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Original poster

Holidays vs bigger house

75 replies

User125179313 · 23/01/2023 17:33

Would you rather save for a new house or go on holidays?

My DH doesn’t see the point of holidays (in the UK or abroad). He always enjoys the holiday when we go but still every year we have a disagreement about booking holidays as he thinks they’re a waste of money. I love holidays as do our children. DH wants us to save to either move house or pay off the mortgage early. There is nothing wrong with our house. Yes, it would be nice to have a bigger kitchen & garden & a spare bedroom but we get by perfectly fine as we are. I see more benefit in a family holiday than a bigger house.

Just curious as to what anyone else thinks!

OP posts:
FrenchandSaunders · 23/01/2023 17:35

Holidays definitely. Particularly whilst the DCs are young. Lovely memories.

Roxie99 · 23/01/2023 17:35

Holidays

FortyFacedFuckers · 23/01/2023 17:36

I have prioritised holidays & now my ds is 17 and it's lovely to have all the memories of the holidays over the years

Mumof1andacat · 23/01/2023 17:37

Holiday ever time

ChocChipOwl · 23/01/2023 17:37

I'm d prioritise my lovely home over a holiday any day of the week

Original poster
User125179313 · 23/01/2023 17:38

Exactly what I think - lovely memories & experiences together. But I don’t know how to get DH to see it the same way. I hate the yearly battle over booking a holiday!

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 23/01/2023 17:39

We love our holidays and while we don’t go on flash ones we have 3 or 4 a year (not including weekend breaks). We keep saying that this year we won’t go away as much and will get a new kitchen but we’ve been saying it for years.
The DC still want to come so I will continue to prioritise spending that time with them and travelling

frozendaisy · 23/01/2023 17:41

Holidays

maranella · 23/01/2023 17:42

If your home is fine, then holidays - particularly if you and your DC love them. Some people just don't feel the love for holidays though and it sounds like your DH is one of them. My DH didn't love holidays for a long time. He liked 'travelling', which for him meant seeing as much as possible in whatever time we had, which was fun, but exhausting. How old is your DH? Mine was probably late 40s when he finally relaxed a bit!

UsingChangeofName · 23/01/2023 17:42

If you are in the position of potentially being able to pay off the mortgage quite early, or move when you have no great need to move, then I'd say there is room for compromise.

I love holidays, but my dc (now adults) have no greater fondness from their memories from cheap caravan holidays in the UK from holidays where we were able to spend considerably more and fly off abroad.

I can't see why it needs to be either / or. Sit down and look at your budget together and work out how you can do both.

OhCobblers · 23/01/2023 17:44

Holidays are so important to us. Amazing memories with my kids before they move out! I'd take that over a better kitchen any day.

Plus travel is always always worth it in my opinion! Particularly since covid!

roundtable · 23/01/2023 17:46

We go for holidays too. We contemplated buying a bigger house as our house is only based on one salary and we have 2 wages coming in now and have done for a while. In this economic climate I'm glad we decided to not go for the bigger house. We can always not go on holiday if we need to. Harder to cut back on paying a mortgage.

I'm counting down to our summer holiday this year. We've gone bigger than normal and I can't wait!

Ooshie · 23/01/2023 17:50

Definitely holidays are a priority for us every time, you’ll always have those memories.

Spendonsend · 23/01/2023 17:50

I wouldnt prioritise a spare room over holidays - or a bigger kitchen and garden unless the size kitchen and garden I had were thinks that constantly got on my nerves. I would priortise having a home in a nice location which fitted my famiky lifestyle over holidays. Like we wanted a bedroom for each child and prioritised a 3 bed house over holidays.

Sprig1 · 23/01/2023 17:51

I am not that in to holidays so prioritise my house. My husband does like a holiday so we compromise and go once a year.

bellac11 · 23/01/2023 17:56

It depends on the price of the holidays

I am very frugal and like to think that I get quite good bargains so dependent on what you're spending, you could have both. Cheap holidays but still save for the house

WallaceinAnderland · 23/01/2023 18:00

House or overpay mortgage. You will benefit massively.

Days out with picnics are just as much fun for kids. You really don't need to spend much for happy memories.

Cellotapedispenser · 23/01/2023 18:00

Holidays every single time. To be fair we have a reasonably sized home in a nice enough area, if we had a small flat somewhere not quite where I wanted to be I might have a different view.

I need something to look forward to though and "paying off the mortgage early" doesn't motivate me as much as 'all inclusive in Menorca'.

There's loads we should be doing on the house , decorating, filling cracks but we both work ft so really really want that holiday every year.

tiredandstripey · 23/01/2023 18:06

If this is an either/or then it sounds like you are spending a fair whack on holidays. Try to do both - slash your holiday budget in half and use the other half to pay off the mortgage early. Win win.

Everydayitsgettingcloser · 23/01/2023 18:07

It depends. A spare room is quite important for us because we both WFH two days a week and we have a lot of family overseas. Yes we could WFH in our bedroom or dining table but it's really nice to have a dedicated home office. Yes, our family could stay in a hotel but it's nice to have them with us. So I probably would compromise on holidays for a spare room.

But if you don't have that sort of factor, I would go for the holidays

WinterFoxes · 23/01/2023 18:09

Holidays! You want to show the world to your DC. Make them curious and accepting of difference and possibility.

TwentysixV · 23/01/2023 18:18

Holidays if you’re fine with your house as it is. What’s the point of benefitting from a bigger house/paying off the mortgage early if you don’t spend on holidays ever? May as well have memories of holidays with young kids. That sounds better to me than being old with lots of equity from a big house/disposable income but less family memories/having not seen as much of the world. Spend your money while you’re younger as anything could happen (unless you’re in a living situation you hate/spending more than you can afford)

tiredandstripey · 23/01/2023 18:23

Also I forgot to say, there’s a lot to be said for taking MORE holidays but making them cheaper. So for example, if you’re comfortably off then your annual holiday budget might be £8k and you spend it all on a naice week all inclusive in the school summer hols. You could reduce that budget to £4K and still have a cheap summer break in a caravan as well as some weekends away camping or air bnb in a local city or whatever else takes your fancy.

i never really understand the whole “I need to have something to look forward to” view when that “something” is literally 1 week out of 52. Yes it’s nice to have a holiday booked but I can’t spend months and months being excited about one week of the year. If it’s about spending time with your kids and making memories then that can be done on any type of adventure and not just at an all inclusive in Majorca.

junebirthdaygirl · 23/01/2023 18:26

Holidays here. Just a lovely bonding time for a family when life is so busy. Great opportunity to see new places, try new food, watersports, and generally just have fun. The only way l would prioritise house would be if we were really caught for space around bedrooms. We don't invest in fancy furniture or decor because it's all about holidays. Our dc are grown now and so glad we did it. Found when they were away from home they forgot screens etc and really went back to just being kids having fun.

NewYearNewName2023 · 23/01/2023 18:31

tiredandstripey · 23/01/2023 18:06

If this is an either/or then it sounds like you are spending a fair whack on holidays. Try to do both - slash your holiday budget in half and use the other half to pay off the mortgage early. Win win.

I agree here.

Holidays are my priority as it's the only time I properly switch off from work and other obligations so is important for my wellbeing. However we have a smaller budget than I would like, so we can also save

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