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.

That would be my perfect flight times, you get the most from your holiday that way! 😝

Well, for one, they either earn more than you or are in a double income household! 3 kids and only one working parent, I’m not surprised you feel strapped.

Going abroad is not the idea or ideal of everyone's holiday. A very presumptuous question.

Bloody hell, a lot of holidays on here!

Of course you can get a holiday for less than 4k. Obviously there is less choice than if yiu had 10k, but there are loads of options. Also, France is hot if you go further south! People who can afford more probably have more money. A seasonal income is quite limiting from a financial perspective despite having other advantages.
In terms of budgeting, we set aside an amount per month that we use for holidays. We also add my husband's bonus to it. We place a high value on holidays so spend a.fair bit, but I appreciate that we are fortunate to have the money to be able to do this (although we do work hard for it).
We do a similar budgeting strategy for birthdays Christmas etc which helps us to keep track of our spending and afford the things that are important to us.

I prioritise holidays so earmark quite a bit of money to it each year. Having 5 of you does make a difference too.

Think outside the box - long haul booked early can be far better value than European packages, we’ve done far flung places in amazing hotels for same price and less than very average bog standard European all inclusives.

For school summer holidays I book late, 3 or 4 weeks ahead. 2 years in a row have managed to get 7 nights 4/5star all inclusive for under £2k total.

Surely it’s all about the type of holiday though? When I was little my parents took us camping in the UK. We went to the Lake District, to the Chilterns, to the seaside. We had a blast! Those memories I have of us camping together and running around outside, lighting fires (lots of campsites allowed that back then) and seeing the sky pockmarked with stars at night are some of the best memories I have.

A package holiday via Tui is really not the only way to create magic

We are going camping in France for 10 days, obvs weather not guaranteed but campsite right next to a beautiful large sandy beach, a pool, waterslide, tennis court and free kids clubs... and less than half the cost of a package holiday...

A lot of suggestions for UK holidays but those are even more expensive - particularly food costs!
I really agree with you and have no idea how people are affording holidays at the moment! A lot of comments saying "it's about priorities" but unless you're doing nothing for Christmas, and no trips at weekends to anywhere but free parks with the kids I am at a loss!

We've afforded it, like a few PPs, by driving plus ferry to France and camping in the Southern-most parts. You get good deals in the days after Xmas on both the ferry and campsites. If you leave it even until February to book, you will be paying several hundred pounds more for the same thing (we learnt this the hard way when dithering one year!). We don't save each month, but instead pay a bit off each month from when we've booked. The campsite usually has a pretty low deposit and the ferry has always been 50% up front, but the balances we pay off slowly. We don't eat out often, so food costs are pretty much what they are at home (we do upgrade a bit!). We buy a bottle of gin in the duty free on the way there to save on booze. We pick campsites with decent pools, evening entertainment, and a close proximity to the coast, so we have few extra costs for activities.

Try LoveHolidays - they are a lot cheaper than most companies.

I was alone (met friends living there) but went to Montana and yellowstone for two week last year for less than £2k for everything. That's doing a DIY holiday and not a package.

We’ve just booked abroad for the summer holidays we go in a week booked it three weeks ago 2.5k for 2 adults and four kids
we just shopped around and got a late package deal to Majorca

We got to Haven, Butlins or maybe a short city break

I did save for a year to be able to do it though.

A lot of people go to Greece or Turkey in May half term or even Easter to save money. I have friends that always go to the Canaries at Christmas. If you can go out of season, it's way cheaper.

We do holidays at home (by going to Haven) and get cheaper deals by not buying passes as it works out cheaper.
I also pay in instalments for Haven and my husband gets a decent discount because he works for one of their sister companies.
I am self employed and one day a week I can make around £75-£80 for the whole day of work, this amount does fluctuate wildly though. So I typically “save” that money in a separate account and that becomes our holiday/spending money. It’s basically money we don’t touch until we are on holiday or paying for it.
I have only taken my children abroad once when the holiday was paid for by someone who invited us to go with them, because it’s so expensive. One of my children has autism and wouldn’t cope in an airport or deal with the transition to a new country very well, so it’s easier to drive to wales from our home as the journey allows his mind to settle.

My child is grown up now but when he was little, it was shared caravan holidays with my sister and her family. I was a FT working parent living on an overdraft. As things improved financially, I paid for cheap overseas holidays on direct debit monthly instalments. Now I have GC and my mortgage is paid off but I still look for good deals. Holidays for families are extraordinarily expensive and out of alot of people's reach

It’s like everything, people earn more than you and have less kids. You say you’re on an okish wage, what is that? Your idea of ok salary may be completely different to someone else’s, and your DH earns seasonally, so not a full time wage. You also chose to have 3 kids which is a lot more expensive for holidays. For comparison, we earn £110k and chose to have 2 DCs, we can afford one abroad holiday and one UK holiday every year.

We are pretty tight month to month with our very pricey mortgage and nursery fees -

we love travel though and prioritise it so we chose to get rid of the car a few years ago and basically that 1 change had become our holiday fund essentially !!

we usually have around 500£ left each month and we basically never buy clothes unless really in need of something new / dress the kids in Clothes from Vinted or second hand clothes from friends !!

we put the holiday on a credit card and then just pay it off monthly and usually have it cleared in a few months!

I can work over time too so I do a few weeks of that and it gives me my spending money.

Are you referring to English school holidays? We live in Scotland so it was during my kids' school holidays but we travelled to England. I have already seen many English travel agents advertising August deals from Scottish airports after our schools go back so that's a good way of doing it for cheaper.

No trips anywhere for us. Unless it’s to the park/free or for example my mother bought my smallest child a “play pass” to wacky warehouse so we sometimes take him there to get his energy out and older child sits at the table and plays his switch.
we also do not do a huge trip/expenses at Christmas and just stick to our traditions and don’t go to Lapland or take a visit to a grotto or anything like that. We did once go to Alton Towers at Christmas, but that was the exception because a family member worked there and got a really really good discount (think 90% off). But no, we prioritise a holiday in the summer over other things.

Booked a four night holiday for four to Menorca, self catering, three star apartment for just over £1000. Booked three weeks before departure with Tui. Hope that helps.

We tend to book a couple of years ahead and pay a bit at a time…. Often a cruise costing around £4k. We don’t go away every year.

I get a bonus around Christmas and put a chunk of that against the holiday which helps.

even a uk break gets expensive. We stayed in a caravan park near friends so we could visit them and with that, travel, days out and food, we spent £1k in a week 😭 we could have done it cheaper but it would have been crap.

I love Haven! And Park Dean! Kids love those hols