Question for those already retired - how did your holiday and entertainment expenses evolve...?

pinnks

Interesting thought.  Even though I cycled to the station at each end, I commuted 70 miles into London by train and probably averaged about 8,000 miles in the car, including holiday driving.  That commute has gone, we always walk to the supermarket now and the car is an expensive sculpture in the front.  2.5 years old now and 12,000 on the clock, most of which is holidays in the EU and visiting the kids, each of which lives about 150 miles away and in opposite directions.  I am sure someone could do a "carbon footprint change" calculation, lol.

eastcorkram

Not of much use to the OP, as we're poles apart. 

We seem to live a very different lifestyle to most on here, or most in the real world too! Or maybe there's loads like us, but you just don't hear about them! 

We don't really socialise. Either as a couple, or individually. Neither of us drink. The last time I met up with anyone from work , outside of work, is well over 30 years ago. We aren't members of clubs or stuff like that. Have hobbies, but solitary sort of stuff. 

I guess it's possible, that retirement, might push us out into the world a bit, into some sort of walking club or other social group. But that would be a huge change for both of us. 

We're not retired, still both full time. Me 64 this year, her 62. Joint income probably around 95k gross. 

Of the three headings listed by the OP. 

Holidays . Expenditure won't change. We don't do them now, and that's very unlikely to change once retired. 

Now, entertainment, which has handily had weekends away in, will rise a lot I imagine. (that's what we class as holidays). Once retired, I'd hope these will happen more often. As will stuff like cinema, theatre etc.

Eating out. The only time we ever do that, is on the weekends away. So will increase, as hopefully there'll be more of them. 

So the middle one, entertainment, will see the big increase .

Silverbullet036

It's a very interesting read this thread. I find it fascinating how people spend their time retired in comparison to myself. The amounts spent by folks are staggering to me with regard to holidays/entertainment etc

Only one other person has a lifestyle remotely similar to 'ours' and that's eastcorkram in the previous post. We have been married 35 years and are both now retired after my wife gave up earlier this year , me being done since just before I turned 50 roughly 5 years ago. We are what other folks would call unsocial , but to us it's normal and how we like things. She still has the odd ex-work colleague who wants to go for a cup of tea every now and then but my wife hopes that will just die a death and she can be left alone. I maybe see a couple of ex-work mates once or twice a year but my brain scrambles very quickly and I cant get away quickly enough.

We have never been on holiday in all those years , we have toyed with maybe going for a night away in Uk and i'm sure we may do it now she's retired. Maybe next year. As for entertainment we couldnt possibly imagine being in a cinema or watching a ballet/opera with all those people sat next to us , smelly/eating/talking/phones going off and general bad manners.

We sat down recently and my wife said 'how the hell are going to spend our money' ? We don't want anything and if we do we go buy it but we live simple contented lives. We are both incredibly happy with our life and how it has turned out. But keep us away from other people and we couldn't be happier or more contented.

cfw1994

I think the very different experiences simply show how different we all are.

No right or wrong, & no two budgets are the same.  This forum proves that many times 🤷‍♂️

Spoke with a pal today, one of the old workmates I keep in regular touch with: he was telling me how he loves just being able to potter about, take time over jobs about the house or their allotment.  We will meet up later in summer over a nice bike ride, then waste some pennies on a meal and some good beer 🤣🍻💪

barnstar2077

cfw1994 said:

I think the very different experiences simply show how different we all are.

No right or wrong, & no two budgets are the same.  This forum proves that many times 🤷‍♂️

Spoke with a pal today, one of the old workmates I keep in regular touch with: he was telling me how he loves just being able to potter about, take time over jobs about the house or their allotment.  We will meet up later in summer over a nice bike ride, then waste some pennies on a meal and some good beer 🤣🍻💪

Personally, I am looking forward to the day when I can get up in the morning planning to do some DIY project, but having looked out of the window decide to go for a walk along the beach instead.  And if I see an advert for a film I want to see while I am out, then pop in and give it a go.  Complete freedom and control over my time.  I'm already working on a retirement playlist, even though I am years away! (Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, Sunny Afternoon by the kinks etc! :  )

Lyncroft

I'm another potterer. Go for a swim, read a book, take a walk. See a film during the day when the cinema's empty. Did a lot of travelling when working and I've lost any desire to hit an airport. Probably helps I live on my own, like my own company and basically not very sociable. See one or two mates occasionally for a drink. I like a nice simple life. Busy, busy I'm certainly not!

katejo

westv said:

michaels said:

I hope people at least stop to think about the carbon footprint of their holiday choices even if they then decide to go ahead anyway.

I always use public transport to fly to my holiday destinations.

Doesn't that only count if your public transport is a train rather than flying? I argue that I have earned brownie points by never having even learnt to drive. I walk or go by public transport everywhere so that allows me a few flights (rarely more than 2 trips a year).

katejo

Lyncroft said:

I'm another potterer. Go for a swim, read a book, take a walk. See a film during the day when the cinema's empty. Did a lot of travelling when working and I've lost any desire to hit an airport. Probably helps I live on my own, like my own company and basically not very sociable. See one or two mates occasionally for a drink. I like a nice simple life. Busy, busy I'm certainly not!

I want to be able to potter to a certain extent (as I am doing today) but I also want to go away on  days out/short breaks, perhaps on the spur of the moment when the weather is good but also book holidays ahead when I want them without needing to get permission from work. I don't want to spend ALL my time alone at home. I'd also like to go away for a slightly longer time (a month perhaps or slightly more) which I can't do while working.

Pat38493

Silverbullet036 said:

It's a very interesting read this thread. I find it fascinating how people spend their time retired in comparison to myself. The amounts spent by folks are staggering to me with regard to holidays/entertainment etc

Only one other person has a lifestyle remotely similar to 'ours' and that's eastcorkram in the previous post. We have been married 35 years and are both now retired after my wife gave up earlier this year , me being done since just before I turned 50 roughly 5 years ago. We are what other folks would call unsocial , but to us it's normal and how we like things. She still has the odd ex-work colleague who wants to go for a cup of tea every now and then but my wife hopes that will just die a death and she can be left alone. I maybe see a couple of ex-work mates once or twice a year but my brain scrambles very quickly and I cant get away quickly enough.

We have never been on holiday in all those years , we have toyed with maybe going for a night away in Uk and i'm sure we may do it now she's retired. Maybe next year. As for entertainment we couldnt possibly imagine being in a cinema or watching a ballet/opera with all those people sat next to us , smelly/eating/talking/phones going off and general bad manners.

We sat down recently and my wife said 'how the hell are going to spend our money' ? We don't want anything and if we do we go buy it but we live simple contented lives. We are both incredibly happy with our life and how it has turned out. But keep us away from other people and we couldn't be happier or more contented.

Actually as the OP all the posts here are really helpful.  I think actually as a couple, my wife is more keen on taking lots of expensive holidays than me.  I probably would want at least one holiday per year but I suspect I would be much better than her at coping with just staying at home or pottering around the local area most of the time.

This is one of the things we have to figure out together but life tends to intervene a bit - e.g. last weekend I went on a stag weekend and the latest trend is that you have to go to Poland or Majorca or whatever - the weekend cost me about £800 in total, and that was only because we went to Sopot where it's not so expensive.  I could have got a week long all inclusive cruise from Southampton for that money.  As it's a friend getting married I felt I should attend as I couldn't really legitimately claim it was unaffordable for me either.

(this went as experiences rather than holidays in my budget though).

In the end, I would be happy to stop work earlier even if it meant spending less on holidays but I'm not sure my wife will agree - more conversations for the next year.

Sarahspangles

Pat38493 said:

I think actually as a couple, my wife is more keen on taking lots of expensive holidays than me.  I probably would want at least one holiday per year but I suspect I would be much better than her at coping with just staying at home or pottering around the local area most of the time.

Since he retired my OH has had a week abroad, plus a couple of weekends camping with his mountain bike friends, and my Facebook feed is full of my female friends’ holidays together. Neither is my cup of tea and - dare I say - it’s probably good for relationships not to be together 24/7/365.