishwasher tabs, wash tabs, sharp knife and if UK based, I take oil, salt and pepper, coffee and my rubber gloves and own washing up stuff too.

A sponge/pan scrubber. They never seem to have a decent one, it takes up no room or weight in my bag. Never returns home with us, even if not used!

Yes it's not cheap to take a few things. I just dont want to buy large quantities of stuff I'll have to leave behind.

Dishwasher tabs
Washing tabs
Travel bottle of wu liquid
Rubber gloves
Disinfectant wipes
Small packs of tissues
Loo roll each
Sandwich bags

Tea bags
Tin of coffee
Hot choc sachets
Cup a soup

I love a washing machine on holiday and like coming home with suitcases full of clean clothes 😊

Nothing! I’ve never taken any of this stuff on holiday 😮
i even tend to purposely not pack stuff like shampoo and shower gel to reduce the weight of cases and intend on buying it there!

I take quite a lot as I'm fussy and don't want a lack of something to spoil how I settle in somewhere.

I always take
Teabags
Coffee
Marmite (individual packs)

If it's self catering in uk I add in:
Dish washer tablets
Tea towels
Washing up scourer
Frying pan
Wooden utensil
Decent knife

I come home if in the Mediterranean with herbs & spices. Particularly large volumes of oregano. Uk just isn't hot enough to grow it well.

Not cheap... sensible.. no point in getting there to realise that there are 2 dishwasher tablets, one loo roll, a blunt knife and no oil.. having to rush off to the supermarket and then either bring back a load of products you don't use at home or leave them behind to be thrown away because most self catering cleaners are instructed to throw away tubes that are left behind.

Tea bags and a big mug - I can’t stand the diddly little cups they put in self catering places or in hotel rooms. Dh used to laugh at me when we first got together and I did this but now he always asks if I’ve packed him a mug!

We used to take toilet roll (always had the massive Costco packs at home so just threw a couple in the suitcase) but stopped when we realise it was causing blockages in the pipes. This was in a new build apartment block on the Costa del Sol, not Greece or anywhere famous for not allowing it to be flushed. There's a reason a lot of foreign toilet paper is really thin.

Now we just take teabags, dishwasher tablets, sun cream, painkillers, toiletries and coffee filters if we have them.

I don't want to be shopping for boring essentials on holiday or buying things we don't need much of and always have plenty of at home.

Sandwich bags and foil.

If self-catering in UK, I take pretty much everything but the kitchen sink! Small chopping board, a couple of sharp knives, a peeler, my small Le Creuset, foil, food bags, small tubs of coffee and various sauces, some tiny pots of herbs and spices, dishwasher tabs, laundry tabs, tiny bottle washing up liquid, a few loo rolls and some kitchen roll, non stick sponge scourer, 2 sets extra cutlery, tea towel…..all have come in useful at times! 😳 (I cook probably 5 nights out of 7 on holiday, only basic stuff but it’s easier than eating out because one of us has special dietary needs ).

If going abroad, maybe a sharp vegetable paring knife and small quantity instant coffee, some herbs.

Oh after getting stung in Rome for £25 for a bottle of emergency sun lotion (we went in Feb and stupidly thought we wouldn't need it) I always pack a couple of bottles of the excellent Aldi stuff that's a couple of quid 👍

In a villa/self catering holiday, if enough suitcase room, I always pack dishwasher tabs and a couple of emergency laundry tablets. Will often pack some teabags too as prefer our teabags to the Ines you often get abroad.

Usually take my own toiletries as well, unless I know I'm staying in a hotel that will have something vaguely half decent. I always take conditioner as many hotels don't have it.

Would never buy my sun cream abroad either - usually get that before I go or at the airport.

Although we do still go to supermarkets when away. I do love a holiday supermarket shop - dd always loved to go when smaller, and as a 20y still likes us to go to one to have a mooch at what is in there that's different to home.

My pint mug!

I always pack a pair of rubber gloves, 3 or 4 microfibre cloths and a few tea towels. I don't like the sponge/scourers that are usually provided. And if there's no dishwasher (which often there isn't) I'll be doing a lot more washing up than my hands are used to!

Hot sauce in my purse like Beyonce because I cannot do without spice!

An apron, tea towel, and a box of tissues