With the Easter holidays rapidly approaching, Kleeneze research shows that austere times continue to bite, with over a fifth (22%) of us admitting to forgoing a family holiday in order to fund everyday necessities.

Families feel the impact…

Over half of families in the survey who had missed out on holidays (51%) said it had been difficult and caused disappointment and one in ten (10%) said it had led to family arguments.

Perhaps more surprisingly, almost one in five (17%) admitted to having to pay for other treats to make up for it, potentially leading to a false economy in part.

Finding a solution…

Rather than cancel family holidays, over a third of us (34%) said we had taken specific steps to avoid having to do this.

The most popular solutions to the problem were to cut back on other non-essential spending (64%), working extra hours or taking on a part time job (59%), relying on others such as parents or grandparents to cover the cost (19%) or sharing with other families to bring the cost down (19%).

Commenting on the results of the research, Lisa Burke, sales director of Kleeneze, said: “It’s clear many families are having to work harder to balance the household finances – pay freezes, reduced hours and sadly redundancies are all having a significant effect.

“Because Kleeneze distributors are self-employed and can work the hours they want, we continue to see a significant number of new recruits who sell Kleeneze products as a second job on top of existing full-time employment.  Often, the reason for joining is so they can continue to afford the lifestyle they had prior to these more austere times.”

The regional picture…

The Kleeneze research revealed that those in Northern Ireland were most likely to have forgone a holiday with a third (33%) indicating they had – next it was those in the North West (25%) and those in the East Midlands (24%).