Holidays whilst still in debt

Prudent

loopyloulou wrote:

loan isnt on 0%, but CC is at the moment and i will switch that when 0% runs out (have to double check when that is!)

i think i am gonna save £100 a month and see how i feel nearer the time, although i know i should stop being so hard on myself when i have made so many MSE friendly changes to my life in the past year!

I think the crucial thing here is that you are saving for your holiday and that is a wise and mse thing to do. Why don't you compromise and spend say £600 on a holiday and then you are in a win/ win situation.

portsmouthali

Hi, I'm in the same situation! Haven't been abroad since 1999, since my son was born almost 5 years ago we've had a couple of weekends at Butlins, and 5 days in a caravan on the Isle of Wight. Since my son started school I've doubled my hours at work and started to chip away at our horrendous credit card bills.

I'm doing loads of overtime between Christmas and New Year, and we are strongly tempted to book a holiday abroad for next summer with the extra money. We've never been abroad together and I know my little boy would love to go somewhere hot where he can swim all day. We've had a difficult few years as a family, things are looking up now for us financially and we will be able to afford to do it without getting in more debt. Booking it will make me feel guilty (whenever I spend money I feel guilty ) but ultimately I think life is too short!

Ali x

HairyHandofDartmoor

I haven't been abroad for 15 years!!! and I really miss it, but we have never had the money, mainly because we were just letting money slip through our fingers with no idea where it went.

Now since mse our spending is so controlled and closely monitored that we feel we can save £100 per month to go on holiday, even though our debts are at an all time high! I can't wait to go abroad next year and take our kids abroad for the first time!

elantan

i went through somthing similar not that long ago were booked for cyprus ..i felt so guilty about it but now ...i am glad i have done it because my family need a holiday ...if i waited till i was debt free i know i would probably then go and put an expensive holiday either on loan or on the visa ..so for me this is the best of two options ...what ever you decide to do all the best

shazanne_2

You see if you say you're going whilst still in debt then I can book up and not feel guilty lol. I am going away next year with 16 others and my kids. Will cost a fair wee bit but I have decided that we are going anyway. I am not going to save for it but I am going to pay money off my debt with the high interest rates and then borrow from the credit union at a really low percent. Probably the wrong thing to do but we really need this holiday

HairyHandofDartmoor

That's not a bad way to do it Shazanne!

CFC

I agree with a good number of other posters - settle for a mid-price, not the 'holiday of a lifetime' now, and keep the 'holiday of a lifetime' for when you have cleared your debts down to a lower level. Best of both worlds.

Just imagine you blow £1k on a holiday and your boiler blows up or your car breaks down majorly...back to square one with empty pockets.

tiff

We've recently come back from Florida which was booked in July last year. We shouldnt have gone really but had made the commitment and didnt want to let the kids down so we went ahead. Next year we are going camping for 2 weeks in the school holidays. I love camping anyway so its no hardship, we just wont have a foreign holiday. The camping hol will probably cost £200 max.

hornetgirl

I just wonder where so many people get the idea that they "need" a holiday or "deserve" a trip abroad. Without aiming this at anyone in particular, surely it's this kind of thinking that has led so many people into debt in the first place? Of course there are exceptions and I appreciate this, but my personal view is that I couldn't justify spending so much on a foreign holiday if I also had debts outstanding.

mintymoneysaver

I think we could all do with a holiday, but I would feel guilty at spending £1000 on a holiday. I would settle for a cheaper one....