The summer will be more sober than other years for many people from Brabant. Due to increasingly expensive groceries, higher excise duties on petrol and diesel and the high energy bill, we have to pay more and more attention to the little ones. But will that work? In our series Duurder Leven this time Tamara (33) from Berkel-Enschot: “We are forced to stay at home this summer, that’s a downer.”
Tamara lives with her husband and their three children Quincy (7), Yinte (4) and Hidde (1) in Berkel-Enschot. She works 32 hours a week as a project manager at a construction consultancy firm, her husband has a full-time job.
Do you have holiday plans?
“It’s been a few years since we’ve been on holiday, and that’s why we wanted to go on an all-inclusive trip. But when we started looking for Turkey or Greece, we ended up with an amount between 7000 for 10 days and 8,000 euros. You also pay an adult rate for our three children, which is completely idiotic. That’s why we decided to stay at home this summer and then look for the sun in the fall. That saves us more than 3,000 euros.”
In fact, you are forced to stay at home this summer
“Yes, and we find that quite annoying. All the children’s friends are going away nicely and they have been looking forward to going on holiday for a long time. That’s a downer. But it’s no different. We’ll go do fun things in the near future, to the swimming pool or a day at an amusement park.”
What else do you notice about the higher prices?
“Groceries are just very expensive, we really have to pay attention to the little ones. And now that tax for plastic is also added. Nowadays I cook large pans for several days, then the second portion goes into the freezer. And I usually buy some is on offer.”
Are you getting on well?
“We both work a lot, my husband full time and I 32 hours a week. And we do that consciously so that we can also do something fun now and then. We also want to give the children something. And of course the mortgage must also be able to be paid every month become.”
Are you worried about the future?
“Sometimes yes. When you hear that the price of petrol is rising again and that surcharge on plastic, then eating at McDonalds becomes something you don’t just do. We put money aside every month for the children, we already do that since they were born. Because we think it’s important that they can study later.”