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.

Having both parents working would be a good start especially if you've got 3 kids!

As is ALWAYS the answer on these threads - they earn more than you. They have fewer outgoings than you. They spend money on different things.

House swap. Incredible. You need a nice house yourself in a place that’s appealing and to not be precious about randoms in your house. If you fit that criteria it’s free holidays ahoy.

Park Holidays, Parkdean and Hoseasons have 4 nights in UK during school hols for around £100/night depending on location. We can usually only afford a weekUK caravan holiday or sometimes a Eurocamp trip and we drive and self cater. 2 small kids and joint household income of around £68k- which should be really decent but in South East doesn't go far once Mortgage and childcare comes out then bills.

So many of these “How do people afford xyz” threads are answered simply by a) people earn different amounts and b) people prioritise different things.

We’re both working full time on great wages but tbh we don’t prioritise holidays. We put money towards school fees and home renovations instead. It’ll be nice to travel more when we’re older, but we don’t feel a great urge to at the moment.

Same as us. Family of 4 - 8k. DH and I are teachers so we always had peak season holidays. We aim for one abroad holiday a year and then we have camping weekends. We book our abroad holiday in Sept and budget for the year.

@Vergus your camping holidays sound wonderful but all I remember from them as a child was the fact that earwigs and woodlice got in the tent (separate ground sheet in those days) and it rained and we had to walk for miles on the coastal path with water dripping down our cagoules onto our necks! I'd like to say this gave me a love of nature, camping and walking, but quite the opposite. I did like the ice-cream a day rule though!

You can't say what children will remember, plus they will always remember the silly thing like you falling over or the goat eating your jacket and not the things you paid lots of money for, so the best thing to do is find a holiday you like reasonably yourself, even if it's not as amazing on paper as some others.

I think it’s what you prioritise. We don’t prioritise holidays so wouldn’t dream of paying 4K for one. But that’s just us.

As a child we only went on holiday twice, to a very old caravan belonging to
my aunt & uncle! Those holidays are some of my happiest childhood memories so I’ve always considered family holidays important!

Even when we were much poorer than we are now I always saved for a holiday of some sort! Did the £9.50 Sun holidays quite a few times when DC were small but in more recent times we saved specifically for holidays abroad. The most expensive were 2 AI holidays to Cape Verde in 2017& 18.

Kids are young adults now and we haven’t been away as a family since 2019 and prices have shot up a lot since then so we would have had to cut back and pick cheaper options.

We put away £250.00 a month for 12 months, to go away for two weeks every summer. It is silly how much some holidays cost though. We don’t go abroad.

We're doing a house swap in France and driving there. So the cost is the cost of membership of the home-exchange website, petrol, tolls, Eurotunnel - probably £600 + spending money. If you live in a popular holiday area it might be worth looking at home exchange?

I agree, Britain is beautiful.

My problem is that in school holidays s/c accomodation which is at least the same standard as I have at home (dishwasher, decent kitchen, washing maschine and dryer, 2-3 bedrooms) is not cheap unless you go absolutely off the beaten track and then there is not a lot to do for children.

A girl on my Facebook who is my mums neighbour and on benefits and 2 of her kids are "high needs" and she wrote "aren't holidays expensive, family of 5 and just spent £6000 on a a week to Spain"

I asked my mum how the hell she afforded it.
My mum said she heard her bragging that she gets around 3k in benefits and her boyfriend works. So let's say they are pulling in 5k a month
Council house is £395 (same as mums)

That's how she afford it lol.

Lucky for some eh

It's what we prioritise. But we look for a good deal. We went in may this year. But we only have one child. When we had dss as well we did eurocamp in Spain which was great. We are planning to go back next year.

We don't go abroad every year. Have often done self catering in the UK and had a great time (the Lake District remains one of out favourites and we go every year).

This year we are going abroad (and did last year), in a hotel in Austria.

We only have one child which reduces cost.
Booked hotel and flights separately ourselves (cheaper than a package).
Hotel half board means breakfast, evening meal, tea/coffee/juice and the option to make a packed lunch at breakfast to take with you are all included.

We took lunch out with us every day and made use of the 'summer card' we got free, which includes many activities.

I think it worked out better than if we had self catered or gone all inclusive. We enjoy exploring and this option allows us to do that.

So, lots of factors plus careful research about where to go and what is included.

We don’t go abroad. Our most recent UK break was £400 for a week self-catering.

We both earn a decent wage but not super high, we have a lower mortgage and prioritize holidays/experiences. We could buy a bigger house and double our mortgage but I don’t want to do that as I prefer to live life.

Camping requires a lot of stuff.
If you don't have it already then it can be pricey to go camping comfortably.

We didn't go away abroad for several years while on lower wage, just a few night in a hotel at a uk seaside over the summer hols.

We go abroad now because our finances allow. I wouldn't if it would mean getting into debt.

@Cantgetausername87 - it's not necessarily outings or Christmas.

We hardly do take aways or deliveries, the last one was 2 weeks ago, £15 for Fish & Chips.

When I compare that to what my friend spends on a regular basis I can pay for a week holiday.

When DD was younger we got ourselves Merlin passes one year as a Christmas present, that's one year of just paying for petrol or a train fare for one and a coffee as we always took lunch. We also have NT membership.

Looking at some of the present lists on the Christmas topic, I think we do something wrong with what DD was given.

DD doesn't have hobbies I need to fork out expensive uniforms each year. I didn't enrol her in ballet purely because of the costs. She still had a lot of fun in a dance class where she wore leggings and a T-Shirt.

I agree it’s very expensive!!’ Christ and my toddler is still in nursery so we can go in the shoulder season (June/september)

to answer your question though:
1)definitely save an amount every month
2)people book super far ahead
3)not everyone goes away somewhere hot every year

sorry that’s probably not terribly helpful !

Spread the cost over the year by saving in a holiday fund….3 kids means 2 rooms instead of one….. often cheaper to do caravan park holidays in France, Spain, Italy

The problem is right there - in your post and in the excuses you make for him not earning - 'seasonal' 'looking after kids'. You are the only breadwinner in the family, that is why holidays are off limits. You are providing for 4 children, one of whom is an adult. You are amazing! As the only breadwinner, you should go on holiday solo - leave him to do something of use. The question should be not 'how the f others can afford it' but 'why on earth am I the only provider'?

I save £150 a month just for holidays. It's a priority to me as it's literally the best part of my year!

Not everyone IS going abroad every year! We’ve not been abroad since we had our first child six years ago. Holidays in the UK have been great! Thinking about going abroad next year, but certainly couldn’t afford to do that every year. To me, the most important thing is that we all spend a week together having some fun.

My kids have never been abroad. We go camping in Wales, but I'm a teacher, so I have the whole summer off, which means we don't book until we see a dry ten day forecast! Even then, initial camping set-up cost (tents, sleeping bags, mattresses, chairs, table, stove etc etc) was pretty high, and we end up buying/replacing something most years.