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.

We net £2700pcm but then pay lots of childcare (2 primary aged DC), a fair amount of bills and have been trying to save to move.
We would usually spend around £1k on accommodation for a week in the UK Devon or Cornwall which is usually an air bnb or a static caravan, we got a cute holiday cottage for this once but they're since out of our price range.
Then we probably end up spending another £1000 on fuel, parking, food, & drink and trips out. I think the last one was less on trips out as we were limited on where we could or wanted to go due to Covid and having the dog with us.
We can't afford to holiday every year and I think we'll have to save harder as I looked at accommodation this year and it was even more expensive. You'll never see me camping though!

We earn 3k per month and have no mortgage. We have spent £2600 on our summer holiday this year. So a similar amount in relation to earnings. The most we ever spent is £10k three years ago when we happened to have the cash. We talk about it all the time and I would definitely do it again if we could.

Just to add, if we had more money, we'd spend more on holidays. It's taken us a while to get to the point where this is an option. If we had more spare cash we'd either go somewhere nicer or have several cheaper holidays.

@Snoozer11 Why do you accuse people of lying? You only have to take a look at the abundance of high end shops, restaurants, hotels, goods etc to see that there is a market out there for it.

Just because you might not be in that earning bracket doesn't mean that everyone else is a liar!

Snoozer11 why do you think people are lying?

We put a lot of value on travel/going away.

I think we earn about £150k per annum (maybe £7/8k a month net? Not sure....) Pre covid we'd spend £5/6k on self catering trip to France (2.5 weeks probably 2/3 locations), another £1k ish on UK break in one of the half term holidays, probably a couple of trips to London to see the sights/a show (£750 per trip?), and probably another couple of "mini breaks" with the kids (another £1k).

We also do trips by ourselves. So probably another trip abroad each (£6/700 x 2) and a few weekends away with friends (£300 x 4).

Quite interesting totting all that up!! Not including trips the kids do without us (friends, guides etc) I think it comes to around £11/12k a year. Worth every penny. We love exploring and seeing different parts of the Uk (and further afield).

To summarise, YANBU.

I'm a student. I have 3 part time jobs (on top of a full time degree) but my income is nothing like the OPs. I don't have a holiday as such, but I take my DS to Center Parcs (with friends) for his birthday each year. It costs me about £400. The idea of a "proper" holiday is a very foreign concept ...

maybe he puts a different value on a holiday than you do? We all value different things differently, I am sure that there are things that you look at and go "how much? goodness I would NEVER pay that for that."
It may also be that once he has tried it, he WILL see the value of it?

Sack off the all-inclusive - who wants to eat rubbery hotel food every night? Go out and about, visit restaurants. And sack off kids clubs too. I don't take my kids on holiday to be fobbed off in a dismal nursery - they come with us an join in!

There's no need to think a holiday has to be 'camping' or 'all inclusive'. Go for something in the middle, where you get to explore a bit and spend time with the kids. Few hundred quid. I've done Como, Bilbao, Milan and Sicily for that, with kids in tow and amazing food.

Pre covid we had a big trip every 2 years or so. Cost approx £15k, partly due to needing expensive seats on the plane.

We also like to rent a really nice house in Cornwall each year for a week in June or September and entertain relatives we don’t see much of. That’s another £6k or so. Odd few days away in so called fancy hotels which have been bloody expensive and pretty disappointing on the whole. Had a recent stay at the Cameron House Hotel on Loch Lomond which was extortionately expensive including food and drink and not worth it at all. The good self catering is miles better.

It’s just about what you value more than what you earn to an extent surely.
Growing up my parents had an average income but they prioritized going on holiday so that’s what we did. I’m genuinely not fussed and if I’m spending a few thousand pounds on anything I want something I can touch and keep, not a holiday.

We earn a bit less than you and have never spent as much as 50% as you do on holidays. Yes,

I think a months take home on a holiday is average - indulgent but not a massive blowout.

@Snoozer11

So many posters lying about their income on this thread.

This is why you're underpaid. You only have to look at the threads where people talk about salaries to see many women are conditioned to believe that salaries over 25k simply don't exist. They get excited over a pay rise to 27k. 28. Meanwhile, women who ARE aware of their worth and are confident enough to move jobs frequently - oh, and men of course - are on 50k, 70k, 90k. More. And they'll change jobs soon for another 20% boost.

Refusing to talk about salaries is what keeps people poor. Believing your boss's nonsense that you're 'very specialised' and can't find a job elsewhere keeps you poor.

There's huge sums out there. We need to be more open about them and demand then, not accuse those who earn them of being liars.

I’m a single mum of 3 on about 1/3 of what you take home a month and spend about 2/3k for a holiday. I generally go for all inclusive for 7 nights somewhere in Europe and we don’t leave the resort much as the kids are so little. So spends are about 1k I can imagine I’ll need to double if not triple that as they get older and want a different type of holiday.

I generally do day trips the rest of the year, hopefully be weekends when the younger two get older (and easier!).

So I’d say it’s fine based on your income and family size and presumably resort is nicer than average etc.

We spent pre covid about £15-17k a year, that would be two separate weeks for two adults at a high end resort.

BridStar exactly. It's only since a) working in the public sector where pay bands are published and b) have a high earning DH who hands out the payrises to his staff have I realized that actually decent pay is possible and achievable and I'm more inclined to believe people on mumsnet.

It depends on how people prioritise holidays. If I took home between £7 - £9k a month, there is no way I would be going fucking camping.

Are you my husband? I’d LOVE to go on a camping holiday, it was all we did as kids and it was amazing. He won’t even entertain it and gets away with that because we can afford not to.

OP, I’m kind of with your husband. Our combined income is similar but we would never spend 6k on a holiday unless it was a one off.

Spent jsut over £3k for an AI holiday to Greece for me and two children in 2019. Similar holidays now coming back as £4k odd. So yes I think it’s a fairly standard price for the type of thing.

Neither of you are wrong or right. We’re a high earning household but have been comparatively stingy with holidays while we’ve been paying nursery fees. I’m getting to the point where I’d like to have a spendy holiday with kids clubs etc but husband is less convinced and is absolutely against some of the Uk options in terms of value.

I’d say though if you’ve got a low mortgage now, what are you saving for? And are
You both in agreement re goals. It sounds like you’ve got primary age kids so potentially out of high childcare costs so you must be putting away a good chunk each month if your mortgage is low.

We haven't been away since before Covid so I guess prices have probably gone up, but I don't think I ever spent more than £3000 for a week's accommodation, flights and car hire for our family of 5 and we've stayed in some gorgeous villas. We generally stay a bit off the beaten track though which probably makes a difference. There'll be the cost of entry to attractions etc on top of that of course. Food I don't really count as we don't usually spend any more on eating on holiday than we do at home - possibly less in fact as nobody wants huge cooked meals when it's hot do they? (Gross income about £150k)

This is why you're underpaid. You only have to look at the threads where people talk about salaries to see many women are conditioned to believe that salaries over 25k simply don't exist. They get excited over a pay rise to 27k. 28. Meanwhile, women who ARE aware of their worth and are confident enough to move jobs frequently - oh, and men of course - are on 50k, 70k, 90k. More. And they'll change jobs soon for another 20% boost.

Agreed. My husband and I are at a similar level, lower management in professional services. He always seemed to earn more than I did until I actually decided to do something about it. I moved jobs and negotiated a decent salary. We both earn around 55k a year. Both of our jobs are pretty mainstream and something you can do with a bog standard degree so I’m unsure why anyone would assume I’d be lying about it.

That sounds like a very reasonable amount for a family with your household income to spend on an annual holiday abroad. The additional cost of a good hotel and things for the children to do over a change of kitchen for you and the need to hire a car is relatively small.

I suppose we all vary in whether we see holidays as "money down the drain" or "a great investment in experiences". Pre-pandemic, DH and I struggled to stay within a holiday budget of £6000pa, which was about 15% of our household income after tax (no mortgage or other debts). We're not tied to school holidays and most of our trips are just the two of us.

God we earn around 3.5k net (so half your income) and our holiday budget is £2,000!

Op you have no debt, very financially comfortable...absolutely enjoy a lovely holiday!!

It’s all relative. I’m happy to spend a lot on holidays and not have my driveway block paved. DH would rather have the driveway which I think is a total waste of money!

Personally I think men can be a bit like this, especially when the women do all the research!