daily budget self-catering hols - how much?

[katiewins22]

Hi

Just been talking to a friend and she was saying how she calculates that she will spend around £200 a day for her family of 4 on her self-catering holiday in turkey.

We are self-catering in Greence - same size family and I was thinking more along the lines of £100 per day - hopefully less some days. My friend pulled a face and said that she would have reached the £100 by mid-afternoon.

Am I out of touch? Unrealistic? What do other mumsnetters think about budget for similar summer hols self-catering? Interested to find out - I might need to save a bit harder for August .

Last year I had a budget of 100 euros per day. It was tight and we didn't do everything we would have wanted to do. This year I have been saving harder!

Not done Greece or Turkey but our experience in France and Spain is that it is the unplanned costs which are the budget busters. The unplanned meals out, the extra ice creams 'just because' all push the spending beyond what was planned.

Cost will also depend on the age of your children. Ours are not so small with big appetites and a limitless capacity for soft drinks. Eating out now costs a fortune.

I agree with Portofino that €100 is tight. I am planning on €200/day for 5 self-catering in France

Interesting - you a couple of you are with my friend on £200 per day. £100 per day - is roughly what we did in France last year (but we were in our tent so lots of cooking on campsite) - whereas this year we are in self-catering Greek apartment, which looks very nice, but I cant see us rustling up much in the kitchen.

However,from past experience we have some days when we eat out, have big meals, ice creams, but then we may have a couple of days where we just want snacks so that reduces the budget for those days. We always take credit card anyway for extras so not a problem but I was just interested in how other familys budget. It would be great to get a response from somebody who manages to have a great time on a really small budget. Any more comments really welcome.

Greece should be cheaper than France! We are off to Italy and Switzerland this year and I am expecting to have about 150 euros per day. Was hoping for more but DH got promoted and seems to see that as an excuse for spending loads of cash..... Meals out are a biggy.

Oh God I must be atight arse!!!! Last 2 yeasr holidaying in Italy for 2 weeks and spent around £700 for 3 of us!! BBQd most nights though and dod the frozen bottles of water to the beach thing!! Bust kids ahd around 2 icecreams a day and we did day trips to venice and a water park!!! I couldn't afford £1400 or £2800 spending money!!!

Just did Greece on 550 euros for 7 days - this was for DH and I and 2yo DS. We ate out 4 times in evening and only couple of times at lunch, but also cafe/bar couple of times a day.

Greece definitely cheaper than France for eating out, but groceries probably on a par

Hurrah - glad to hear some people are on my wavelength - I was beginning to think I had turned into my father, who complains at the cost of everything because he is fixed at 1980s prices when he last worked. I think I will stick to my £100 per day and take some extra but will try my hardest not to spend it. Frozen bottles water great - just not sure how big fridge will be in apartment and whether it will have freezer compartment. I dont know about everybody else but I get fed up eating out every night - I just fancy a simple snack the odd night. It is nice to be able to go on some trips though but would prob use card for those. We should all report back at end of summer and see how we did. It could be a Martyn Lewis (moneysavingexpert) type of thing!

We had a simple self-catering studio in Greece and for meals did things like greek salad with mackerel/tuna, omelette, pasta etc. Also you can find reasonably priced trips - just stay away from the holiday co. organised ones and go for the local trips

Feeling much better now. I was in the playground today and did a little poll amongst parents - and I would say more of them went towards the £100 per day option (some even less) and only a couple talked in the region of £200. It is funny because we will spend what we spend and if we run out we have credit card to fall back on - not like the old days when I was a student and landed up in the airport at the end of the holiday with just enough money left for one bottle of water - and then the flight was delayed for 5 hours - panic - luckily some lovely young men we had met on the holiday were there and took pity on my friend and I and bought us food and drink - those were the days!!

An update - I was talking about this to a friend today and she was laughing as she went to Greece last summer and they pretended they only had £50 to spend per day (even though they had more) and so they found that some days they could really stick to that budget and yet other days when they wanted to go on a boat trip or have really nice meal they just did it. I think she could be onto a good idea. I might tell myself I have less than I do then I will be pleased when I realise I have more

Have just read this thread with interest. Was going to start similar one. DH and I are going to Turkey for 2 weeks (bed and breakfast) - so was wondering very roughly how much we should budget for the two of us. Not been to Turkey before so no idea on how cheap/expensive it is to eat out etc.

Any advice really welcome.

Stripeytiger - I keep reading conflicting advice about costs in Turkey. I think it must be variable - of course some people have different perceptions about what is expensive/cheap.

I have certainly found this in relation to my quest to guestimate! the amount needed for a family of 4. I am about to sit down with a large glass of wine to recover from the shock of being told by a colleague that she expects to spend in the region of £300 per day for her family of 4 (children both under 5!) I cant imagine what she is expecting to spend it all on. She was deadly serious though - but for 14 nights that would work out at over £4000 - I just think that is ridiculous. I am sticking with my £100 upper limit and hoping that some days we will spend quite a bit less. Any more opinions welcome! K

absolutely Katie - fool your mind but remember you have that little stash to fall back on.
We went to France earlier this month and went with a budget of £50 per day. This immediately went down to £40 when we arrived at our mobile home and had to pass over €100 for cleaning etc. We did a supermarket shop on the first day and didn't eat out (I think we might have had a takeaway one night). It was helpful knowing we had the money coming back to us on departure - although I made the family madly clean to ensure we got every penny!! That paid our road tolls. We ran out of money with two days left so our entertainment was the beach / pool and we made do with what was left in the cupboards.

Thanks Katiewins22 & Kiwibella. I agree, £300 sounds totally over the top to me, but all families are different I guess. In my mind if you are going to blow that much per day on food, drink, ice creams, activities etc it would be far better to go all inclusive. We booked our holiday through an on line company but what initially seemed like a cheap holiday is beginning to stack up.

if you are self catering, find the nearest supermarket to buy everything you need, all your drinks, then you won't be tempted to spend loads eating and drinking out.

you are right. I think for my family the days have passed when we ate every meal out. Just cant afford it when we know there are other commitments over the holidays. To be honest I get a bit tired of eating out every day anyway. A light salad and some nice bread is great a few nights. We should definitely start a thread after summer hols entitled "How to holiday on less than £10 a day" - the bread and water vacation - that would get some interest

£100 a day here for us if self catering (usually greece). 2 adults 2 children and a baby.

We tend to eat in breakfast and lunch then eat out in the evening.

As someone pointed out, it depends on what you are doing, how much you eat/drink/

Breakfast - £10-£20

Lunch - £20 if you all have sandwiches/soft drink in a cheapish place - £60 if you go to restuarant, have a beer or 2, and puddings

Evening meal £50-100 again depending on alchol consumption/courses.

Add onto this £20 a day for ice-creamsand juice, then factor any trips out - waterparks/beach/boat trips which can easily be another £50 a day

So I guess, if you add all this up, even taking lowest estimates, you can easily spend £100 on nothing very much.

We were in Tenerife in May, and although we were bed and breakfast, and there was only 3 of us we spent an absolute fortune. A drink from pool bar (coke) was 4euro, water park, 60 euro to get in, another 30 euro on lunch, 10 euro on locker etc etc, and tbh the quality of the food wasnt particulary great - we were spending £50-£70 on an evening meal which wasnt much better than pub food at home. One lunch time we had a g&t, a pint of lager and a soft drink and it came to over £15

geordieminx I agree with you about Tenerife it was much more than we budgeted for.

We stayed on the complex and just put the bills on tab.

I would realistically say £150 per day. Taking the credit card as back up too.

We struggled to find nice places to eat, many of them chips and crap. When we did find the odd fish restaurant the bill for two was £80 incl one bottle of wine. In the end we stayed at the hotel and had dinner at the bistro (£60) while the posh dinner was £35 each plus wine (remember for 2 not 4!)

I'd recommend buying drinks at the shop and taking them with you. I emptied the fridge in the room and put our own drinks in and bought hams, bread etc for some lunches.

Childcare was mighty expensive we paid £12ph for the odd evening compared with £6.50 here.

All in all it was a very expensive holiday for shorthaul and little culture.

wonder if anybody has come back from 2 week self-catering recently in Greece (or Turkey for benefit of StripeyTiger) and willing to report on how much.

I have set aside extra now and then will do same at end of July so we are not watching what we are spending - but all the same I would be annoyed with myself if we spent ridiculously each day.

katie - I've just been self-catering in Greece and spent £550 for 1 week. Meals out for 3 of us (DH, me and 2yo DS) were all under 40 euros, and we ate out 4 times in the evening and once or twice for lunch, had boat trip atc

an update on this - A friend has just come back from Greece (Skiathos) and said she was spending average £150 per day, obviously a few days it was less. She has 3 children but smallest is only 8months and her partner. She went to Crete last year and said things seemed a lot more expensive this year. I had better tell my kids we will be eating beans for the next few weeks

Seriously, find a proper supermarket - bulk buy at the beginning of week one, then week two, eat out maybe six or seven times and you'll be fine. We went to Portugal for two weeks s/c and spent less that £700 on eating and drinking. It helps if you have a lovely apartment with really good facilities. we had a fridge freezer and proper oven. If possible, don't eat in the complex, they are always hugely expensive. if you have a freezer bulk buy lollies and ice cream - that will save a huge amount for lollies on the days you are on site or in the evening.