Is £230 enough spending money to go to Cornwall for 5 days?

[MascalPascal]

Going to Cornwall for Feb half term. Booked a lovely caravan which was very cheap owing it to it still being out of season. Going to St Ives.

Everything is booked and paid for, including all activities. Over the last 6 months i have been booking things slowly. Biggest expense really will be a food shop and petrol (I need to pay for return journey petrol from this money too).
Should that be enough?

I dont think you have given enough information..... where are you travelling from? How many people are going? Adult/child ratio? Sounds like a lovely trip ☺️.

Also how much does it cost to fill up your car?

St Ives is lovely.

The supermarket prices are the same in Cornwall so it depends how much of that you need to use for fuel. If whatever you have leftover would be enough to feed your family for five days at home, then you'll be fine.

If that’s all you have then that’s all there is to spend.
For me going away with 2 kids and including petrol it would be a really tight and lean holiday.

Yes more info needed as if it’s just you going it will be a lot different to a family of 5 ☺️ I think it may be tight but depends how many kids and adults you have. Are you planning on eating out at all? Ice creams/arcades/lunches etc. add up!

Is the food and petrol coming out of that? Will you be spending all week on the caravan park and self catering the whole time?

What are you going to do during your holiday? Are you going to visit any attractions? If so you might want to look the entry fees and have an allowance for the gift shop if you have kids! Will you be eating out? Don't forget to allow for any car parking, when we went there were no free car parks and parking was expensive.

Petrol will depend on how far the journey is and how much driving you'll be doing whilst there, as well as the vehicle.

As for food - all self catering or any meals out? Lunches?
Also what cooking facilities do you have as this will impact the type of food you buy. Is there a freezer?

Also how many people and what age?

You have said the activities are paid for, so no spends on top of that?

As its for 5 days I'm assuming not a monumental drive so £60 whilst there and for getting home petrol wise.

£170 for food and treats. Say £70 at the supermarket, £20 on fish and chips, £40 on a burger type meal, £40 for incidentals - ice cream, ride on a funfair thingy.

So will you be doing a food shop out of the £230 budget?

Are you planning to eat out?

Is petrol Also in the budget?

If petrol/food is covered separately then 40/45 per day is plenty for snacks/treats/parking etc

If you are buying the food shop out of the budget say £150 then I would take pre bought snacks to reduce day costs and be frugal on days out.

If it's petrol too it's unlikely there would be much left for day to day. . I'd want £75 at least for extras/incidentals so £155 for petrol and food is tight but depends how much petrol you need.

7 nights? 5 nights? 3 nights?
2 people? 5 people?
Travelling from Bristol? Or Leeds?

Come on OP! Are we supposed to guess?

If you are driving maybe bring some cupboard food from home to be sure. Especially stuff like cooking oil, spices, toilet roll, washing up liquid. It's expensive if you have to buy absolutely everything when you get there.

It really depends on how much of that is for petrol too. If it's £100 petrol and 4+ people eating then I would say that's too tight.

Well it's 5 nights because it says it in the rather obvious title!

Fair point! The rest though?

I think that should be doable for 5 days - if there is a maximum of 2 adults and 2 children under 10, and that the adults don't want to drink too much alcohol, and as you will be responsible for children then I presume you wouldn't want to be getting too tipsy anyway? As the PP implied, your fuel costs are probably going to be your highest costs, depending of course, on how far you have to travel?

Are you used to caravan or camping holidays @MascalPascal, because we always make room in the car for taking basic shopping from home, with us? We use a cool box, and take milk, butter and cheese, from the fridge, bread, tea bags, one family favourite spread for toast, and if there is a particular cereal that they all like, then a box of that, and a few tins of baked beans and tomato soup, oh and toilet rolls, and enough clothes washing powder/capsules for a couple of washes as well! Hope you and your family have a lovely holiday OP 😊

OP said that all activities etc have already been paid for! So as it is only for 5 days, I think they should be fine for food - unless they have a couple of teenage boys with hollow legs! The biggest expense could be the fuel.

It would help!

I spend money like water at the best of times and have a spoilt brat attitude to holidays so my food shop would be half of that at least and for me it simply wouldn't be enough. It probably wouldn't cover mine and my husband's cocktails and wine for the break! But your post has made me reflect on what's important and I'm a little ashamed of my initial gut response to say that it simply wasn't enough. Of course it can BE enough. You've already planned and paid for activities. You can strictly meal plan and be disciplined (where I fail!). You can take cards and box games from home and enjoy free things like walks and beaches. Take travel mugs and lunch bags to save on buying things out and about.

The only thing I would say is do you have an emergency credit card/pot. In case of an unexpected event, car issue etc

She said 5 nights in her OP!

Fill your car up when you get there so you know you've got the petrol to get home, and you also know your budget for the rest of the stay. Factor in one fish and chips meal and maybe the cost of a round of pasties and another of ice creams. Then other meals you can make on a budget if need be.

This is a huge bugbear of mine. People ask for advice on holidays with "a budget of £3000" and no indication of the number of adults or (age of) children, no indication of whether that has to include meals and drinks, etc. It's as if they've forgotten that they aren't talking to their Mum who knows all the details.

Whoever said £20 on fish and chips. Are you having a laugh?

I’d say probably not. You’ll do a lot of driving around when you’re there too so you may use a fair amount of fuel whilst there.

But if it’s what you’ve got you’ll have to make it work. Eat in the caravan. Take picnic lunches.

It depends, assuming four people and if you’re not eating out at all then you could probably do a weeks worth of pasta dinners and packed lunches for £100 from a supermarket that delivers, then say another £100 for petrol there, back and driving while you’re there. Do you have a credit card as back up in case you need it?

This is why we go to Butlins, you pay for all your food and activities up front, so you only need money for petrol and the gift shop while you’re there.

No.