We've had intermittent holidays over the last few years. We went on holiday in 2008, 2010 and 2012. We can't afford to go every year. If something more pressing has to be paid for then we don't go, it's a simple as that. Hopefully, now we've down sized we can afford to go out and go away more often. As one of you very sensibly said, no one wants to be the richest corpse in the graveyard. Being careful with money should mean we can afford to live a bit more.
We decided that we could and would go on holiday this year. Previously, we've been to the same site and rented a mobile home. I needed the security and peace of that site and also needed a stress less two weeks so going to the same place meant: I knew where I was going, what to expect and so on. This year I decided that I was going to pay a lot less!!
Usually, prepare yourself for this! We used to pay £1200 for a mobile home for a fortnight. We felt it was worth it for the reasons I already explained. As much as though we still think it's worth it, we decided on a change. I did some research and used sites such as:
Owners direct - 15% cash back available if you go to the website via your Quidco account.
Holiday France Direct - which is part of Brittany Ferries and gives you 20% discount off the ferry. Not the cheapest for the part of France we wanted but had some good offers.
Homeaway - no ferry discounts but some great prices.
Locasun - some great prices, with amazing locations but nothing we wanted.
You can use these sites to simply search for accomodation in the area of your choice. You can also search, for example 'apartment to rent Benodet' (I don't go there but I used it as an example) or the area you are looking for. We found plenty of really affordable accomodation available for rent at 'reasonable' prices. I say 'reasonable' as the school holidays are really expensive and that's when we go. It's reasonable for that time of year. It's half the price of renting somewhere in the UK.
We found a beach front apartment, where I can cross the road and put my feet in sand for £794. I will still holiday in the same resort but in a much better location for a lot less. The research took me minutes, I paid via a secure payment system and I can pay the balance at any time. I shall wait for the pound to rise against the euro and then pay so I will get it for a little less as the charge is in euros.
The apartment owner also allowed us to use their Brittany ferries discount so we also got 10% off our ferry crossing and as we rented it through Owner's Direct, we got a 15% cash back.
You can of course camp, but some of the camp sites charge almost 600 euros for the fortnight, (£569) and as we holiday in Brittany (weather the same as the UK) then it can rain and that is no fun in a tent. In truth, I would rather stick hot pins in my eyes than camp but I appreciate that some people love it. For another £225, I'd rather rent a beach front apartment.
We always take our own car, with our bikes on a rack and then use our bikes when we get here. You will need to take a few things when self catering. Holiday apartments and mobile homes are quite basic. You will need to bring pillows, bedding, towels or else you will have to hire them when you get there. You will also need to pay an accidental damage deposit and some times a key deposit when you get there so be prepared to hand over you debit card when you get there. We have to pay a deposit for the key to the car park barrier but we'll get that back when we leave.
We keep the cost of our holiday low by being prepared. You'd be surprised one country to the next as what you can and can't buy in the pharmacy. We make sure we take any medicines we might need from mosquito bites, headaches, digestive complaints, sun burn, minor injuries and ailments. We also take cleaning products, toiletries and anything useful from home. We take plenty to amuse ourselves. We take a lap top, with plenty of films, books, games and also make sure we can get wi-fi so we can listen to radio on the lap top too.
We don't eat out much, even though we'd love to. It would really blow our budget! We make sure where ever we rent has a freezer and take plenty with us. Some food in France is cheaper but some is a lot more. I freeze food that I cook at home, take it frozen in a sealed freezer box and pop it straight into the freezer when I get there. I then have a relaxing holiday with the meals I cooked and froze before I left! A family travelling with children would be best advised to research where the cheaper supermarkets are such as Netto and Lidl before you travel. We stop at a Netto on the way and know where the Lidl is when we get there. Don't go thinking that local markets are cheap either, they can be for some things and not for others. I'm just as judicious on holiday as I am when I'm at home. We also budget for a trip to the launderette. Lots of French supermarkets have launderettes on site. There are plenty to use where we go. We just wash on a sunny day and leave it out to dry. I also wash small items by hand and hang them out in the sun too. We travel light and wear little more than short and a tea shirt for the fortnight. No need for us to take dress up clothes.
If you do want time off cooking, look out for food 'to go'. We now look out the local takeaways, find ready cooked food in supermarkets (expensive but cheaper than eating out) and places such as bakeries who sell food such as pizza to reheat a cheaper alternative to eating out. We go to a tourist resort but if you move away from those, as we do on our way to and from the holiday we'll often eat in supermarkets. We usually go for the 'meal of the day' which is at a fixed price. I can recommend E Le Clerc in Morlaix, which is our stop off town on our way home.
If you are not tied to the school holidays, know where you want to go then you can go really cheaply. If you are tied to the school holidays and want a cheap week holiday then go in the summer half term but book directly with a French website. The French don't have a school holiday then and you can find really good accommodation for as little as £200 for the week.
Out total holiday costs - £794 for the holiday (I will get a £119 cash back 28 days after I've paid for the holiday via Quidco) , £768 for the dogs to go to a home dog boarder - they deserve a good holiday too. We also pay £578 (I get £57.80 discount when I book) for the ferry as we take our car too. A massive £2140 (£1964 after discounts and cash back) for our holiday. However!!! If we had children coming with us, then the cost would be the same as the flat sleeps four and the ferry crossing is the same for more people. Also a huge chunk of our cost is for having our three dogs looked after. We work out that our holiday, including spending money will cost £2500, so we set aside £210 a month into a saving fund to save up for our holiday. We know it's expensive but as I said, we don't go every year. We budget and we save and we'll go an come back debt free.
It is difficult for families to go on holiday in the school holiday as British holiday companies hike up the prices disgustingly, if you are prepared to book your holiday direct, sort out how you will get there, then you can get it cheaper.
Is a holiday frugal, do we need one? As one of you said wisely earlier in one of your comments, who wants to be the richest corpse in the graveyard?
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxx
