It’s been almost 5 years since our last proper summer holiday. We went to Spain in 2018 when Charlotte was still a baby and the world was a very different place! Throw in a few years of Covid lockdowns, a new summer born baby, a new house and a partial renovation … the chance of a holiday was way out of our grasp.
After losing my lovely Nanna last year (the day after the Queen passed), we decided that we wanted to focus more on family experiences this year - going to new places, doing things together and absolutely having a summer holiday. I’d been saving for the last few years and used most of my maternity allowance as our budget for going away. I was pretty sure that once I’d given birth, I’d find it harder to undertake my usual work and so wanted to get used to living without the security of my wage ‘just in case’. You can use various financial calculators to help plan your finances if you wish. We made sacrifices in lots of areas of our life in order to cut our spending (I stopped having my hair coloured and highlighted and embraced the grey for a start!) and so thankfully, we were finally able to book somewhere to go...