To want to stop all this obsessive saving that we do and go on holiday. Just once.

[shinyshoes]

The last time we had a holiday was about 6 years ago. Concrete village you know the tyoe. The last time we went abroad was about 8 years ago.

We save, we put money in an ISA , various amounts in the childrens account and we put some away in a monthly fund ofr us to use for treats, going out, takeaways, christmas etc.

We have very poor credit. I mean very poor due to bad judgements made around 4 years ago. We can't get any kind of credit at the moment but we are trying to build up our credit rating again.
DP wants to save save and save for a deposit on this house and says we can't justify paying around £2000.00 on a weeks holiday and have nothing to show for it except fading memories, The money can bbe used towards the deposit. I just want a week away at Centre Parcs or something.

We could save the money in 4 months for the amount we put away. I know it's a huge amount of money to use but I feel I need a holiday now.

There are 5 of us so a holiday anywhere won't be cheap but life is too frickin short to be this anally retentive about saving.

I think the fading memories are very important. Have you thought of camping?

Camping hmmm not quite what I had in mind. I'm a bit precious about things like that . I like a nice warm comfy bed, tv and a shower that I don't have to share with bugs. Camping is not my thing

Why not compromise and get a cottage by the sea. You should be able to get a late availability for around £500. £2000 does seem a lot when you are saving for a deposit, but I think a holiday is important.

CentreParcs is very expensive.I bet you could get a last minute cottage cheap for next week ,if you are flexible about where you go.

what about some weekends away instead??

and if you exploit the evil empire of tesco, you can use their club card vouchers for food, days out, cinema tickets...all sorts

five of us had meals in Planet Hollywood, Bella Italia, Cafe Rouge and The Real Greek, for using £100 worth of clubcard voucher....they are worth 4x face value when you redeem them.

YANBU. Everyone needs to get away now and again to stay sane. You can do it really cheaply if you book apartments and flights separately. We got a week in the Canaries for £700 for both of us.

You don't need to spend £2k.

I can get a week's holiday for the 5 of us in France for around 500 euro plus petrol & spending money - save Tesco vouchers for the crossing, book a (luxury) mobile home directly with a campsite.

It's not necessarily a totally relaxing/luxury holiday - still have to cook, etc but we all love it...

Some very good suggestions there thank you. I will be checking out those cottages, my sisters MIL goes with them and rates them very highly.

I am a Tesco's points collector also so I will probably use the coupons for deals.

I don't mind cooking I wouldn't want to eat out everynight. I would have to at Center Parcs anyway, I only thought of Center Parcs as I didn't want a Haven or Pontins and my friend goes to Center Parcs and loves it. I think it's a little over what we could be paying elsewhere so that's out of the window mow.

Will prob look at the cottage thing closley nd try and convince DP that we NEED aholiday

Thesecondcoming You've really landed some bargains there where do you find them.. Do you go through a travel agent?

Um, Butlins? Various caravan parks? Family room in a Youth hostel in the Peak District? Self-catering in Clacton for a week?
That kind of thing. Some creature comforts, but not 2000 quid, I think that's way too much given your circumstances (actually, I am quite financially secure and I would be MORTIFIED to spent so much on a week's holiday).

lljkk....it's not hard to spend £2k tbh unless you are really dedicated to bargain hunting.

i spend way too much on groceries to afford fancy holidays though!

there's five of us, one 16 year old...adult prices, dd will be 14 soon, so she'll mostly be adult prices, it' mounts up scarily fast!!

that's why my hobby is scanning Superbreaks website for weekend deals! :D

Agree about the importance of the memories, and also that a cottage is the way to go rather than Centre Parcs. You can sell it to your DP as the budget option - cook for yourselves, make your own entertainment etc - but it is still a holiday and a change of scene.

We've used Farm & Cottage Holidays which are nice, and also give you a 'membership card' that offers discounts on entry to local attractions. Don't know how old your DCs are but those might be useful.

fading memories is what keeps me going

good for you