Holiday on a single parent income

[mumoftwocrazykidss]

It's been three years now since my divorce and I haven't taken the kids abroad yet. I’ve been dreaming of a holiday for me and the two kids but am finding it challenging to figure out how to make it affordable on a single income.

I’d love to hear from other single mums who have managed to take a family holiday. How did you budget for it, and what are your tips for saving money or finding good deals? Are there any specific strategies or resources that have worked for you?

I’m open to any suggestions or advice on how to make this dream a reality without stretching the budget too thin. Thanks in advance for your help!

It’s going to very much depend on what type of holiday you are interested in, how long, what sort of dates (eg school summer holidays or May/Oct half term?), what your earnings are like, how much you think you can sensibly allocate to savings each month.

You’ll get better advice if you can add some details.

To give you an idea… I take my 2dc primary aged away for 1 week, 4 star all inclusive abroad in the summer holidays each year - I go for a package for ease, generally TUI and book late 3-4 weeks before we go. Budget for this is £2k and usually ends up being a £900-£1k per person package with 1 kids free place. My best tactic is to target the hotels that have double rooms that can take +1 extra person as they are much more cost effective.

As I book late I pay all upfront when booking, but that does also mean that if the money is needed for something else we don’t go and aren’t tied into it months in advance.

That's really helpful, thank you!

I will definitely take a look at places that have a double room that can accommodate +1.

Ideally we'd go in the Oct half term, but it is just so expensive.

If you don't mind me asking, how much are you saving roughly a month? (as a % of salary is fine if you don't want to share actual figures).

I'm struggling to save much at all at the moment so know I need to cut some corners somewhere.

I think you'd probably need to budget around £200-300 a month for a year realistically.
My friend puts it in her credit card and pays it off over the year whereas we save each month.

All inclusive will be around 1k each.
You can save money if you self cater but eating out is expensive in most resorts now. A meal for 4 with drinks was around £100 this summer. Unless you're happy to shop and sort your own breakfast/lunch it can end up more expensive.

May doesn't work out much cheaper than the main summer months anymore. You may find it's cheaper to take them out of school and pay the fine!

No easy answers I'm afraid. Holidays abroad are a huge luxury sadly, even on two incomes.

There are some single parent holiday companies that you can look at, I used them a few times when dd was younger.

I only did abroad holidays about every 5 years but did do some lovely holidays in this country most years. You can get a caravan in Devon/Cornwall quite cheaply.

The other thing to consider is joining up with another single parent friend, I did this a few times and it worked really well. Meant I had someone to chat to and dd had friends to play with.

I saved between £50-£100 a month but this was for mostly UK holidays.

You could weigh up the cost of taking them out of school for a week....

My dc had never been on holiday. One was booked for Easter 2020 but it obviously got cancelled due to covid. I just cannot afford to go on holiday as a teacher and solo parent as I'm stuck to school holidays. I have been looking at Jet2 as they do have a limited number of single parent holidays. Basically search the usual way and then they will offer single parent rooms where available. However for Easter next year in the canaries I'm looking at having to pay over £400 a month self catering from now until departure. I just don't have that to spare.

I have to say that, as a teacher who is solely financially responsible for 2 dc with no help, I have been managing to take mine abroad over the last decade every year, sometimes with a mini-break in October too. Also have average mortgage and car loan so it can be done. I don't do resorts though usually - I do RyanAir or ferry with the car, then Eurocamp or Airbnb or equivalent but I think it probably does average out to around £200 per month throughout the year. Places slightly less popular that do have beaches may be affordable like this - Valencia springs to mind. Eating out happens a lot, but also cheaper stuff like takeaways and simple cooking at home. I like the novelty of a different kitchen, foreign supermarkets and not cooking while thinking 'I have to start planning/marking when I've done this!' but obviously it might not suit everyone.

Also, one year I did do Jet2. It was cheaper because we went right at the end of August and we stayed in Croatia, so that may have been a bit cheaper than Spain etc, not sure. It was also something called AI 'lite', which meant all meals were included but not a constant stream of snacks and booze throughout the day, which was absolutely perfect for us. Don't know if that might be an option?

I hope you find something suitable.

I find Feb half term generally to be the cheapest of all school holidays. Also playing around with dates and flying a day or two before school hols start can help. If there is an inset day, great, if not I take DS out for a couple of days.

I also look at airports in areas with slightly different half term holidays to local area. I once got a good deal to Spain in October half term flying from Birmingham instead of Exeter.

I save £300 a month for holidays minimum. We also do UK breaks which comes out of another budget. We buy all our clothes and shoes second hand and rarely eat out when we are at home so are able to prioritise holidays at this time. As DS gets older that will probably change.

I always took my DC on the £9.50 holidays. They were great! They still go on them now they're adults 😁

@mumoftwocrazykidss Honestly, I spend a lot on holidays over a year, but I prioritise it over other things. I can’t do this forever (25% of my income the last few years) but after covid I just wanted to go away a lot more for a bit.

£200 per month would cover a holiday for you and 2DC a year, it would give you a budget of £2400. You would get an AI holiday for that for the 3 of you, but a bit extra would give you some money to go out of the resort a bit more too. I find we don’t always need to go out much at all though so that can help, eg last year I spent less than £100 once there.

I look at places that you can get cheap flights to and then check accommodation prices from there. Always get and Airbnb or equivalent as it's cheaper than hotel and can eat in some nights. Tuesdays seem to be the cheapest day to fly

Two years ago we flew to Nice and stayed in Antibes for a week. Flights and accommodation for me and 3 teens was £1400.
This year flew to Barcelona and train down the coast. Price for flights and accommodation again around £1400