how much spending money??

[jollymollie]

I've booked and paid for a two week self catering holiday in Menorca for the end of August. When I booked it we were doing well financially and we got the holiday very cheaply. Anyway, we have not been doing very well so far this year and I am starting to panic about having enough spending money to take with us. We still have 5½ months to go but two weeks is a long time for self catering with two children. Our apartments are quite basic and not really equipped for cooking proper meals so we had planned to eat out most nights even if it's just cheap meals most of the time. Can have a couple of evenings of beans on toast if necessary! What do you think the minimum we will need to have a good time without going over the top? We will be purchasing an umbrella and lilos when we get there so won't be paying out for sunbeds on the beach every day. Thanks!

anyone got any ideas please?

Every family is different and I havent been a self catering package holiday for 4 years as we usually drive to France and take a lot of food with us. We were in Crete and took £1000 for 2 weeks and ran out of money, we ate out most nights (me, DH, DS1 who was 13 and DS2 who was 4) but ate breakfast in the apartment. Price of soft drinks just added up. But that included wine and hiring a car for a few days to, petrol etc.

Gosh, I spent £1000 on a 2 week AI holiday to majorca with 2dc.

Last time we went self catering (one week, cyprus) I think we took 1700 and didn't bring any change back.

We ate breakfast in the apartment and all other meals out. It also covered a few trips to the water park.

Take as much with you as you can. Things like cereal, biscuits etc. I would also buy your lilos before you go. You can get them for a few £ in most supermarkets. They usually cost about 10-15 euro abroad.

Probably best to pack a lot fewer clothes each and take food with you, especially drink, thinking bottles of squash you can dilute when you are away. I find buying drinks out so expensive.
We don't holiday abroad, so I am not sure what you are allowed to take on a plane, but worth looking into it before you go.
Limit yourselves on the eating out.
Maybe set a spending limit each day.

It depends how old your children are, for one thing are they adult meal size or even worse teenagers who need intravenous food .
For 4 of us to eat out is usually about 80 - 100 euros.
We have 1 week s/c in Majorca in the summer and I would expect to spend about £1000 on food and drink plus more for spending / trips out.

It's a how long is a piece of string question really... Depends on family. We camp in France and budget usual weekly food spend at home plus 50% so £100 a week plus £200 a week treat money but we don't eat out, have young children (9, 5, 2) and tend towards quieter places where there's less temptation to spend. Last year we came home with the best part of £100 left.

That includes petrol too so probably total spend over 2 weeks exc petrol of about £400 inc food which would have to be paid for at home anyway.

thanks for the replies. I'm a bit worried now. We were going to take £2k for the fortnight but i don't think we're realistically going to be able to manage that unless something fantastic happens over the next few months! Wish i'd booked a week now instead of two but i can't change my flights.

hi. i also am travelling to menorca on the 1st of september for 2 weeks with my three children. I have also been wondering how much food will cost as we are self catering.I am planning to cook in the appartment for most meals and have researched how much food is from supermarkets. Its seems that its about the same as here if u go for their brands and not ours (as our brands are really expensive out there). I will be taking the childrens sports bottles with me and on days out i will pack a bottle of squash as ive read cans of pop are expensive in resorts. I would rather spend my money on sight seeing than on expensive food!

Make all your lunches and breakfasts which will cost say 20% more than at home , buy drinks from the supermarket and take food with you a much as you can
Research and plan for some dinners you can make with limited facilities and eat out maybe every other night to reduce the costs. Budget £20 per head for dinner out

Buy your suncream here not there! I think you could easily spend 2 happy weeks on £1k.

lunch time is much cheaper than evening meals, so have breakfast at home, take a snack to the beach, then have a big late lunch about 3pm, menu del dia is always great value and much cheaper than a dinner in the evening, and try to eat away from the beach front, its cheaper, home at 6 for toast, glass of wine, bag of almonds, or a take out pizza. and if you cant eat all your lunch ask them to box it for you.

Take cereal with you - it's really expensive abroad, and not too heavy to pack. Also take tea/coffee.

Check out Lidl/Aldi websites before you go to see if you there is one near by.

Buy beer/wine/crisps/nuts/olives etc from supermarket and have drinks & nibbles before you go out.

Invest some time in wandering round the resort to find good value restaurants (as others have said, usually get cheaper away from beach front/harbour side/marina) Set menu options often better value and sometimes include a drink (tho not so sure about Menorca).

Depending on the facilities you have in your apartment, you could cook quick & easy evening meals a few times - let us know what you've got and we could make some suggestions.

We are lucky in that we don't have to watch what we spend on holiday, but would not expect to spend anything like £2k in a fortnight... and could get it down to well under £1k all in if I had to.

oh, and you said you were planning on taking £2k with you initially - if you could say how you saw that budget being used, it might help suggest ways of having a cheaper holiday without making it feel "cheap" if you know what I mean.

where in menorca are you going ? we are going this year but ai last time we went was 4 years ago and found things were a little more expensive than at home x are you hiring a car ? if so you can head to a supermarket which will be cheaper than the spars that are there. i would say if you are going to cook in the apartment and its limited equipment then pastas etc would be easy to do ,, maybe 100 per day for everything , last time when we went we were half board and we allowed 50 a day , and we brought money back .

oh forgot to say last time we went we were delayed at the airport for 7 hours we were told that in the airport there was a exchange for money , however this was not the case and we didnt have a credit or debit card with us . so be prepared x it hasnt put us off returning though

We went away with friends last year and on the days we self catered we spent about 50 euros for 7 of us. So why not limit yourself to a few treats the first week then blow what's left in the second week.

Depends a bit what you are used to. If your family have been used to be able to have several drinks in an evening when you go out, or mains and puddings, or a few icecreams during the day and go on trips, etc., then you will feel it's spoiling the holiday a bit perhaps if you have to restrict them a bit, but if they've not been used to it, you can cut back on what you might 'like' to spend, more easily.
We went for a fortnight to Corfu last Summer, taking about £1500 and we brought back over £600 worth. 4 of us ate out every night, but we do things like freeze water overnight and take that out with us for our daytime drinks, and will get an ice cream to eat as we stroll home rather than paying out for puddings in restaurants.

Whereabouts in Menorca are you staying OP - I know several restaurants where you can just get pizza or pasta for 8 euro's a head, it doesn't have to cost 100 Euros a day for a meal out unless you all have 2 courses and wine and coke etc.

Alternatively, the lunchtime menus in restaurants are much better value, as are the menu of the day deals.

My top tip for Menorca, if you are hiring a car, would be to shop at one of the big supermarkets in Mahon or Ciutadella, rather than at the resort supermarkets - much more "normal" value for money.

BackforGood - the water tip is a good point, and the tap water in Menorca is perfectly drinkable, despite what the tour operators say, you don't need to purchase bottled water.

op even if the kitchen is quite basic - when you get back from beach you could do a big bowl of pasta with tomato sauce, cheese etc or pop a pizza in the oven - you may find you have a bbq or could buy a disposable one -then go out for an evening stroll and have an ice cream whilst your out? saves on eating out a whole meal

Lots of sc places have 2 rings and no Oven which is very li
Limiting. You could make paella whIchis nice yet easy

I've just returned to this thread, thank you for all the replies. They have been very helpful. We are going to Cala n bosch, staying in some apartments right on the Marina. We do usually splash out a bit on holiday so usually eat out every night. The dc's are used to having rides and stuff in the evening and drinks and ice creams as and when. We realise if we are on a tight budget we will have to limit this. We are planning on buying an umbrella and lilos when we get there so we're not paying out for sunbeds on the beach every day. We will be visiting a local supermarket but after reading reviews on our apartments I don't think they are very well equipped for self catering, although they do have a microwave! We are going at the end of August and have no air con in apartment so it will be very uncomfortable to cook anything properly. I will be taking drinks with me to the beach and will take the dcs sports bottles. Any more tips will be great and any names of good value restaurants in the area would also be appreciated. We have managed to save up 100 euros so far so still have a way to go! I'm not sure about car hire yet. We usually do but will only do so this year if we manage to save enough.