How much should I budget for holidays each year?

Most people budget for one holiday and then take three. The yearly total is the number worth knowing, because that's the one your bank balance actually feels.

Start from the year, not the trip

Write down every trip you're likely to take in the next twelve months — the main summer holiday, a couple of weekends, a wedding you're travelling to, Christmas visits. Attach a rough figure to each. That total is your annual holiday budget, whether or not you planned it that way.

A worked example

Illustrative figures — yours will differ.

Check it against what's actually spare

£254 a month is only realistic if that much is genuinely free after your bills, savings and other known costs. On a £2,000 income with £1,200 of fixed costs and £200 of savings, £254 fits — but it uses most of what's left, so the rest of the year gets tight. The future spending planner shows the effect month by month, and the holiday budget calculator breaks a single trip down.

If the total is too high

• Move one trip beyond the twelve-month window rather than shrinking all of them.
• Set the spending money per day in advance — it's usually the least controlled part of a trip.
• Start setting money aside the month you decide, not the month you book.

Questions people ask