I dont know what you like doing or eating but that amount (1500) sounds fine to me.
Ive not been to Turkey but frequent Greece which is more expensive than Turkey and as a family of five we manage on that amount over two weeks easily.
Here are some tips I can think of that save me money , buy drinks after security at airport for on the plane /coach rather than getting ripped off on the plane for a small can/bottle.
We usually also buy our water in bulk when we arrive at hotel/apartments ie 6 x2 litre bootles for around 6 euro /rather than paying more for smaller bottles.
We also only eat out once or twice a day /sometimes brekkie in the apartment but we always have a late brekkie and then no dinner then an evening meal. We usually find that we dont want to eat a lot in the heat anyway.If the kids want ice creams /drinks early afternoon we get them.Occaisonally they may have snacks like onion rings and nuggets around the pool snack bar.
If you can find a good italian restaurant it can be cheap as you can order pizza's/pasta/garlic bread and share it.
As for trips pay your rep by credit card then pay for them when you get home than way you have more spending money.

Forgot to mention we also leave good tips to all the waiters/maids etc too.
Also the kids go to the usual bouncy castle/trampoline places etc.
We are not tight as such we dont have to be, but we are careful what we spending.
We always have a great holiday.

Bunny - the amount stated was 500 pounds not 1500 pounds.

Patka

Hi again,
maybe I didn't explain myself very well The poster in the Turkey thread was hoping to get by on £500 for 2 weeks, which gave me the idea in starting this new thread to see how little everybody can manage on. I then spoke about my personal experience saying that I'm not sure how little I could get by on because we don't normaly have to scrimp and save on Hol. The £1500 quoted was the amount I'm taking with me to Crete this year. Hopefully this clarifies things

£1500 min,that is what we take,if we go to europe.that is for me,hubby & grandaughter.this year,we are taking £2000,to SF & florida.i hate the thought,of watching,what we spend on holiday,we can do that at home.towards the end,of the fortnight,eating out,gets abit much for us,so we do tend to,just get some nice bread & cheese,or a cooked chicken,or something.personally for us,it is £1500,wouldn't be happy,with less!
tracy

For two adults and a child we usually get by on £700 to £800 when we are half board. This year we spent a little more probably because of the Euro.
Next year we are going self catering so are hoping £1500 will be enough ( although we are getting married so will be taking a lot more than that), but that is the budget for the holiday.
I really can't see how a family of four can get by on £500 for two weeks.

This is an interesting one!! The last S/C holiday we went on, we did spend about £1500 and we weren't extravagant at all. With the accomodation package having cost about £2500, that's what has made us go AI ever since, as £4000 does buy you a good standard hotel and AI package. Overall we seemed to get so much more for our money.

Those of you who do S/C do you get a DIY package since obviously if you can bring the accomodation costs down, then it becomes a much better option? I can see as the children get older, the appeal of 'going out' to eat will return. I'm definately considering DIY for next year and won't rule out the AI alternatives.

Pam

Hubby & I will be taking £1500 for 2 weeks SC to Crete. Apart from making an occasional breakfast, we will have a light lunch and evening meal out. We don't watch every penny, but I don't think we spend stupidly. I would prefer not to go away, than have to look what I'm spending all the time. We usually split our money into 2 packs, then if we're starting the second one before the end of the 1st week then we tend to rein in a bit. We would probably have got an AI package cheaper, by the time you count up the price of the holiday and spends, but SC gives us the freedom to eat local food in nice little tavernas, which is a big part of our holidays. Any trips we do will be put on the credit card.

Thats the one thing that puts me off AI, I wouldn't want to limit myself to the hotel! I think if we were AI I'd find myself saying 'why bother sitting here watching the sun go down with a beer when we can go back to the hotel and get one for free'

In our family there is me, my wife and my daughter, I always have available £1400 for a two week holiday (s/c or h/b) Plus for emegencies theres always the credit cards! But I've never spent the whole £1400. What I like though is that what we don't spend on the holiday we can use for something at home! IE it feels like extra money! Last year we were h/b and only spent about £800 and that included trips to the zoo, crocodile park, Tivoli World, Dolphin Marina! ect.

When we first went away as a family in about 1997 we didn't have much money and budgeted on £40 a day between us! But back then it was a lot cheaper to eat and drink and I think we took about 15 Pot Noodles with us too!

I'm always very impressed with how families on here can stretch their money (without scrimping) on their hols. I seem to spend a load with nothing to show for it!

A holiday back in 1988, my first without any parents I had only £180 for two weeks self catering in Salou. I know it was years ago but even so that wasn't much money. We ended up working for a bar handing out fliers (okay, hassling people) for about 4 hours an evening purely for the reward of free drinks.

In 2005, me Rob and Gav went to Tenerife the week before Xmas. It cost us £350 for a week S/C. That was for all of us as we got Gav there for £49 and £149 each for me and Rob. We did spend abit though as we ate out every day, hired a car and did a little exploring.I still think we ended up spending about £800 in total.

Generally, we don't like to scrimp on a holiday..we are on holiday, we have worked hard to pay for it..we have saved up etc so we think we should be allowed to splash out a little. Of course, we try not to go completely OTT and spend for the sake of it. I think the least we ever spend in 1 week was about £300 but we were AI and never really needed owt.

To me its more important to have the holiday even if cash supplies are limited. So we cut our cloth to suit - cheapy holidays to Europe early or late in season, a trip to the Far East in the winter if we're flush...and even then we don't spend more than a grand on a three week break.

As its only hubby and myself we dont need or spend as much now as when we had the children with us , 3 yrs ago went to turkey s/c for the first time and was amazed at how much money we spent 2 adults and 2 children, i would definately say £500 is not enough for 2 weeks as a family .

I'm pretty much the same as Sunbear on this, the holiday is the most important thing. We usually have a short off season European holiday once or twice each year and spend very little. Then once a year I have a long haul where I spend more but rarely huge amounts, the basic holiday itself usually costs a fair amount without spending a lot on extras. I am going to Thailand and Laos solo for 3 weeks in November and wouldn't think I will spend more than £500 after hotel and travel is paid for.

It made me think, reading this forum, how much my OH & I spend when we are away. We like Spain and in a week s/c we take about 500 or more as we like to eat out all the time without worrying how much things cost. As we usually have around 3 holidays a year it mounts up quite alarmingly!!!

Myself, my wife and our two kids (12 & 5) are off to Ibiza for 2 weeks in Sept and we're taking £3000 in euros with us

Admittedly we're paying 550 euros out to upgrade to HB as soon as we get to the hotel, 200 euros for a car for 1 week and we're giving the kids 150 euros each, which leaves us with about 180 euros a day to spend.

I hate going away and not having enough money to properly enjoy yourself and not worry.

How anyone can manage on £500 for 2 weeks s/c as a family is seriously beyond me, to be honest i'd rather not go on holiday

I'd rather go on holiday on a budget than not go at all.

We had a couple of holidays when we first started going away where we had severely limited spending money. We spotted our first flat just a couple of weeks after booking a holiday to Tunisia and really couldn't afford them both.

We went on the holiday, as we would have lost the money anyway if we'd cancelled, and it was fine. I think we were full board. We only had a couple of drinks at night which is our usual anyway, we did go on a couple of excursions and bought some things to bring home. However I distinctly remember looking at a rug and deciding against it even though the guy took the price down to the equivalent of £19! It was a long time ago.
luci

If i'd already paid for the holiday then i'd go if we had a small amount of spends, but if i knew before we booked that we'd have very little to spend i'd rather not go.

Our first holiday to majorca was in 2002 and we took £600 for a week s/c for a family of 3, by the 6th day we had nada left and had to really limit what we could do. Admittedly we really enjoyed ourselves on the first 5 days and it was our first holiday so we didnt know better.

I vowed then that i'd never go short on holiday again. We went to Rhodes last year for a week AI with £1500 in euros and brought £900 back with us, better safe than sorry IMHO.

I think we don't all have the same ideas as to what makes a good holiday. Within Europe I rarely take much money with me prefering to use cards or withdraw as needed but after the holiday I find I have rarely spent more than £500 and that usually includes hire of a car.. I never worry that I don't have enough, I just don't need to spend loads of money. I only have the occasional drink and maybe a glass of wine with my dinner, rarely buy souveneirs unless I know that it is something I can't live without. My enjoyment comes from just being away from home in different surroundings, better weather, seeing new scenery and meeting new people and after the initial outlay for the holiday this can cost very little.
But there are people who have to save hard for their holidays and have a certain budget that they cannot exceed and I am sure they don't enjoy their holidays any less because they haven't lots of money to spend. .