How do other people budget for holidays?

enthusiasticsaver

As is common at this time of year our attention has turned to holidays as something to look forward to in these dark cold rainy days.


I thought I would guage how other people budget and pay for holidays. I usually set aside a certain amount of money each month and pay for it out of our emergency reserve account. That inevitably means that a lot of money goes out from it over the first few months of the year as I book flights, hotels etc and recoup it over the year.


Due to the fact I will not pay credit card fees (often there is a surcharge) I normally pay from my current account and I have to pay around £400 for hotels and Warner Brothers Potterland tickets for a long weekend, £500 for a family trip to Centre Parcs, £1000 for a hotel in Switzerland in July for OH and me and around £180 for flights. Most of these are at saver rates (ie pay upfront, non refundable) so need to paid this month making January a very expensive month and then nothing to pay out for the rest of the year.


How do other people pay for their holidays? Am I missing a trick? Due to the fact we have several peoples' work leave to consider we cannot be flexible on dates so I don't want to book last minute.

Katiehound

All I can suggest is that for the rest of the year you maximise your savings with the current a/c deals. Surprising how £2k squirrelled away here and there in different a/cs paying good/ reasonable interest will mount up over the year- not huge sums, but certainly good spending money.

enthusiasticsaver

Katiehound wrote: »

All I can suggest is that for the rest of the year you maximise your savings with the current a/c deals. Surprising how £2k squirrelled away here and there in different a/cs paying good/ reasonable interest will mount up over the year- not huge sums, but certainly good spending money.

Thanks Katie and yes I do use current accounts for saving. I am taking it out of the Santander 123 account which is earning 3% and will replace it over the year. I don't want to touch my current accounts or regular savers earning 4% or 5%.

Anthorn

Different for me than most people. I own two static caravans in Cap D'Agde (famous for its nudist mile) which I rent out most of the time and occupy myself to escape the worst of the British winter. Basically, my only extra expense is travel, food and energy: Site fees, cleaning and insurance are paid whether the caravans are occupied or not. (If taking that route be careful to check contracts. Some sites are only open during the tourist season)

When I used to go on holiday I saved with a holiday club at my place of work. (Careful of timeshare companies operating as holiday clubs: Some of them are scams.) These days if I went off on holiday I would save with a credit union which offers the possibility of a top-up loan if needed as I do for Christmas.

Carnival789

I also put aside a certain amount each month and then draw the funds from there when needed. It sounds like you might need to save hard for the next 12 months so that, come this time next year, you can book your 2017 holidays from savings that you have already built up specifically for that purpose (although i appreciate it might be easier said than done).

GwylimT

It we have something booked or not we put a bit away each month so if we decide to go away we have a bit of a fund built up already.

We're hoping to have another baby this year so we have booked our usual centre parcs for the May half term so if we are pregnant by then we wont be too far along in the pregnancy.

eskbanker

GwylimT wrote: »

if we are pregnant by then

There's often debate on here about the merits or not of joint accounts but I don't think I've ever seen a joint pregnancy!

Dan83

I save up before hand and pay for it

chris_m

eskbanker wrote: »

There's often debate on here about the merits or not of joint accounts but I don't think I've ever seen a joint pregnancy!

Well, it does generally take two to tango :rotfl:

Drp8713

As well as my long term cash/S&S/pension saving, I save £250 a month for short term savings.

7 months a year is for a holiday. The Mrs chips in anything we need above that amount.
3 months a year is for xmas.
2 months is for birthdays.

Have to enjoy yourself a little throughout the year

Anthorn

chris_m wrote: »

Well, it does generally take two to tango :rotfl:

In the case of joint accounts, sometimes only one to spend the money and the other one to pay it back.