How do you save/ budget for holidays

holidaysforme

Do you have an annual budget, or a seperate account just for holidays where you allocate a certain amount every month.?

We have a holiday account, and try and put in a minimum amount every month.

Also, do you like a 'big' holiday every year, or a few less expensive ones scattered throughout the year. I prefer the little and often approach, as the thought of only going away once a year would be a bit if a killer.:eek:
Just curious how everyone budgets for their breaks away, and how frequently you go on holiday.

My curiosity was prompted on a recent holiday, when I got chatting to a newly retired couple, who were on their second holiday of 2016 (this was last month) and had two more planned before August. I was most impressed, not to mention jealous:rotfl:

ibizafan_2

We have booked five foreign holidays this year, and have just returned from the first, which was a cruise to see the Northern Lights in Norway. My OH is retired, and I do a part time job as well as being in receipt of two pensions. We are both 63, and pay for the holidays out of income and savings. This is what we've planned and saved for over our working life. We are not interested in buying loads of 'stuff', or new cars etc. Other people might have different priorities.

EssexExile

I remember being jealous when we were poor newlyweds with a big mortgage & no savings & all our friends were flying off to the Canaries or the Balearics. Then I remembered that I didn't want to go to the Canaries or the Balearics! Now we're retired like Ibizafan we go where we like when we like. It's great.

zagfles

It becomes a lot cheaper when you're retired as you can go when you want, you're not constrained by school holidays or by when you can get leave at work, you can go midweek to midweek without wasting leave, you have more time to take a slower route, travel to a non local airport etc.

PompeyPete

holidaysforme wrote: »

My curiosity was prompted on a recent holiday, when I got chatting to a newly retired couple, who were on their second holiday of 2016 (this was last month) and had two more planned before August. I was most impressed, not to mention jealous:rotfl:

We enjoyed our chat with you.;)

PasturesNew

I don't have holidays, they're just something I've never been able to afford - and also have nobody to go with, so it's never been any sort of priority for me.

I've no idea even how much a holiday might cost, but I'd probably be looking at £400 for a week I guess.... so, if I wanted a holiday of that much I'd just consciously not spend money on other stuff until there was enough in my current account - then I'd book/pay for it.

jackieblack

I try and save a certain amount every month and also add anything extra when I can.
I work in a school so am limited to travelling during school holidays, which means that it inevitably costs more than it would if I could travel at 'off peak' times and consequently I can't afford to travel as frequently as I would like, but travelling is important to me and what keeps me going, so I 'suck it up' and enjoy spending time researching and planning my trips to get good deals wherever possible.
I always have at least two or three future trips in mind and semi-planned for the short, medium and long term, but since I'm now a solo traveller, these trips are a bit different to the kind we planned and took when we were travelling as a family.
I don't buy lots of 'stuff' and live quite frugally, but probably spend 'more than the average' on my holidays (judging only by what I've heard thers say they spend). As a % of my income, it's a significant amount, exceeded only by the amount I pay for my mortgage.

Moto2

We book a holiday when and if we have a good month with a lump of cash available at the end of it. We're not retired yet but don't have to worry about things like mortgages.
It usually works out that we get away at least 3 times and sometimes 5 each year. I'm able to book leave upto 2 years in advance so that helps with the logistics a bit.
We've currently got 3 trips booked and paid for to take us up to Christmas

holidaysforme

ibizafan wrote: »

We have booked five foreign holidays this year, and have just returned from the first, which was a cruise to see the Northern Lights in Norway. My OH is retired, and I do a part time job as well as being in receipt of two pensions. We are both 63, and pay for the holidays out of income and savings. This is what we've planned and saved for over our working life. We are not interested in buying loads of 'stuff', or new cars etc. Other people might have different priorities.

Wow, Way to go. I want to be you lol.:) we have a good few years to go from being able to retire, and I only work part time, and still have a large mortgage, but prioritise holidays over stuff every time.
How was your Northern lights trip? This is on our wish list.

holidaysforme

EssexExile wrote: »

I remember being jealous when we were poor newlyweds with a big mortgage & no savings & all our friends were flying off to the Canaries or the Balearics. Then I remembered that I didn't want to go to the Canaries or the Balearics! Now we're retired like Ibizafan we go where we like when we like. It's great.

Ha ha. Can't wait to be in that position:rotfl:

holidaysforme

PompeyPete wrote: »

We enjoyed our chat with you.;)

Where you and your wife in Tenerife in February lol. It was funny, as they were actually sitting the row in front of us on the plane, then ended up in our hotel in the room next door:D