AIBU to say you can't afford to go abroad on NMW?

[AlphaBravoCharlieDeltaEchOFoxt]

If you are a working parent how do you afford to go on holiday abroad?

My teenagers and toddler have never been abroad. Family of five. I want to change this and COVID or no COVID I want to save up for an overseas holiday. How can people on the national minimum wage budget so they can go abroad? Please advise! Or am I right in thinking that if you earn NMW you cannot go abroad on holiday?

Yes - I am BU and it can be done on NMW.
No - YANBU and it cannot be done on NMW.

I think if there are 5 of you it could be tricky, we have only one so can often share one large room or a one bed apt- even then it's not something we can afford often. Have you looked at house or pet sitting options, I've a friend who stays in some lovely places abroad for just the cost of the flights and food. I can't remember the website, but it might me worth doing some research into it.

Lots of Mumsnetters love rainy UK holidays from what I’ve seen!
Booking easyJet/Ryanair flights as soon as they’re released is a great way to keep costs down, especially if you could do a few days before or after a school holiday. Then for accommodation look for apartments rather than hotels. Some areas of Spain etc are much cheaper than others I hope you manage to get abroad with your family, it’s a wonderful experience for all ages as you know!

If you get flights to business destinations then an airbnb it's very reasonable.

Most people 'on benefits' also work

I'm a lone parent of 3 I get above minimum wage but have never been able to take my lot abroad even when I was living with my ex.

I just save up for holidays here. Even they are pricey but you can get deals if you look. Then again as my wages are topped up by tax credits I guess I shouldn't be leaving the house to do anything other than buy food as it's not my money to spend.

I didn't go abroad until my mid-20s. Your children have plenty of time to travel.

I’ve managed to go abroad on nmw before but that was without kids and as you say it does eat into any meagre savings so depends if you need a small pot of money for emergency. When we went it was to France, only three nights. One meal out and rest of the time we buy bead etc at supermarket and eat at hotel. We do a lot of walking from place to place.

Since Covid a short hol abroad is probably the same ish as holidaying in the U.K. Although my SIL get those Sun holidays at Butlins that are dirt cheap and that is probably the best deal for a family.

I think it is fine to want to save up for a nice family hol is on nmw just might take longer and be tough to do. Usually people give a lot of good budgeting tips on here.

Don’t listen to the ‘how dare you buy a coffee or an avocado’ brigade as people would just curl up into a ball and die if everything was done as they see fit.

I am a lone parent of 15, 12 and 8 year olds. Just came back from a week in Mallorca. I work PT for the NHS. Approx £12 ph. We booked 16 months ago and paid monthly. Payments were around £133 a month. Have done this 3 times. Try Loveholidays. We go All Inclusive so need less spending money.

We drive to France or Holland and stay in a gite or holiday park. We use Tesco vouchers for the Eurostar.

@ParkingPassG0

Look at Megabus, you can pre book trips abroad very cheaply

Or travel by train, visit the cities during the day & sleep on the train to save accommodation costs

Sleep on the train to avoid accommodation??? With kids? What about toothbrushing, washing, pajamas??

I think covid needs to feature in this thread....going abroad is currently much more expensive.

"normally" it costs £250 to get to France on the eurostar, now it's £900 with channel tunnel fees up and multiple covid tests. You also need to be able to submit multiple forms to get there and back. (you need a phone or pc, able to connect to the internet)

Growing up I lived in a privileged household, private school, a yacht etc but we only went abroad twice before the age of 20. It just wasn't a thing that factored in our lives overly.

‘If you’re fortunate to have a wage higher than NMW then you should consider yourself lucky.’

Lucky? Most people aren’t on NMW. In my real life experience, the only people I know who count English as a first language, with no SEN and are on NMW, are those who made a few crappy decisions e.g didn’t take school seriously so left with poor qualifications and/had kids pretty young. Even a couple of those have managed to pull themselves above NMW after a few years.

OP you can save for a passport then save for a mega bus or ferry to France. Their campsites are relatively inexpensive and they have lots of great facilities. You can self cater which is cheaper.

[quote SisforSoppy]@SheikhMaraca you are going to get an absolute roasting for that comment on here, but there are many who will silently agree with you.[/quote]
Not very silent, are you?

It depends on outgoings as much as anything. As this thread shows a lot of people on this thread with 3 kids can’t afford a holiday abroad. I’ve a friend who has near a six figure household income a massive beautiful house yet doesn’t go abroad (although some of this is for environmental reasons to offset the 3 kids).

We have one child and holiday about every 6 weeks precovid we had at least one really nice 2 week luxury overseas holiday and two overseas city breaks a year. Then holidays and weekends in the U.K. holidays are our priority Our house is much smaller than my colleagues and friends I prob buy 3 items of clothing a year for me.

If you want to work out if it’s feasible work put your fixed outgoings for essentials, housing, food, utilities,clothes that HAVE to be replaced (don’t fit/ worn out rather than style), transport where no other means, school equipment and these days internet.What you have left is what you have to spend on luxury items (and everything else is luxury). You might need to give up booze (if you drink), net-flicks, trips out, shopping trips but everything in this luxury bracket is about priorities, the more money you have the less you have to prioritise,

Pull your kids out of school for a week. Book train tickets or ryan air, stay in a youth hostel. Go to Spain in November (out of season is your friend) self catering snd buy from supermarket. Do research about what are cheap or free activities. Some places have city passes that can work out cheap. Hotels wouid prob be difficult and limited choice with more than 2kids so would need 2rooms. 5 star all inclusive in the summer holidays prob not affordable

@JackieWeaverHandforthCouncil I can't quite believe what I've just read. NMW is the reality for many, regardless of qualifications, SEN, first language or so called 'crappy decisions'. Just because you don't see something n your little bubble doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

@Insertfunnyname

I think you can go abroad on NMW but you've chosen (I presume no trauma) to be a family of 5.

We decided to only have 2 children partly because we do value a bit more of the 'luxuries' in life. Raising a child to 18 costs something like £150,000 (can't remember, but you can google it) and I guess everyone's choices do stem from that decision first and foremost. Not saying it's right or wrong but with 3 children you've made a different decision to those people with 1 or 2 kids

Lucky you! I was going for 2 kids but ended up having unexpected twins in my second pregnancy (no twins anywhere in either family) so it doesn’t always work out like that!

@Worried234 "Sleep on the train to avoid accommodation??? With kids? What about toothbrushing, washing, pajamas??"

Sleeper trains have washing facilities and beds...

@ShrikeAttack

To the person who asked if OP was 'taking money from the state', I hope that you're in the 1/3 of people in the country who are net tax contributors, or you too are 'taking money from the state', I hope you're not pissing it away on luxuries!

I just had a look and it's 7% of UK workers that are on minimum wage, so it's nowhere near most jobs in the country @WonderfulYou.

There’s a lot of jobs that are 10p above minimum wage and the algorithms will not register that’s as ‘minimum wage’ but those people are still entitled to tax credit top ups because minimum wage is a pittance and an actual living wage where families can earn and not rely on benefits is around £13-15 an hour iirc. (Someone will surely correct it and it might be more and i know it is totally dependant in location.)

So, the question you really need to ask is who actually benefits from tax credits?

Is it the families that are paid a pittance OR is it the businesses who don’t pay enough and rely on the state to supplement their piss poor wages whilst their shareholders make massive profits?

Your focus is on the wrong side of the side of the issue. Look at the wages not the people who have no choice but to accept them.

[quote 00100001]@Worried234 "Sleep on the train to avoid accommodation??? With kids? What about toothbrushing, washing, pajamas??"

Sleeper trains have washing facilities and beds...[/quote]
Because a family of five, on NMW can afford the rail fares on a sleeper train, can't they??

Honestly, this thread....

DH and I used to book a week off work and then wait until a few days before and then book something super last minute for a great deal.

Was pre children so a little easier and not in school holidays of course, but if you get everything ready to go on a beach holiday, it doesn't really matter if it is Spain, Portugal or Greece!