Ideas for family holiday with a zero budget?

[MapLand]

Very tricky I know but can people please share how they manage to have a holiday when there is no money for one? Family of 5. We don't have any budget for accommodation, and don't have a car. This is our situ every year & I want to get creative about it rather than depressed. One year we house sat for friends in their big house in the country, but I found it really hard as couldn't help comparing our tiny rented flat to their massive house, & ended up feeling rubbish. There must be others in same boat - what do you do? TIA

@applesarerroundandshiny Thanks, will look at that website and also the tokens in the paper.

But I think home swap may be the way to go because yes, we live somewhere people want to visit (won't say where as I didn't NC and it could be identifying).

Does anyone know which home exchange sites are good for non-luxury home swaps in U.K. Please? Thanks

What's your work situation like? Any chance of picking up extra shifts or second job to bring in extra income for a holiday? Or retraining to get a higher paid job to increase your household income?

Previously I've done the following to raise extra income for treats:

Sold outgrown toys, clothes and household items. Go through your house & put stuff up for sale on local selling sites.

Switched deals on utilities & saved £150 in total & moved that money to a savings account

Saved £2 coins in a savings tin you need to open with a can opener. Saved £600 over 18 months which paid for xmas one year.

changed banks & got £150 for switching bank accounts. Saved the money.

Asked for experience gifts instead of plastic tat for kids birthdays. So far we've been bought cinema vouchers, zoo pass & national trust membership as joint gifts from family over the years.

Good luck op.

Usborne- I was charged more for books as an organiser than I saw them for sale at in WH Smith and Sainsbury’s!

We use Intervac for house swaps, but tend to swap abroad (eg France for ten days only costs us the price of the car ferry) so it isn’t free.
Think the Guardian site has more UK ones.
Some swap sites you only pay a fee when you succeed in arranging an exchange.

I used to save up for a weekend away by selling our old stuff at car boot sales.

The hotel and holiday activities were paid for by Tesco points. Hotels aimed at the business traveller often have cheap deals in the school holidays.

I used to plan my life from the Tesco points catalogue 😂

Family room in a hostel? Gradually buy 2nd hand camping stuff? I can't think of anything else?

Could you look at being an Oxfam festival volunteer? Some family festivals allow you to bring DC with you but some need you to buy them a ticket.

oxfamapps.org/festivals/

Staycation - scour local museums for any free or nearly free kids events. Go to everything you wouldn't normally bother to go to.

Depending which city you are in, this can work really well as often lots of museums are free, and do events in the holidays.
Or it might be nature events with your local wildlife trust or whatever works in your area.

What is your budget? Literally zero or could you spend something? You could buy a tent from eBay which would allow plenty of cheap holidays over the next few years.

if you have no money at all, then you cant go.
If you have a really small budget then thats different. You can do things in low season in cheap places, where you can pay in installments etc.

Have you looked at WOOF, where you work on an organic farm in return for bed and food? You do have to work though

Bit out there, but if you have trade skills, you might be able to offer those.

Can you ask for things as gifts for any birthdays coming up & even Christmas, for next year? E.g. vouchers for a hotel or holiday park, train tickets, attraction tickets etc?

Also, I'd look at selling any bits you can to make a little bit of cash. I recently made £100 in a week, just selling bits & bobs we don't need any more, lots of things like clothes, toys, garden toys etc. Takes effort but worthwhile.

Assuming you can find some money, do you know anyone with a tent and all the garb that may loan it to you? Some campsite only charge a few pounds per night, and kids are usually occupied very easily and cheaply once there.

There are some charities who will pay for / arrange holidays for very hard up families. They are holidays such as a caravan break Mon- Fri during term time. I don't know the age of your children but i know you can be referred through a family support worker at a children's centre, although it may depend on the area where you live.

(I saw this through work last week and it reminded me of this thread)