I think there's a difference between careful with money and being mean. Maybe i've come across too many of the latter,- cos i'd definitely rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints,- as the song goes....
We are careful with money, but not. i suspect as much we should be, but hey ho , life is for living

Suncatcher- as you say life is for living and luckily we all choose to live it as we see fit. What is important so some will be trivial to others and vice versa. Good luck to everyone who go on holidays come what may- if it doesn't worry them where their next bill payment is coming from then it shouldn't worry me

I'm with suncatcher on this, i think you have to be careful but then again live your life to the full, i'm not the sort of person who is going to sit tight counting pennies when there is something i dream of doing. As long as i know i can budget over a period of time i think a short term debt is workable. For instance i use a credit card for buying holidays, flights , car hire etc and also for diy home improvements especially when buying on the internet. I have a standing order for £500 a month as i aim to spend around £6000 on these items each year, on my statement the balance varies between £500 to £2000 max , at the most i pay around £10 a month interest , i've just paid for an upcoming holiday which was over £1300 , so by the time i go it will almost be technically paid for , but next month i will probably book a flight for later on , so horror of horror i'm still in debt , so what ! its under control , i don't have the £1300 in my current account as each month there are many humdrum things to pay for like the mortgage, bills and council tax. I do have far more than £1300 in my savings accounts but i don't want to touch any of that money , thats locked away for future plans.

I live to my means. I wouldn't be able to enjoy on my sun lounger if I knew I couldn't afford to be there, and the bills were piling up at home!

Andy. It's nice to see that there are some people who live in the moment,- at least occassionally anyway . We dont get in to debt to go on holiday, or live beyond our means generally.
However, every so often we will throw caution to the wind and do something because we really want to, and because in my opinion, life is mundane enough withouth always having to think about every penny you spend.
I have to say, while i appreciate many people need to budget for holidays,- me included, i really have little time for people who count every penny, and agonise over the smallest amounts of money. I just dont understand people like this, and find them pretty dull to be honest.

I remember when i was buying my house when i was 25 , and the advisor showed me the figures , the monthly repayment was less than the rent i had been paying but then i saw the total amount to be repaid and told him "that must be a mistake" it was 3 times what i had borrowed!!! but even at this most dreadful time with the economic meltdown my house is worth a lot more than the total i will have repaid , by the time the mortgage is finished it will be worth even more , and then at 50 i will totally own my house , i have no-one to leave it to so i will then spend the next 25 years (hopefully!!) if i don't live it up too much trying to spend all that equity so a little balance on a card is not going to stop me Livin La Vida Loca. I want a lifetime of memories and good times not a big pot of money when i'm too past it to enjoy it.

i really have little time for people who count every penny, and agonise over the smallest amounts of money. I just dont understand people like this, and find them pretty dull to be honest.

I guess then that you've never experienced what it's like to not know where the next penny is coming from, or experienced that corrosive effect that perennial debt has on family life. It was really brought home to me at a family gathering over New Year how much one of my cousins had clearly envied me and my brother from childhood - I'd never realised - and just how much she would have loved to have had parents like my 'pretty dull' ones instead of her hedonistic father who continually ran up debts. All I saw was what looked to me like a much more exciting existence (especially her shop bought clothes instead of my home made ones!) whereas she saw her mother having to pawn her wedding ring so that the rent could be paid.

As I said earlier in this thread, yes, I do have a credit cards and I have taken great advantage of the interest free periods on new ones to enable me to keep my money in the bank and earn some interest on it whilst not clocking up interest on a credit card loan. But I can do this secure in the knowledge that if I wanted to, I could pay these off easily because I am in steady employment that comes with a very decent occupational pension scheme which will give me secure income in retirement, I'm not putting children through University and my mortgage payments are now at the lowest fraction of my monthly salary that they have ever been with only a couple of years to go before it's paid off and I too will have a substantial asset.

But life hasn't always been this good and for many people it still isn't - they count every penny and agonise over the smallest amounts of money because to do otherwise runs the risk of them not being able to keep a roof over their heads and take care of their families. So please, if you don't have to do this, be grateful and don't knock people who have seen what debt can do to families and would prefer to avoid it all costs so that they can sleep well in their beds at night.

SM

That was an excellent post Sma. There are more important things than holidays (ooh, did I say that lol), like paying the utility bills and having a nicely heated house to live in and a phone to keep in touch.

I am not or never have knocked people who are careful with money, and have to watch what they spend. I am in that category myself. I've even booked a £9.50 sun holiday for this year
My beef is with people who in my experience are not short of a bob or two, but fret over every last penny. i know people like this,- i'm sure we all do , They are not in low paid or insecure employment,- quite the opposite, but they are the sort of people who will query everthing on the bill after a meal in case they may have been charged for that £1.50 bowl of olives that thy didn't have.
In my experience, it is invararibley the people who have less money who are the mort generous, and happy go lucky, and the tight wads a tad miserable.

A large round of sustained applause to SMa for that post. I am one of those dull people who has to "agonise over the smallest amounts of money". I hope Suncatcher one day wakes up to the fact that we are not all in the same situation and that some of us, through no fault of our own, really struggle to make ends meet.

You obviously haven't read my post properly I stand by what i say. Each to their own and all that...

Suncatcher I appologise if I've misunderstood your first couple of posts but they seemed to be saying 'so what if you get in debt, live for the moment'

However, I agree with your last post that the more money people have got, the more they question every little thing and are seen to be tight with their money. Mind, it's probably due to the fact that they are tightfisted that they've got loadsa money!

I don't think anyone is saying "so what if you get in debt" , i think its pretty much a fact of life that we all have to be in debt at some point , and it varies how much by your personal circumstances. For some people its unavoidable as they try to cope from month to month. In the opening post Joe said that this year he has managed to pay for everything before his holiday, but last year he had arranged to delay paying a bill so freeing up some money, by the tone of most of the replies you would have thought he had defrauded the bank of england!! Realistically i think there are many people who probably do that , personally i wouldn't , but i wouldn't be so judgemental on people that do.
Obviously being in debt in a heavy way or for a long time is damaging , but Joe was insinuating that perhaps people this year might have to hold off a couple of bills to take account of the fact that people have less money to save as living costs are rising and that holidays will probably cost more due to operators recuperating their losses from the ash cloud and snow last year.
It is a serious question and situation as people might not be able to pay for all their holiday and might have to pay off the rest for a couple of months after the holiday , personally i don't think this is a problem , i imagine people face this situation at christmas as well, but i found many of the replies on this thread thinking that having a debt is unthinkable and some were moralistic and that a debt in principle is wrong, the views seemed so strong i wondered if the principle applied to all purchases or just the simple fact that for holidays its unacceptable.

Hi Andy

I think that the original post could have possibly be mis-understood, and if you look back SMa, wrote an excellent post on that, the fact that proabably his post was mis-understood by quite a few people - she then went on to ask people for ideas on how people could offer money saving ideas to go on holiday, to which lots of people replied.

As has already has been said we all run our pockets as to how we see fit, some it's important to save for a rainy day, and be frugal with their hard earn cash others like to spend now think later - it's honestly each to their own.

Me and hubby come from different backgrounds, basically, my family had nowt and believed in saving up for things, so we went without treats so my parents could buy say, a new twintub or sofa, never had anything on credit, wheras hubby's family were quite comfortable and could buy pretty much what they needed when they needed.
So, I'm the frugal one and if we aint got it in the pot, we don't have it, he, on the other hand would just say, lets just have it and worry about it later !! good job we are so different, otherwise he'd get into allsorts of financial trouble !
After 20 yrs together, I think I've trained him now !!
I want to instill the importance of not drowning in debt to our 10 yr old daughter too, don't get me wrong, she doesn't go without like I did, but she knows that holidays are a luxury that we save up to have .
We are fortunate that we've worked hard in the jobs we have to afford our holidays, but with the financial climate, who knows in the future

suncatcher wrote:

You obviously haven't read my post properly I stand by what i say.

suncatcher wrote:

i really have little time for people who count every penny, and agonise over the smallest amounts of money. I just dont understand people like this, and find them pretty dull to be honest.

Which part didn't I read properly?

I don't think anybody here has judged others for their way of thinking. The majority of us seem to be saying, if money is tight, we prefer to pay the bills first and forget about holidays- if that makes us boring so be it!

As for not judging anyone who might defraud the bank of England what a statement to make. That would have an impact on all us honest people.

I am guilty of using credit cards on the last 2 occasions last year otherwise due to work circumstances over last year would not have been able to go anywhere which I just can NOT do with out. I'm pleased to say Im now in a job which I can save some of my wages to have a holiday with out using credit but they are budget holidays out of season which I always enjoy anyway. BUT Id do anything to have my hit of the excitement I get when getting on the plane and enjoying the atmosphere of being away. I dont ever go out at home or drink so I like having something to look forward too. Im hoping to get away on a very chep deal to spain this year either Feb/March or Novemeber whilst they are going cheap.

Danny

shirley h wrote:

As for not judging anyone who might defraud the bank of England what a statement to make. That would have an impact on all us honest people.

I wasn't aware that i was making a statement

andy66 wrote:

but last year he had arranged to delay paying a bill so freeing up some money, by the tone of most of the replies you would have thought he had defrauded the bank of england!! quote]

He is not literally doing this , the quote above is a figure of speech, and more accurately hyperbole as it is exaggerated . So i don't understand the (duh) i don't think i'm being thick? or that my opinion is stupid?

Danny, i think what you're saying is an honest reality of what people are going through, i hope you find a good deal and enjoy your holiday.

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