To wonder how people afford luxury holidays

[dontbesillyhenry]

Not once but several times sometimes yearly? We both work and earn relatively good money but can only afford to stretch to a few days in England. We don't have loads of luxurys either so it really baffles me what are we doing wrong?

Lots of people do have a fair amount of cash available. I have never been tempted by lux holidays myself although I do know plenty of wealthy people who go to great places.
However there is a high level of personal debt in the uk so I suppose it is a reasonable question. Many people buy on the never never. They must be otherwise credit card and loans wouldn't be so overused. Particularly compared to the rest of Europe.

Sometimes luxury looking foreign holidays are cheaper than you might think. DH, DD and I had a week in Morocco for £700 recently. It would cost more to get a cottage in the UK for that.

Other options - people prioritise and save, people have credit cards, people get gifts or inheritance, people are mortgage free (we have no mortgage and more disposable income as a result) or folk just earn a surprising amount.

We go on about 3 holidays a year plus some short uk breaks. We both work full time with a decent joint income. We're both in our early 50s but with no dependent children, when the dc's were young we stuck to one holiday in France every year. We also have lots of air miles so rarely pay full price for flights.

I'm on holiday now.

One of my mates asked how we afford it.

Her family eat out at nandos type places several times a week. She is constantly buying clothes and bags. She has so much stuff her and her husband pay over £100 a month for storage.

She pays more on storage than I have on a holiday and that's without the stuff in the storage unit. All crap btw. Records and Star Wars toys 😂

I genuinely don't understand how these posts appear regularly and how people can apparently be baffled that other people are rich
People are rich.
It's not necessarily parents or credit cards or bargain hunting.
Some people are rich.

What is there to not understand?

Not sure why you are baffled - some people earn more money than you. Mystery solved.

Credit cards, loans, inheritance, lucky when buying house so no mortgage or low repayments. Going out of school holidays...off season.

We usually have three holidays a year, two UK self catering (one week each during school holidays) and one two week in August somewhere warm.

Credit card used to pay but paid off each month, no loans, no inheritance. Always in school holidays as I work in school. Not 'lucky' with house purchase, bought house, paid mortgage for 25 years. DH earns good money, I don't even earn enough to pay tax!

Maybe we just live cheaply? I honestly don't know how we seem to have more cash than friends at the same stage in life, especially since most of them have TWO good salaries.

Hardly baffling!

We have a decent income and can afford them.

Before we had kids and we both had full time jobs we could afford 2/3 holiday per year. Now with one wage coming in, we could only afford a caravan holiday. But with this crap weather and I have started part time since kids are at school. I have stated saving money for next year to go abroad.

The flashiest people I know are the ones with the least money. I know a couple of families that holiday in 5-star, long haul holidays 3 times a year, drive new cars and generally give off the impression they are doing really well. Behind closed doors they are heavily in debt, have mortgages at the maximum and complain about being broke.

They earn more than you? Or perhaps like a friend of mine books a year in advance and pays it off in instalments. I am not that organised and I usually end up paying last minute....that can be more affordable too. I can afford to go away and would love to however, we've not been away for a few years because my husband can't get time off work during the school holidays!

It would surprise you what people earn. My dh is a tradesman we live in an average semi but he earns as much as 500.00 some days. This is how we afford to go abroad. As his income fluctuates, we don't risk big mortgages or car finance so have money to spare for holidays and savings.

How do people afford it usually boils down to:

They earn more than you think they do
Hidden income eg inheritance, bank of mum and dad
Credit, possibly lots of
Lower outgoings - fewer kids, no debts, no meals out, meal planning etc
Luxury holidays aren't as luxury as you think - they big it up a lot
Good at bargain hunting for holidays - as above some luxury looking holidays can be actually cheap compared to a week in a hotel in Cornwall

It's true: some people earn far more than you or I. BUT

"The small stuff adds up - leaving cash aside for the holidays."

Unlike others around me I have no cable/satellite telly. I don't spend money on hairdressers or manicurists. I have no travel expenses (lucky!). My rent is relatively low (lucky!) I only ever buy clothes for work in charity shops. I take my lunch to work every day and rarely eat out (tight).

I have a fairly responsible job but earn a very modest salary for London but I save at least £500 month as an absolute minimum. That's how I can afford decent holidays

It really baffles me
What's baffling about it? It's pretty straightforward
People earn more money than you or stick it on a credit card, less outgoings or family money. It's hardly rocket science!

YY to this - if you don't do nails, brows etc etc and buy v few clothes you can have a lot left over. Also no coffees, magazines, Sky, all adds up.

DH and I go away at least twice a year, it will be cheap flight and cheap hotels but once we are there we have money to spend on meals out. Michelin star places are much cheaper abroad than in the UK so we don't bother here - and so we have money for the luxury bits that matter to us.

its been done to death on here and most of the answers are the same - unless you know the people really well ( or they are ones to tell you their incomings and outgoings) you will always wonder.
Some people just earn a lot of money and some run up credit.
Some have had inheritances or they receive money from family.
Others, such as a friend of mine, wont buy any food ( just enough to keep her going and some days she wont eat!) and will penny pinch for that trip abroad each year. I worry constantly about money myself, its the way i ;ve always been.

The flashiest people I know are the ones with the least money. I know a couple of families that holiday in 5-star, long haul holidays 3 times a year, drive new cars and generally give off the impression they are doing really well. Behind closed doors they are heavily in debt, have mortgages at the maximum and complain about being broke

The flipside to this is that scruffy couple in a scruffy house with one small 3 year old car (PCP and very cheap to run) and one old car both have decent jobs and no DCs so have quite a big disposable income, shop in Aldi, cook from scratch, meal plan and they don't spend on clothes, home improvements, cars or gadgets so have plenty left for holidays. Because that's DP and I that is.

But what is a 'luxury holiday' If you're not there, how do you know how much it cost and exactly how luxury it was?.

A holiday in Mallorca can be 3 star AI in Magaluf booked a year in advance or last minute, a self catering apartment and budget flights all of which will be vastly cheaper than a naice villa in Puerto Pollensa and eating out every night on the Pine Walk. If you see the pics of them near the pool, on the beach, in a bar etc, they'll look very much the same.

A lot of people in their late 50/60s have good company pensions, have paid off mortgage, probably had inheritance and what better way to spend the cash than a nice holiday or 2 or 3, DH and I are certainly going to do that before we get too old, you can't take it with you.

Op what do you call good money?

How much of you income is rent/mortgage?

If you hardly buy anything the money has to go somewhere. So where is it going?

Some people just prioritise holidays as that's what they like! Others pay for expensive hobbies for their children or out the money into university/house funds for them etc. I'm talking about relatively normal people here. There are those who have money to go on plenty of holidays without having to think about the cost.

I;ve always found, too, that the richer people are, the tighter they are!
( could be just people i know, but other people have said it too)
Some folk are spending the inheritance before they get it.

Book a year in advance and pay off on installments. Family of 4. 1 week in Greece in august self catering £2000, paid 4 installments of £500. We have 300 euros left over from last year so bought 600 euros in spending money. We budget 100 euros a day to feed us all and extras, never have spent that all

I agree with a lot of the above. It's about priorities and what you choose to spend your money.

My partner and I are high earners, but you wouldn't think that looking at us! No expensive clothes or handbags and most of my clothes are second hand! A couple of luxury items for DP (good watch and sunnies) other than that jeans and Tshirts that have been about for years (a couple of good suites too).

Next year we'll do at least (for a family of 5)
1 week skiing
2 weeks in Europe
2 weeks in South Africa
1 big music festival (latitude, camp bestival or board masters)
At least 6 weekends away.

Sounds expensive but really if you plan and are cleaver it isn't!
Skiing do as much as you can yourself and go to a small ski station.
Europe don't go to the expensive countries, don't do all inclusive and go self catering so you only spend one meal out.
Long haul holidays go to places where the exchange rate is really preferential. Many places on the pound is a bargain but be prepared to shop around and pay in local currency (so no all inclusive)
Look for deals online for getaways. Do something different not what everyone else is doing (that's always more expensive)

Also when we go away we Airbnb our house. It's a complete ball ache but it gives us the money to start to book our next holiday. Eg we're away in Europe for two weeks and have enough money from the Airbnb to book flights, car and some of our accommodation for skiing.

We are pretty average earners, have one Ds and an average priced rental detached house in a cheap area. We go away 3-4 times a year and it really is just about what you choose to spend your money on. We have one old car, rarely buy clothes, magazines etc. I don't have things like hair colouring, nails, brows - just not important to me. We do eat out and get the odd takeaways and coffees etc.
I work in the travel industry so get discounts on some holidays, the savings probably pay for the uk break we do every year. We book well in advance on low deposit deals and pay a chunk off every payday.