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?

Sorry about 3k... I missed a holiday out.

God dammit, I can't type or do maths it's about 3.5k isn't it?

Anyway! It's still bloody cheaper than package holidays, that's one week according to some "all inclusive deals"

It's not baffling really some people just earn more money and prioritise holidays. Not necessarily putting them on credit cards..

I work twenty hours a week, that money is not needed these days, so we spend it on two/three weeks in a villa in Southern Spain. that sleeps six (there are only three of us, the space is lush) , we have a driver pick us up and eat out every night and go to the local cocktail bar most nights after dinner.

The flip side of that is that my DH who specialises in a very niche product is away on average three to four nights a week a lot of the time and whilst he is extremely well paid for it, we only get to hang as a family at weekends, so that time is precious to us.

So you don't always know what has been sacrificed to achieve the holiday. In our case it is not food, clothes, meals out, but family time.

High level of household income being in our mid/late 40's with 2 DC and probably at peak earning power.

I prioritise holidays over other stuff (looking directly at my non matched pairs of bedroom curtains 6 yrs later plus my 10 yr old Ford Focus!) Being frugal by nature, I like researching for 'bargains' so budget short haul flights - I aim for less than £150 return and May Half Term is much cheaper than July/Aug for luxury hotels/resorts/villas. Southern Europe is definitely hot by then. I definitely wouldn't pay the August premium for the same accommodation. E.g 2 hotel rooms at Fuerte Conil on a HB basis was approx £1200 for May Half Term. For a week in August, it would have been over £3K!

I've unclenched enough to book long haul in the extortionate summer holidays for the past 2 yrs only because we have more or less paid off our mortgage and we can also use airmiles to subsidise our flights. I still resent paying the summer holiday premium for everything else along with the crowds everywhere - bah humbug!

We go on long haul luxury holidays once a year and short haul a couple of times a year.
We both work full time, have no mortgage, debts, HP, loans or credit cards. Debt terrifies me. I hated having a mortgage and paid it off as fast as I could. It felt like a millstone round my neck.
I buy a brand new car everyday three years, but I buy fiat pandas as they are cheap to buy new. I'm not into big or flashy cars, never have been.
DH smokes and likes a drink on a weekend, I don't smoke and rarely drink.
I'm not wasteful with food either. For example, if I roast a chicken, we will have some for a meal, then I will strip the carcass and make a curry or have it cold with salad the next day, then boil the carcass and make soup which I freeze. I refuse to buy coffee out unless I'm meeting a friend for coffee and I always make a packed lunch for me and DH for work.
As the saying goes, look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.
We also tend to go during term time when its cheaper and shop around for the best deals.

It baffles me how you can't afford a holiday, or have savings, if you have 2 good incomes. In what way are you wasting it all?

I have a very low mortgage, work a lot and get very tired.

I like my package holidays with the kids somewhere hot with someone to clean my room everyday, buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner so I can kick back, relax and unwind. Yes I did spend 3k for a week away but it was worth every second and every penny and it felt like much longer.

When the kids were under 4 all holidays were UK based. We did do a lot of camping with friends as well once a year. We decided last year never to camp again ever, too damp, fed up with constant cooking and cleaning etc. But fun for the few years we did go hanging out with friends.

I traveled a lot pre kids and never did package holidays back then, but I really appreciate a decent package holiday now I'm time and energy limited. The kids love it and when they're older I'll take them to more cultural or back packer type holidays

I hasten to add that this was the first time I've spent that much as I had to go away in August. However it was worth it as there were less toddlers as they can holiday outside of school holidays.

I used to take mine out of school in June or go the very last week of the summer holidays and miss the first couple of days of the new school year. Not so easy to do these days however.

By less toddlers I also mean less frantic parents.

I'm going to Spain on Saturday with my three children and it was 580 euro!

Spending money, now that's another story.....

Very rude to assume we are 'wasting' anything...we have to pay childcare and have three kids our mortgage is high but not because we have a massive house just the area we live in

Interested to see whether long haul is considered more luxurious than short haul? I would much prefer (and consider it more luxurious) to spend a fortnight in a nice villa with a pool in say Italy than two weeks in an AI hotel in the Dominican Republic!

myheart Im genuinely curious as to how you've managed this.
Does this include flights, accommodation, food and activities?
How much extra do you think you will spend and what kind of accommodation is it? Is it self catering? Air bnb? I.e. Will you have to clean and cook?

Very rude to assume we are 'wasting' anything...we have to pay childcare and have three kids our mortgage is high but not because we have a massive house just the area we live in

You've answered your own question - no need to be baffled!

Very rude to assume we are 'wasting' anything...we have to pay childcare and have three kids our mortgage is high but not because we have a massive house just the area we live in

If you aren't wasting anything and are simply spending two good salaries on childcare and mortgage, how can you be so faux baffled as to why other people can afford holidays? Did them having smaller mortgages or rent and/or less or no childcare costs not occur to you?

I'm a single parent and earn a little above average. I choose to spend next to nothing all year round to afford going away. We don't eat out, I don't buy clothes or makeup unless they are desperately needed. My holidays are my life's essentials. Everyone's different - I prioritise holidays over things other people may feel are more important. I don't own a house, belong to a gym, have an expensive hobby etc.

So if you know where your money goes, why the question?

People either earn more or less outgoing costs. Some will get into debt, but thats not sustainable forever.

I have a luxury holiday coming up next year. My mortgage is relatively small, in comparison to our wages

Well that's a hell of a drip feed OP. It's pretty bloody obvious that if you're at the stage of life where most of your salary goes on mortgage and childcare, your disposable income will be much lower than other people who don't have these expenses.

It's still bloody cheaper than package holidays, that's one week according to some "all inclusive deals"

You're not really comparing like with like there. People spending £3.5k on an AI package holiday will be a family going in peak season. They won't have access to £28 return flights or even £300 for return flights for everyone - how many people are you talking about btw?

I also shop around and compare deals and several times have priced up exactly the same holiday - same flights, same hotel to stay in on a B&B basis (neither did AI but I don't want that anyway) and have found a jet2holidays package to be cheaper than booking everything separately.

Booking separately is often cheaper, but it's by no means always the case, especially if you are going for a week in the Med and aren't booking months in advance.

Our household income is around 45,000
We rent cheaply
Don't have cars
Live in London (cheap transport)
Two DDs at childminders 3 days per week
Utilities cheap
Don't eat out
Don't have nights out, have friends round or go to friends houses
Only thing we book is Disney on ice twice a year (yes we are a Disney family )
We go to disneyland Paris every march, Butlins every June and usually France/Spain every September
Butlins is always the most expensive!!!
We also get a lot of money from my mum who received a massive inheritance and gives me and my brother a monthly allowance from it as she wants to see us enjoy it

Sorry that should read that we do have friends round or go to friends houses instead of going out

These threads are always the same issue - "How can other people afford X when I assume their income and expenditure is exactly the same as mine?" - basically it's not, and holidays have the added complication that they don't always cost the same set amount depending on when you buy it, where from and when you go.

OP - you said you pay for childcare, assuming 1 dc in full time childcare, is that around £1k a month? So if you say, had a grandparent who was prepared to do childcare for free, you'd have an extra £12k a year. Easy enough to pay for a couple of £4K holidays a year and still have extra savings for meals out and new clothes.

(We also don't have free childcare from anyone, so when we had dc2, I gave up work as id have brought less in each month than childcare cost, but then you'll get people on here claiming being a SAHM is a "luxury" and wonder how others afford it. If your DH earns too enough to get help with tax credits but you earn too little to cover the childcare costs, working is a luxurious indulgence, but there's many on here who just won't believe that you wouldn't be better off working - same mentality of failing to see that other people's financial situation is different to yours)

As invisible says it's all pretty obvious. Some of us earn a fair, bit over £100k (one mumsnetter was around £1m I remember when we had a thread about incomes) so that obviously hsa an impact and some of the men (husbands etc) earn as much if not more too. Other women don't work and earn nothing. Others work very hard full time but for the minimum wage.

Also as you start to earn more you tend to spend a bit more on various things from school fees to bigger houses to food. My teenage sons go to Waitrose when they want without a cash limit (although I would not pay for alcohol). When the older children were their age we had a once a week rather frugal Tesco basics kind of delivery once a week. Same with holidays - it just goes up if you like that kind of thing. I had a lovely very basic school trip skiing as a teenager once, loved it and then went again once I had 3 small children. We found the cheapest hotel possible in a nice resort in Switzerland, had attic rooms with no bathroom except end of corridor and used to buy bread and eat cans of tuna fish we had brought from home for lunch. Now I pay for Christmas in the Alps at a nice hotel and all meals, ski passes etc. However I am always fairly careful. I don't have any mortgage now - after 30 years of paying one and I would not book any holidays if I did not also have spare money and was earning more than I was spending.

I'll have spent £6k on holidays this year but by god they've been good. Week doing some super cool adventure skiing. Two tropical weeks. two long weekends to NY and Ibiza. Festival. Couple of camping trips.

I love holidays.

Personally I don't understand how anyone can afford to have children when they cost way more than nice holidays!