Saving for a Holiday as a Couple and How We Do It

Every January we used to say this would be the year we went somewhere proper, and every July we ended up booking a last minute deal on a credit card and paying it off until October. Saving for a holiday as a couple sounds easy until you realise you have two incomes, two ideas of what "proper" means and one shared account that never seems to have anything left in it.

Three years ago we changed how we did it. Last spring we spent nine days in northern Portugal, paid for in full before we left, and nobody had to go without a Friday takeaway to make it happen. Here is the system, with the real numbers.

Agree on the trip before you agree on the number

Our first mistake was picking a savings target out of the air. We would say "let's put away a grand" and then argue in May about whether that was meant to cover flights or not.

Now we sit down in January with a cup of tea and a notebook and answer four questions together:

1. Where, roughly? A region, not a specific hotel.
2. When, and for how many nights?
3. What kind of trip? Self catering and walking, or hotel and restaurants?
4. What is the one thing each of us does not want to skimp on?

For Portugal, Emi's non-negotiable was a room with a proper view. Mine was one really good dinner out. Once those were written down, the rest of the budget was easy to cut around.

Our holiday budget, line by line

We price the trip early using current flight and accommodation prices, then add 10 percent because prices always creep. This was the actual budget for nine nights for two:

Rounded up, our target was 1,900 pounds. Booking in February left us about 14 weeks before we had to pay the balance on the second apartment, and 30 weeks before we flew. That timeline is what made the monthly figure manageable.

How we split saving for a holiday on two incomes

We do not earn the same amount. Emi earns about 40 percent more than I do, and splitting everything 50:50 used to leave me short at the end of the month while she had room to spare. We already split bills in proportion to income, which we wrote about in how we split shared bills without keeping score, so we did the same for the holiday.

The maths is simple. Out of our combined take home pay, Emi brings in about 58 percent and I bring in about 42 percent. On a 1,900 pound target saved over eight months, that came to roughly 238 pounds a month: about 138 from her and 100 from me. Both of us could live with that. Neither of us felt we were paying for the other's holiday.

If you earn similar amounts, a straight split is fine. The point is to agree on the method once so you are not renegotiating every payday.

Where we keep the holiday money

We opened a separate easy access savings pot with our bank, named it "Portugal" and set up two standing orders that leave our personal accounts the day after payday. The name matters more than it sounds. It is much harder to raid a pot called "Portugal" for a new kettle than one called "Savings".

A few details that helped:

• Pay deposits from the pot. Flights and the first apartment deposit came straight out of it, so the balance showed what was still needed.
• Keep spending money in a travel card. In the last month, we moved the food and transport budget onto a prepaid travel card so we could see each day's spending without checking the main account.
• Round up small windfalls. A 40 pound refund from the energy company and some birthday money went straight into the pot. That added 115 pounds over the year.

Why we stopped cutting the small treats

Most advice about saving for a trip tells you to cancel the takeaway coffee, skip the meal deals and put the difference in a jar. We tried that the first year. It lasted about five weeks and ended in a sulky argument about who had bought a croissant.

The problem is that tiny cuts feel like constant sacrifice but rarely add up to much. Skipping two 3 pound coffees a week saves around 300 pounds a year. Useful, but it is not a holiday, and it puts the whole plan at the mercy of willpower on a grey Tuesday.

What worked better was one or two bigger, boring changes that we made once and then forgot about. We switched our phone contracts to SIM only plans at the end of the deal and saved 26 pounds a month between us. We also cancelled a streaming service and a gym membership neither of us used, which we spotted while going through our forgotten subscriptions. Those changes alone covered nearly a fifth of the holiday without either of us noticing. If you want a short burst instead, a no spend month for couples in late winter can give the pot a good start.

What we would do differently next time

Two things. First, we would start in December rather than February. The extra two months would have dropped the monthly figure to about 190 pounds. Second, we would book accommodation with free cancellation earlier. Prices for the second apartment went up 60 pounds between the week we first looked and the week we booked.

We also learned that the buffer is worth keeping even when you do not use it. Knowing there was 170 pounds sitting there for a missed train or a sudden rain day meant we never had that tight, checking-the-balance feeling on holiday. When we got home, the leftover money went straight into next year's pot.

Frequently asked questions

How much should a couple save for a holiday?

Price the actual trip first, including flights, accommodation, food, transport and a buffer of around 10 percent. For a week in Europe on a mid range budget, many couples end up somewhere between 1,200 and 2,500 pounds. Divide that by the number of months until you travel to get a monthly target.

Should couples split holiday savings 50:50?

Only if you earn similar amounts. If one partner earns noticeably more, splitting in proportion to take home pay is usually fairer and causes fewer arguments. Agree on the method once at the start rather than each month.

Where is the best place to keep holiday savings?

An easy access savings account or a named savings pot in your banking app works well because you can pay deposits directly and earn a little interest. Avoid locking the money into a fixed term account, since you may need it for bookings at short notice.