AIBU to wonder how anyone with kids can afford to go on holiday?

[stilltiredinthemorning]

My husband and I both work. We're not huge earners, but both professionals earning above the average wage. We have 2 kids (3 and 6). I know this has probably been raised many times before, but honestly, how to 'normal' people possibly afford to go on holiday??? Just for giggles I just had a look at Centre Parks for either half term or Easter - it's £1800 for 4 days!!!! Even bloody Butlins in Skeggy is over £600 for 3 nights. Cheap package holidays seem to be at least £1000 (but at least feels like your getting a bit extra for your money). Even if we had £1800 sitting about, which we most certainly don't, I really don't think I could bring myself to spend it on 4 nights in a very average log cabin in Suffolk (especially since pretty much everything else costs extra). I'm honestly thinking that we just won't be able to go on holiday again until the kids are finished at school. I mean we could save up the money over a year or so, but the pressure of spending that much would undo all the pleasure of the holiday I think???

Cottage at the seaside in Scotland £500 a week in summer

Big food shop with treats for the week - £150

Breakfast out x 2, dinners out in a pub x2, fish and chips x 1 - £250

Entry attractions - £100

Petrol - £100

A few ice creams, couple of bottles of wine and a treat at the toy shop, you’re looking at £1500 for a summer break with no scrimping when you’re there, you do have to cook 4 nights and do some pack lunch making but it’s sandy sandwiches type fun

You could do a cheap all inclusive for the same price but the quality of food would be not great, although it’s not the worse thing in the world living off cheese and ham toastie and chips for the week

CP and the like can be very pricey it’s true. There are lots of other options as PP have said - things like camping, an Airbnb or traditional holiday cottage will be cheaper.

I’ve looked at places like Haven and Butlin’s recently and they seem to have out their prices up to much closer to CP- especially Butlin’s which, in Bognor, is not a very beautiful site, albeit lots of facilities.

Well I don't go to Centre parks in the school holidays for a start.
I'm a single parent, with one teenager. I earn above national average but am by no means a high earner.
Last year we had a 2 bed flat via AirbnB on the seafront on the Isle of Wight cost me £545 for a week. Going back this year. We also had a caravan in North Wales, £750 for the week.
We look for Premier Inn £30 a night deals, use Airbnb a lot, also family rooms in youth hostels.

I have 'tins' and put cash away each month. I can usually cover the deposits from the tin money and then start again for the balance. The few times we have been abroad I've saved or 18 months - 2 years.
Our holidays are important to us, I don't spend a lot on clothes, I don't drink much but I don't skimp on our food.We don't eat out often, maybe a take away once a month. I don't run a car. I've lived in the same house over 20 years, never felt the need to climb the property ladder.

Holidays are important to us and we save all year for them. We don’t find spending on them undoes any pleasure.. they create brilliant memories for our kids and for us.
Can you book a week camping near the sea, spend the nights BBQing etc? Caravan parks also have good deals. It doesn’t have to be expensive.

Euro camp is also a great shout but we always spent a lot on food when we went - takeaways and eating out, as cleaning the caravan kitchen constantly wasn’t fun

We save up… takes months / a year.
We have salaries below national average but low mortgage and other costs.
We don’t do takeaways / coffees etc out and most clothes etc are second hand.
Holidays are either caravan at a eurocamp or similar type setting near the sea with a pool in Italy or France (pre covid), or cottage or camping in the U.K. never spent more than about £2k all in for up to 2 weeks. Miss the Italian holidays tbh.

Centre parcs is terrifically expensive and known for it.

Most of the people I know on lower/middle incomes do

• camping
• self catered in cheaper locations in uk
• hunt for the cheapest possible flights to Spain & go to a cheap apartment
• chunnel/ferry to france and drive to a self catered

I wish I could do camping, but I just can't sleep in a tent! Don't get me wrong, I can spend a night (or 7) in a tent, but I just don't sleep (at all) and by day 3 I'm starting to feel a bit loopy.... I might do better in a bell tent on a matress, but (and I know it'd be an investment) we don't have the money to invest in all those things, even second hand.

I'm not keen on taking time off school. My daughter missed half of her Reception year thanks to COVID, she's got some additional needs and I think a week or two off would make a difference. Her school are very big on attendance and I wouldn't want to risk losing their good will. Also, we wouldn't be able to afford the fines!

Center Parcs is an absolute rip off. Crazy expensive for the accommodation then the cost of activities and food... We have been and we loved it but I can't see us going again.

We do go on holiday abroad, we have to go in holiday time now but we always get a free child place and we do either save up or pay in instalments. It doesn't undo the pleasure for me because that money is earmarked for holidays but depends on your priorities and situation.

Have a look at caravan Holidays. Haven are quite good, less popular places (ie not Cornwall or flagship sites) aren't bad at all.
We know quite a few people who own vans and rent them. Then we do a shop in the local aldi and have a couple of meals out, the rest cooking in the van. Not much of a break as such but it's the best we can do on a budget and the kids enjoy it.

Don't look at package deals - book all independently and you'll save a fortune and it is no dearer than any other time of the year. I've never paid more during school holidays.

Save and go every other year instead maybe if you want the ease of a package deal.

I tend to go on caravan holidays, either booked direct or through some sort of deal like the Sun holidays.
I spend about 2k a year, but we have a mixture of 3 day / 4 day / 1 week lo g breaks every month from March to October.
The kids LOVE the activities onsite, and most caravan parks have lots of lovely things in the vicinity to visit.

Holidays are a priority to me too- I don’t wear expensive clothes, don’t have a lot of takeaways or spend a vast amount on food, I drive a small 2013 reg car that is extremely economical to run, and have a rubbish TV, no sky etc

My holidays mean alot! We live in outer London and have to stay where we are for the kids schools and to co parent with their Dad - means I really feel the need to get away.

We had a uk caravan holiday last year for a full 7 days and we worked out that we spent the exact same amount of money as we did going to Spain 2 years before. Personally I find with kids if you are holidaying in the uk then you spend more on going places. We book a holiday all inclusive abroad so we know that at least we have food and drink while there. We also pay in instalments.

Also I look for clever dates where we don’t quite co incide with other schools, include a couple of inset days, that sort of thing. I like to find a bargain!

Credit card points .

I know Mumsnet hates credit cards, but we put everything on ours and shop around to maximize points. Pay off in full every month so we never go into debt.

We both earn well and only have one child, but we prioritize holidays as our big spend. I've got zero interest in a big suburban house and two cars + all associated costs (we live in a flat and walk/take public transit everywhere) but I do like a Ritz-Carlton...

I’m going to Center park in the Netherlands for four night this February half term, it was £320 for a small lodge me and DS, £160 for our flights, but you can go through the euro tunnel for £180 if there are more of you to save on flights.
This July we are camping at a yelloh village in France for £300 it’ll be the first week of the summer holidays.

I have in-laws who are very well off and often treat us to holidays abroad, we are going all inclusive to the Canary Islands for 10 days at Easter, all paid for by them. I appreciate how much they do for us as we definitely couldn’t afford it without them. On top of that we also have a soon to be bil who has a caravan at the coast which we rent a couple of times a year for just running costs so we normally go there for may half term and a week in the summer holidays, sometimes a long weekend at October half term. We are on low salaries and mine is much lower as I have gone back to uni to retrain, my in-laws are wonderful 🙂

For the first time ever, we are taking the kids out for one week. Two weeks after Easter to go to Center Parcs. It was a grand less than half term, it's crazy.
We've had a really tough year out so, like many, but have made the decision and school can like it or lump it. It's just the once, we have three young dc, one with sn and we've not had a proper family holiday for so long, it will do us the world of good.

If you and DH both earn above average then presumably you could transfer £100-150 a month in a savings account for a holiday so that you had £1500ish a year for holidays if you really wanted to prioritise it.

We prioritise that over other things we could spend money on (e.g. only run one car when it would make things easier sometimes to have two, don't get takeaways or go out to eat very often etc), but it's a perfectly legitimate choice not to if you think you get more value spending that money on other things.

Go away during term time and off peak. You can get £9.99 flights to Spain, Portugal and Morocco in December. We used to go a week before they broke off for the Christmas holidays. It's not July/August heat obviously, but pleasant shorts/t shirt during the day. Everywhere is pretty empty so you get the beaches, pools and attractions to yourself. Accommodation is much cheaper too.

Hols we have done for not much money - gone to Eurocamp ( stayed in chalet) in France £400 for the week. Drove & ferry, brilliant trip. Did same in Spain and Portugal.

Airbnb in Yorkshire, and in Wales, and in Dorset.
Camping. Glamping.
Long weekend in Spain - airbnb again.
Big holiday with 3 other families - hired a massive place - literally a castle - with a pool, playroom etc for less than it would have cost the 4 of us to stay in a Butlins for a week. We’ve done that a few times now, hiring a big place then splitting costs and sharing cooking etc is great for big grps.

There’s loads you can do. We almost always self cater as it’s cheaper, easier with kids though we have spent the odd night in a hotel here and there it’s really racks up in meals out etc.
Kids are happy to do lots of free stuff on holidays - in fact give them a focus like a pool or a hot tub or a big garden in a rented place and they’re happy as Larry.

Meant to add, when the dc were small we couldn't afford to holiday in the UK.

Ignore package deals - boom your own flights and accommodation and save a fortune.

When our kids were younger we did house swaps via a home swap company. We had some amazing holidays just for the price of a flight, we even swapped cars too. And usually got a fantastic house to stay in too!