Parents have a lot of pressure on them these days and the pressure to take their children on holiday can be one of them. There will always be some children in their school that go on lots of holidays. They might go abroad or travel in the UK multiple times a year and it may make you feel like you should do the same. You children may even pester you to take them away on holiday. If you do not have the money to take them on holiday then you may wonder about borrowing the money to do so.

Advantages of a holiday

Of course there will be many advantages to the children and you having a holiday. You will get to do fun things that you do not normally do. You will be able to spend more time together. You can explore places that you have no visited before or spend more time at places that you enjoy going to. It all sounds like great fun. When you see pictures of families enjoying holidays it can make you just wish that you will be able to do some of the things that they have done. However, it is worth being realistic. When you go on holiday you will still be the same people as you are now. Those people that perhaps hide behind their mobile devices and do not talk much, love spending too long in bed or flopped in front of the TV. Going on holiday may not change this and so you may not spend more time together. In fact you could just make the effort to more together when you are at home and enjoy that without having a holiday. If you like exploring new places then there could be local attractions that you could go to which would be fun and that you may not have gone to before or perhaps have not been to for a while. If you make the effort you could still do lots of fun things that you do not normally do and you do not need to go on holiday to be able to do that.

Disadvantages of a loan

Borrowing money can seem like a quick and easy solution. You will know that you will be bale to get the chunk of money and it will allow you to afford the holiday. This seems really great, but it is easy to forget that you will have to repay it. Not only will you have to repay what you have borrow but there will be interest payments and maybe other charges to make as well so you will find that you have to pay quite a bit extra for the holiday than it might first seem. It is therefore worth calculating the costs first and thinking about whether you feel that it will really be worth it. Then you need to look at how much you will need to repay each month and whether this is something that you will be able to cope with. It might be that you will struggle to make those repayments and that it will be stressful for you to be able to do so. If this is the case then it can be worth forgetting the whole idea. Going through all that stress just for a week or two away is surely not worth it. If you can save up for a holiday or use savings that you have already accumulated then this could be a good alternative to a loan. Then you will not have to worry about repayments and have all of the stress of finding the money each month, but you should be able to replenish your savings when you can afford to and there will not be so much pressure to do so.

Conclusion

It is well worth thinking about what you might gain from a holiday and whether it really is worth it. If your children are young they may not remember the holiday anyway and if they are older then they may rather just be playing on a computer or looking at a mobile phone. They will have opportunities to have holidays when they are older and many children have wonderful childhoods without needing a family holiday to add to their memories. If the holiday will cause you stress and to struggle financially then this will not be worth it, the memories will be marred by the difficulties that you had afterwards trying to cope financially. So, although borrowing for a holiday may seem like a great way to give your family a lovely treat, it is well worth thinking hard about the benefits that it will really bring and whether these will be worth it. Consider the costs and the consequences as well as the benefits and you should be able to make the right decision for you and your family.

If you are unwell and cannot work then you may find that it is very hard to cope financially. Although large companies do pay sick pay and some can be very generous, there are many smaller companies that only pay a low rate. If you are a contractor or temporary staff you will not usually be entitled to sick pay at all and so you will have to manage without it. You may be entitled to disability benefits if your doctor can prove that you are unfit for work, but it will depend on how long you are ill and what is wrong with you. In many cases you will be worse off and you may be worrying about how you can cope with things financially.

Borrowing as an option
Borrowing can seem like and easy and simple way to get us some extra money. Whether we use our overdraft, spend on a credit card, use a personal loan or payday loan it is all borrowing. It can feel easy as the money can be easy to sign up for and get and it is very easy to spend of course as well. However, it is worth thinking beyond having the money and consider how easy it will be to repay the money. Consider when you are likely to be earning again and how you will cope with repaying the loan. If you have a short illness then you should be more able to cope financially anyway and if you do take out a loan you should be able to more easily repay it. However, long term illness can be a much bigger problem if you do not know when you will return to work or think you are unlikely to work again then taking out a loan could be a bigger problem as you will have no earnings to repay it.

Alternative options
It could be worth thinking about what other options you have with regards to your finances. When you are unwell it can be difficult to find the time to do this and possibly be able to think clearly about it but it is worth trying if you can. Start by looking into what benefits you are entitled to. Hospital staff or your GP might be able to help you with this and it will allow you to make sure that you are claiming everything that you can and will be a start to working out how you can manage financially. Then you need to see how much money you have to pay out regularly. This is to cover all your necessities, which might be just over the short-term until you can get back to work or in the long term if you feel that you will not be returning. You should be able to use bank statements to help you to do the necessary calculations. It could be good to map it out either in a chart by hand or in a spreadsheet so you can list all of the payments that go out, how often and how much and you can calculate your average monthly expenditure. This will enable you to see if you will cope.

It can then be wise to look at ways to reduce what you are spending to make it easier. You should compare costs of everything you buy including insurance and banking so that you spend as little as possible. If things are still too expensive then consider whether downsizing might be an option. If you live in a smaller property then it will be cheaper to buy or rent as well as maintain and the heating, council tax and things like that will be less. If you downsize then you may need to sell some things as you may not have room for everything and this could help to raise some much-needed money as well. Alternatively you could consider renting out rooms, attic space, garage space or even a parking space to easily generate some income.

It may be that you will be able to earn some money form home. It could be that although you cannot work outside of the home, that you will be able to do some work form home that will make money. Obviously this very much depends on the nature of your illness.

It could be that you might need to help friends and family to help you out. This can be really hard as if you have never asked for financial help before you may feel that it is something that you never wanted to do. However, it is at these difficult times when friends and family will often be more than happy to rally round and help and they may be desperate to help you but just waiting for you to ask.