Wow! reading these posts has made me realise just how lucky I am.... We never save up, just pay for it, there's always money there (in the bank) and we choose, pay, and off we go. Average 3 or 4 per year. One thing I do know is that in a couple of years hubby will have retired, it will probably be a different story then.... Oooh that's made me think maybe to save up so we can take more then????
Mmmm someone has certainly made me think, lol. Linda.

Hiya Judith.

Yes it's a sharp culture shock when you find yourself at pension age.
No amount of saving and planning for the future stops the thieving government from fleecing you with tax, if you have paid into a company pension.
The state pension is a joke and I intend spending every penny I possess on holidays or whatever...

Who can actually survive on £87 per week.?
I used to wonder how all these OAP's could afford to go on holiday several times a year....
Well, unless they are milking the benefit system, then they must be like us and just spending the savings.

I used to worry at one time seeing the bank balance go down, but not any more.....you're a long time dead, there's no pockets in shrouds and if I had my time to come again...then I would have earnt it and had the pleasure of peeing it up against a wall and more holidays.

Then, when I reached pension age, I would join all the others milking the system, some of them are financially better off than me and I've worked all the hours god has sent.

Sanji x

We just have a holiday fund account so any excess funds get transferred in to that account as and when to pay for holidays. Once it's in the account, it's only used for holidays - NOTHING else!!

It'll be getting emptied very soon when I start booking for 2008!

Darren

living with my mum and dad helps lol i pay then my rent and my phone bill and pay a bit towards my holiday. so i normally have my holidays paid after 2 months of booking and then have a account to save my spends up.

gonner kill me when i get my own place soon i will hate it it will take me a lot longer to save for holidays.

As a single parent on a very low income (working part-time at the moment) I can't afford to save up for holidays at all. However I am very lucky and Royal Bank of Mum lets me dip into my inheritance (I'm an only child) and as long as we don't get too carried away it's all OK
I do try to save up for our holiday spends as much as I can, we usually go all-inclusive so whatever I manage to save is spent on nice days out, coach trips etc, and a nice meal at the airport before we go.

i get £500 bonus off my boss every xmas so that goes towards my holiday we only have 1 week a year normaly to benni witch is cheap so i dont have to save much to go away. like most people me and the wife used 2 have good full time jobs (before child came along)and used to have 2 holidays a year summer in majorca and xmas&new year in tenerife. but now the wife is part time so its 1 holiday a year for us but we still enjoy it

We sell alot of things on Ebay, so all the money from there goes towards hols

We can have one holiday a year which we save £200 a month for. We go in the main 6 weeks holiday when it's most expensive and have to look for fairly cheap deals, usually with a free child!
I also have to include the money that we'd be spending at home during the two weeks. So if we were at home we'd spend say £250, then that means I can count that towards the spending money!

The last couple of years I've had a few good jobs come in (self employed) and we've gone away on cheap breaks in the Whit holiday but I'm talking less than £1000 for the three of us!

We sell alot of things on Ebay, so all the money from there goes towards hols

I think you were one of many. Ebaying selling is really popular.

Ive been known to do a bit of that myself when funds are really dire

I have my good mothers wage (family allowance) put into a seperate account just for holiday spending money and I save up all my tips from work . seems to work for us and we manage 2 european holidays a year.
I also don't mind putting in HOURS of cyberhunting for the best deal for flights, accomodation, which I think helps to give you more spends !

We sell alot of things on Ebay, so all the money from there goes towards hols

i used to sell loads of rare records on e-bay but found their fees way to high and i was paying out loads of money to them..
i now sell on e-bid which is quieter than e-bay but they dont charge me fees for item that do not sell like e-bay did

We bank online. Each month as our paychecks come in we transfer the bulk of the money into a high interest account. Then as the month passes we transfer back enough money to settle bills and keep the account in the black. Any unspent money that month stays in the high interest account. usually then by Summer there is enough in the account to pay for the holiday.

Interesting topic, wierd how people plan their holidays. I personally try and take 2 "holidays" per year (booked via an operator) and as many "breaks" as I can fit in, these are DIY via the the budget airlines, Hotelopia etc. I just pay as I book, but funnily enough I save for Xmas (£2, 50p and 20p coins), which average about £350 per year. I was quite lucky a few years ago and found a "loophole", quite by accident, on how to book holidays at really silly prices, and today I still go down this route. The most I have ever paid over the last few years was £175 pp and this was to Halkidiki. Mostly they average £125 pp and are booked holidays and not AOA., but are limited to a certain degree. I think paying over £1000 for a holiday would frighten me now, short haul I mean. It is really strange how people see this a major annual thing and plan and save for a year or so for a few weeks away, but I would imagine it will be much more "special" to them. Good reading, and a good topic.

Robby

I take your point re 'cheapies' and short breaks - I too tend to do all these at fairly short notice and just pay for them from that months salary. But then I am lucky - I'm in a well paid, secure job with a monthly salary that more than exceeds my regular essential monthly outgoings by some margin. But I can remember how my Mum used to have to make sure that she put money aside each month in 'thrift' box to pay for our annual week in a rented cottage or caravan and even built up stock of tinned and dried food goods to take away with us. I'm sure that many people with families have to still do the equivalent today.

However, in addition to a regular week in the Canaries each autumn and a couple of city break type long weekends I also do an regular annual trip to Cuba, It's a specialist holiday and once i take into account 'spends' whilst I'm there that 2/3 weeks costs in the region of £2,000 all in. Even I don't just have that sort of money sitting in the current account - it requires planning for and I need to set aside the money in some way on a regular basis to cover the cost. Some of the people I go with just put it on their credit cards and then spend the next 12 months paying it off. I prefer to make sure that I don't end up paying £2,000 plus the interest on the credit/loan.

SM

Mine tend to be quite pricey as I often travel with a singles company. My choice though - I could do it totally solo DIY and get some good deals but I like the concept of these holidays and meeting like minded people. Problem is they aint cheap!

last year was the first holiday I went on without my parents, and the first one I had to pay for.

been a skint student it was hard to save up for. at the time I was living on £20 a week anyway so every penny of that, plus xmas and bday money (was my 18th so luckily got a lot) paid for it, made enough from my part time job for a decent amount of spending money. it was hard but it was worth it!

next year could be more difficult. now at uni with no time for work. got my loan though which hopefully will cover it.

another good idea, for people that don't already do it is surveys and pay to click adverts on the internet. i've made a lot from doing that this year! used some of it for holidays and some for crimbo!

also save silver and copper in a jar, only did this for a month or so before my last holiday and had about £50 in it!

My hubby has deductions from his wages paid into a federation, we can also take a loan out up to three times whatever is in the account, very low interest rates, that's how we do it. I can't save to save my life, it burns a hole in my pocket.

Loose change ... always the best way to save up - it's amazing how quickly it mounts up!