Do you have holidays if in debt?

Exodi

Personally, I think it's madness to go abroard on holiday with a relatively high level of debt. 'Budgeting' for it is just as excusatory as budgeting for the latest iPhone in a DMP (except you still have the handset a week after you buy it...)

There's this girl on Facebook that occasionally pops up on my timeline so I've been somewhat following her story. From the sounds of it she's been evicted and is currently couch surfing between parents with her husband & two children. I've frequently seen them asking if anyone has a washing machine or can help them collect a cheap sofa etc, or talking about staying positive and things working out in the end.

Yesterday this same couple put on Facebook "feel like we deserved a treat" with a screenshot of a week booking for an all inclusive holiday to Spain.

Absolute madness. I think the mentality of 'needing' a holiday is exactly why people get into debt in the first place.

enthusiasticsaver

EssexHebridean wrote: »

This is another interesting question. I've currently got £4k on a 0% card from when we bought the (needed) replacement car a few months ago - BUT the money to clear that if needed was saved up ahead of time, is sitting in savings and could be sent across to bring the card balance to zero in an instant if required. On that basis I don't see it as debt, in the pure sense. (And in the instance of either of our jobs looking at all dodgy clearing that card balance would be the first thing to happen).

I'd suggest that 0% deals etc is only to someone's advantage so long as the money is sitting there earning interest for them. Curious to know what other MSE'ers think on this one though?

I would agree with that to a certain extent but with todays savings rates being as low as they are we do not do that.

BookmobileBadGirl

ditty1234 wrote: »

Sorry a city break is a holiday! To me anyways.
So I think it all depends on your budget/and hoe many people you have to provide for.

Ditty, I agree that a city break is a holiday. My point is that I am out of debt and have my emergency fund so now go on holidays but they are still budget holidays as I am prioritising my mortgage

happydays89

I think a few days break can be good for mental health,we always do Airbnb.We went to Falkirk for the weekend to see the kelpies and found a fab place to stay for £25 a night.....I think that’s a really cheap break.We took food from home and did picnics.
If you have something to look forward to it really keeps you focused.

We let a section of our home on Airbnb and charge £35 a night .Upto four people can stay ,we have a lot of families staying with us,they enjoy the beaches and fantastic walks.Its a bit of extra income for us and they enjoy a cheap holiday.

enthusiasticsaver

Finchy2018 wrote: »

No longer in debt and this year is the first year in 5 years that we are going on an actual holiday and not just having a week at home. 3 weeks abroad and I can't wait but never ever would I have considered it being in debt. I still struggle to justify things like haircuts.

That is wonderful and you can go away knowing you can now afford things like holidays because the debt is gone. There is no feeling like it.

enthusiasticsaver

happydays89 wrote: »

I think a few days break can be good for mental health,we always do Airbnb.We went to Falkirk for the weekend to see the kelpies and found a fab place to stay for £25 a night.....I think that’s a really cheap break.We took food from home and did picnics.
If you have something to look forward to it really keeps you focused.

We let a section of our home on Airbnb and charge £35 a night .Upto four people can stay ,we have a lot of families staying with us,they enjoy the beaches and fantastic walks.Its a bit of extra income for us and they enjoy a cheap holiday.

I think holidays are definitely good for mental health so long as you don't spend the whole time feeling guilty about spending money which either adds to debt or should be going to repaying debt. We never had unmanageable debt but we did have low disposable income when I was at home with our daughters so we did as you do and looked for budget holidays. No Airbnb when our kids were small so they were generally renting a cottage out of season or we did holidays every other year rather than every year. Your holiday sounds fantastic and Airbnb sounds a great money raiser for you. Just shows you don't need an expensive AI package to have a great holiday.

enthusiasticsaver

Fiona_CW wrote: »

Struggling to pay for my holiday last year (booked in April, had to be paid in full by July) was my light bulb moment last year. I ended up selling a bicycle to pay for it. Holiday was in October. I had a major clear out and sold lots of things on ebay in September to cover spending money. This year I am not having a proper holiday as would mean more debt.

Well done for being strong minded enough to do that. I think if the stress of paying for the holiday outweighs the benefits then the answer is don't go on holiday as you have said. Presumably at some point when the debt is lower or gone you can revisit that.

iolanthe07

There was a woman on BBC Panorama last night who was in serious debt and then took out an Amigo loan to pay for a holiday. Madness, imho.

EssexHebridean

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I would agree with that to a certain extent but with todays savings rates being as low as they are we do not do that.

Ours is sitting at 1.42% currently. Could get a fraction more by putting it in fixed term but due to wanting to ensure that it's accessible instantly if needed we've decided against. That's enough to make it worthwhile though, for me.

EssexHebridean

iolanthe07 wrote: »

There was a woman on BBC Panorama last night who was in serious debt and then took out an Amigo loan to pay for a holiday. Madness, imho.

This makes me want to cry. On the other hand, isn't Amigo one of the guarantor loans? In which case the person standing as her guarantor is every bit as bad.