To think a holiday is more important than sky

[Moomoomango]

Chatting to hubby earlier - I was saying I'd love to save up a bit each month so in a few years we can take the children abroad. We have very little excess money but I'd love to give them an experience and some memories. we holiday in the uk every year (center parcs out of term) but would love my children to experience a holiday abroad in a few years. Hubs is in a strop because he would rather upgrade to sky I q or something - when it comes out - we already fork out for a full sky package for the football and that is enough let alone adding more on the bill. Aibu?

That's a good deal for CP, but I think abroad will be less expensive than you expect. Not the same price as CP, but not something you'll have to save for years for.

If you are happy to SC, look at Eurocamp or Dutch CP.

But OP, this is all about your DH and the kids. What about what you want? Our main push to go abroad for the first time was me being desperate for a break from cooking, and forever organising towards the next meal. All inclusive for a whole week was bliss, and not as expensive as I'd always assumed.

You can definitely afford to go abroad, It's cheaper for me to go abroad with my 3 kids than do a week in a caravan in Blackpool/Haven! This year my kids and I are going to Corfu in April/May, it was £380 for the 4 return flights, transfers and a self-catering apartment.....but we did look at going All Inclusive and it would have been an extra £250 but felt that it wouldn't be worth it as we enjoy eating out in different places each night. Even so it's still going to be a cheap holiday. Cereal for breakfast, butties and salad for dinner and then a trip out for a cheapish meal every night. The kids know it's a budget break so should (hopefully) be ok with sticking to a budget so we can still go camping and cannoeing in the summer hols.

As for sky, I have never even heard of IQ. I don't watch sports and just have the movies and documentaries so it really wouldn't benefit me by upgrading it. But I do object to the eye watering prices of some of the packages. Crazy CRAZY money for the illusion of choice when in reality its all crap!

The cost of your sky package already plus centre parcs is big amount of money! Prioritise properly, him not getting new sky, you not going to centre parcs, no one having the full sky package. You could be going abroad every year with those savings!

stealthpolarbear have a look on holiday pirates on facebook, they often have flights from Newcastle on their offers and last year there was LOTS. They are the people that I find most of my bargains through and as i said, £380 for 4 in Corfu isnt too shabby at all !

www.facebook.com/Holidaypiratescom/?fref=ts

Have not rtft but I feel compelled to reply as my dear dad who is now gone paid for our full sky package for donkeys years. We didn't have fancy holidays but dad wanted us to have a taste of luxury every day rather than a week or 2 a year, and I totally see where he was coming from

Could you compromise by renegotiating the Sky package (as PPs have already suggested) and putting the savings aside?

You could also drop the sports when the footy season ends. He'll still have Sky Sports News to keep up with the transfers in the meantime. Then, just before the new season starts up, call and ask about "returner offers". Often, there are substantial discounts to be had. Again, put any savings aside.

I would say try for a holiday.

Not sure it would be cheaper than a UK holiday by the time you have included passports if you don't already have them. I would want travel/medical insurance too which all adds to the cost.

Sky - a taste of luxury??? I've heard it all now!!

2 wrongs that is really charming. I may have worded it badly but my point was that it improved quality of life a bit on a day to day basis rather than just for a week or two a year. That was important to my dad, thanks for taking the piss

We just have freesat and at the moment Amazon prime. We don't watch enough TV to even consider Sky. I would much prefer a holiday or even family days out to Sky. How much is Sky a month? I am clueless about it.

Sorry. That was rude of me. But I can only see Sky as being a bit more telly. When I grew up there were only 3 or 4 channels and nobody was pining desperately for more.

I take your point about things you can appreciate everyday maybe taking priority over one-offs but it's usually the out-of-the ordinary stuff that we remember in years to come.

Never going to pay for Sky so it's easy for me, but clearly for your dh it's important and he's a member of the family.

However, re holidays it depends what you are looking for 'abroad' to do for you. I have one word for you - Duinrell. Google it and see whether it would really be loads more than Centreparcs.

When I grew up there were only 3 or 4 channels and nobody was pining desperately for more.

But when you were growing up everything available to watch was on the 3 or 4 channels, which you had access to.

I can imagine that wanting to watch something and it being on a channel not received quite annoying.

Ooh, remember when you wanted to watch something on bbc that aired the same time as the other thing you wanted to watch on itv and the recorder was broken. That was brutal.

Yes. There was always a fuss when BBC and ITV went head to head at 9pm on a Sunday!

We only have Sky for the football! Tbh the fewer channels I have, the more I enjoy watching so I particularly hate paying for Sky.

Just in case others weren't clear there is absolutely zero reason to pay full sky prices. I am always shocked when I hear how much people pay and I've been with them for over three years. First year 50% off new joiner plus some cashback. Second year 75% off made it £12 Inc movies! Third year 60% Off and £100 credit so still an average cost of c. £12/ month and we have movies and box sets. You have to actually cancel, as they will tell you such things aren't available, but once you are even in your notice period you should be able to haggle hard without even having to get cut off. Then you can maybe keep sky and still have a holiday. Don't accept less than 50% off and at least £100 credit

And then put it in your diary for 11months and cancel again. Rinse, repeat. I think our tv licence costs more than we pay for sky

We have been paying £13 per month for our sky package which includes sport. DH haggled a 75% discount for a year. We will cancel next month. Sky will come back to us at some point and DH will start the process over again. They want customers.

holiday wins

Or even better no holiday, no sky, throw the TV away and read books at the library!

Unless you live in a shire county where they have shut the libraries.

YANBU. Holiday comes first - I've never paid for TV, and don't intend to.

I've tried to cancel sky before (to get a reduction) and they just put me straight through to the cancellation department. How far do I have to go to get a discount? The dcs would kill me if I actually cancelled!

Holiday - definitely.

What's Sky Q?

DH cancels every time his deal comes to an end. Sometimes they'll offer a reduction before it's cancelled and sometimes it actually gets cancelled but then he gets an email with a deal the next day. We've never paid more than half price.