How do you afford holidays?

[User46472874637]

Before you all come at me, please hear me out. I totally get how people are struggling to eat etc at the minute and impending winter is scary with energy costs! Totally get it.

I know we all have different budgets and income etc. we have a take home household income of around £35, 000. This includes my partners earnings of £32,000 before tax and others such as DLA for my son, child benefit, me carers and maintenance of his dad. We also get a small amount of tax credits.

many of my friends go on regular holidays when they don't earn anymore than us but how?!

we haven't had a holiday in 8 years. I would love nothing more than going away but it's not achievable financially even more so in current times. It's from paying for the actual holiday, spending money, fuel food and sorting kennels for our dog - or we could take her. We don't even have in date passports to go abroad. We've had a tough few years with lots of stuff going on in our personal life which I won't go into and I'd just like to escape the daily grind!

we don't go out, smoke or drink.

house is mortgaged and cheaper than rent in my area. But we've had to spend out quite a lot on house repairs. Don't have any luxuries.

I know I'm sounding pretty selfish round now complaining I don't get a holiday but where do we go wrong??

before anyone asks, we don't have sky or Netflix or whatever. No expensive phone contracts. We are in very little debt.

we don't eat out apart from an occasional McDonald's.

our utility bills are quite high which doesn't help.

I know we are likely in a better situation than most but I have a friend over the road, her partner and 3 kids, neither work (I'm not judging, just stating facts) and they go away at least twice a year! I just don't how people are affording it!

our food bills seems to be increasing week on week too! We are going over drawn month to month. There is nothing spare.

we are fortunate to live in a beautiful part of the country - on the coast which helps somewhat! But my kids had never had a holiday. My mums made me feel guilty saying all kids should go on holiday... my son has been on one in the U.K. as a toddler and my daughter hasn't had any!

Mil has been on 4 holidays this year. Maybe I am just a bit green eyed 😓

I mean the question is "How do you afford holidays?"

That will vary from each person / family surely

You want holidays, you need to earn more money somehow I guess is the answer - some people earn 10k some earn 200k - obviously the person on 200k can go on holidays and the 10k person can't

We earn decent money in our house - when we want to go on holiday i work heaps of overtime to save up extra cash! We got rid of car as we don't need it living in a city ! The money we would spend on insurance and petrol goes into savings and there is your holiday after a year of saving that

If you’re married you need to use your married tax allowance.

Of course I understand it seems like a lot of money but I don't think others are grasping we have no luxuries, there is nothing to save on because we don't spend above our means! Where am I meant to be magically save money?

Just because our mortgage is cheap does not mean it's easy Something is always going wrong. I can guarantee every damn month something will go wrong, even just small fixes add up!! Everything is down to us. We've lived here 10 years and never had the money to do everything in one hit so had to do it month per month then unexpected costs come along. Our bills are higher than average.

I don't have a break down of expenditure in front of me at this moment as most of the bills come out of dp's bank! He's at work!

there is added costs of having a child with additional needs, when there's only certain foods they will eat, or they will only wear certain clothes or shoes or they break something. Or they need sensory equipment etc. fuel costs to hospital appointments. People don't realise this! Waiting for DLA decision for my youngest but she needs specialists shoes etc. DS will only use a certain toothpaste which is expensive on Amazon. They go through clothes quicker than average.

but I'm literally saying we don't have sky, we don't have Netflix, I haven't had my hair cut in a year, never had it coloured, never had any beauty treatments, I don't buy myself clothes, kdis have clothes but all bought in sales when I can etc. take away is McDonald's once a month with a voucher so costs £10-15. We don't drink alcohol or smoke. Don't go on many days out at all!

I don't see how anyone can answer unless you itemise your outgoings. What is your idea of "a holiday" as well?

That's where you're going wrong, you can't get shorted dated/end of line items if you don't go yourself and the cheapest supermarkets don't deliver. As you're spending a huge amount on fuel you may as well go yourself while you're out. I only pay full price for meat once or twice a year!

I've just looked up the cost difference between our two companies, it's 3p per cubic metre (1000l) it's the waste water that's outrageous! You're paying 3.5 times what I am per cubic metre! You should be able to get it capped, I have a cap on mine as I have 3 disabled children, I've never needed it but it's there just in case. Found this online: www.southwestwater.co.uk/help/need-help-paying-bill/watersure/

We have a special account and safe hard into it. DC are on board and often if I suggest a treat - a coffee abs cake or a take out they suggest that they'll make an equivalent and the money can go 'in the pot'. We all sell stuff and add it to the pot: i recently got out some old band t shirts and ds and dh researched where to sell for best price etc. its a big team effort. We have amazing holidays given our income
There is also an actual pot which we a drop money into.

Camping or youth hostel holidays in the U.K.

www.yha.org.uk

that’s what we did as kids and I loved it.

I'm sure I read this post word-for-word a few weeks ago.

Move abroad!

Higher salaries, lower cost of living, and it's another country, so even travelling an hour or 2 in the car is an exciting holiday! But flights are also really cheap to some fab places as they're close.

I don't understand why more British people aren't fleeing abroad at the moment.

I'm not sure how you can't tbh. For one, you will be better off on UC so change to that.
How many of you are there? This summer hols we went to Sardinia. We stayed at a camp site but rented a hut. Used carers discount and paid £600 for 10 nights in 0% installments. Car hire was £180 and we shopped in eurospin which is cheaper than Lidl there and really nice food. I got flights in Feb for £120 return with luggage. Normally this bit is more but COVID uncertainty made it cheaper this year.
For a family of 5 this came to £1500 for 12 nights incl food. There was a pool and free kids club for the kids and we mostly did snorkelling for entertainment. We only went out to eat once.
It's not the holiday most dream of but it's doable and really lovely. We still cooked and cleaned but it was together, by a beach with beautiful water and scenery.
We are going to Granada in October half term. Managed to get flights for £60 return pp incl 10kg each and a bag as we leave on Thurs so kids will miss one day of school. Car rental was €99 for the week and accomodation I found by emailing the camp site and getting a good deal for a little hut by a lake. Altogether that will be £580 for 5 people in the October half term. I'm not including cost of food or petrol as we will self cater and use the food budget we have at home, which is Lidl prices.

So my point is, it's very doable if you're doing holidays you can afford, not the ones you dream of.

You overspend on food, you won't claim the correct amount of CMS, your DP is buying ready meals half the time, your water should be capped but isn't so you need to ring them, you say you have no luxuries but have a dog and spend 7k a year on groceries....

I wish. My sister has just moved abroad too!

Holidays don't need to be the MN £10k, I recently went to Turkey for £750 for 2ppl B&B, lovely hotel.
There's the Sun Holidays for short breaks, plenty offers out there.

Honestly I’m a single parent, newly qualified nurse with no enhancements as work monday-Friday. I get no benefits (except £89 child benefit) and I get £100 a month maintence so my monthly income is about £1900. Mortgage is £300 but i overpay by £50, don’t smoke, don’t really drink (few cocktails On a night out/ bottemless brunch every few months kind of thing). I don’t have much in savings but enough for emergencies and I go away twice a year. Usually abroad once for a week and then a caravan holiday, plus a few weekends away with friends/ my DP (doesn’t live with me, has no input in my finances). This year I’ve been Spain and Centerparcs and I’m going to New York next month, next year we are going to Florida and a weekend away in Europe plus Cornwall in the summer (which mt mum is paying for) I booked really really far in advance so 2 year in advance and pay a little off each month, any money I get for birthdays etc I put towards holidays as they are my One real luxury, don’t smoke, old car, no new clothes. Our house is fine, not a show home
but up to date. I think it’s just where your priorities lie, my priority is holidays so that’s what I focus my spending on.

you just have to like camping - or make yourself like camping

Oh also I take my DS out of school if it’s a lot cheaper so that helps

Oh and also also I’m a veggie as is DS so food bills are less than £40. I’m on a a meter for gas and electric so control what I spend

We've looked into capping and told not eligible. Dp's earnings too high and although my kids have sen they don't actually have a condition that makes them use more water, yes I do wash more etc but their conditions don't define that!

my dog is 6. Maybe she is a luxury but I'm not going to get rid of her now too save the small amount of money she costs. She costs very little. She eats tiny amounts and treatments erc don't cost much for her.

I wish I could spend less on food but seems impossible. My son has extreme sensory issues with food etc so that adds up!

We could always afford our mortgage on one income so had plenty of flex in the budget. We bought a smaller flat than we could afford and a much less expensive and smaller house, we do t have a yard, but we have a lot more security, We had a huge amount of money from family to buy first flat so when we sold 6 years later we owned outright. We don’t have dogs, we have cats. Partly because they are too big of a time commitment, partly due to cost, a lot due to difficulty sorting when we go away. We only have one DC. Partly (although not primarily) due to costs.

those aren’t all the reasons we can afford 4-5 holidays a year but they are a lot of them.

I would camp but Dp on the other hand wouldn't...

When my income was around the same as yours or less my ability to go on holiday relied on being able to go in term time when my child was preschool age. No way I could have afforded it otherwise.

Realistically I think you'd have to scrutinise and prioritise your spending, set your expectations about what kind of holiday you can afford (week in a caravan rather than week in the Maldives for instance). Stick to UK and you don't need passports - lots of beautiful places to take kids. Look at your spending and see where/if you can cut back/stop frittering money away in order to save towards a holiday.

I wanted to go on a few holidays this year as haven't had one for 4 yrs so I prioritised my money for that. My income is higher than yours but we consciously went without takeaways, frivolous spending, meals out etc for a while in order to fund our trips.

I'm not saying get rid of the dog or force your son to eat different food. I'm saying therein lies your answer!

Should also say we chose said smaller house in the city with good transport so we barely drive, only have one car which we own outright & use an eBike (cargo so holds food shop etc plus DC on it) for most journeys under 10 miles.

Honestly we earn more than double your income and just about get one holiday a year, and that's nothing fancy, this year we drove to Holland. We also only have one child and he isn't school age yet. DH and I both do October when it's available and put that money aside for things like daytrips and holidays, for years before DS we both worked two jobs, saving for a deposit and to pay for luxuries, despite both being in professional roles (we did go away 3/4 times a year then including city breaks but just the two of us and a one bed flat, so limited outgoings)

I wish I could spend less on food but seems impossible. My son has extreme sensory issues with food etc so that adds up!

I get that your child has sensory issues around food, which can’t be helped, but if your dh takes ready meals to work that has to be costing at least £15 a week!

I’ll probably get slated for this, but everything that anyone suggests you have an answer to why you can’t, you need to get off your arse and take responsibility for making changes yourself. I agree with those who say that a household income of approx £3k net per month is not a small amount of money