Hi I thought I would post as we have always gone AI but unfortunately due to having three children and one child turning 13 and one turning 2 we cant afford to go AI next year. We went to Crete last year for £2500 and this time we couldnt get anywhere for less than £4500 so have booked B&B at £2300 in Turkey -lets hope I dont spend £2200 on food and drinks!

Redcrop x

Sorry AI has fallen outside of your budget this time round. Hope you dont end up spending £2200 on food and drink for the fortnight, but five is a lot of people to feed, if youn like to eat in pleasant settings in nice restaurants.

Someone suggested to me that a way to budget is to say go for £100 per day and if you come in slightly under then roll the money over to the next day. Then hopefully by the end of the first week you might have bulit up enough to have a shopping trip, boat trip etc.

£100 a day doesnt seem a lot to me for a family of 5 chris . Im pretty sure I would do that on food alone if we ate out for lunch and evening meals . Now mine are older I cant even get away with childrens meals any more so it would be 5 adult meals for me twice a day.

A few years ago we booked a b+B in Icmeler . took £1500 in spending money but when we got there had A/I for free . We still used £1200 of that spending money just on having a couple of drinks in a bar every evening , an ice cream or 2 and spending a bit in the shops . Still to this day down know how as im only talking about going for a stroll after dinner and then finishing the evening with a couple of drinks , bed by 11pm.
dont even think we did any trips that year.

We have just come back from Turkey last week and I would say we spent no more than £100 a day on food and drink for 4 adults and 2 children, although they are only little so just had kids meals.

lynwestie wrote:

£100 a day doesnt seem a lot to me for a family of 5 chris . Im pretty sure I would do that on food alone if we ate out for lunch and evening meals . Now mine are older I cant even get away with childrens meals any more so it would be 5 adult meals for me twice a day.

A few years ago we booked a b+B in Icmeler . took £1500 in spending money but when we got there had A/I for free . We still used £1200 of that spending money just on having a couple of drinks in a bar every evening , an ice cream or 2 and spending a bit in the shops . Still to this day down know how as im only talking about going for a stroll after dinner and then finishing the evening with a couple of drinks , bed by 11pm.
dont even think we did any trips that year.

I know it's a worry really, I am sure we would spend the equivalent of 60 English on a nice two course meal for 4 of us and that would probably only include a litre of water, a large effes and a fresh orange and a 7 up for DD and perhaps two coffees.

I know you can keep costs down by eating Pizzas and Spagetti etc but you are on holiday and my hubbie likes fish, son steaks and me and DD chicken. YOu cant live on flipping Pizza.

At least Redcrop has breakfast included, hotel breakfasts are lovely as you often get a good spread. We never bothered with lunch at Lykia. I can see why with 5 adults to feed Lyn you go AI. I hate worrying about money on me hols. (worry about it the other 50 weeks of the year )

I sometimes put the trips on a card if booking with Thomson etc. But wont use one if I am booking with one of the blokes that stop you in the street, just incase.

At home i start the day with a good breakfast ,lunchtime soup and sarnies, dinner time soup ,mainmeal and pudding ,nine oclock sarnie and cup of tea,all good wholsome meals ,dont see why i would go on holiday to eat less.

We havnt done S/C since the boys were very small and to be honest Im too frightened to. The last time we truely went self catering was in menorca , maybe 7 years ago , we took £1200 in spending money and spent that easily even with making rolls up in our apartment 1 out of 2 days for lunch. Breakfast was always a bowl of cereal or toast and subsequently everyone was starving by 10am .

I clearly remember sitting in a restuarant every evening reminding hubby not too have too many beers and restricting the boys to one drink with their dinner to keep things within our budget . It was Hell as far as hubby was concerned . He used to go mad at me saying he worked hard all year and didnt need it on holiday . The fact that I could never let it go and say nothing didnt make for a good atmosphere of an evening. I always got the blame for not bringing enough money with us but we couldnt afford to at the time .

so the bottom line is the memories of staying within a tight budget on our hols and mentioning money more times than when we are home is why we embraced and still do A/I. Too frigtened to go back to those days.

When the two of us go away for weekends we really enjoy finding a restuarant and spending a nice relaxing evening there ,so no doubt we will enjoy going back to that on a two week holiday when the time is right but at the moment are just enjoying family time with no mention of money for two whole weeks

Im sure redcrop that with a decent breakfast inside you all of a morning and £2200 to play with it should be a breeze . If I found something that gave me that sum to play with I would possibly take the chance if there was enough within the hotel/apartment to keep 3 teenagers happy which of course is another aspect to consider .

Our £100 a day was spent on salads, pide, durum, omlettes, soup etc. with water and drinks for lunch. Fish, kebap (in a restaurant, not a stall), chicken, lamb, lahmacun, rice, salad etc, plus a few Efes, a vodka or two for my mum, and a couple of soft drinks. The children had kid's portions of chicken, fish, meatballs, pide or lahmacun. I know some reaturants can be rather pricey and it can make eating out expensive, we are lucky my husband knows a lot of good, reasonably priced places to go. I tend to find if you eat where the locals eat you get far better quality food and costs a lot less.

I would also say that if you want to go on trips don't book through your rep,as the trips with the holiday companies are far more expensive than if you go to a travel agent outside and very often they are exactly the same anyway.

Our money seems to go on buying far too much shopping

I would also say that if you want to go on trips don't book through your rep,as the trips with the holiday companies are far more expensive than if you go to a travel agent outside and very often they are exactly the same anyway

Always do that Kedi whilst in Turkey.

Our money seems to go on buying far too much shopping

Every year we say we wont buy any more watches or lighters but we always do . We usually allow ourselves maybe £70/80 that we are prepared to pay out for entertainment value on a handbag , new purse ,a lighter watches, pants etc ,.

Hi lyn ,you have got it nailed ,do what makes you feel at peace during your holiday only one thing i think what redcrop was saying is they dont want to have to spend £2,200 over and above what it is costing them for b/b if that was the case then they would be better off all inc .Nothing worse than having to worry about what you are spending while away on holiday ,lost count of the young couples i have met on holiday who do all their dough in the first week and then walk about skint for the second ,not for me i'm afraid. Off to the airport 2.00 ,cant wait.
Bluepeterno1

Lucky you - have a great holiday

Making me hungry there Kedi ,just about ready for lunch.

Bluepeterno1

bluepeterno1
lucky you enjoy your holiday .
myra

Enjoy Peter

Have a great holiday Peter.

Thanks guys n gals ,be thinking of you all .

Peter .

Thanks for all your comments guys - I am quite lucky as the eldest will be too busy at lunchtime to eat, the middle one will just go on an on until I give in and let her have an ice-cream and the youngest loves his fruit so im not too worried about lunch and when its hot you tend to eat less - I am sure even us 5 wont manage £100 a night on dinner and my hubby loves a good meal lol Were not big drinkers either.

I never scrimp and save on holiday - like you say we do that all year!

The hotel we are going to allow you to buy 7 evening meals which you can use at your leisure which I will do as soon as I get there and will (unfortunately) probably pay by credit card (as I will look at it as the cost of the holiday) so only need to worry about food money for say 7 days!

We seem to spend our money on cake and crisps even when we are all inclusive lol

oh and my eldest spends all my money on banana boats and ringos!!

Redcrop x

Where are you going to redcrop?

Hi

Just returned from Olu and we spent over £2200.

basic prices are:
Main courses are priced around YTL 25
Lunch time meals say YTL 10
1 Beer 3.5 YTL
1 water 1 YTL
1 Softdrink 3 ytl
1 ice cream 3.5 ytl
2 vodka cokes 12 YTL
sunbed/ share of umbrella 7.5 YTL

Total YTL 65.5 ( £30) per person per day!