To wonder how people afford holidays!

[Dreaming34]

I mustn’t be budgeting very well on food etc and me and my DH have a joint income of 75k, we really struggle at the end of every month and we cannot afford to go on holiday! Everything is so expensive really we are really struggling

We pay for most things by credit card (collect points). However we pay it off in full every month.

Not everyone who pays via card are in long term crippling debt.

@pixie5121 I totally get what you are saying- and yes it's correct- but that's a bit of a snobby belittling post to the lady working at Asda

@Crikeyalmighty completely agree, was a bit below the belt

I am going to take this advice on board and stop being a food snob, I am not a millionaire and if I want holidays something has to give.

and for those that think I am taking the piss put of people on less money than me, take a hike

I don't think it's any less belittling than a checkout person judging the payment methods of their customers...do you?

Why is it alright to be a judgemental snob if you're on minimum wage?

@pixie5121 HARSH!

Either way she probably manages money better than I can. Nothing wrong with being on minimum wage, she doesn’t even work there currently so it is irrelevant anyway!

I am thinking of becoming an ice cream man, judge away

I didn't say there was.

The issue is with being arrogant enough to assume the customers you're serving (basically the people keeping you in a job) are poor and irresponsible because they use credit.

I worked plenty of min wage jobs and didn't judge people.

Ahh yes! Definitely should be no judging from anybody!

We have a similar income and have just moved to a much bigger house and paid out for our wedding 😬 and live in a more expensive area (not London, but in proximity and expense as London run off).

We meal plan each week. We shop in Aldi (their meat, fruit and veg actually tends to be better quality than Tesco) and then, as we have to drive by, nip in Tesco for anything we can’t get. I don’t care about branded food, most of it is all made in the same factories and you are paying for branding packing. Quality because it’s branded is a myth. We don’t eat out much at the moment and paid activities are restricted to now and again, park, picnics, free lidos, etc far more at the moment. I’ve cut back on personal shopping and appointments, eeking them out a bit more.

I guess I work in an industry where we are acutely aware that this sort of situation roughly runs in 10 years cycles, as such I am always careful to keep in mind these times will come and not overly stretch ourselves. However at the old house the mortgage was less than half what we pay now so it’s been a little bit of a culture shock. Luckily covid softened the blow as it’s not like we’ve been able to go out and do much anyway over the last two years 😂.

It just is what it is at the moment to be honest, luckily we didn’t over stretch ourselves with the house so with a bit of basic cutting back we are fine overall 🤷‍♀️. I genuinely feel for those who work their behinds off to do their best to provide for their families on lower salaries at times like this!

I live in London and earn £34k with 2 DC. Mortgage, council tax, utilities, home insurance account for two thirds of my take-home salary. That's before commuting costs, car costs, and everything is going up.

I budget to the last penny for everything. But, travel is very important to me, so I put away £100 a month towards our holiday. For everything else it's as low cost as possible or free. So second-hand clothes as much as possible, picnics if we go out. I use my Tesco clubcard credit card for as much as possible, pay it off every month.

I traded in my clubcard points to pay for the Eurotunnel and am taking my kids camping for two weeks. My holiday pot was supposed to cover the campsites, days out, hopefully a meal or two out and petrol. I don't count supermarket shopping in the holiday budget because we would spend that anyway and will eat simply. Rising petrol costs will most likely send me over budget, but I would rather cut back in every other area than not have a holiday.

If costs keep rising then next year we will do it more cheaply by staying in northern France (less petrol) and only staying on municipal campsites. Last time we went abroad was before covid and I was on a much lower income but one campsite we stayed on was only 12 euros a night for the three of us.

Hahahahahahahaha joker. You have over 6 grand a month and want anyone to believe you're even close to struggling. Let me laugh even harder hahahahaha.

Ever heard of a thing called tax?

Take home on £75K is just over £4000 a month, and that's without pension deductions (which can be susbtantial), student loan deductions, etc.

I would resist laughing at others if you don't understand that tax is a thing.

@pixie5121 yes tax is a thing, obviously- so is minimum wage. It's a fair cop to laugh at someone who thinks they're struggling to afford a holiday on £75k when they don't even pay enough attention to where they're spending their money to actually know how much they spend on what!

Sorry @Dreaming34 but that's the truth - although you've said you're up for tracking & trimming much harder, so I'm sure you'll find scope for holiday savings!

Your OP said it all...you're NOT budgeting well (at all). Plenty of other posters with far less money have said that because they prioritise a sunny holiday, they manage all their other discretionary expenses around it (I include food in that above about £20pp/pw, as how high you go IS discretionary).

If expensive fruit and smoothies and ice cream/brand names and faux quality (Tesco meat is pretty crap, find a decent local butcher!) is your single biggest priority in life, you will struggle to save. But at least have the decency to tot it all up for a couple of months and let the raw truth slap you in the chops a bit before you suggest you are "struggling"...

Mortgage is 500 a month. We have a 3/4 bed detached house in a lovely area but we are in Teesside in the north east and bought at just 140k. We also have a second property that we let to family for the cost of the mortgage we have on it (400 a month)

We usually budget at least 10k a year to holidays but we have spent significantly more than that many times (think on-site in high value Disney resort, and second holidays to Europe) - family of 3 so cheaper than many on here will have as most have multiple kids.

We will be completely debt free (exc. mortgages) in less than 2 years and have 30k saved for a house deposit for our child. The only inheritance is the share of my nana’s house which paid for my deposit for my house (£14k)

I don’t shop in budget supermarkets, or count my pennies, we just have plenty of money because 55k is actually plenty. The only place I’m not doing so hot is with my pension, but once I’m debt free I will be putting the maximum allowed (with tax benefits) into it, as I currently do with our company’s share purchase scheme (£150 each, every month for both my dh and me)

I feel like people must be spending a lot more on their debts than they admit, otherwise having an income higher than mine they should have plenty spare (unless childcare)

I replied but forgot to quote so you knew it was a reply…scroll up :)

See you there :) I’m off on 15th

When I was a student, in the summers I worked in a juice factory - there was a very large tank in the pump room with 4 pipes for the production lines. These were Sainsbury, Tesco, M&S and Asda, all the same mix from the same tank. I used to laugh when people said you couldn't beat M&S juice. Happy shopper, Dale Farm, Spar and Co-Op had a different brix level with slightly more water but I noticed the prices varied as much as the supermarkets. Another student worked in a cereal place and the higher priced ones were the same as the branded, ( Special K and Asda were the same recipe). I heard the same about biscuits but have no actual knowledge. You really do pay for the name. Supermarkets have contracts with makers, they don't generally have their own factories.

Fox's make a lot of own brand chocolate covered boxed biscuits, the kind that people buy a lot of at Christmas.

There's also a biscuit factory in Carlisle that makes a good proportion of all supermarket own brand custard creams, digestives etc. It became common knowledge when they were flooded and suddenly there were biscuit shortages in most supermarkets.

I agree you're paying for the name and it doesn't necessarily follow that more expensive means better quality. But as the 'how fucking much is lurpak' thread shows, some people love their brands even though objectively there isn't a significant difference compared with cheaper products in many cases.

We’re not having a holiday this year and we’re very high earners. We live in an expensive part of the country with a high mortgage, and pay for nursery 4 days a week.

You don’t have to say yes to every request from a child for ice cream, comics, sweets etc. Say you can’t afford it, and move them on. There are so many good free activities in most places: country parks, nice walks, playgrounds, cheap swimming sessions, museums and galleries. Keep a tub of cheap ice cream at home in the freezer for treats instead if you like.

Make sure you meal plan, switch bills to lowest tariffs, pay off capital on debts - not just interest. But also bear in mind inflation is at 9%…

Lol, I feel your pain. Joint income of £78k here and it’s still a struggle. We just got back from a cheap AI in the Canaries through Love Holidays and went during term time (our kids are grown up) We really want to go to Disney World but that’s a few years off now as we spent the money on solar panels!

@Hutchy16 in OP's defence, she could easily have childcare costs more than the difference between your salaries (£20k at from the higher rate portion is only £1k/month and plenty of people top that pretty easily. Add in a modest mortgage difference and you could easily have £1,600 more disposal income before starting - which is a lot of leeway for holiday and shopping budget by anyone's standards!

Not suggesting that you're wrong about debts, and 2 car payments would obviously account for another big gap. But congratulations on your approach & enjoy your well earned holidays!

Hi op your spending sounds all over the place.
You need to budget and save bit by bit for all your Extra expenses.
So you need to start a new saving pot for holidays. You may not be able to afford one this year but next year you will have a few hundred to put to one. Same for Xmas each month put money aside for it same for birthday, and even month fun money.
There is nothing wrong with buy an ice cream atnrhe park, but make sure rusts take out of your week fun money.
At the moment your money is flying out willy nilly.

Camping. A week’s holiday in Cornwall, or anywhere really, for £30 a night including hook up, or £40 on sites with more stuff. It’s even cheaper without electric hook up but we prefer it with it. Eat at the campsite, beach days or walks, holiday for less than £500 for whole family, including petrol.
Also, we go to Norfolk at Easter using Parkdean resorts. There are some lovely, cheap sites. Check out Summerfields at Scratby. It’s a beautiful beach, with little else there but near Great Yarmouth if you prefer more things to do. My kids have never been on a plane but have had two holidays virtually every year. Some years we’ve been to France too and we’ve also camped locally once a year for a couple of nights. Our income is £10000 less than your’s but our kids also do loads of activities. We are always skint. A friend of mine is on benefits with a full PIP and earns more than I do. She saves money every month, doesn’t pay council tax, gets winter fuel payments, vouchers for kids school uniforms, free holidays for the kids, free bus pass, free family rail pass, free school meals etc etc. She’s about the get the £650 cost of living payment. Her rent is paid through housing benefits etc and she has no building costs as the council even do her gardening. However, her children, despite her having so much expendable income, experience far less than my kids (although we try to take them out when we can) so I just want to say it’s not all about the money. Do what’s right for your family but holidays don’t have to be two weeks abroad. You can have a brilliant time in a tent in this country!

I would encourage everyone to pay as much as possible, especially holidays, on credit card. Pay any debt off straight away by direct debit, but you are so much better protected against fraud/defunct items by paying by credit card than cash or even debit card. You can also earn Tesco points/airmes etc depending which card you choose. You also build up a positive credit record which you'll need for mortgage approval if you don't own a house yet. For holidays, there are also many cards that offer free travel and even hire car insurance, so worth a look. Using credit cards for most people is not about living on debt, but choosing a higher level of security, and extra rewards, for their spending.