What's your favorite way of saving money?

[BostonTigger]

What's your favorite way to save money for your trip? I throw all of my change in a jar, which give me about $60-$70 by the time I leave. This I consider my traveling money. Now for the fun part, I like to figure how much I spend on eating out, ouch!, then take that and throw it aside. I also like to go and buy about $30 a week in Disney Dollars. So, how do you save money?



Steven

[Spirit Feather]

I am a huge coupon clipper and I have always wanted to take the money that I save by doing that and put it into a special account or something. I am going to start doing that. I have 8.25 so far this month.

We all put our change in a jar.

Rebate checks for stuff.

Oh, and if I return something because it didn't fit or something, I put that $$$ aside also.

[Debi]

I also put change in to a jar and roll it at the end of every month. In addition, whenever I buy something on sale either at the grocery store or at a department store (which I try to buy only things that are on sale). The "saved money" (the difference between the retail price of the item and the price I actually paid) goes in to the change jar. I also bring lunches to work rather than buying them there, and throw that money in to the vacation jar. This adds up the quickest.

Who's next?

[Kitten516]

We paid for our honeymoon last year in WDW with change. The only thing we had to pay for out of pocket was our PAPs. And we ate anywhere we wanted to, including one dinner at V&A. This year I am saving change, and I started saving Dollars. When we get change for a 20, or 10, or 5 I save all of the dollar bills and the coins, and those are mine. I already have enough for our pass renewals, and enough for a nice stay in a hotel, at least 4-5 days. And it is only May!

[rbuzzotta]

We put our change in a big jar. I cash it in the day before we go to WDW and split it between my 3 DD's. It is theirs for all the "little" things they just "need" to have at WDW. They usually end up with about $75.00 each. DH and I buy them a t shirt or sweat shirt as their souvenir.

[Magic2000]

We usually do the change thing too! Every year, upon returning from our vacation, I buy a big piggy bank - the kind that you have to cut open (that way, there's no cheating!). All change goes in the pig! As much as possible, I break dollar bills and then that change goes in at the end of each day. Any little rebate check we get also go in. My DH also helps by putting some real money aside each payday to pay for the big things. It really adds up and its fun watching the piggy get filled up. On the day we count the money, each of us tries to guess how much we've saved!

[Spirit Feather]

My dh is retired military. We decided to take all of our perscriptions to the closest military facility and see if we could get them filled. We drove 45 minutes to Wright Patterson Air Force base and they were able to fill all of our perscriptions but one--for FREE!!!!!! Our insurance co-pays would have cost us $300 for a 90 day supply and we got them all for FREE!!!! I am very excited about this. I always thought it would be way to much of a hassle to go up and get them filled but it so wasn't and the savings is incredible.

What we save on Rx's over a year will more than pay for our family's PHPs and the drive down including meals and hotels there and back.

[DVC-LEROY]

Love to save money any way I can!
Collecting change - gives us spending money.
I started saving stray $5 bills. Any time I have two - one goes into the savings drawer.
Garage Sale (we just had ours) - will pay for some special dinners and then some!
Constantly checking the posts - looking for new ideas, sales, price increase notices - all the time - and getting the best information!

[Julie 363]

We save change too. This year for our cruise each of my girls have their own jar, they are getting older and don't like the idea of one not putting in as much, you know how that goes! Has to be even at all times:) They are really pretty good at saving and it comes in handy to buy some things that they want.

[Boo'sMom]

My 2 DS get paid in Disney Dollars for the "extra" help around the house. Not really a way to save me any money, but it helps them to save for their souveniers, since the $ can only be spent at WDW.

[aide4]

In May of 2000. We put $25 from mine and DH paycheck (I'm paid weekly, DH bi-weekly) into a savings account. We went to WDW in February of this year, and the only thing we put on a charge card was the rental car. It was the first vacation we took that we did not charge up a storm!!! We were extremly proud of ourselves for accomplishing this!!!

[RobinLyn]

I started with an 8x8 inch box which has a top and bottom. I went looking for Disney gift wrap paper (with just characters on it) because I remembered seeing some at a Hallmark card shop. Well I found a cute Mickey/Minnie/Donald/Goofy wrapping paper and wrapped the box top and bottom, cut a wide slit in the top so we could put change or dollars in it. I leave the box out on a counter in the kitchen and everyone has gotten in the habit of contributing. The Disney wrapping paper keeps us in the saving spirit as it is a daily reminder we are saving for our up coming trip. I'm surpised just how much money is in there already!!

RobinLyn ;)

[kristikae]

I became a secret shopper to pay for my vacations. When I get my checks from this I just automatically put them in the bank. It really adds up fast!

[Dr.Mickey]

We got this great idea from the boards -- and it has made a huge difference for us. We went to WDW in mid-February and have already saved $313 pretty painlessly for our December trip.

Someone suggested using envelopes to save money. You can make them Disneyfied like some folks do for Mousekeeping Tips with Disney ClipArt. We made out an envelope for everything that costs money that we want to do. On the outside of the envelope, we write what we are saving for (ie-dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern). In the top left corner, we write Need: $50. Under that we just have tick marks for every dollar we put in. The rule at our house is, you must have at least a dollar to add. We use the security envelopes and seal them when we have reached the Need mark for that event. Then we go onto the next envelope. We started with the smallest amounts first, so that we would really feel like we were doing something -- kinda gave us a jump start. Remember, there are only 2 adults in our party, so you would have to adjust savings accordingly. We may be over on some and under on others, but past experience has been our guidance.

We have envelopes for the following:

Behind the Seeds Tour ($12)
Mousekeeping Tips ($32)
Dolphin Food for SeaWorld ($24) -- my wife could spend much more on this activity
Breakfast at Boma's ($45)
At least one meal at Garden Grill ($50) -- we probably need enough to cover 2-3 meals
Dinner at Chef Mickey's ($50)
1st night hotel on the road ($50)
Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern ($50)
2 Way Radios ($60)
Beaches & Cream ($85) -- we probably need to up this one, too
Parasailing ($100)
Dinner at the Yachtsman Steakhouse ($110)
4 Breakfasts at Cape May ($170)

And the one that scares me:
7 Nights at the Beach Club ($1400) -- if the Swan and Dolphin do the Starwood Points + Cash again, we plan to stay there instead

We still have a long way to go, but it is more encouraging this way (for us) than just dumping money in a jar. When we seal it up, we know if there is an emergency and we need the money, we can get to it -- it just seems more out of reach than our old saving jar. We tended to dip into that too much.

Any extra in my wife's paycheck goes in. Any rebates. She steals ones out of my wallet. Any refunds (put everything on our debit card -- so it is already out of the account -- why not put it in the Disney fund instead). I don't feel too bad about not having the money in an interest bearing account right now with rates so low, but in the future, I would not be opposed to having the bank hold this money either.

We hope to have a garage sale soon. We ask family to give us Disney Dollars instead of "presents" for Christmas and birthday. I just got a credit card that earns travel points for my business. With an expansion this year, I hope to earn lots of points before we go to possibly use at the Swan & Dolphin or our hotel on the way down.

If you have a family with children -- you might try paying them in Disney Dollars and have them be responsible for paying for one "fun" family activity with their Disney Dollars -- something inexpensive so they still have souvenir money.

Have fun saving! It sure beats debt. But, we will probably put everything on our credit card that earns travel points and use this money saved to pay it off. That way, we are saving towards our next trip, too!

[PlutoPal]

The same way you do, by throwing it in a large jar and changing that in cash a few days before we leave.

[margaritabnl]

I am SO impressed with all of you! :eek: I have absolutely no willpower at all. I started saving change as soon as I read the tip on another thread but I have dipped into it for lunch money already.

For our past trips we have always had the kids do extra things around the house so they could have their own "mad money". We would give them $10 for cleaning the car out, $5 for putting their laundry away, etc. Of course I would have go and do it all over myself but they really got into it.

They really got into having their own money last year when we spent a week at HRH/US/IOA. My DD6 saved more than my DS9. The best part was seeing how careful they were with "their" money. Things we thought they would buy they put down to "wait for something better".

For our WDW trip next May, we will tell our family to give Disney Dollars for Easter gifts instead of movie passes or Blockbuster gift cards.

My son learned his lesson last year when my daughter came back with more souvenirs and leftover cash and he had just a few things and was broke! He has decided to save all money he gets from after X-mas until we go May 3.

[disneyfan551]

...but I'm a Barbie collector & I am returning Barbies that I don't personally want (most are for sale-if I ever get around to it...) to the stores! I took back 15 Barbies last Saturday for $400+!

We went to WDW in April with our families and now we're planning a girls only (& babies!) trip in Dec. - our 1st Christmas trip! Now, if we can just tell our DH's... :rolleyes:

[Disney Talker]

I work all the overtime hours I can and we use that..DH does not get as much overtime but he does volunteer to work on holidays he would normally be off for the double time. We also throw in money from our tax refund if we can....:)

[Mosttrue]

We save Coins as well and we get disney Dollars! Disney Dollars are great, if you can't seem to keep your hand out of the jar. All you needs is someone to pull you back from going into the Disney Store at the mall. And you'll be great!

This year we are moving right before our trip so I'm cleaning out everything and have a huge yard sale! And i'm taking all the money made from it and using it as fun money for our trip!!

I'm so excited!!! We are going to have so much fun..

Lisa:wave:

[BabyMo]

We also save coins in a bucket. We bought a coin sorter that puts the money in rolls, so now we just put the money in there. It's a great investment.

Since about October, we've saved $130 in coins.

Also, we clip coupons and take advantage of things on sale at the store. the best thing ever is when we buy something with a coupon that is also on sale at the store.

[tmli]

My husband thinks this is the most bizarre method of saving he's ever heard of. But I like scratch tickets so I am always buying one here and there plus I get them for birthdays etc. Instead of cashing in winning tickets I save them. Last year the day before I left I cashed them in and had almost $600. Like everyone else I also save change and that gave me another $700.00. I Also save any tax refunds, gst credits and child tax credit cheques. I actually don't even cash them so I'm not tempted to borrow from it.

[aimeesmom2]

buying disney dollars ahead of time... I would buy $30 a week and we are leaving in 3 weeks and have $500 to spend and it didnt hurt at all...:p

[suevee]

My husband is in the Navy Reserves. He was supposed to retire this year but was stop-lossed. Meaning we don't know WHEN he will be released. We were really looking forward to his retirement and had taken his military pay out of our monthly budget. So when we learned he was not retiring, we opened up a savings account with the Navy Federal Credit Union specifically for WDW vacations and directed his military pay there. This is an account we cannot get to easily.

He gets a little over $200 a month after taxes and insurances. Right now he is doing his 2 weeks active duty, so we will get more like $1400 for that. His company gives him 15 paid days to fulfill his military service so this is "extra" money for us. Also we can use Sog rates which stay the same all year. (There is no value or peak rates.) We are planning two trips next year. One in Feb 2003 and the other in either June or October. We plan to get APs. Hopefully his military pay will take care of all our expenses. Next year with APs, Shades of Green rates, and his military pay --- going to WDW twice for a total of 20 days will be cheaper for us than going to the beach for one week!!!!

[MELSMICE]

I put aside money for Disney $ every week.

We save our change also.

To those who said they are "dippers" into the change jar, you need to get something that is completely sealed & will need to be broken open when it's time to use it. Way less tempting to "dip"!!

[Disneyolic]

This thread inspired me so! We already save $25/week in our regular saving account for vacation but now I added a jar to our counter decorated with Toy Story stickers and started throwing in change. I did a sneaky thing yesterday and let my 2 yo DS take the jar to his grandparents. They immediately threw in a bunch of change and dollar too! :D I'll have to try that more often.

[ReneeQ]

Someone told me about this before - take a large can that juice comes in, like Hawaiian Punch, Juicy Juice, etc, that you open with the punch can opener by putting two holes in the top. When it's empty, peel off the label and wash with hot hot hot water. Let dry for a few days.

Once a week, or as often as you can, put a $5 bill (or larger) in by rolling it up tightly and dropping it in. If you save five dollar bills or larger it really adds up fast. There is no way to dip into it. The bad thing is that you're not sure how much you're actually saving (unless you write it down somewhere).

You can decorate the can if you want.

[ZPT1022]

-We have been saving our change and our $1 bills. But we put them in cleaned Disney juice bottles! We thought that with the giant pictures of Pooh and Mickey on it, it would be a reminder of what it was for if we got tempted to "dip" into the jar. So far it is working, my fiance is in such a habit of throwing all the change in the second he comes in the door from being out shopping, we have even ended up with some $5s.
-We also had a big surprise at tax time and got back more $$ than we thought we would, so that immediately went to the travel agent.
-Now that we are getting closer to the actual trip, we intend to go and get travelers checks at AAA (free for members) when we find outrselves with unspent money at the end of the pay period

[zakatak]

Start with $40 and usually end up ahead anywhere between $100 and $450... all the profits go into the disney fund... I've been twice and so far have $300+ dollars... and I have just started!!

Karen :bounce:

[rjordan]

I, too, like to save all my change in a jar. Also, I have a vacation club at my bank that a certain amount gets direct deposited from every paycheck. It really adds up fast.

[jmminarik]

Well, beyond 'saving' on room costs by buying into DVC, we 'save' by putting money into our money market fund before we pay bills. This isn't just for Disney, but for any financial savings goal.

Other than that, any money wifeypoo gets from icehockey score keeping goes into our slush fund. :)

-joe

[aide4]

We paid for our Disney trip by taking $25 from each paycheck (Dh biweekly and i weekly) and putting it into a savings account. We were able to go in February of this year and the only thing on a charge card was a rental car.Everything else we paid in cash, when a good deal on plane tickets came up I was able to buy them, etc. It worked out well for us!! We also did the change jar thing, which helped out also!!!