How much is reasonable to spend on holidays vs income ?

[holidayprince]

How do you calculate how much you can spend on holidays vs your monthly income for example ?

I'm having a debate with H about it and no matter how much we spend, for him, it's always a waste when it's spent on a holiday. He thinks is frivolous.

If you spend say half a monthly pay cheque on a holiday, is that too much ?

Do you save up a long time to go on holiday ?

Just wondering because to me it isn't money wasted to make memories with your family.

I know holidays are expensive but we have savings as well as investments and aren't spending more than half of what we make a month on a holiday, so I don't see a problem with having a nice time with your family once a year.

My DH has always been this way about holidays.

About 15% per person on flights and accommodation is my comfort level. I love travelling but I am horrified to hear about people budgeting 5k for a holiday. I travelled around the world on a shoestring my entire life.

Indeed, it isn't the point of the thread but it needs one of its own and some dedicated broadsheet in-depth journalism to raise the awareness of taxpayers.

I save money each month towards the holiday. In total, the holiday probably equates to about half a months income (plus spending money).

i think I have the same philosophy as @LlynTegid . By saving each month, you’re not taking a lump sum out of savings, but have a nice pot saved, without any effort.

Cool down. If she is entitled to it then that means she is shopping sensibly, not smoking, not drinking excessively etc. The person up the road from her who gets the same but smokes 20 per day is more of an issue. Her reward for spending within her limits is a holiday, great.

But you have brought it into the thread. You have £6k available to spend on holidays because you get UC. There are people who don't have anywhere near that available and who don't get UC.

It is stories like these that has led to them putting forward the idea that vouchers rather than cash should be how UC is distributed. Even if you are spending this amount from UC on holidays perhaps it would be wiser not to be practically gloating about it.

I'm a taxpayer.

But surely UC shouldn't be at a level where people can actually live and spend £6k on holidays?

@Beezknees but surely you pay less tax than you receive in uc?

I agree with pp that benefits are supposed to be a bare minimum whilst you improve your situation, not for holidays that people who don’t claim benefits can’t afford

It is not normally. My outgoings are much lower than the average person. Somebody getting the same as me but with a much higher rent would have less. I also don't own a car or pay for childcare.

I spend about a month's wages, but I only work three days a week. For my partner it's about a third of his monthly

Right. None of that is up to me though, it's not in my control. No point telling me.

As long as your bills are paid and there's food on the table, you can spend your money however makes you happy. It's sad that you have such different priorities - that's one of the reasons ex and I didn't get on.

I don't think of it in percentages but I work out what spare money I have and how I want to spend it this year.

This year we're doing a cruise but not spent a lot - off peak times, as we have had some hone improvements. Next year we've booked a huge sunny holiday in peak time, spent around 2.5k. Last year, we spent a week in Wales as we had a new kitchen. I'd be sad if I couldn't travel but sometimes I need other things.

I don’t think a holiday is a luxury, you are perfectly entitled to one as is everyone else. I think what gets people excited is the fact that you are purposefully spending this exact amount on a holiday so that you don’t go over savings threshold. I am sure you can see why people would find it offensive.
And saying you would have to dip into your savings and will end up back on UC is a bit disingenuous. Surely, you would just have a cheaper holiday instead…

But it is within your control not to post about it and add to the narrative that people on UC are living the life of Riley.

My yearly UC is higher than what I spend on holidays though, so I would have to use savings on other things if I didn't get UC.

our income can fluctuate quite wildly due to bonuses but about 5% of net income just on flights and accommodation but we don’t really worry about spending once we get there. Tbh we are constrained by leave and school terms so it’s not that much I guess, but our ongoing usual costs are quite high.

People just have different priorities, tbh I’m not fussed about holidays but Dd loves them so we do them. My brother will be careful during the year so he can budget for a really fancy holiday, it’s really important downtime for him, other people enjoy doing activities that they may not be able to enjoy in the same way in their home country. As long as it’s affordable and meaningful I don’t see the problem.

Again very insensitive. Some people don't qualify for UC and have NO savings and no ability to save!

There are 6 of us and we like our holidays, I'd say we spend about 20% of our post-tax income on them per year (includes one "big" abroad holiday which is about a month's incomes or just over, plus several shorter breaks in the UK)

It's about what you can afford and how much it's worth to you. I basically never buy new clothes and our cars are 10 years old.

There is no right formula. It’s all a matter of preference and views around things like savings and investment. When I was younger, I travelled and went on holiday every single possible opportunity. I took out student lames so I could go on holiday in the long university Summers instead of working. I wouldn’t change a single bit of that. Maybe you should go on one or two trips on your own? It would be tedious going somewhere with someone who complains about the cost.

I didn’t see any gloating, just stating facts.

UC is standard allowance - it would cost far too much to make it individual. Stands to reason there will always be some people who are able to make that allowance stretch much farther due to their individual circumstances, just as there will always be people for whom it barely covers the basics due to individual circumstances and end up at food banks. The vast majority of people should fall in the middle.

@Beezknees is clearly one of those making it stretch, but an outlier doesn’t mean the entire system needs redesigning.

That's not my fault though? I don't think my life is enviable since I'm not a homeowner, never will be and am a low enough earner to get UC. Hardly aspirational!

We spend about 25% of of net income on holidays!!
That is a bit mad isn’t it when I look at the other figures.
Holidays just seem very expensive. We just had two weeks in Majorca and villa and flights were 12k. Nice villa etc but just a normal villa. Been quoted 19k for Disney for 2 weeks next year.
This is in a premium hotel but just standard room etc.

The insensitivity of your posts are indeed entirely your fault

Oh come on. Some people on here earn 6 figure salaries, should they not post about it because it's "insensitive"?

Getting UC and having less than 6k in savings is hardly something that I'd be "gloating" about it's not what any sensible person wants from life.

DH and I are on the same page and holidays are a big priority, we prioritise it over over-paying mortgage/heavily saving etc. currently it amounts to about 10-15% of our net take home, and in the past monthly holiday savings have surpassed our mortgage payments. But that's fine because we are in agreement, there is no right or wrong opinion, but it'll be a difficult hurdle to get over if your DH and you have different values.