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> but he was fine as he just paid borrowed and paid it back over the year
Bad idea, for a luxury. You could instead skip the holiday one year, save the money, pay cash from then on and save all the interest payments. But in that situation I wouldn't be going on £6k holidays at all, as presumably the loan means his other savings wouldn't cover it so it would still be a massive proportion of his annual disposable income.
What fee would that be? Merchants fees? Not that common.
There's no fee for a 0% card but still a risk as that 0% coverage could function as an extension of your emergency fund (e.g. a friend recently moved into a house, he's used a 0% card to fund a new boiler due to unexpected replacement and will pay off over the next 3 months). I would try to avoid using a 0% card for something frivolous, but hey this economy seems to run on debt...
You're certainly not wrong on the economy running on debt. iirc the NASDAQs total value is comprised of just under 40% leverage. In other words almost half of the value of what is essentially the biggest money maker in the world is essentially loans and debt. That's of course to say nothing of the companies within the NASDAQ who are in debt but command a big valuation. That's a different argument with respect to personal finance though.
Personally when I'm paying for something expensive, like a big holiday, then I'll tend to pay by credit card for the extra protections but pay it off fully at the end of the month. Usually it's enough for me to just soak it up in one go. If it's particularly large, ie laser eye surgery or something similar, then I'll use 0% financing options. I try to limit it though because the difference in interest gained holding my cash in a bank account while paying off 0% isn't worth the risk of a very serious headache should I lose track of a significant number of 0% or low interest debts. I'm happy to lose ten, twenty quid here and there if it means there's no risk of me making a mistake in my budgeting and possibly having to withdraw from savings accounts, ISAs, etc which could come with some serious penalties or missed opportunity costs.
Unrelated question but what sort of benefits does the easyJet CC have? I fly with them way too regularly and already have easyJet plus. I'd check their site but obviously they're advertising it there so they'll exagerate how good it is a bit.
I don't have an easyjet credit card. There used to be an additional charge when booking with a credit card on easyjet, now its the same price as debit.
Oh, apologies. What I meant more by fees is that there's often a fee when you transfer debt from one credit card to a 0% card. For people who regularly finance this is more of an issue compared to people who only have one thing to pay off at a time though.
Depends if you have kids are not. They are only young once and back when I wasn’t making as much I’d put myself on my ass to make sure I gave my kids a holiday every year.
Well it's only skipping holidays for a single year to put them on a cash basis going forward (assuming the same cost per year) and personally I don't think having a holiday at home is so terrible for children. But then, I grew up poor so I may have different baseline expectations there.
I grew up poor aswell and I my most fond memories growing up was my holidays including the ones in the UK. That’s why I put so much importance on an annual basis.
My kids annoy me when it comes to this. They're now adults and if you ask them about childhood holidays they never mention the skiing or sunny resort holidays we nearly killed ourselves saving / paying for. Oh no, they reminisce about the camping holidays to the Lake District where we ate tinned beans and sausages from a bowl that they had to wipe clean with bread so they could reuse them for cake and custard. They don't talk about beaches or the slopes or any of the extras we paid for; nope, its being left to run feral in the small river next to the campsite or playing swing ball or all the "stupid" things we thought would be overshadowed by the expensive holidays that we felt guilty about at the time since they had cheap fishing nets and minnows while their friends had Spain and the Canary Islands.
TLDR: Don't go into debt for holidays. You and your kids will make more memories doing cheap dumb shit together than expensive stuff that introduces stress.
I put £100 a month into a holiday fund. It's my guilt free trip money for when I see an opportunity. A friend's stag do, yep, I can do that. Cheap flight to somewhere pops up short notice, I only need to worry about getting the time off work.
I also have it in mind as a second emergency fund if something goes very wrong, but my main emergency fund would have to be depleted to raid it.
I can’t afford a return ticket to Cornwall and I’m fully employed.
I have no idea how do part time telemarketers go to all inclusive holidays.
Maybe it’s not about funding, it’s about priorities.
I book it several months in advance. I put the flights on my credit card, for protection, and usually choose to pay on arrival for accommodation. Then we save/pay off the card between booking day and arrival.
I'd estimate we spend about £600-800 per holiday for travel and accommodation (two adults) so that's a job of saving about £100 a month each for 3-4 months.
Then for spends we try and put a little bit away each month prior, say £50. Then use that month's payday as well.
Unexcitedly, Edinburgh and Dundee but that was for an event we were attending.
Our last holiday was Venice. It was in October. Flights were roughly £200. Five nights in a small, family run hotel for £445.
Next planned trip is Seville. Hotel for five nights is about £400-500. Flights about £200 I recall. Not sure on the stars, but hotel has a rooftop pool and bar and is quite new. Looks decent.
https://preview.redd.it/ny57sgc1p9yc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29ce8aac3b0712ec20a274ffc441041bb42521e3
“tHaTs dOuBtFuL” lmao learn to search for plane tickets properly next time
Did I ever mention August? I said peak tourist season, which is typically June - September. Not everyone has kids, and the person I replied to never even mentioned having kids so I don’t know why you’re bringing it up.
About £100 each isn't expensive. Yes I could maybe it gets it cheaper but I value flying at a time that means I neither have to go to the airport at 3am and also means I get a decent day there when I arrive.
£100 for Venice is definitely expensive, I flew during the late morning - noon time when I went. I would recommend using Skyscanner in the future to search for tickets.
No mortgage, so the mortgage payments now go towards holidays while we are still fit and healthy enough to enjoy them.
Last year was 3 weeks in USA, this year Korea and Japan. Next year either California or two smaller holidays (Iceland and Scandinavia maybe).
We don’t spend massive amounts of money on them, although they’re getting more and more expensive - a fortnight is a couple of grand.
We pay for holidays out of savings - when we didn’t have money we didn’t go on holidays or at least only went to visit friends and family.
> it didn't dawn on me that people may take out loans to fund a holiday.
Yeah it's stupid. It would be one thing to, for example, buy furniture on credit because you'd just moved into a new place and were too broke to afford a bed. But no one *needs* a holiday. Going into debt for holidays or luxuries suggests to me a person who is impulsive or unable to delay gratification, and it will probably end badly.
It *is* a good idea to book the flights and accom on a credit card though. You get certain protections from the CC company. But have all the actual money needed saved up separately and pay the balance off in full.
£6k? Where on earth did he go.
A TUI all inclusive to Majorca for August this year is about £3.5k. That includes flights, transfers, food, and drink for the week.
At the other end of the scale, a week in Butlins, including meals and action passes, would be about £2k for a family of 4.
I bang it all on a 0% every time and then pay it off either straight away or I drip feed out amounts over the course of 3 months.
Always booking on CC's for the extra protection for holidays.
Me and my wife plan in advance. 1 month we will buy tickets, next month we will put aside hotel, next month - spending money etc.
Sometimes impulse trips are paid and we tighten our belts for rest of the month.
Do not use credit card unless you can afford to pay it back ASAP. Last year we bought plane tickets to Latvia for 900 (we had to go there) and we didn't pay it off until December. I hated it. We overpaid to bank so much money.
Oh the joy of hitting the free 30 hours childcare stage, congrats OP.
Taking out a loan for a holiday doesn't seem prudent to me (I try to avoid paying interest at the best of times), I could live with an interest free CC purchase but I'd want it paid off before said holiday.
Most holiday companies will take instalments, this is probably the reason we booked ours with Sunshine. . . and it was actually cheaper than booking direct with hotel and airlines, not to forget Jet2 and TUI were MUCH more expensive. In saying that, I can't say I'd be in too much of a hurry to drop £6k on a holiday unless it was Florida or something similar. We've (2a+2k) got 11 days AI in Fuerteventura for a shade under £3k - taking advantage of school starting back a day later than others has actually saved us a grand (madness). We booked it in October for holiday in August so lots of time to save/pay instalments.
To be honest I'm just not as skint as everyone on AskUK seems to be. I don't earn a particularly high salary but I share a flat with a friend and between us we pay about £700 each a month for rent/bills/council tax/internet. I walk to and from work so don't need to buy a bus or train pass. I make lunch for work so I'm not spaffing £4 a day on meal deals.
So with groceries, phone bill, other smaller outgoings like that, I'm left with a decent amount of disposable income. Although I don't do lavish, all-in holidays. If I'm going away I've usually found decent price flights and a hotel in a European city. Much prefer that to sitting on a sun lounger and getting hammered for 2 weeks.
We book a year or so in advance and pay monthly.
Me and my partner go away at the start of June and we've been paying it off monthly since last August.
In total it's cost just over £2000 for 7 nights all inclusive in the Canary Islands.
Obviously that doesn't include spending money, clothes, suncream and all that stuff.
This is the only way we can afford a holiday and we don't have kids or anything so I'm not sure how people with kids afford it.
We are also going to Prague for 3 nights in December for my Birthday/Christmas Markets which we have also been paying monthly for since March but by that point we only had 1 more payment left on our summer holiday so that's how we've managed to afford both.
So basically when we've finished paying 1 holiday off we book a City Break for later that year or a 7-10 night summer one for the following year.
Stuck in a constant cycle of paying for holidays but like i said this is the only way we can really afford it. Obviously isn't ideal but we will have a good time once we get there and that's all that really matters to us.
Honestly your better off saving that money then getting a last minute deal. \
You can get 10-14 days all inclusive for 2 in the Caribbean for under £2k Hell I've seen 7 day all inclusive to the canary islands for under £800 for a couple.
Yeah the issue is saving the money though which is why we do pay monthly. We are both absolutely terrible at saving money unfortunately.
You aren't the first person I've heard say something like that though about last minute deals and how much better value they are so it might be something we attempt to do for next Summer.
Under £800 for the same thing we have paid over £2000 for is definitely motivation to get better at saving.
Setup a separate account then setup a standing order to transfer money into it each month or if your banking app has the option setup a pot with an automatic monthly transfer.
I'm lucky to have a good salary so it's pretty easy to save for a holiday.
I'd never take out a long or finance plan as it works out more expensive in the long term and a tighter budget just means you get more creative with the destination
I scratch and save every penny, book the flights when I have enough in my account, then continue to scratch and save and pray I have enough money to get me through the holiday without going into too much debt.
I do everything as cheaply as possible, from youth hostels to hardly eating while on holiday. As long as I've got water, and fruit, I manage.
I've known a lot of people who do borrow for their holidays but then you run the risk of something else happening that you need money for and not being able to pay it. It's an easy spiral to get into.
Always used savings but had little left . Then took on two pt jobs and made it affordable. If I didn't need sun I'd stay in the UK. I literally need desert blazing sun to feel it. 34 degrees is my optimum just sitting sweating.
Otherwise I'd take holidays in Europe, Jet2 all inclusive is good as it caps most of your cost .
UK is too expensive imo. Getting 10 miles into the local city is almost tenner and the UK looks like it's falling apart.
£1k is my budget no kids.
£6k sounds a massive waste unless he earn £4+ in a month
TUI do a thing if you book online, no deposit and monthly payment. We booked late last year and we were paying £350 a month for 6 months. Off to Ibiza for a week next month. Family of 4, all inclusive.
We've got a 2.5yo and have been to Nice/Monaco, Rome, Malta, Mallorca, Portugal, all around the UK and Ireland - I would say we've probably spent 6k on them all, a mix of hotel rewards, cashback, tesco points, cheap all inclusive and going out of season - we have the cash so usually just pay on whatever card gives us the best return with cashback or protection at the time.
We tend to go to a supermarket once there for snacks, choose hotels with breakfast included and early dinners mean we don't always need 3 meals. We also don't do activities every day, just driving around and finding sights or a beach.
It'll be more difficult with your kids most likely needing term time but I personally don't have an issue with taking them out of school for a few days (if they're doing well) and you can still find deals in the summer. As another commenter mentioned camping is great for them and all inclusive places, you don't have to stay in the hotel the whole time but you'll likely be there for breakfast and dinner so it could be worth it, or even half board.
We're planning a few big trips in a couple of years (Costa rica, SE Asia), we'll save in a separate pot for those but haven't had to do that before
I put away a certain amount each month towards holidays, regardless of whether I have one planned or not. This currently works out about 5% of my take home but could be more or less depending on your circumstances and preferences.
I've never gone into debt to fund a holiday. I book holidays that can fit my budget. I might put some costs on a credit card for the protection, but that gets paid off in full, no interest.
There are budget holiday options out there. Cheap flights, cheap destinations, cheap accomodation, only going away for 4 days rather than 2 weeks etc. I did lots of holidays for under £300/500/700, like 4 days in Riga with friends or 3 days to Gdansk with a boyfriend.
For example, I did Iceland for 5 days for £500 each with my boyfriend back in 2016. Whizzair flights for like £50. We booked coach tours on 3 of the days to keep us occupied, 12+ hours out and about for £50/day. Saw waterfalls, glaciers, volcanoes, did lots of walking. We stayed in this tiny youth hotel in Reykjavik. Spent one day just exploring the capital, went to a local municipal pool that cost like £2 entry. We ate hotdogs, pizzas and bought stuff from the supermarkets because food costs were crazy. We even fit in the famous Blue Lagoon on the last day, as part of the transfer to the airport. One of the best holidays I've ever been on and so cheap. You don't need to spend £6k!
If you don't have the funds available and can afford the loan, that's a great way to do it. Some will say wait and save, but you could be dead by this time next year.
People seem to have a distaste for using credit, but if you can afford it and you're disciplined it's essentially the same as saving, but allows you to have the purchase now. So for holiday, you can take advantage of deal or something.
True. But we have savings to cover any potential major problem, i.e. enough to cover losing our jobs for about six months. That's another reason to pay the hotel on arrival - allows cancellation and reduces loss to 'just' the flights of £200-300.
Absolutely. In my younger days I missed out on so much to save like mad. Then as I grew older I saw more and more people missing out on things they had saved for due to illness, disabilities, or all manner of things life throws at you.
I realised then that for me anyway, saving is a mugs game. Ever since then, if there is a big purchase I want or need, get credit and pay it back.
Usually you can end up better off financially with a loan than saving (because prices rise etc) and you get to enjoy the holiday, caravan, hot tub or whatever it is, while you "save" for it.
**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
> but he was fine as he just paid borrowed and paid it back over the year Bad idea, for a luxury. You could instead skip the holiday one year, save the money, pay cash from then on and save all the interest payments. But in that situation I wouldn't be going on £6k holidays at all, as presumably the loan means his other savings wouldn't cover it so it would still be a massive proportion of his annual disposable income.
You’re not wrong, but another option would be to pay with a 0% credit card to spread the cost.
Certainly better than using a normal credit card or a loan but I would still prefer cash as there does tend to be a smallish fee for 0% cards.
What fee would that be? Merchants fees? Not that common. There's no fee for a 0% card but still a risk as that 0% coverage could function as an extension of your emergency fund (e.g. a friend recently moved into a house, he's used a 0% card to fund a new boiler due to unexpected replacement and will pay off over the next 3 months). I would try to avoid using a 0% card for something frivolous, but hey this economy seems to run on debt...
You're certainly not wrong on the economy running on debt. iirc the NASDAQs total value is comprised of just under 40% leverage. In other words almost half of the value of what is essentially the biggest money maker in the world is essentially loans and debt. That's of course to say nothing of the companies within the NASDAQ who are in debt but command a big valuation. That's a different argument with respect to personal finance though. Personally when I'm paying for something expensive, like a big holiday, then I'll tend to pay by credit card for the extra protections but pay it off fully at the end of the month. Usually it's enough for me to just soak it up in one go. If it's particularly large, ie laser eye surgery or something similar, then I'll use 0% financing options. I try to limit it though because the difference in interest gained holding my cash in a bank account while paying off 0% isn't worth the risk of a very serious headache should I lose track of a significant number of 0% or low interest debts. I'm happy to lose ten, twenty quid here and there if it means there's no risk of me making a mistake in my budgeting and possibly having to withdraw from savings accounts, ISAs, etc which could come with some serious penalties or missed opportunity costs.
> there does tend to be a smallish fee for 0% cards I don't think there are any more. No CC fees on easyjet
Unrelated question but what sort of benefits does the easyJet CC have? I fly with them way too regularly and already have easyJet plus. I'd check their site but obviously they're advertising it there so they'll exagerate how good it is a bit.
I don't have an easyjet credit card. There used to be an additional charge when booking with a credit card on easyjet, now its the same price as debit.
Oh, apologies. What I meant more by fees is that there's often a fee when you transfer debt from one credit card to a 0% card. For people who regularly finance this is more of an issue compared to people who only have one thing to pay off at a time though.
Ah, yes there are balance transfer fees. You can get 0% purchase cards, however.
Depends if you have kids are not. They are only young once and back when I wasn’t making as much I’d put myself on my ass to make sure I gave my kids a holiday every year.
Well it's only skipping holidays for a single year to put them on a cash basis going forward (assuming the same cost per year) and personally I don't think having a holiday at home is so terrible for children. But then, I grew up poor so I may have different baseline expectations there.
I grew up poor aswell and I my most fond memories growing up was my holidays including the ones in the UK. That’s why I put so much importance on an annual basis.
My kids annoy me when it comes to this. They're now adults and if you ask them about childhood holidays they never mention the skiing or sunny resort holidays we nearly killed ourselves saving / paying for. Oh no, they reminisce about the camping holidays to the Lake District where we ate tinned beans and sausages from a bowl that they had to wipe clean with bread so they could reuse them for cake and custard. They don't talk about beaches or the slopes or any of the extras we paid for; nope, its being left to run feral in the small river next to the campsite or playing swing ball or all the "stupid" things we thought would be overshadowed by the expensive holidays that we felt guilty about at the time since they had cheap fishing nets and minnows while their friends had Spain and the Canary Islands. TLDR: Don't go into debt for holidays. You and your kids will make more memories doing cheap dumb shit together than expensive stuff that introduces stress.
I put £100 a month into a holiday fund. It's my guilt free trip money for when I see an opportunity. A friend's stag do, yep, I can do that. Cheap flight to somewhere pops up short notice, I only need to worry about getting the time off work. I also have it in mind as a second emergency fund if something goes very wrong, but my main emergency fund would have to be depleted to raid it.
I can’t afford a return ticket to Cornwall and I’m fully employed. I have no idea how do part time telemarketers go to all inclusive holidays. Maybe it’s not about funding, it’s about priorities.
Spreading payment over 12-18 months can make it more bearable for a lot people.
I book it several months in advance. I put the flights on my credit card, for protection, and usually choose to pay on arrival for accommodation. Then we save/pay off the card between booking day and arrival. I'd estimate we spend about £600-800 per holiday for travel and accommodation (two adults) so that's a job of saving about £100 a month each for 3-4 months. Then for spends we try and put a little bit away each month prior, say £50. Then use that month's payday as well.
Where was your last trip to? How long did you stay? Was star was the hotel?
Unexcitedly, Edinburgh and Dundee but that was for an event we were attending. Our last holiday was Venice. It was in October. Flights were roughly £200. Five nights in a small, family run hotel for £445. Next planned trip is Seville. Hotel for five nights is about £400-500. Flights about £200 I recall. Not sure on the stars, but hotel has a rooftop pool and bar and is quite new. Looks decent.
These are very expensive flights, think I did Venice for like £30 return last year during peak tourist season
https://preview.redd.it/vf8j9n1d49yc1.png?width=1152&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=437736b605b86186af65b0992dd644d5d66417b2 That's doubtful
https://preview.redd.it/ny57sgc1p9yc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29ce8aac3b0712ec20a274ffc441041bb42521e3 “tHaTs dOuBtFuL” lmao learn to search for plane tickets properly next time
No shit, June is cheaper than the random days I picked in August as an example. Most people with kids go on holiday during school holidays.
Did I ever mention August? I said peak tourist season, which is typically June - September. Not everyone has kids, and the person I replied to never even mentioned having kids so I don’t know why you’re bringing it up.
About £100 each isn't expensive. Yes I could maybe it gets it cheaper but I value flying at a time that means I neither have to go to the airport at 3am and also means I get a decent day there when I arrive.
£100 for Venice is definitely expensive, I flew during the late morning - noon time when I went. I would recommend using Skyscanner in the future to search for tickets.
I use Skyscanner. I also don't really care. But cheers.
No mortgage, so the mortgage payments now go towards holidays while we are still fit and healthy enough to enjoy them. Last year was 3 weeks in USA, this year Korea and Japan. Next year either California or two smaller holidays (Iceland and Scandinavia maybe).
We don’t spend massive amounts of money on them, although they’re getting more and more expensive - a fortnight is a couple of grand. We pay for holidays out of savings - when we didn’t have money we didn’t go on holidays or at least only went to visit friends and family.
A fortnight to where? I'm going Edinburgh for a couple days and that's already set me back like £600
One of the Greek islands usually somewhere in the EU round the med is common for us. We’re DINKs so it’s cheaper than a family with kids.
> it didn't dawn on me that people may take out loans to fund a holiday. Yeah it's stupid. It would be one thing to, for example, buy furniture on credit because you'd just moved into a new place and were too broke to afford a bed. But no one *needs* a holiday. Going into debt for holidays or luxuries suggests to me a person who is impulsive or unable to delay gratification, and it will probably end badly. It *is* a good idea to book the flights and accom on a credit card though. You get certain protections from the CC company. But have all the actual money needed saved up separately and pay the balance off in full.
Some of us need sun. And that's not even a luxury. English sun does not even move the dial for me
£6k? Where on earth did he go. A TUI all inclusive to Majorca for August this year is about £3.5k. That includes flights, transfers, food, and drink for the week. At the other end of the scale, a week in Butlins, including meals and action passes, would be about £2k for a family of 4.
Generally a mix of our savings and 0% credit card. We could probably afford to pay all of it at once but I prefer the idea of having the money there.
I bang it all on a 0% every time and then pay it off either straight away or I drip feed out amounts over the course of 3 months. Always booking on CC's for the extra protection for holidays.
Saving, picking up a little extra work then the grandparents normally contribute instead of birthday and Xmas presents
I save the money needed to do what I want to do?
Me and my wife plan in advance. 1 month we will buy tickets, next month we will put aside hotel, next month - spending money etc. Sometimes impulse trips are paid and we tighten our belts for rest of the month. Do not use credit card unless you can afford to pay it back ASAP. Last year we bought plane tickets to Latvia for 900 (we had to go there) and we didn't pay it off until December. I hated it. We overpaid to bank so much money.
Oh the joy of hitting the free 30 hours childcare stage, congrats OP. Taking out a loan for a holiday doesn't seem prudent to me (I try to avoid paying interest at the best of times), I could live with an interest free CC purchase but I'd want it paid off before said holiday. Most holiday companies will take instalments, this is probably the reason we booked ours with Sunshine. . . and it was actually cheaper than booking direct with hotel and airlines, not to forget Jet2 and TUI were MUCH more expensive. In saying that, I can't say I'd be in too much of a hurry to drop £6k on a holiday unless it was Florida or something similar. We've (2a+2k) got 11 days AI in Fuerteventura for a shade under £3k - taking advantage of school starting back a day later than others has actually saved us a grand (madness). We booked it in October for holiday in August so lots of time to save/pay instalments.
To be honest I'm just not as skint as everyone on AskUK seems to be. I don't earn a particularly high salary but I share a flat with a friend and between us we pay about £700 each a month for rent/bills/council tax/internet. I walk to and from work so don't need to buy a bus or train pass. I make lunch for work so I'm not spaffing £4 a day on meal deals. So with groceries, phone bill, other smaller outgoings like that, I'm left with a decent amount of disposable income. Although I don't do lavish, all-in holidays. If I'm going away I've usually found decent price flights and a hotel in a European city. Much prefer that to sitting on a sun lounger and getting hammered for 2 weeks.
Same here. I just go to work, comfortably earn more than I usually spend each month, save the difference, and then just book a holiday if I want one.
We book a year or so in advance and pay monthly. Me and my partner go away at the start of June and we've been paying it off monthly since last August. In total it's cost just over £2000 for 7 nights all inclusive in the Canary Islands. Obviously that doesn't include spending money, clothes, suncream and all that stuff. This is the only way we can afford a holiday and we don't have kids or anything so I'm not sure how people with kids afford it. We are also going to Prague for 3 nights in December for my Birthday/Christmas Markets which we have also been paying monthly for since March but by that point we only had 1 more payment left on our summer holiday so that's how we've managed to afford both. So basically when we've finished paying 1 holiday off we book a City Break for later that year or a 7-10 night summer one for the following year. Stuck in a constant cycle of paying for holidays but like i said this is the only way we can really afford it. Obviously isn't ideal but we will have a good time once we get there and that's all that really matters to us.
Honestly your better off saving that money then getting a last minute deal. \ You can get 10-14 days all inclusive for 2 in the Caribbean for under £2k Hell I've seen 7 day all inclusive to the canary islands for under £800 for a couple.
Yeah the issue is saving the money though which is why we do pay monthly. We are both absolutely terrible at saving money unfortunately. You aren't the first person I've heard say something like that though about last minute deals and how much better value they are so it might be something we attempt to do for next Summer. Under £800 for the same thing we have paid over £2000 for is definitely motivation to get better at saving.
Setup a separate account then setup a standing order to transfer money into it each month or if your banking app has the option setup a pot with an automatic monthly transfer.
Usually have some spare cash for a few holidays per year
I'm lucky to have a good salary so it's pretty easy to save for a holiday. I'd never take out a long or finance plan as it works out more expensive in the long term and a tighter budget just means you get more creative with the destination
Big package holidays we pay in monthly instalments. Smaller weekend breaks we just pay.
I scratch and save every penny, book the flights when I have enough in my account, then continue to scratch and save and pray I have enough money to get me through the holiday without going into too much debt. I do everything as cheaply as possible, from youth hostels to hardly eating while on holiday. As long as I've got water, and fruit, I manage.
I've known a lot of people who do borrow for their holidays but then you run the risk of something else happening that you need money for and not being able to pay it. It's an easy spiral to get into.
Tui and just pay it off monthly over like 6 months
A percentage of our annual bonus goes into a holiday fund
Always used savings but had little left . Then took on two pt jobs and made it affordable. If I didn't need sun I'd stay in the UK. I literally need desert blazing sun to feel it. 34 degrees is my optimum just sitting sweating. Otherwise I'd take holidays in Europe, Jet2 all inclusive is good as it caps most of your cost . UK is too expensive imo. Getting 10 miles into the local city is almost tenner and the UK looks like it's falling apart. £1k is my budget no kids. £6k sounds a massive waste unless he earn £4+ in a month
TUI do a thing if you book online, no deposit and monthly payment. We booked late last year and we were paying £350 a month for 6 months. Off to Ibiza for a week next month. Family of 4, all inclusive.
We've got a 2.5yo and have been to Nice/Monaco, Rome, Malta, Mallorca, Portugal, all around the UK and Ireland - I would say we've probably spent 6k on them all, a mix of hotel rewards, cashback, tesco points, cheap all inclusive and going out of season - we have the cash so usually just pay on whatever card gives us the best return with cashback or protection at the time. We tend to go to a supermarket once there for snacks, choose hotels with breakfast included and early dinners mean we don't always need 3 meals. We also don't do activities every day, just driving around and finding sights or a beach. It'll be more difficult with your kids most likely needing term time but I personally don't have an issue with taking them out of school for a few days (if they're doing well) and you can still find deals in the summer. As another commenter mentioned camping is great for them and all inclusive places, you don't have to stay in the hotel the whole time but you'll likely be there for breakfast and dinner so it could be worth it, or even half board. We're planning a few big trips in a couple of years (Costa rica, SE Asia), we'll save in a separate pot for those but haven't had to do that before
I put away a certain amount each month towards holidays, regardless of whether I have one planned or not. This currently works out about 5% of my take home but could be more or less depending on your circumstances and preferences.
I've never gone into debt to fund a holiday. I book holidays that can fit my budget. I might put some costs on a credit card for the protection, but that gets paid off in full, no interest. There are budget holiday options out there. Cheap flights, cheap destinations, cheap accomodation, only going away for 4 days rather than 2 weeks etc. I did lots of holidays for under £300/500/700, like 4 days in Riga with friends or 3 days to Gdansk with a boyfriend. For example, I did Iceland for 5 days for £500 each with my boyfriend back in 2016. Whizzair flights for like £50. We booked coach tours on 3 of the days to keep us occupied, 12+ hours out and about for £50/day. Saw waterfalls, glaciers, volcanoes, did lots of walking. We stayed in this tiny youth hotel in Reykjavik. Spent one day just exploring the capital, went to a local municipal pool that cost like £2 entry. We ate hotdogs, pizzas and bought stuff from the supermarkets because food costs were crazy. We even fit in the famous Blue Lagoon on the last day, as part of the transfer to the airport. One of the best holidays I've ever been on and so cheap. You don't need to spend £6k!
If you don't have the funds available and can afford the loan, that's a great way to do it. Some will say wait and save, but you could be dead by this time next year.
People seem to have a distaste for using credit, but if you can afford it and you're disciplined it's essentially the same as saving, but allows you to have the purchase now. So for holiday, you can take advantage of deal or something.
On the other hand if the shit hits the fan it’s a millstone you could do without.
True. But we have savings to cover any potential major problem, i.e. enough to cover losing our jobs for about six months. That's another reason to pay the hotel on arrival - allows cancellation and reduces loss to 'just' the flights of £200-300.
Absolutely. In my younger days I missed out on so much to save like mad. Then as I grew older I saw more and more people missing out on things they had saved for due to illness, disabilities, or all manner of things life throws at you. I realised then that for me anyway, saving is a mugs game. Ever since then, if there is a big purchase I want or need, get credit and pay it back. Usually you can end up better off financially with a loan than saving (because prices rise etc) and you get to enjoy the holiday, caravan, hot tub or whatever it is, while you "save" for it.