To think my DH is a miser when it comes to holidays? How much do you spend?

[Pipsquiggle]

We are a relatively high earning household. We earn between £7k and £9k a month net. Have a small mortgage, no debts to pay off, monthly bills but essentially never spend over what we earn (we have saved for so long, we have kept up with this habit)

We both agreed that we needed a foreign holiday where we could relax, so I looked at options for an all inclusive 4/5 stars, pools, kids clubs etc. for 7 days. The quotes I got back were circa £5k to £6k (school holidays, family of 4).

My husband then says 'We can't spend like this every holiday - it will be a 1 off' - which is fair enough, I don't mind camping or hiring a cottage etc.

But then I got thinking - am I taking the mick with this holiday? What do other people spend when they go abroad?

I don't want to start a 'showing off' thread but genuinely How much do you approx earn as a household and how much do you approx spend for a week abroad? This holiday is slightly lower than a month's earnings - is that too much?

Thanks in advance.

Last time I took the whole family abroad - DH and me plus 2 adult DC it cost about £8k. This was four years ago. And our income is far less than yours OP.

Our household income is roughly £5.5k a month. We spend around £4k abroad in the summer for the two of us (no kids) plus spending money.
However, DP is self employed and isn’t that bothered about holidays whereas they’re what I live for so the deal is I pay for holidays as he probably loses the same amount in income by not working.

We also do 2-3 long weekends either abroad or in the U.K. throughout the year as well. We’ve recently decided that we’re sick of sub par service (particularly in the U.K.) so have cut down on the amount of times we go away but upgraded the level of hotel we book. For example, our NYs break cost us £1,300 for two nights but it was the most incredible weekend so I’d rather do that than have 2 average weekends away.

About 1 month salary (both wages) for cost and spends for 1week abroad, or 2 weeks in UK or ROI. We used to alternate home or abroad, before Covid restrictions.

It's not the kind of holiday I would pick but I would also not have an issue with paying that for a family holiday every year if I had your income.

I think holidays are important, we just prefer city breaks or theme parks.

We have a joint income of about £60k at the moment with mortgage of 10k a year. Two teens at home and neither like designer clothes or anything fancy/expensive. We probably spend about £3-6 k a year on holidays but we do LOTS on the cheap.

This year it's a week in Italy in June for me, my youngest teen and adult daughter and grand son. Cost £250 for flights, £80 for transfers and £250 for accommodation. Spends will be £720 for food and a few day trips. So £1300 for 4 of us.

Then I've just booked two weeks in summer holidays to Corfu for me, DH, and youngest teen. Flights, self catering hotels etc is £1200. Basic, cheap and cheerful next to the beach. £800 spends.

Hoping to book to take our two teens to Iceland before Christmas. Flights will be £400. Accommodation £400. Car hire £200. Spends £600.

Eldest teen wants to go to London for a few days with his mates so he can have £300 towards it for a hostel and coach. Another £400 to take my daughter to Lego land and the Harry Potter tour.

£1300
£2000
£1600
£700

Total £5600 which I think is great for 3 countries and 3 weeks and 4 days abroad.

Never go abroad. Can't afford it. I earn 15k.

Our last holiday before covid was a 3 day European city break. We went first class Eurostar, stayed in 3 separate rooms in a 5 star hotel (family of 5) for 3 nights, had private museum tours, great restaurants, a private boat trip and it was about £6k

Last summer we did UK self catering, the rental house was £4k for a week then we spent another £2-3k on restaurants, surf lessons, spa treatments, Ocado deliveries and cabs.

Our monthly net income is higher than yours. For reference, not boasting!

We take home a similar amount to you OP, we tend to spend £5-9k per holiday unless we're going all out. Tend to do a couple of weekends away during the year in the uk, maybe a one or two to Europe and one big one to the states normally. Our holiday last year was £6k before spending money, this year we've got one booked for £7.5k but we splurged and got upgraded flights and hotel! Genuinely doesn't sound like you're taking the proverbial on this at all, enjoy your holiday 😊

I don't think you're being unreasonable given you want a nice hotel, nice location and you've got a very good income.

We used to do a city break, or camping and then an abroad holiday. I had no kids then and more availability to go away.

I've not been abroad whilst having little ones and will probably do staycations for a few more years yet and holidays aren't a priority for me at the minute (unfortunately) but I definetly do not think you're being unreasonable OP x

If I were in your position, I'd make sure we were going on at least one bloody lovely holiday per year, and then maybe some nice short breaks here and there. Life is too short to be scrimping and saving on holidays and going shitty camping (my opinion, sorry) when you can afford a lot better. We're on a low income and can't afford to go on a holiday that is really worth going on right now. Growing up, my dad had a very high income, his take home was higher than 9k, but he was such a tight git and I have lots of memories of some awful holidays tbh on the rare occasion we went on one. There was one where we were forced to stay in somewhere really rundown and there was pests and all sorts, I remember my sister playing with the mice scurrying about inside the sofa!

Do you think he’s got so used to saving he can’t comprehend that there’s no point earning well and then not benefiting from it?

Haven't been on holiday for a few years because of Covid (couldn't be arsed with the testing procedures) and because we have a lot of mortgage and debt. This year I plan to take DD glamping for a weekend in the Cotswolds and DH will probably take her to the coast for a week. My leave is allocated so unless I can swap with a colleague we have to go separately. I earn about 2k net every 4 weeks and DH is on about £400 a week. If I was bringing in OPs money, my budget would obviously be a lot higher.

We have a joint income of about £120K a year and I reckon we probably spend about £3K per year on one one week holiday and a couple of mini breaks. £6K for one holiday seems like quite a lot to me.

I think that's fine for an annual holiday on your income and outgoings level. I always found 2 weeks was better value than one.

My husband nearly had a heart attack at the prices first time both kids were at school so restricted to school holidays, very reluctantly agreed, went, saw how kids loved it and was fine booking every year.

What’s he saving for? With an income like that I’d be pulling faces at tents.

That sounds about right to me for a main holiday. We usually spend about that for our big long haul with 3 kids, though DH thinks it’s less because I only ever tell him how much it will cost for flights and lodging, never food/extras. 🤣

Overall we aim to not spend more than 10% of our take-home annually on holidays. At a minimum we try to do a big holiday and a ski holiday, and then we fill in the gaps with cheaper breaks at half terms and Easter. Some years we spend more on the main holiday, and some years we spread it out a bit more evenly across the year.

That sounds about what we have been looking at for a week with Neilson. Not cheap at all, so we are just doing some juggling to see if we can make it work.

But having gone with them before, its definitely the case you can feel the difference with the nicer all inclusive holidays and the good kids clubs. Id argue if you can afford to spend a months income on a holiday, why not make the most of these few years you get to do the family holiday thing?

Presumably you are saving quite a lot each month - for what? For me holidays are an important thing for family time so we make them a priority fun spend (if that makes sense).

That said - 5 to 6k sounds quite a lot for 7 days away - when are you looking to go? Who are you getting quotes with and have you shopped around prices.

That said 2022 is higher than it has been for awhile for holidays!

We probably earn around the same as you OP but our kids are grown up and no mortgage or debts
It’s adults only holidays for us generally around 3k for two weeks in canaries nice 4 star hotel
All inclusive twice a year and maybe 1 long haul 3 weeks which is about 5-6k

I would never ever do camping. I need a proper bed, electricity hot running showers and yes again a proper bed and no creepy crawlies 😂
I did Glastonbury in my youth so a long time
ago and it traumatised me for a long time 😂
I’ve just paid £3200 for two weeks AI in the canaries in March
We will take about 1k spending money but probably come back with most of it

When the kids were younger we still did AI to places like Ibiza and Menorca but out of school
holidays so it was cheaper

Our monthly net income is high, outgoings pretty low. We spent approx £3.5k on a lovely week of 5* AI in October, 2 adults, 1 child. No reason not to. DH would never suggest SC or camping, nor would I agree to it. That's not what a holiday is about for me and gladly, DH agrees.

Annual gross income household approx £120k. Spend £8-10k annually on holidays

We spend circa £5000 for three of us, DS often is classed as an adult due to age. That is for a fortnight, short haul, self catering, including spends. In 2020 we went to Sicily and spent £4000 for a private villa with pool and a car. We cooked a lot as we had a full kitchen and barbecue, but we like cooking.
For lunch it's often something picky, breads, cheeses, dips, salads etc. We don't eat out during the day, just in the evening.
We book it all separately ourselves, never a package, and we like self catering as we want to experience the locality. Would hate to go all inclusive, but it's personal choice.

It sounds reasonable but I share the reluctance to spend lots on holidays because you don’t feel as though you have anything to show for it afterwards.

I realise it’s stupid - I’d love to go to Costa Rica or Namibia, but I can’t bring myself not to put the cost into my pension instead.

I think you got a bargain!

Our combined net income is just over 11k per month. Yesterday I booked our summer holiday for 12k. So that’s just over a month’s income. No way would be I going camping.