AIBU to not want to spend more than £2000 on a family holiday for 4?

[captainfarrell]

To me and DH this is a lot of money. We earn about £50k pa so can pay more but we both feel that no week can be worth much more. We have been on holidays in cottages to Cornwall, Dorset and mobile home holidays in France mainly. A couple of years ago we went on an AI to Spain. We had a great time but spent £2500 and had our DC in the room with us so was not that relaxing as they are teens. We just don't feel we can bring ourselves to spend more and can't go out of school holidays. Any fab ideas?

One of our DDs is comparing our holiday choices as she has some friends who splurge. I suppose i'm trying to justify our choices as when in full teenager mode she thinks we are 'well tight'.
Btw I would never spend £14k on a bathroom. I'm quite thrifty in my DIY too. I think DD is right, I'm just tight!

Could you compromise with dd? What is it she really wants to do? For us we don't need to worry to much because our dd is 3. The one time we will be splurging is taking her to Lapland

Definitely horses for courses. No one is right or wrong.

We spend quite a bit on holidays, and prioritise them massively over non essential work to the house. It may only be for 2 weeks a year, but the way I see it we're paying for the experience, and the memories.

The kids won't be travelling with us forever, and DH and I want to soak up all the experiences with them that we can.

I don't believe kids ever look back at their childhood and remember work done to the house, new carpets etc, and on my deathbed I highly doubt I'll be wishing I'd sorted off the guttering!

But my closest friend would prioritise her house every time so we each do what suits us as a family.

musk We do lots of little breaks too. Our DDs love that. We will have a couple of nights away say in Bath or York and see the sights, stay in a hotel or b&b maybe twice a year say Easter and Oct hols. We normally have a week away in a friend's caravan at mates rates too so the holiday I am talking about is on top of those. I don't like to put too much expectation on one holiday.

Realistically we find that going abroad including spending money always costs us around £1k per person. No matter how hard we search for cheaper deals there are always hidden extras.
Instead of trying to get it cheaper we just do it once every two to three years instead. I'd rather relax and spend a bit more less often than try to go every year bit be stressed about the cost.
Unfortunately we're too far north for ferries to France.

We stayed here last July:

www.auxtresorsdapolline.fr/gite/

Lovely three bedroom gite with patio in Picardy, cost us around £800 for two weeks. The five of us travelled by bus from Liverpool to Amiens and back for £275, half of which we paid with Tesco Clubcard vouchers, so £70 doubled up to £140 i e it actually only cost us £205. Can't remember exactly how much car hire was, but pretty standard iir.

Feel exactly the same captain. I need lots of little things to look forward to! Short attention span

The key is to book flights early then find accommodation. we have booked flights for 4 to south of France for £450 previously and Mallorca last year. Air bnb I found a modern 4 bedroom villa with pool £900 for two weeks. Car hire bumped price up by another £300 in Mallorca.

pastizzi I don't think you need to spend a lot for children to have great memories. I have fab ones and mostly in the middle seat of the back of a cortina driving to Cornwall!

Ah see I can't be faffed with short breaks any more.

By the time you get packed and travel there, it's time to come back again. We used to do a lot of weekends away but cut back on them as we found them exhausting. I don't even particularly enjoy 3 night long weekends if they are self catering as it's such a pain trying to remember everything ( I get annoyed if I forget stupid things like salt and cling film and then have to buy them again).

Funny how we're all different !

We had a cheap camping holiday one year in UK and then went to Disneyland Paris for a few nights in the autumn. We would never consider Disney in Florida as we(adults) had enough Disney after that short break so def don't want to spend a fortune for it in USA.

Agreed captain. We had amazing holidays in the U.K, mostly at a friends holiday cottage in Yorkshire.

The reason for us staying at home for our Easter holiday is to show our dd the amazing things that surround our home. We have fab places to go and see and visit within an hour from home but never get a chance to see them normally! We really excited to discover the things our home county has to offer!

Holidays aint cheap these days. Yes you can get deals but ime I always end up over spending.
If going abroad its the flights that cost the most. If UK, its the spending. The weather is often rubbish so spend a lot doing stuff.
We are family of 5. Week abroad for us usually costs probably 1800 -2000 flights and hotel bb. Plus a grand id say, spending.
Hol UK well we have had various,but week in Scotland (beautiful) in a cottage is about 600 cottage and about 500 to700 spending (castles, entrance fees etc). Buy own food mainly -self catering so do big shop 100quid plus. Little dcs love free stuff beach, woods etc. Teenager likes meals out. They are usually about 70pounds a time.
You can do hols as cheap of expensive as you like, some of our best nights out last yr In Turkey were in the cheapest restaurants.

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14k on a bathroom?! Omg
Holidays are a priority to me. Our house isn't that great and not because I dont care, I do. I love nice things but I love exploring and doing stuff more. No ones gonna remember that bathroom when you on your death bed but you will remember the fun times.

Hear hear, pastizzi. My sentiments exactly.

I have just booked a house in Devon, first week of August, 3 bedrooms (2 x double and one set of bunk beds) for £700. I think that was quite cheap - a lot of places were >£1000, which would probably take the cost of a week over the £2000 if you go places, eat out etc.

Good grief - how can you spend £14K on a bathroom?
Fitters came and ripped mine out today, so I've obviously been looking at bathrooms over last few months and don't think I could spend even half that even if I tire really hard!

captain - I know what you mean about the decision about what's reasonable to spend being more difficult if you actually have enough money to have a choice. I've spent so many years where we've scrimped and saved for a caravan, that it just seems wrong to be handing over thousands of ££ for a couple of weeks in the sun, even though we now have much better cashflow than we ever did, and can afford to spend more.

For 14 I'd expect whole house to be done up.
I usually book main hol abroad in summer week to ten days. Week maybe easter or whitsun Uk and another UK short break (3nights ish).
Reckon spend 4.5k a year. I think it's a lot and u could do a lot with that cash. But it means a lot to me.

You see I think it's amazing that no one thought is was surprising that a previous poster would spend a quarter of her income on one holiday but you are all agog at an expensive bathroom that will be used every day for years and years.

Now I haven't ever spent that on a bathroom personally but given the choice of where to spend our money it always goes into our house.

Holidays are nice, but fleeting. We enjoy our home every day of the year.

Holidays aren't cheap! We are having 2 weeks in Ambleside in August which is costing slightly more than £2k! There are 4 of us but we need 3 bedrooms, wifi and a great location. It doesn't come cheap!

We looked at Normandy for May half term but the ferry crossing would have been £600 because we didn't want a long drive from Calais! We're off to the Brecon Beacons instead.

We are staying in a fabulous cottage besides the Llangollen canal for less than £500 soon but that's because it's February!

I agree Anna! Holidays are fabulous and yes you get memories, but I would always prefer to invest in the stuff you use every day. And I really don't see the point in spending money for the sake of it, if you can get what you need for £1k I wouldn't spend extra even if I could afford it.

It is interesting who differently people think about things

We're going away for just shy of four weeks at Easter, 2 adults one dd (6). Flights, 5*hotels on room and breakfast throughout but not spending money is £3.2k. We are going to Malaysia and Thailand.
Expensive maybe, but extremely good value for money too.

We prioritise holidays, so for us (2 adults 1 child) the budget for this years Summer hol was £4K, but we got a great one for just over £3k.

Our friend and neighbour makes pointed comments about our spending and how she wouldn't 'waste' that much on going abroad (she's never been on a plane) but then she eats out twice a week (5 of them) and I can't remember the last time we did that. I never comment though.

You see I think it's amazing that no one thought is was surprising that a previous poster would spend a quarter of her income on one holiday

lol, I was staggered, and told dh, but I was being polite and not commenting on it here! Also very curious as to HOW?

You obviously can get a holiday for a lot less than 2k for a week but people's idea of a good holiday varies widely so you might not get the holiday you want for less than that.
We have two teenagers. I personally would hate to stay in the UK during the summer (unless it was really hot) and hate camping anyway. For me nice accommodation is important so we spend quite a lot on a large static caravan (this year £1,700 for two weeks) in Europe. Someone has said that they are "pokey and cramped" but that isn't true if you pay for a larger one. A villa is also nice but there is not usually so much opportunity for the children to socialise with other teenagers if you do that.
After that we don't spend that much as tend to eat in the caravan most of the time and only eat out every two or three days and we go to the beach quite a bit which is free.We do some sightseeing though which can cost a bit and there is also car hire which is never that cheap. Not sure what the holiday costs in total but is probably about 4k for two weeks. It would be a lot less outside summer school holiday but if you have teenagers you probably can't really go at any other time.
I wouldn't go on an all inclusive is we don't have big appetites and only DH drinks alcohol so I feel we would be subsidising everyone elses food and not getting good value for money.