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 are going away at half term, 3 adults as DS is 16. AI in the canaries, £3k. We will then take a 2 week break in France, costing around £1500 I think.

Take home is about £5500 a month. Still paying the mortgage, but the end is in sight.

Op, you can afford it
I definitely prioritise holidays and don’t mind paying for it

2 adults and 1 child, school aged, we spend around £10-£12k a year on 2-3 holidays abroad.

Two adults don't need school holidays
60k a year income.
We spend between £2-3k for a week abroad, possibly more if it's long haul but occasionally get a really good bargain.
No way would I be going camping.
Psychologically holidays always seem expensive because it's not technically necessary, it feels like so much money for just a week or two and it's over once you're back home. But usually worth it.
If I were you I'd just book holidays and let dh know afterwards. Hopefully he'll enjoy it enough to give you free reign.

Pre covid every 5 years or so we would have a big 7-10k holiday

Inbetween a Europe 2/3 k break (not in school summer usually may or Easter) and a few uk breaks in summer

We used to ski most years tho for 3 k so that eats up holiday budget

However since covid we have only been uk and not spent more than 2/3 k a year on accommodation and spends on 2 uk breaks a year.

Hoping 2023 might be different

Go and enjoy yourself, seriously life is too short and you can afford it so do it.

Our household income is just over £100k a year and our holiday budget is £2k for one or two UK breaks a year. We have high childcare fees though and the thought of going abroad with two very young DC just doesn't appeal so that amount has been fine for us up to now. I expect it will increase though in the next few years as we want to go abroad again.

Thanks so much for your answers everyone.

Ultimately I think that my DH has underestimated how much family holidays in peak really are. I think he would always choose a cheaper option, however, 2 aspects are important to me:

All Inclusive - so I don't have to do ANY food prep of any kind
Kids clubs - I love my 2DS but I need an hour or 2 in the mornings just to relax

Yes we have 2 DS at primary school. We went on a camping holiday once and they loved it. It wouldn't be my 1st choice but for a few nights a year, I will grin and bear it.

@Pipsquiggle we have a similar income and pre pandemic would spend £20k a year on holidays. You do not need to go fucking camping. What are you working for if not some fun and to give your kids experiences? What do you spend your money on?

I work with the terminally it’s heart breaking when they are dying and have scrimped and saved and die with thousands in the bank - many are really regretful they didn’t do more with it. I know it’s wrong to be a spendthrift but going too far the other way isnt great either. Worse when they don’t have kids and it’s going to some random nephew and the cats home.

Depends on the holiday but I'drather spend money on a holiday than clothes or nice things. My husband would rather spend less but goes along with it as he's happy for someone to organise it all.

We've paid £10k plus for a safari in South Africa. I'd probably spend up to £6k for a luxury AI in Europe for the four of us during school holidays. A week skiing usually costs us around £7k. I'd spend up to £2k for a week's self catering in the U.K.

About 100k household income. No mortgage or debts. We probably (well based on this coming year) will be spending about 6k. Family of 3. That's a week sc in canaries at Easter, a week on Greek island Al in summer and a few nights in centre parcs.

Yabu for going all inclusive but otherwise seems fine to me if you have the money and that’s what you want to spend it on. Ie you feel you get enough value from the extras you are paying a premium for by staying in 5 star vs 3 star, AI etc.

We allocate around 10% of our net pay to holidays. That usually covers a two week long haul, a week short haul and a long weekend each year. Nice places but not silly money- we generally go for 4*, sometimes 5, but only ever fly economy. We don’t have kids, though, so don’t have to cover their costs and can go during term time.

You don’t have to go AI to avoid cooking. Find somewhere where breakfast is included (or just get bread and toppings or cereal for breakfast from local supermarket) and then visit local restaurants for lunch and dinner. It’s much better for the local economy than AI this way and you get to see more of the place.

I don't think this is a financial problem - from what you have said - just more differing perspectives between you and DH as to what to spend.

What I would say - if you both work hard to earn your money and if you can agree on a holiday - a proper break is worth it. And that might be camping or something else or if you can afford it a hotel with some sun & being waited on or if like my friend you want to do a motorcycle tour , or or or. I just think that sometimes - and maybe not every year a decent break is worth it if you can afford it - and that holiday can take many forms .

Last year we went to a really nice hotel in Scotland with the Dogs DCs and a friend of DS - it was quite expensive but Oh my goodness how relaxing. Previously have done renting a villa in Italy & big enough to invite DS's 2 friends.

Average spend would be 2.5k for 3 of us

Oh Bloody hell, I feel so mean.
We earn about £6k per month.
Spend about £2k on a family holiday cottage in Cornwall. Any breaks are in the UK and are generally very cheap.
When the DC were small we had a caravan and were away every weekend but we are approaching retirement now and are both a bit worn out.
Think I need to up my game.

We would spend 0 pounds because we don't have any spare money at all. When we have had some (through inheritance mostly) we spent 600 for a week and ate out every day and loved every second.

OP if we earned as much as you I would go wild 😊

£1500 a head seems reasonable at your income level. We are similar and have about £10k's worth of trips booked (one transferred from 2021 to be fair)

For me, holidays abroad aren't a priority so I would find £6k on a holiday too much. We prefer to have several smaller trips than a large one. Taking a two week holiday would eat up half my holiday allowance in one go. So I tend to spend more like £2k for a week somewhere (if we go abroad which is one every few years) and then do some short breaks and weekends away. Mostly we do a week in a cottage in the uk for £500-£1000.

We are expecting to get a bit of extra money and we're considering splurging on a once in a lifetime holiday, spending more than the £6k but ultimately decided we would prefer to spend that money on several trips rather than one big one.

Sorry not sorry to be blunt.

I am not interested in holiday budgets that are taken out of school holidays e.g. June or September. The price difference is just huge. We have to go in school holidays.

Relative to your income, it's affordable. But it's a lot for only 7 days - that's about £850 per day. For that, I'd be booking a s/c place with private pool.

@SwedishEdith

Relative to your income, it's affordable. But it's a lot for only 7 days - that's about £850 per day. For that, I'd be booking a s/c place with private pool.

For a fortnight, I should have added. 7 days is never long enough on holiday.

Similar net income, and probably spend £6-8k per year all in - so a month’s pay. Sometimes a big trip, sometimes two separate weeks in Europe either end of the summer, and always a couple of city breaks over winter. None of it is luxury - sometimes quite basic Air BnBs etc. - but probably adds up to c.25 days away per year.

Holidays are very important to us. Family of 6.

We also have to go in school holidays. We spent 12% of our take home pay last year on holidays. Some of this was deposits for next year.