To ask how you actually afford to go abroad

[lavenderpekins]

Aibu to feel fed up? Not going away again.. nearly everyone I know is going on a family holiday to the med this summer holiday.

Sort of lighthearted I know we're very lucky to live in this country, able to buy good/nhs/school.. I'll get over it too..

We have always paid for our holidays using money we have saved, including any spending money.

We have had a holiday abroad yearly since 2007 - Some super cheap 1 jobs and some exotic, pricey 5 jobs.

We save up for them before booking. But our mortgage is small and our outgoings too.

The person who said - wait for all the posts about priorities - well that is entirely the point.

People will chose how to spend their money and some will prioritise a holiday over a new car or nails and hair every 2 weeks or new clothes or music gigs etc, or Waitrose shops over Aldi shops.

Everyone who has any money at all will make their choice where and how they spend it.

We save £100 per month and take the tent to western continental Europe. We can easily get 2-3 weeks for 4 of us out of £1200.

We go at different times of year to lots of people! Our main holiday is usually a week in the October half-term to a campsite in France, with Eurocamp. It's a big site near Paris which is popular with Mners & there is loads to do - lots of swimming pools with slides, artificial beach, few playgrounds, option to do activities, kids' clubs, soft play, bowling etc. If we were to go in the main summer holidays it would cost over £1000. However, in the October half term it costs us £350 for travel & accommodation (3-bed, 2 bath static caravan, nicely furnished). The weather is not hot but the swimming pools are covered & we usually manage time at the beach & there is plenty to do if it's raining.

ooh I'm interested I assume it would be similar for may holiday. can you pm me where?

(I always think tents when I think camping!)

Priorities
I'd rather overpay mortgage then spend on a holiday. We have days out at free museums instead.
We do go but have relatives in a nice hot country which rather saves a huge amount.

Camping is only cheap if you have the gear.

Tent, decent sleeping bags, comfy mattresses and cooking gear are quite a high initial investment.

Campsites in UK seem to be around £25-35 per night to pitch your tent and then extras on top if you want things like fire pit or electric hook up.

So not mega pricey, but certainly not buttons either.

confused - that Eurocamp site sounds really good - I'd like to know which one it was as well.
We thought we might do similar with Italian October trip, but a lot of the sites and pools are closed as apparently the temperatures are a glacial (to them) 20-25 degrees !

We have a holiday abroad most years (but not this year as I'm on mat leave and money is too tight). Normally what we do is both me and DH put about £50 away each every month when we get paid into savings and vow not to touch it. That usually means we can afford a cheap deal somewhere once a year.

We do cut back in other areas though. We hardly ever buy clothes, or new gadgets. We stick to basic mobile phones to keep our contract prices low. And since we have had the DDs we only vary rarely now go out to restaurants or the cinema. I don't do pricy haircuts or visit salons to have my nails done or anything either.

Is there anything you could look at cutting back on? Wine? Cigs? Socialising? If you could save roughly £10 a week you could probably get a cheap deal somewhere as long as you don't go in the school holidays.

This wholly depends on what your household income is, what your household outgoings are and how much you have left over.
It also depends on things like, how much money you use of your leftover money (disposable income) on treats, takeaways, nights out, clothing etc and what out of these things you will sacrifice to afford your holiday.
You need to figure out how much a holiday of your choice will cost and diligently save every week/month the correct amount to get you to that magic number. It's all about being disciplined.
There is some good advice here
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/saving-money-for-a-holiday
as well as a savings calculator.
We have done caravan holidays in France where we self cater or All Inclusive in Portugal/Greece where the kids have plenty of choice and activities. Each time we decided on a holiday it was at least a year in advance and we spent only what we could afford.
No to credit card 'loans' unless you like spending twice what you wanted to spend originally.

My neice is off to Turkey next week. She's going for two weeks. Flights, all-inclusive hotel, transfers included. £600. Personally, this is the first year we're holidaying in the Uk so we can take our dog 😊But, our one week in a cottage in Cornwall works out far more expensive!

Some people use their credit card. My sister cashed in an ISA last year. This year, shes staying home as she can't afford it either.

At least OP, we've had a wee drop of sunshine this year!

We save, we're lucky we have good jobs but we do do big holidays, we don't do going out drinking (baby restricts that a bit anyway) we rarely have takeaways, aren't bothered by clothes shopping etc etc, so most of our disposable income goes into savings, as does our annual bonus.

confusedofengland Wed 12-Jul-17 10:01:08
Can you tell us the name of the camp please

exconstance thats interesting about the 9 pw. so you have a base of around 1500 extra for a big hol every three years....

re priorities....I think its more money organisation! I was fed up of not being able to go anywhere...so we just got really organised and we now just about can get a holiday at least....

We earn in the six figures. Annual holiday is 12ish days in Crete. We get a discount on the hotel because we've gone back so many times! That's around £1,000 for the time we're there. I book easyJet flights as soon as they go on sale. We tend to have bread and cheese type lunches, and breakfast is included, so say another £600 over the time for evening meals, shopping, ice creams etc, and another £300 for a little rental car and petrol.

After getting my fingers burnt we'll be booking airport parking/train tickets much earlier in future.

Basically, booking and paying in advance is hugely helpful, and I don't think we go overboard on spending.

Other holidays in the year are to visit and stay with family, and very low cost as it's just cheap flights (under £100 pp).

It also depends on things like, how much money you use of your leftover money (disposable income) on treats, takeaways, nights out, clothing etc and what out of these things you will sacrifice to afford your holiday

at the risk of sounding incredibly po faced we dont do it that way.

If you have a small amount going to a clothes fund each month, same for weekend/week spending...same for food, then seperate funds for bdays, xmas and holidays you have set amounts going in each month and you always have money for each thing so you never had to borrow from one or the other.

we know we have x to spend on going out - actvities each week, thats set, same for food.

Holidays are important to us so we priorities them. We tend to book flights and accommodation in advance so get good deals. I actuality find holidays abroad can be cheaper than staying in the UK

We don't have a lot of income, but our bills are low and we don't have a lot of debt. Our holiday for next September is booked and we are paying a monthly direct debit to Thomas cook so that will be paid before we go. Going to Disneyland Paris in December, that was really cheap, all paid before we go aswell and all booked separately so flights etc had to be paid when booked. Desperate for a holiday now though and sorely tempted to put a cheap week in Spain on our credit card for October. It will be half paid by the time we go. I think it depends what you spend your money on really. We tightly budget.. no nights out really, cheap days out with DD, occasional takeaway, live close to work so not much travel costs.

Good point about the passports. They are very expensive.

We went butlins this year as youngest one still in nappies and we just couldn't be bothered with the faff. For four nights the accommodation was 300, no food included. We spent about 50 for breakfasts lunch squash snacks to put in bags for four days so that's 350 gone already. The swimming pool was free but we spent 400 there on dinners, arcades any activities kids wanted to do. So 750 gone already. 50 on petrol! 800 for FOUR days in sodding bognor regis! We went all inclusive ibiza last year for a week 1200 pounds for the four of us, all together it was 1500 for holiday car park hotel night at Gatwick and spending money. So more expensive than abroad but we did have an extra 3 nights, sun and it wasn't butlins ! I won't ever go there again!

Home exchange. Changed our lives. We go away most school holidays now for free - well flights only, free if U.K.

kerala that sounds a good idea. Do you live in a desirable area? My house is nice enough but I'm not sure anyone would want to holiday here!

Me and my husband are both in low paid jobs but we have a council house (so low rent) and aren't interested in drinking/smoking/going out etc. When I was a sahm we couldn't afford an abroad holiday but now I work (self employed so no child care costs) we can afford a holiday and my own car. It's defo worth it. We used to manage a caravan holiday which is almost as good if you could arrange that?

Camping does have an initial outlay and when your kids are small mean if you have a garden you can have camping sleepovers.The sleeping bags get used for years.
Sites on big holiday parks do cost 25-30 a night if you like that sort of thing.I used to choose more off beat ones with attractions for kids when small but walking,beaches and a good pub within walking distance.
Children quickly seem to find friends and sleep very soundly.

We are doing 2 weeks next year in the school holidays. 5 people (2 adults, 3 kids) and the price is £1600. We are going to Spain.

Meant to say there are lots of good sites that charge £15ish.