To ask how much you spend on your holiday?

[grassseed]

How much do you spend a year on your holiday and how much is this as a percentage of your income?

E.g. do you earn £30,000 as take home pay and spend £1000 a year (3% of your take home pay).

I'm just wondering as I earn an above average amount, but when I'm on holiday I feel like I'm scrimping compared to the other people I see holidaying and I'm wondering if these are the super rich or if people spend a much larger proportion of their take home pay on holidays

Maybe I need to get him to more exotic places 🤣🤣

On £110-120k take home per year, we have at least that ‘spare’ each year even after spending £25k on holidays.

We have a mortgage in the South East, pay for before and after school childcare 3 days a week and live well.

I don’t understand where everyone’s money goes!

I think the PP meant it’s a lot to spend on holidays on that income.

The thing is when you say you can't "justify it" it is because the choices you have made are such that holidays are further down the list than, the home you wished to buy and the mortgage and related costs, the choice of childcare, etc.
You may prefer to spend your money in different ways, possibly using more money in your everyday life rather than on travel.

That's it really, no right or wrong way to do anything. I don't drink alcohol or buy take away coffee, and while I wouldn't be surprised as such if I knew what other people spend on this, it's a bit like saying would you choose to allocate a few thousand at the beginning of the year for this sole purpose, I wouldn't but many would. Same with holidays.

Yeah we are on half that (70k ish). We live off one wage which covers all “expenses” - mortgage taken out when rates were crazy, childcare costs, and so on, and we have roughly £1500 per month to spend on things we don’t “need”

Now we could be sensible and overpay our mortgage, increase our pensions, or other boring crap. But nah.

Sometimes it’s booking holidays. Sometimes it’s eating out several times a week.

It’s all about priorities. For years we prioritised “sensible” things, but family illness (things which may be genetic) has given me a more “fuck it” attitude. We aren’t saving for retirement (aside our generous private pensions) because it’s not promised. And if our genes get to us, our house will be sold to pay for our care anyway. Fuck it.

take home £73k May holiday £3k to travel agent, flights, b&b & transfers. I guess we’ll spend another £1k there and a couple more trips at about £1k each.

We actually don't count it up, but if I do a rough calculation, probably about 5% of our annual income.

We both earn good salaries, but tend to like relatively cheap breaks (short haul flight to another country or drive within the country, generally self catering, and often 7-10 days for main break, eat out a bit but cook for ourselves a fair bit too).

Income is £63k after taxes and pension (£110k gross but that isn't really relevant is it).
I probably spend about £1500-£2500 on hols a year, some with my partner and some with friends. So around 4% of household income.

That gets me 2 x a week in Europe somewhere charming but staying in a simple apartment, outside of the school summer hols. I like to stay in a little coastal village right by a beach somewhere like Croatia, Italy or Greece.
A festival I go to every year.
Then 3-4 weddings or other occasions such as big birthdays where there is a weekend away involved.

I find this such an interesting subject as it's an area where people have wildly different priorities and approaches.

@UnPushyParents And I'd love to know how you do it - genuinely! Do you save/invest a lot? I take home £63k a year and spend about 4% of that on holidays (£2500 in a good year) but I save/invest around 15% (£9,600) on top of my pension savings. If you do then I deffo need to know how you're doing this 🤣🤣🤞🤞

there’s no secret . She just very very much prioritises her holidays!

Unlike a lot of our friends, I’ll take the (still perfectly nice) second hand cars, state schools and a massive cut back on my personal spend post children, in exchange for the amazing adventures we have. I’ve cut my personal spend to practically nothing over the last 2 years

@loverofalmonds Yup makes sense I guess. I feel like I'm pretty careful with money elsewhere too, no school fees or childcare, and I don't even own a car-! but if I really made the move to prioritise holidays I'm sure there's money I could move from elsewhere to spend more there, be it not having a cleaner, not getting my nails done or whatever it might be. That's why I find this question so interesting, as it really reminds you of the different ways you can prioritise money.

I am in a weird situation where my partner isn't that fussed by holidays as he tries to practice appreciating the present moment, while I love planning holidays almost as much as going on them, so we even have different priorities in our relationship (although he isn't a big spender generally, it's more about mental prioritisation on that front). So I guess that makes me extra interested in the different levels of emphasis people put on holidays.

Our sons are 53 and 52 and they and their kids come on holiday with us twice a year, Caribbean summer and France winter ski trip. So much for the 17/18 summers!

We pay for most of it and it’s worth every penny to be all together. Both we and they also go on holidays without the rest of the family.

@laclochette Some of the things @loverofalmonds has quoted me on definitely help. I mean, we’re not exactly scrimping and saving but it saves £000’s. The cars are still expensive brands, they are just >3 years old when bought, and bought outright rather than on finance. We have £500 each to spend on whatever we like each month, but I’m currently spending £100 so I can take my family away somewhere special. I’ve just stopped buying clothes as I have a wardrobe full.

I asked DH where he thinks we’re saving and he pointed out that we do practically all our house renovation, redecoration and car maintenance ourselves. I totally take this for granted, as I grew up with an enormously capable Dad and married an equally capable DH in this sense. I chip in and learn what I can. This, a keen eye for interior design and the return we got on our first property sale as a result, is probably the clincher.

In regards to savings, my pension is excellent (final salary) and DH’s was significantly topped up by bonuses when the children were younger and long haul was off the table.

We keep a rainy day pot, and save the annual spare money for uni, and I do a lot of moving this around to get the best rates. We’re not talking huge sums of money on this, but I don’t sniff at the possibility of an extra £200 a year. Look after the pennies…etc.

@UnPushyParents Yes you're right, looking after the pennies is a great manta and even things like not buying coffees or lunch out at work really add up. When you think about what that could do towards a holiday you'll really remember rather than a flat white you won't, it puts it into perspective.

I suspect we are probably in different generations, so I don't benefit from things like a good pension scheme (I have to pay in 15% of my salary as my employer only contributes the bare minimum and it's defined contribution) and I only bought my first home 3 years ago, so still have a whacking great mortgage to pay off, and own it alone. But regardless of different circumstances, the principle of saving where you can on the things you won't miss, maximising your returns on savings, and so forth are all excellent habits and you've inspired me to see where I can do more!

Clothes are a bit of a weakness for me however, and holidays always make me want new ones 😬 As well as a mani, pedi, wax and all the rest 😬😬😬

@laclochette I’m 36. I know that’s ‘old’ to Gen Z, but I don’t feel it yet!!

@UnPushyParents haha! We are the same age! Nobody I know my age has any children older than 1 or 2, so when you talked about the "children being younger" vs now I assumed you were in your mid-late 40s. Goes to show one should never make assumptions about strangers on the internet.

@UnPushyParents when you say you spend “zero” on yourself… does your DH do the same?

and you never want to get you hair done? or buy a new item of clothing or some make up?

what sort of holidays @UnPushyParents ?

and i’m guessing during school holidays?

I know I'm not the poster you were asking but I have a similar household income to the poster and also prefer to spend very little on myself favouring spending on holidays. I get my haircut by a mobile hairdresser every few months who charges £20. I never pay to get my nails done or for any other beauty treatments. I buy pretty much all of my clothes (and the children's) on vinted. If I buy myself makeup or perfume it would be with a voucher that I was given as a birthday or Christmas presents or from work.

Our food shop for 5 is £500pm which seems to be lower than lots of others I see on here.

heavens i am a single parent of 2 and my food budget is higher than that!

i spend about £8k, maybe closer to £9k on hols and so i’m curious more about what you get for £25k

@3WildOnes with 2 in private education, will it impact holidays or them moving school is VAT added to fees?

@loverofalmonds I don't actually spend 25k on holidays as we are paying over 20k on private school fees. We probably spend around 10k on holidays a year. But if we didn't have school fees or uni costs we would be spending a lot more of our money on holidays!

I think our food budget is where we save a lot. We eat well. I buy an organic fruit and veg box but we don't eat lots of meat- I can definitely make a roast chicken last a few meals.

oh £10k much more “normal” on £100k take home!

it was the £25k one i was interested in

£20k on 2 children? i take it prep!