Many workers will spend this Christmas and much of next year daydreaming of sunnier days and some hard-earned time off.
But if you are savvy with your annual leave, there are some surprisingly simple ways you can ensure a whopping 59 days off over Christmas and throughout 2020.
One area most workers can make significant gains is around Christmas.
Christmas Day itself is of course a mandatory day off for the vast majority of workers, and many also get Christmas Eve.
December 26 is another official public holiday, while many businesses traditionally remain closed on the 27th.
The normal working days over the Christmas period are Monday, December 30 and Tuesday, December 31, as well as Thursday, December 2 and Friday, December 3.
If you take all these days plus Monday, December 23 as annual leave, your five leave days will give you a handy 16 days off in a row.
And this can be repeated in 2020, where the Easter season could allow you another 16-day break in return for just eight days of annual leave.
Easter Monday is an official public holiday, and while Good Friday is not, many businesses tend to close regardless.
This will give many workers two four-day weeks - and if you take the four days before Good Friday off, as well as the four days after Easter Monday, you will get another 16-day period off work.
There are more gains to be found in the summer bank holiday period.
The May, June and August bank holidays fall on May 4, June 1 and August 3. If you take four days of annual leave on each of these weeks, you will again maximise your time off, giving you 27 days without work in return for just 12 days of annual leave.
If you follow these simple steps, you will get a total of 59 days off at a cost of just 27 annual leave days.
Follow the guide and you'll pretty much be working part time next year!
