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.

Look for child free options my daughter did that this year it really helped.

We trimmed back other spending and used that extra cash once saved. Buying in bulk, clothes on sale and shopping around for mobile contracts, insurance etc.

We went to the netherlands - £1400 all in, ferry, fuel, accomodation, food, excursions the lot. Lovely park called Duinrell. August school hols. We have been to Copenhagen for 4 nights for £1500 all in - had an amazing time - Oct half term, We went to Spain £1300 all in, Fuengirola during May Half Term, been to Hamburg for a 4 night break £700 all in! Cheap flights, hostel or airbnb accommodation (where you can cook), club card points off ferry crossings, comparing airports, travelling light (without hold luggage).. We have been camping to outer hebrides for £800 all in- different holiday completely but it was great, haven/butlins. It's all about shopping around, cutting back where you can (ie - cooking instead of eating out, buying a travel card with travel/excursions inc).. Set your budget and then look for what you can get within it. Flights/accommodation separately sometimes works out cheaper - it did with copenhagen (packages were over 3k)

This.

You have a lower than average family income with a greater number of children than average.

People afford holidays by making different choices to the above.

How can you both increase your income over the short, medium & long term?

We are not having a family holiday this year but I am away in September to Ibiza and to Italy in October. Cheaper times to go and have been paying monthly. If we go as a family it is usually a 4 day city break somewhere.

You really don't need 6 figures or to 'game the system' whatever than means to afford £500 for a holiday.

I'm sure people like this are those types that only call something a 'holiday' if it's some kind of extravagant abroad affair. And it turns out they actually have multiple holidays a year!

Meanwhile, we have a small budget, research loads to get something we can afford and whether it's a whole week or just a few days, Europe or in the UK, beach holiday or city break - that is our holiday! And we always have an amazing time.

There is also a website where people who own their own caravans / mobile homes on sites such as Haven can advertise . Normally cheaper - although you have to pay extra for the entertainment pass .

Don’t be ridiculous…it’s what you prioritise your money on ….most of my social circle and family don’t earn above 50k …..some considerably less….and I don’t know anyone personally who doesn’t go on holidays and mostly abroad….that family, friends and colleagues

Not having 3 kids is probably one of the main reasons we can afford 3 foreign holidays a year

I’m glad you liked it but I can’t imagine it’s much fun for a five year old and two year old to sit in a car for 11 hours each way. The only way I’d even consider it is if you put them in their pyjamas and car seats and started the journey at 8pm and drove throughout the night while they slept but that wouldn’t work if you were by yourself as not safe for you to drive for that long and by the time you arrived the kids would be awake for the day while you’d need to sleep.

@Colinthecaterpillarstrikesagain we didnt drive 11 hours straight with no break 😂 we stopped obviously im not a robot , also they did enjoy the journey thank you and they did rest in the car. I don’t think it’s the end of the world to do long journeys with small children, many people do. My boys love travel. We are going to Tokyo next year 15 hour flight just me and the two children again, I’m sure they will be fine thanks for your concern though haha ☺️

Try home exchange. We have four kids and have had some amazing holidays for minimal cost both in UK and abroad. People love coming to our ‘quaint’ four bed semi. Just an average semi in Essex. Takes a bit of effort to organise and need to be flexible but it paid off.

Of course its all down to what you fancy, but my 5 kids love holidaying in the UK, Haven costs us around £400 for 10 days in a bronze van in May and we have a brilliant time! Kids swim every day, we have the beach which is lovely and usually to ourselves, the weather so far has been perfect every time, we go crab fishing, funfairs, fish and chips, bowling, crazy golf, shopping, we cook on the BBQ in the evenings or go to the arcades, we take our swingball down to the beach and the kids are happy while me and DH read for a bit!

Of course you were talking about going abroad and I know that can be done cheaply if you shop around, but we're waiting until the kids are a bit older before we do hotter holidays further afield lol. Right now its all about the fun! :-)

Some kids actually love car journeys, and we are pretty lucky that ours are like yours and as long as they get to stop for a bit and have leg and loo breaks mine have done similar length journeys without any problem! I find the kids are all either so happy to be going somewhere that they are all in amazingly happy moods, or they are lulled to sleep by the car!

Erhmm northern Europe is extremely expensive in comparison to the south. Go to less known location with still good weather and seaside. Spain, Portugal and Italy can be very affordable if you avoid turisrubhot spots.

@ItcanbeDone just like your names suggest it can be done 😂💙💙💙 great to hear your children love trips too nothing better than blessing your children with the ability to see the world ,it opens their minds up so much!! Well done you 💙

In a similar situation but Wow well done I couldn't afford a holiday with your earning

We treat ours like a bill that must be paid, book well in advance and pay it off monthly. We are not big earners but prioritise what we consider a nice, all inclusive holiday most years. (I've seen all-inclusive dissed a lot of Mumsnet but we always find it to be a lovely treat)

I'd love to take my DC to Tokyo! Hope you enjoy it. Do you mind giving me a rough estimate of the cost? Only if you feel comfortable doing so.

@Sunshineandpool hi, it’s a dream of ours 😍 sooo it’s expensive it’s almost £6.5k for me, 5 yo, and will be 3 yo… that’s with flights and cheap 3 star accommodation.( which looks better than 3 star in England) Booked separately not as a package… Not including spending money, which I’m unsure how much I will need for 2 weeks .. but I will say from research I’ve done the attractions are way cheaper than theme parks in UK/America etc I believe Disneyland day passes work out to around £35 if I remember rightly, which is cheap in comparison to Disneyland Paris day passes, or any other attraction in the UK. There’s lots of free things to do aswell, I mean even being there would be fun in itself. As with everywhere it depends how you want to live I’m sure there are many cheap food options as well as more expensive if that’s what you prefer . We are taking a bullet train to Osaka which is 3 hours from Tokyo to visit Universal studios which looks unreal 😍. Again the universal tickets are much cheaper than what they would be in America . Hope this helps !! Xxx you can get cheaper flights if you stop in China for 1-3 hours , much cheaper than British airways and breaks down the 15 hour flight I guess I believe 11 hours then layover then 4 hours to Japan. ❤️

We both work full time and save each month specifically towards holidays. We go all inclusive once a year, which works out cheaper than catering for ten days. Then perhaps a week staycation or a cheapo to Butlins or something.

You can’t match your lifestyle to a family in different circumstances.

We don’t put it on credit and we don’t skip any months saving.

Sounds amazing! Thanks for the advice!

It depends on where you go, what you do and when you go. I know that seems obvious, but if you want a holiday for 4 people for £2,500 - which is perfectly possible - then visiting the less touristed parts of Europe, self-catering, not hiring a car, not visiting amusement parks, and travelling when other European nations are still at school will yield results.

Your issue here is having more than 2 kids. It's that simple. Once you move into 3+ kids, holidays are much more expensive abroad. Hotel rooms cater to 4 people usually. Unless you are a high earner, then having more than 2 kids means you are going to have to miss out on things like holidays abroad.

I haven't been abroad for 6 years so not everyone is affording it! We certainly arent