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?

Hadafuckfull

Maybe your neighbours have had a inheritance - doesn't always have to be a parent leaving them money.

My teenage DC inherited close to 100k from a bachelor cousin of mine last year, as did another 8 of my cousins' children. Two sisters, one single and one divorced, both in 30s, bought their own houses with small mortgages, and have had lots of comments from friends, and the divorced one's ex, of how could they afford it? They have kept quiet on inheritance. Nobodies business.

My two will have prob close to 150k when they buy, with inheritance, savings we had already made for them and the rise in the investments made with these. Given that we have told no one of the inheritance, apart from some of DH's family but even they don't know the amount (obvs my family do, as all beneficiaries were part of it) then people will no doubt wonder how they can afford holidays and such when older!!

We prioritise holidays. This year we went to Paris for a week for our anniversary and in November we go to Dubai, Bangkok and Vietnam (all one trip).

We look around for cheap flights and deals on hotels and then we put the big costs on 0% interest credit cards to secure the best deals. We then pay them off throughout the year whatever we can afford each month. By the time we come back from our holiday in November the credit card will be paid off so we'll close it and open another one which is 0% for another 2 years. Then next year we'll be putting Italy and America onto it and so on.

We don't buy expensive clothes and any house DIY/maintenance DH does himself. He fitted our entire bathroom and will be fitting the kitchen etc so we save money on stuff like that. We also have no debts (other than our holiday credit card which we just see as an ongoing thing!)

My recipe was get best exam results in school, pick a high paid career (law), worker harder than most people, win law prizes, move hundreds of miles from family to find the highest paid firms, always work full time for 30 years and take 2 weeks off only when a baby came. These kinds of choices are not things most people want to make and plenty are unable to do it anyway. Luck comes into it too. I am just about never ill and I tend to spend less than I earn.

If the poster is really baffled then just analyse their situation - eg what grades in A levels did they get, what status of university did they attend, what career choices did they make, where did they move to to find the highest paid work - we tend to find obviously with luck playing apart too we reap what we sow in life, not that nice holidays decide if people are happy or not, no way. In fact divorce lawyers get really busy after Christmas and summer holidays - nothing like enduring your family for a week or two to make some people rush to divorce lawyers!

I tend to take the teenagers (and adult children if they want to come) somewhere hot abroad in the summer and for a week skiing in VdI over Christmas or new year. Those are definitely nice holiday but I have been very happy in tents before now too and if money got tighter I would be more than happy with holidays at home or using my tent.

No DC, DP has a great salary and mine isn't bad. I love to travel, so I prioritise it over clothes etc. DP travels a lot for business so we use his accumulated air miles for personal holidays. We just paid £600 each for first class return flights to Cuba. I also think that holidaying in the UK is expensive and if you shop around and look for
deals it's cheaper to go abroad.

They used airmiles baby. I don't understand them at all but what I do know is that not all employers all employees to use business accrued airmiles for personal travel - mine certainly doesn't.

They probably just waste them or don't even bother collecting them I expect. Because that is preferable to the thought of any employees getting a freebie. I'm surprised they let me keep the Morrisons points I get when buying fuel used for work really.

@babybarrister

DP flies with Virgin regularly for business, at least once a month so accumulated thousands of miles. We used the miles and paid a little cash and got the flights. We do this a lot only to
virgin's destinations though. It's best to call and book as the website is hard work. It meant flying to Varadero and out of Havana but it worked for us.

Not sure we count as "rich" but we set aside the income from our tenants for holidays. If they are all let and tenants pay up, we go long haul, otherwise we go somewhere lower key. We do try to go away 3 or 4 times a year and usually go to the US at least once.

And yes, accruing miles from work-funded business flights works wonders for cheap flights/upgrades!

We are middle level earners, only one DC and relatively small mortgage. We could move house to a flash one, but that would take too much of our spends. We'd rather holiday twice a year abroad (in school hols too) that have a wow house.
I am also a bargain shopper and never pay full price for anything.....

House swap.

I'm baffled by the fact that you both earn a relatively good income (what is a relatively good income?), don't smoke, drink or spend on clothes, yet appear to be left with little money.

I'm guessing your outgoings are high. Have you looked at your finances and got the best deals on utilities, and how much you spend on groceries and every day spends?

As a pp suggested, have a look at moneysaving expert, there's lots of info on there about budgeting and limiting your outgoings.

I go on cheap and cheerful holidays once or twice a year, I keep my "luxury" expenditure is in one area only and like many pps I fund that by rarely eating out, no overpriced coffees on the way to work, pay as you go cheap brand phone, never been in a nail bar, cheapest broadband/tv package, no designer stuff etc. etc.

You don't always have to earn loads to go away. I've never been a high earner, I've always relied on tax credits and child benefit as a single parent, and we still manage a few trips each year. They might not be considered 'luxury' to folks splurging thousands per trip, but the fact we can have them is a luxury to us. Don't forget, you could be staying in bog standard accommodation but by going out to explore, you can see and do some amazing things and end up with the most incredible photos. It's 99% perception half the time.

I only have one child, we live in a nice but inexpensive area, and I don't spend frivolously. I don't drink, smoke or go on big nights out. I budget, I shop carefully at Lidl, and I only ever buy clothing in the sales when me and 10 yo DD need it. It comes down to the things you're prepared to sacrifice, and the things you're not. These things might sound small and silly to most folks, but they really add up! If you keep a close eye on what you're saving and put that money aside, it's unbelievable what you can end up with.

I know friends and past work colleagues of mine have always been puggled by how I can afford to take DD away so often. Don't misunderstand, we're not jetting off to Disney World Florida three times a year, but we usually manage one foreign holiday and two or three UK based holidays/trips each year, and they are always lovely. By dyeing my own hair, subbing Netflix instead of a TV licence, and going out running instead of paying for my old gym membership, I save £587.12 a year. Just on those three stupid things. But I don't let the savings get lost in my current account. If I've saved it by finding a cheaper/free alternative, I stick the money straight into savings like it's still being spent the same way. I might not notice or reap the benefits of those cuts in my day-to-day life, but we can afford to go on holiday.

Before DC we went on lots of luxury long haul holidays at least twice a year. We had two reasonable incomes, low mortgage and being able to book last minute and avoid school holidays.
Until DD was 5 we mainly went to the UK seaside so saved the money and then used it to start going abroad again with luxury holidays more like once a year.
We live in a nice, big enough house but never over stretched ourselves for it.

I dont understand how you dont get to keep your airmiles?

You can add your own frequent flier /executive club number to the booking when you check in. Unless they literally check you in and give you a boarding pass I cant see how they could stop you. Even then you only need the number on the boarding pass to retrospectively claim the miles.

If it doesn't fit with what you know they do for a living, they very likely are paying for it on credit. Not all of them obviously but many will be.
As part of my job I look in depth at people's finances and the amount of credit many have is eye watering and scary.
I have a friend who's always on fabulous holidays but I know she also has over £40k debt, despite being on a very modest salary.
Also locally is another family - brand new Range Rover (leased no doubt), long haul fabulous holidays, great clothes, always eating out, etc. Very modest home that doesn't fit with the rest of lifestyle really. Recently heard ( reliably) that they were on verge of bankruptcy and trying to enter into a voluntary arrangement. Her mother bailed them out, and they're still doing exactly the same!
It's a question I often ask myself, as our holidays are modest and within our means but in many cases it really is beyond their means. Like I say, not always, but often.

Loveka In the public sector use of airmiles for private use would be see as abuse of position and a disciplinary offence.

Not bitter at all about this, no not me.

Not living within 100 miles of London helps! Our mortgage is 20% of our monthly income.

We don't go in school holidays as no kids yet, so can get a week in Florida in November (flight and hotel) for 600 quid each. If we're frugal for a couple of months, that's that paid for.

There are bargains to be had if you shop around. 3 of us went AI to Antigua for under £3k 2 weeks October half term (son's school has 2 weeks off then).

Thailand and the Far East is still really, really cheap when you get there and there are deals to be found. We went last Christmas and it costs about £10 for 3 of us to eat out including drinks!

We just went to Croatia in a 5* hotel for not very much at all with Jet2Holidays.

We spend more on holidays than cars.
We save for holidays and cars rather than get them on credit.

loveka

Some airlines have a programme where the companies can book tickets via a corporate frequent flier account and the airmiles for those tickets go into the corporate account rather to the passengers one.
The BA one is called On Business

DH and I both travel quite a lot for work (and keep our own air miles) which pays for nearly all our flights - skiing, a couple of long weekends in Europe plus one long haul in biz class
This means we can splurge on hotels with the money we have saved on flights

Lucy sky how on earth can you know you work harder than most people? So a parent who is a carer to their disabled child works a lot less hard than you? I very much doubt that but they certainly won't be able to afford a luxury holiday for their hard work

I expect most people who take luxury holidays have enough disposable income to save but I do have one friend who takes out a bank loan to pay for the family holiday.
Another took voluntary redundancy from one of their two jobs and went on several nice holidays.
One of my relatives has quite a lot of friends abroad so has holidays for little more than the air fares.

Oh I see. That's a bummer.

I eas once on a train that was delayed for 8 hours, meaning I had only a few hours sleep before I had to get up to do an important work thing. A colleague said he thought I should have given my 50% compensation back to work. Whereas I thought it was compensation for me personally.

I travel a lot for work, I think there should be a bit of a perk for tbat, especially as I dont get paid for any of the time I spend travelling!