"£4k in Debt After School Holidays: I Know Some Call It Foolish, But My Son Deserves the Best!"

WHILE the summer holidays are a time for creating magical memories, the pressure to entertain the kids can leave parents utterly exhausted – and broke.

Now the six-week break has come to an end, parents across the UK are feeling the financial aftermath.

Single mum Nilufer Atik, 50, a writer who lives in with her nine-year-old son Milo, knows this all too well.

She finds herself officially BUST, that’s, Bankrupt Upon the Start of Term.

Here, Nilufer reveals how the pressures left her with £4,033 in debt this summer.

While the bring the chance to spend quality time with the kids, they can be exhausting, too.

Having to entertain your little ones all day to keep them from getting bored is a challenge, especially if, like me, you are a single working mum and your child has no brothers or sisters.

Then it falls on you to provide the play and company they miss out on when not at school, which is no mean feat when you’re also juggling work deadlines and meetings at home.

It’s also not cheap, as I’ve learned to my detriment over the last few years, having spent thousands of pounds on holidays, activities, summer camps, clubs, and days out just to make sure my son Milo, nine, has a good time.

Because of this, I always end up broke, in debt and stressed out by September, which has happened again this year.

I spent around £5,000 in total over six weeks. And I know I’m not alone.

According to Save the Children’s Big Summer Survey , almost three in four parents (74 per cent) overspend against their budget during the summer holidays, creating a severe financial crunch right before the expensive season.

The survey also reveals that 59 per cent of parents find summer to be the most financially challenging time of the year, even more so than Christmas. I’m definitely one of them.

For the last three years, as my son has gotten older and his activities have become more expensive,

I have spent around £16,000 just during the summer holidays, money I can ill afford.

Last year I spent even more than this summer – £6,200 – because our plans included a week’s holiday to a five-star resort in Turkey with my mum, costing £3,000, and four days glamping at a family festival that cost £1,200.

This year I managed to save around £1000 in advance, but I was still left with £4,033 debt to pay off.

It may sound frivolous, and people may think I’m stupid for spending money I don’t have, but it’s hard not to want your child to miss out when all his peers are doing fun and exciting things during the summer holidays.

It’s difficult as some of my son’s school friends have wealthy parents who go to places like Dubai, Florida and the south of France for their summer holidays, staying in luxury villas and high-end resorts.

They have nannies taking them to private tennis lessons, art classes, drama clubs and wherever else they want to go day or night.

It’s not that I feel I’m not as good as they are because I’m not wealthy; I earn less than £40,000 a year.

I just don’t want Milo to feel different.

I like the fact that when he goes back to school, he has his own tales to tell about the places he’s been and the fun things he’s done while off school, just like his friends.

Plus, as a sole breadwinner, I can’t alternate time off with a spouse, and I do feel a sense of guilt sometimes when I have to work and Milo is at home with me playing online games or watching movies on his tablet.

As he doesn’t have a sibling to play with at home either, I then want to make it up to him by arranging lots of activities and days out over summer when I do have time off.

And yes, there will be people out there who might argue that I can just do free things with my son, like take him to the park to kick a ball around for the afternoon or play card games at home.

But when kids get to a certain age, they want to do the same things their friends do when they aren’t in school, like go to football camp, which costs £80 a day.

The summer break is also an opportunity for Milo to see his extended family, like his grandparents, who live up north.

It costs me around £200 in petrol when we visit, but with my parents getting older by the day, any time he gets to spend with them is precious.

This year so far I have spent more than £2,000 on a holiday to Faliraki in Greece with friends, around £1,000 on a weekend glamping trip to with family, £800 on a weekend trip to a festival, and the rest of the £5,000 I spent went on football and kids camps, and days out to the cinema, adventure parks, the theatre, swimming, mini golf, go-karting, trampolining, and even a puppy playdate, which cost £79 for an hour’s play with a litter of puppies.

Yes, it’s a lot to spend for an hour, but the joy it brought to Milo was worth it.

I had managed to save a little money in advance, but not enough, so now my overdraft is at its limit, and I’m going to have to try and take on some extra freelance writing work over the coming months to pay it off gradually, as well as cut back on spending.

That means no new clothes, shoes, make-up or toiletries for me.

No evenings out with friends, no takeaways, and cancelling things like meditation apps on my phone.

I need some dental work done – two new fillings – but that’s just going to have to wait now.

I also borrowed some money from a relative and put some of the costs for the events and activities we attended over the summer onto , so I’ve started selling old clothes, books, toys and electricals on Vinted to raise some extra cash.

I’ll also need money to buy Milo’s new school uniform soon too, along with some new school trainers and football boots as he’s outgrown his old ones.

Luckily his birthday is coming up soon though, so my parents will probably buy him those.

It does worry me being so overdrawn as it means my earnings are completely swallowed up by my overdraft, and I have no money at all for emergencies.

If I’m honest, I would like to be more sensible with my money and not overspend so much over the summer, but there’s also a part of me that thinks I will never get the opportunity to relive these days with Milo again.

One day he’s going to be all grown up and fly the nest, so I want to make the most of the time I have with him now while I have it.

*If you are struggling with debt and need help, seek advice from StepChange Debt Charity, or Citizens Advice