How the fuck can people afford to go on holiday?

[Figuringitout]

I’m wondering if I am just super naive about how much everything costs. I earn an okish amount, have a small mortgage and don’t feel like we live extravagantly. I have 3 kids who I’d like to take on holiday. My husband earns seasonally (and is trying to increase that) but at the moment his main contribution to our budget is in looking after kids so we don’t have to pay for childcare.
Back to holidays, I cannot find anything somewhere hot for less that £4k and even France we’re talking about £2.5k.
So, do people have holiday funds that they pay into each month? Please tell me how everyone seems to be affording to go abroad once a year.

Good answer and a great example of different priorities when comparing with my family . DH and I also earn very well, love our holidays and travel in general. As opposed to the pp we haven’t renovated anything in our house for over 5 years, drive very old cars and kids go to state comprehensives. But we go on really expensive holidays quite regularly.
Our next holiday would pay for a new kitchen and more. People choose different things.

Additionally I think you will be priced out of many holidays by having to pay for 5 people, as most rooms are designed for a family of 4.

It’s nuts prices. We are a family of 5 and struggle to get less than 5k in summer hols. We did centreparcs in the Netherlands last year which was half price of uk and really fun. Activities are about half price compared to uk too. You have to be careful with spending on food though. The channel tunnel is priced per car rather than per person.

We put away £500 a month for holidays in a separate pot using Starling. I appreciate a lot of people can’t do that though

We are a family of 3 and a 1 income household currently, my partner doesn't earn very much at all compared to most people I see on mumsnet but we have a very small mortgage and value holidays over other luxories. We booked to go to Rhodes in October and have been paying 200 a month since February. I think January/February time is when the deals are a bit cheaper to book.

Our child is only 17 months right now so when she is school age I imagine holidays will become more expensive but by then I will have returned to work and we should still be able to manage it...hopefully :) **

Son and partner get away four times a year if they can
Fly out Monday back Friday. Airbnb from Leeds Bradford. They've done Rome, Porto, Krakow, Greece. They say it is a lot cheaper

Drive and ferry (£200 return, petrol costs more but doesn’t need paying in advance so time to save!)
Self catering in a villa with pool, £500 for a week in August and we would be buying food at home anyway. Any spending money saved up does days out and meals.

I’m not a teacher but for the last 20 years have had to holiday in school holidays. I would suggest that you didn’t read the Trip Adviser reviews to end up in a hotel like that.
like others in her we have found some real bargains. I would never pay more that £120 a night for a room and my flights, usually to Italy are again £120 each return. We choose flights to the cheapest airports and then get the train to our destination.

I do agree that travel is now more expensive.
But looking out externally at how others go on holiday is a daft thing to do imo.

If you want the blunt but unpopular answers...

• others simply have more disposable income than you
• place more of a priority on prioritising their money into travel than other things
• are willing to take on increased personal debt to fund it.

It ain't rocket science... but equally its simply not important what others do.

Where did you get a villa with pool in August for £500, is there a website or does it belong to your family?

You really should not struggle to go on holiday for less then 5K.
For the sort of holiday you're choosing maybe, but that's your choice.

Well not really, if it’s approx :

£1.5k flights for 5 people
£1.5k accommodation for 5 people
Car rental
Food shopping
Meals out

It could easily add up.

With 3 children it’s awkward with hotel rooms as you often need 2 rooms, so All Inclusive might not be an option. That leaves self catering.

Short haul air fairs are not that much.
Accommodation obv varies hugely, but it's quite possible to find somewhere to rent for less than that.

Income is irrelevant tbh. It's all on your outgoings and how much spare cash you have each month. We've been on very little income over the years, but have still managed to save for a £10k Florida holiday - it took 4 years of saving £100 a month each, and just doing eurocamps using Tesco Clubcard points in the meantime. We usually work on a 4year plan of where we would like to go and how we will budget for it etc, and that also helps us look for the best deals.

We are like you OP and prioritise other things during the year - so both work part time/compressed to avoid too much childcare cost etc.

We also have three children and it can be an annoying amount as you'll usually need two rooms in a hotel, and we always try to get three bedroom in self catering accommodation so they don't all need to share.

I do agree that it's just parenting in a hotter climate really, while the kids are young, so we tend to do UK caravan parks. We've just had a glorious week in Yorkshire - lovely three bed caravan with washing machine and dishwasher, coat £700 for a week in July. We were lucky with the weather to be fair but we do these kinds of holidays a few times a year and are used to planning for rain. Some of the caravan parks can be a bit... well, I can be a bit snobby about them. But we never used any of the entertainment or activities on site at all this year, we just used it as a base and went to beaches and local attractions. It was perfect and the whole holiday for five including spending money was less than 1.5k and that was eating out every night.

You really don't need to put £500 away a month! As I said our holiday (flights, transfers and hotel) is costing £500 in total. You just need to spend time researching and book things separately.

Same here. Three times if I can squeeze it in.

Same! One school aged child. 4 holidays this year, 3 in Europe, 1 to USA

There’s no way I can afford to put £500 a month by for a holiday

Offering "save £500 a month" as a solution to the question of how people afford to go on holiday isn't really an answer that will work for the people asking that question IMO.

Well our holiday was booked entirely on a credit card. It was about £5500 all inclusive, we went in April. About £1500 to pay off which will be gone in a couple of months.

My kids really want to try skiing, so I'm considering a 3 day trip to Scotland between Xmas and New Year. Again will pay it on cc and then pay it off.

Family of three, both parents working FT. We don't go abroad every year, we alternate every three years due to cost. That said, a week's caravanning in Cornwall last year was almost as expensive as our upcoming break in Rhodes! We also try to minimise spending by going self-catering. Breakfasts and lunches at our accommodation, then eating out in the evenings.

We've decided to send our youngest to a private sixth form for the next two years and have accepted that holidays will be camping in Pembrokeshire and Cornwall for the next couple of years.

I'm lucky to have a best mate who lives in a beautiful part part of the world with a private beach and can have free accommodation there which we have just done but still spent £800 on flights/transfers/parking and another £800 on food/eating out so now questioning whether we would be able to afford this next year. Probably not.

Lots of asking Qs about what is important to us financially keeps us agreeing where we will spend or save.

I work in a volatile industry and although well paid I wouldn't want to eat into our contingency savings for holidays as have decided we need to ensure we have redundancy covered over expensive warm holidays.

You sound very sensible LoveRules, and Pembrokeshire and Cornwall are lovely, as are other places in the UK. We did both as a family a few times. I've never fancied camping but we did manage to rent quite reasonable cottages and, once, a flat, all of which were very nice. North Norfolk is lovely too.

So will you take kids out of school in the Sept?

Son DIL and 3 have found a nice chalet in N Wales. Privately owned on a site with a heated swimming pool, slide etc. it's only a county away. Lovely lady who always lets them know when it's free of extended family visits. The price is reasonable, the area familiar. Everyone relaxes. There's a beach nearby. Nice chalet big enough for rainy days activities.

Boats are the same. Boat owners turn up with family when time and weather allow. Kids enjoy, crabbing fishing. Everyone's relaxed.

I've never been on a canal holiday but people we know love them.

What’s wrong with that?