Dont want to cancel holiday

sara86pink

We have our holiday booked for 18th Sept for a week in Barcelona. Flights have been paid for, hostel is approx £175 each and then its just spending money.

OH has been getting funny about it for a while now and he keeps saying how he doesnt see how we can afford to go, and I keep saying we can save we just need to budget!

Hopefully I will be able to save £550ish to include my share of hostel but not sure about OH. I'm also hoping to sell my car this weekend to free up a little extra cash.

OH has advertised his really expensive mountain bike and a motorcycle helmet which didnt fit him and now he's talking about selling his really nice TV we have in the bedroom

I dont want him to feel he has to sell all his stuff just for some spending money for a holiday. To me it doesnt seem worth it.

But he is determined that its what he wants to do and he's been meaning to sell this stuff for ages.

I just dont know if I should just give up and stop stressing and just accept we wont be going - which sucks because I've been really looking forward to this as its my favourite city and OH has never been abroad properly before.

Or, should I stick to my guns, sit him down and work out a proper budget to get as much money together and maybe sell little things to make some extra cash without having to sacrifice anything big?

I just dont know what to do

dumpy

Has anything changed recently for OH family? You owe OH's Mum £750, so maybe if she is struggling he feels gulity going away and spending a similar amount when he owes his mum that much? (Apologies If I'm completely off the mark here)

Maybe that OH is feeling the pinch money wise in other ways which he hasn't told you about. Is he worried about his job?

You say you don't want him to sell his stuff, but you want him to go on holiday and he needs to find spending money. I think he's being sensible.

Have you done a SOA? Does this show you have the money spare if you budget?

Pee

Having a holiday when you can't afford it isn't much fun.

I think the SOA and the proper budget is much more sensible, as it's setting you up for the holiday and afterwards. Selling the helmet that doesn't fit is a good idea, but if he'll just want to replace the TV and the mountain bike, it's not worth selling them. Are there any unwanted items you could car boot sale or ebay that wouldn't be missed as much as the tv?

Really, a budget is the only way forward.

sara86pink

Hi Dumpy, we owe OH's mum money as she paid for the rental deposit for our flat and we pay her back a month, she is fine with money and for us going away so no issues there.

OH has been texting me this afternoon and he felt bad that he's letting me down but feels that the easiest thing to do is sell his stuff. Bike and helmet I'm fine with as he doesnt need them, but he loves his telly so I draw the line there!

I told him we would sit down and sort out a budget for him, he did get a little worried as he's just found out he wont be getting paid for being off sick as has had more than 5 days off in total and thats whats started this.

I doubt it will come down to cancelling it, think he has just panicked a little but we shall work something out.

We need to post a new SOA but I'm still waiting for confirmation of one bill which hasnt come through so may post it over the weekend and leave that one out for now.

RAS

Hi

have you looked up what you can do in Barcelona that is free/ very cheap? i appreciate your spends were not massive if you can reduce the spends, it might make it easier.

sara86pink

We werent really planning on doing a lot that cost money, just go lie on the beach, walk around the parks and just explore on foot.

However, if we do manage to get a decent amount together we want to treat ourselves when we are out there as this will be our only holiday / break of the year.

I'm pretty confident as I've gotten used to not going out and keeping my money tight so shouldnt be too hard.

sara86pink

Pee - we have a whole spare room filled with random stuff from our recent move so I'm hoping to go through that over the next couple of weeks and see if there is anything we can sell. I know OH has some old action figures (boys, honestly!) which he said he's more than happy to sell so may ebay those as think some of them may class as collectables...

RAS

Ok, so go onto some of the specialist toy web-sites and work out what sort of price you could be lokking for with these things.

sara86pink

Thanks Ras, will sit OH down this weekend and get him to sort through them. Also, we've got loads of dvds between us so may put them on magpie or amazon at some point too.

dumpy

sara86pink wrote: »

Hi Dumpy, we owe OH's mum money as she paid for the rental deposit for our flat and we pay her back a month, she is fine with money and for us going away so no issues there.

Thats good, hope you didn't mind me mentioning it


I told him we would sit down and sort out a budget for him, he did get a little worried as he's just found out he wont be getting paid for being off sick as has had more than 5 days off in total and thats whats started this.

If I'd lost some income and owed money, I'd be worried. I think he's being very sensible and trying to rein in spending before it gets out of control.

Sometimes it makes a situation like this at work to make you think about debt and how you would cope if your income was cut.

I say again, I think he is being very sensible.

I doubt it will come down to cancelling it, think he has just panicked a little but we shall work something out.

But this is good, it's made you both assess the situation and hopefully you will work together to clear your debts and then have a stress free future.


We need to post a new SOA but I'm still waiting for confirmation of one bill which hasnt come through so may post it over the weekend and leave that one out for now.

Sounds a way forwards, if you have enough left out of the SOA to pay the debts promptly then you should be OK especially if you stick to a budget on holiday this year.

redsquirrel80

Hi Sara,

Sorry to hear that you're worrying when you should be looking forward to your holiday! I think sitting down and working out a budget to raise some extra money is a great idea.

We went to Barcelona last year and there are lots of things to do that are free or cheap (try Googling "free things to do in Barcelona" and lots come up). We spent a day walking up Montjuic where there is plenty to see and great views. The market is a day out in itself too, just looking at everything! Found really good value food in Barceloneta too - the set meals for 10-15 euros were great (we did also visit one of the Michelin-starred restaurants as a treat, I don't think I'll tell you how much that cost! :eek:)

Good luck with it all x