Do you prioritise spending money on holidays?

[Piratejenny99]

Just wondering for those who spend a lot on holidays each year if this is easily affordable or do you have to budget / prioritise to achieve this?

I have to admit I am a bit of a spender when it comes to holidays and I enjoy a bit of luxury, but I’m looking at holiday prices for some high-end short haul holidays and with price rises some of them are now coming in at around 10% of our yearly income after tax. We live in a modest house in an affordable area, drive one mid-range car that we own outright and don’t have childcare costs, so our monthly outgoings aren’t high. Even so this is a lot of money to spend on one holiday, it’s more than our yearly mortgage amount.

We wouldn’t necessarily have to cut back to afford something like this once a year but we certainly don’t have a matching year-round lifestyle and couldn’t pay it if we also had car loans / designer clothes / high mortgage in the mix too. Just wondering if anyone else is in a similar position and has decided to prioritise holidays or if I’m just being completely unrealistic and need to reign in my expectations!

Yes definitely. I don't buy stuff and have an old car. Easier now dd has effectively left home and she doesn't come.

We spend 25% net income on holidays, we are away for at least 6 weeks a year We have a very small house, which we heat 1 room of, we have old cars, I work long hours. It is what we want and enjoy and it makes us very happy!

I'm on benefits long term and go away at least once a year. Always took the DC out of school, try to travel off peak (eg mid December) and I'm the expert on travelling on a shoestring, it would not be a holiday to most people but I love getting away to new places. I can't believe people spend £5k a week for a family holiday.

Yes, we do prioritise holidays in terms of budgeting, but more in terms of frequency of holidays rather than going to a luxury resort or long haul. I don’t think I would ever spend my yearly holiday budget just on one super expensive luxury trip, in case it didn’t live up to expectations. We normally book flights and accommodation separately, mainly self catering, although I’m actually currently away on a package break with a friend.

Presumably a lot depends on stage in life.

We holiday but can't spend 10k because of dcs extracurriculars, saving for uni/house deposit etc