The way things are looking at the moment we will not be going on vacation this year.
Almost everyone in Holland who is working gets vacation money paid out at the end of May with their salary.
This is equal to 8% of the yearly salary but it is heavily taxed (52%).
Because we are financing two households at the moment (2nd son and posted elsewhere on the forum) and there is no sign of this being paid off this year, I don't think that our vacation money will be used for a vacation.
However last year I promised our youngest child (and only daughter) that we would take her to New York if possible this year.
This is a VERY expensive trip for us living in Europe mainly because the flights and the hotel costs in Manhattan are so expensive (even though the flights have recently been reduced - they are still expensive).
However, our daughter is so great. She never gives problems, always does her best at everything, we never have to keep at her to study, she just does it - always has. She helps as much as she can around the house, helps the neighbors with free baby-sitting.
She has only one dream at the moment to visit NY with us.
She has a part time job. She feels that we should never have to 'sponsor' her with anything unlike her four older brothers. Always at some point - sooner or later we have (had) to either lend them money or 'sponsor' them for something. She is also such a frugal young lady. An example - one day last spring she came home from the city and could hardly contain her joy. There had been a sale of shoes and she got 5 pairs for € 5 (about $7).
So I have decided that I will save as much as possible outside of the 'normal' budget so that we can possibly go to New York within a year.
An argument could be made that this isn't exactly a high priority thing but it is for me.
So my challenge is to raise € 5,000 before May 2010 for a 1 week vacation (this is for flights, hotel in Manhattan, all meals, all sight-seeing, all expenses and a Broadway show (if we are taking her then she should see/do as much as possible of the things that she loves).
I know that this is a HUGE amount of money for a 1 week vacation but it will definitely be worth it. (BTW we LOVE NY too so this will also be a great vacation for us.)
This will be outside the normal budget for the house and the extra we pay on the mortgage etc.
Keep your fingers crossed for me please.
I will post here about my progress.
(Of course I am not telling her - it is a surprise. She knows that we cannot go this year.)
€ 7.50/€ 5,000
Almost everyone in Holland who is working gets vacation money paid out at the end of May with their salary.
This is equal to 8% of the yearly salary but it is heavily taxed (52%).
Because we are financing two households at the moment (2nd son and posted elsewhere on the forum) and there is no sign of this being paid off this year, I don't think that our vacation money will be used for a vacation.
However last year I promised our youngest child (and only daughter) that we would take her to New York if possible this year.
This is a VERY expensive trip for us living in Europe mainly because the flights and the hotel costs in Manhattan are so expensive (even though the flights have recently been reduced - they are still expensive).
However, our daughter is so great. She never gives problems, always does her best at everything, we never have to keep at her to study, she just does it - always has. She helps as much as she can around the house, helps the neighbors with free baby-sitting.
She has only one dream at the moment to visit NY with us.
She has a part time job. She feels that we should never have to 'sponsor' her with anything unlike her four older brothers. Always at some point - sooner or later we have (had) to either lend them money or 'sponsor' them for something. She is also such a frugal young lady. An example - one day last spring she came home from the city and could hardly contain her joy. There had been a sale of shoes and she got 5 pairs for € 5 (about $7).
So I have decided that I will save as much as possible outside of the 'normal' budget so that we can possibly go to New York within a year.
An argument could be made that this isn't exactly a high priority thing but it is for me.
So my challenge is to raise € 5,000 before May 2010 for a 1 week vacation (this is for flights, hotel in Manhattan, all meals, all sight-seeing, all expenses and a Broadway show (if we are taking her then she should see/do as much as possible of the things that she loves).
I know that this is a HUGE amount of money for a 1 week vacation but it will definitely be worth it. (BTW we LOVE NY too so this will also be a great vacation for us.)
This will be outside the normal budget for the house and the extra we pay on the mortgage etc.
Keep your fingers crossed for me please.
I will post here about my progress.
(Of course I am not telling her - it is a surprise. She knows that we cannot go this year.)
€ 7.50/€ 5,000