A VERY Nosy Budget Question!!

[hezell123]

I don't know if this question has been asked before but I'm curious as to what percent of your income do you save for vacations?!!! No one has to say the exact amount you make but that would be beneficial too! I see all these posts of people spending $5000+ on their vacations...I figure that's more than 10% of our annual income! THere is no way I could/would do that! I would guess for some that Disney is a major priority even more so than a nice car or eating meat every day ;) !

I guess I'll go first then...
My husband has a job that he loves that pays 45k a year plus a vehicle and car insurance. I'm a stay at home mom of 3 wonderful young ones! I'm lucky if I can save $2000 a year to spend on vacations! I'm curious if anyone else is able to save more than that and in the same boat I'm in!!!! So I guess that's 4.44% :)

[momoftwins]

Hi, I am a SAHM with 5 yr old twins. In order for me to do so, we had to really cut back on spending. In order to save money, we go to the parks in February.

Being from New England, even the 60 degree Florida days seem like spring to us. We spend around $1000 for the park passes(not much you can do about this cost). We stay at the All-Stars and this usually costs us $600 - $800 for 7 days (we search for discounts - and yes, this year I am keeping my eyes glued to Mousesavers.com). We bring food from home. We eat breakfast in our room, sometimes bring lunch into the parks. If we do not bring lunch into the parks, we eat it for supper and have a snack for lunch in the parks.

We use Tiffany TownCar - $100.00 (includes tip).

As far as airfare, we usually get enough airmiles from my husbands travel to get at least one free airline ticket. In the past we have paid anywhere from $475 - $550 for three of us for RT from Providence, RI -my husband uses airmiles.

We allow the kids $20.00 each for souvenirs. Being so young, they find lots of inexpensive things to buy.

I save change throughout the year, we use a credit card that gives us cash back on all of our purchases, I play some of the reward games discussed on these boards, and for birthdays, Xmas, etc I ask for Disney Dollars. This year we are thinking about having a yard sale to help clean up the house and raise some money.

We chose Disney in February because it gives us a nice warm place to go in the winter. It has a lot of great family activities and is a nice safe place to go. We do not ski - and since I like to go somewhere warm in the winter, Disney has been our choice.

We are fairly frugal spenders and pretty good savers. In the summer, we go to the shore - which again can get expensive if you do not preplan.

I hope this gives you some encouragement.

Have a great day.

;) :pinkbounc ;) :pinkbounc ;) :pinkbounc ;) :pinkbounc

[Roll-Tide]

Hi Hezell,
I guess I'll go second. My DH is a computer programmer and I'm a teachers aide. I guess together we make about 75k. We mainly save for our retirement and our 2 boys education. So our disney acct. only gets about 3k a year. If I did the math right that's about 4%. It ususally takes us 2 years to save up for our vacation. When we do go, we go for about 2 weeks. On our "off" years, we usually go to the beach instead.

It will be fun reading about everyone else. :D

Kim

[ChisJo]

Well, we just decided at the beginning of this year that we should try to go to WDW every 2 years. I am a full time college students, and have a full time waitressing job, so my income is unstable. My fiance is currently working 2 jobs to make ends meet for us in the next couple of months. A lot has come up this past month that we relly couldn't afford, so we are struggling,, but no matter what, we are going every 2 years. It keeps us sane, and romantic. We try to save $250 per month, so that would make it $5000 for every 2 years. It is hard, but no matter what, we save that money. And we will not use it no matter what comes up. Hopefully that helps.

Joline

[Lisa P.]

Good topic! Our annual routine vacation budget is ~$2,180 (3.3% of DH's gross salary). In addition, we put aside another $2,000 (3%) into savings/year, for RT airfares, upgrades and lengthening of one of our trips, about every other year. So our total travel budget is about 6.3% of his gross salary or about $4,180/year.

I home school our three preteens and don't work for $ right now. Depending on whether we bring along foster children, an exchange student or friends, we travel with 5-8 people for at least 2 separate weeks in timeshare condos, plus several camping weekends in our old pop-up. :) The basic budget covers our TS maint & exchange fees, campsites, food, transport, sightseeing, souvies, spending, etc - everything. We drive our van.

Our travel budget for over 10 years was only about $400/year, when we only went camping locally. Travel is a greater priority now, as our children get older and our budget is balanced and debt free. In the next 18 months, we've booked at least a week in each: Williamsburg, NYC, Washington DC and Orlando - no airfares. The following year we've got a $$$ Grand Canyon/California trip planned. Our cheapie timeshares make the regular trips affordable within our budget. :D

[Riverview]

I'm a single dad and we spend about 7% if you factor in all the expenses. Lisa P. you will LOVE the Grand Canyon. It was one of the most awesome things I have ever seen.
Riverview :smooth: :bounce: :p :bounce: :wave:

[imgoingtodisney]

This year our vacation fund is about 10% of our total income. Both my husband and I work full-time but currently only make about $50,000 per year. Ive been back to work full time for 3 years now. (Son is now 9). The twelve years before he was born I worked at a job that left me with an enormous amount in profit sharing! So we do not have to save for retirement. If it wasnt for this fund I would not be spending money for this trip so easily. This year Ive been saving money for Disney by (1) charging $100 each month at Disney store for disney dollars to be used for PS, (2) Ive been giving son and husband Disney dollars from tooth fairy, valentines day, fathers day, birthdays, report cards, etc and (3) when there are 5 paycheck weeks in a month the 5th check goes to the Wilderness Lodge.

[SlightlyGoofy]

We are retired and spend about 20% of our budget on traveling. The majority of it has been spent at WDW in the year and a half we have been retired. We have everything paid for and owe nothing so we can afford to spend a higher percentage of our income. I figure that we should spend more for fun now while we are able so that when the days come that we cannot go we will have good memories and besides I figure when we can't go we won't need so much money. I hope I am planning right.

We went on vacations even when we could not really afford it as my DH insisted. There were times that I would have rather spent the money fixing up the home where we spent the other 50 weeks a year.

Everyone has their own priorities and as long as everyone can agree basically - you should do what you want. You work harder when you have a goal to work toward and WDW is a worthy goal IMHO.

Some postings can scare off people who have never been before since the prices that they can afford to pay are awesome and unreachable for some but you can do WDW on a budget and still have a blast. Who you go with matters the most.

Slightly Goofy

[mommyto3]

We go to WDW every two years and the price of our vacation is about $7200. If we would save every month for two years it wouldn't be bad, but I am a procrastinator. Our next trip is this December and I haven't saved ANYTHING. So starting in July, I will have to save $1400 a month. OUCH!! Especially since my husband just got a new car. (An unexpected expense, we live in Houston where it had that horrible flooding a couple of weeks ago and he lost his car in the flooding.) So the next few months will be tight. I will have to save every penny because we don't believe in charging our vacations. (Nothing worse than having a great trip and then come home in debt!!) Anyway, I'm a stay at home mom with three kids. My husbands salary is about 65k. We don't really have a vacation budget, we just start saving when the time gets close. But I think after this trip, I will start putting away money every month, just to make life easier.

[GoofyBeth]

Well, I'm single woman with no kids :( . I don't travel and/or vacation very much. I make about $32K a year so there isn't much left over.

This year Disney became more affordable for me .. and I'm staying at All Stars Music. And I'm driving down. Actually, my dad, sister and I are driving down .. Dad is dropping me and sis at All Stars and then he is visiting friends in Tampa. So that saves me money.

All told, I'm spending about $900 for the passes and lodging ... and I'm taking about $900 for spending money. Then I won't take another vacation for another 3 or 4 years.

Beth

[beansmom]

We spend about 5% of our income on vacation ($5000 every two years). I decided a couple of years ago that I'm not waiting for the 'right' time anymore.

My dad at 61 had never been to WDW but always wanted to go to EPCOT. In fact, he and his wife had a trip planned for the following spring but in September he was diagnosed with inoperable colon cancer and died six weeks later.

Life is too short to wish instead of get and you ain't takin' it with you, so spend in here and make some memories for yourself and your family.

[imgoingtodisney]

In 1996 we spent 2 weeks at Disney - 1 week was suppose to be at inlaws near Vero Beach but FIL got very sick. This Oct MIL is coming with husband, 9yr son and myself for 6 nights at Wilderness Lodge. Then we will go to her house for 3 nights. You're right about the memories - my son will have the memories with my MIL that he never had with FIL.

[katefromny]

I am also a SAHM with a 4year old and a 1 year old, my husband makes approx $35,000 annually. I do per-diem work from time to time in a local hospital, so anything I get there goes into our vacation fund. I also hunt for bargains at yard sales, and turn around and sell 'em on ebay, sometimes for substantial profit margin. Half of this money goes towards vacation planning as well. We save change, christmas and birthday money and plan, plan, plan. Next year, we are staying at WDW at the Boardwalk Villas and WLV for 8 nights in a 2 bedroom (we are taking my sister and her family as a surprise christmas present). We started planning this a year ago, and have paid off rooms ( we rented from a DVC member), 7 day passes, car rental and are working on the airfare. We obviously can't do this every year, there are too many other things to save for and to experience...but for now, it works for us--and it can be done without a 6 figure income.

[Lissete]

My husband is a firefighter/paramedic and we live on his income. I am a Realtor and my income is used for play! I don't work full time but it works out really well. We are also FL. Res. and DVC Members, that helps out alot!

[Kermit]

I guess we're in the minority. We don't really save for our vacations. We just pay with the discretionary money in our monthly budget. You have to pay for your rooms before you get there, so we pay that ahead of time with extra money that's in the checking account. If we get LOS passes, we pay for them at the same time. Then we pay for food, gas, and that type of thing the same way. Since it's over a month since we paid for the room, there's extra money in the account again. We drive instead of flying, so travel expenses are minimal.

We stay in moderates and don't spend a whole lot on food. We usually eat at one full service restaurant each day, and we usually share an entree and each order soup or salad. We eat fast food and snacks the rest of the time. All in all, we spend less than 2% of our annual income on a trip. We go on lots of long weekend trips throughout the year, sometimes in our pop-up and sometimes at hotels, so we don't want to blow too much on one vacation.

[aec]

We got really lucky this year. A friend offered to let us have their timeshare week at cost (which they were going to loose). The cost for 1 week at HGVC is about $175. I got a full size car through dollar for a base weekly rate of $109. I'm hoping to get a deal on southwest (guessing about $675 for four RT tickets) for our flight when ever they get around to posting November fares! The park tickets are going to run about $1100 including disney and Seaword. We keep souveniers and meals as low as possible. I expect the 8 night trip to cost about $2200. That's less than 2% of our gross pay of about $125K combined (I work partime but we also pay for daycare for one and private school for the other which eats up a lot of my pay). Disney is pretty much our only vacation cost this year. We are flying up to visit my folks on cape cod this summer but the only cost is the flight which was a steal at $280 total for four RT tickets on South West.

[sablair]

I dont really WANT to do the math on this one..haha. We spend about 5% of our incomes on vacations each year... this trip will be about 3% of that. DH works OT and umpires baseball and Refs basketball to fund our vacation so it really doesnt come out of what we call income. Shhh.. dont tell him that though.. he works very HARD for the "play" money for us!

We used to be deep in debt because we didnt know how to manage our money and vacations always left us catching up on bills. It was so stressful!!! 6 years ago when we bought our house we went on a very strict budget.. payed off all our credit card debt and we only buy something now after the bills and savings account is paid and ONLY if we can buy it with cash. We also refuse to commit more than 25% of our income to fixed payments (car, house, daycare, utilities).

Finally, we feel free to go on vacations and spend our money on fun without guilt!! We are travelling to Disney at the same time as friends and one made the comment about our "extravagant" trip because we are flying, doing character meals and spending money on things they arent. My response was that I would rather spend it at WDW memories than on a $30,000 vehicle or other material things that will wear out in a few years!

8 days to go!!!!!

~Sheila

[jadyson]

I totally agree with Sablair. My sister and cousin just don't understand why I won't buy a new car because mine is 8 years old. Whenever I announce to the family that we're going to WDW again, they say "How can you afford to go AGAIN?" I tell them imagine if they took that $300 (or more) a month that they are spending on their cars and put it into a vacation savings. That usually ****s them up pretty quick!!

By the way we usually spend about $4000 every year on our trips, which would be about 7% of our gross income. This year we had airfare vouchers from Delta so our expenses are low, about $2000 for 8 days.;)

[UrsulaFan]

We average 5% each year for vacation. I have 2 main ways of saving for it: 1) We claim no dependents to get a large tax refund, when it comes we buy a short term CD with it to keep it "Unavailable" and 2) I have a Christmas club that I renamed a Vacation Club account at the bank & they draw money out of my checking acct. each & every week. We go on vacation generally in the fall, due to my husbands work & I get the club check the first week of October. This has worked out great for us. 9 yo DS wants to take our $6000 this year & put in a pool instead of vacation! Yeah, Right!

[Minniemom2girls]

Just wanted to say a BIG "GREAT JOB" to all of you who are stay at home moms. I am working toward that goal (I'm currently at 10-15 hours per week). Hurray to you for doing the most important job in the world and finding the money to do WDW as well. We had to severely cut back our expenses this year due to my pay cut. We used to spend 4,000 to 5,000 for a week trip. This year we went 15 days and our total was right at $1500. We are DVC members so accomodations are not included in that. Airfare for 4 - $312, car for 2nd week $150, Tiffany, one way $50, food and souvenirs $700, park tickets $350. It was the best trip ever for us! It wasn't about rushing around spending money on everything in sight. Instead, we took our time and THOROUGHLY enjoyed ourselves for much less money. It can be done! And we had a BLAST!:bounce: :bounce:

[jstmee]

I'm not a saver, I just do! Last year we went to Myrtle Beach, SC from Northern Maine and drove 14 days. We had a trip planned for Disney but last year we bought a new home, paved the driveway and bought a new conversion van. Ouch!!! This year, it's Disney or bust. There are 6 people in our family and the kids are 13, 13, 9 and 8. Three of us go free on air because of frequent traveler miles. That left $920.00 to pay for the total of the other three. That's paid. Reserved two rooms at All Star Sports at $49. each, mousesavers. deposit that's paid. Will stay 3 nights at PBH put deposit of $179 each for two rooms, Have to pay balance 1725. 8/8/01, then balance for All Star 9/9 $650. Then of course passes and food and souvies. Hubby earns 82K, last year he was self employed and earned 145K---all gone--taxes, house, etc..........he claims I blew it. Which I did! We will be scrounging for this trip, but the kids aren't getting any younger and basically I'm spoiled and want to go.:pinkbounc I figure about $7,000 for trip..total we are going for 11 nights 8 at disney and 3 at pbh. Also, two years ago we earned 40K----and we still managed to vacations and scrimp

[shamrock30]

DH and I also spend roughly 5% of our income on vacations. Disney is our winter break from the cold, and we make it a budget trip. We don't stay onsite or eat at restaurants very often, but we never feel deprived. We also travel to Canada for about ten days each summer and stay in a cottage on the ocean. With the great exchange rate, Canada is another "bargain" trip. We take a few weekend trips per year, and about every other year, we go to Europe for a week or two or three. I just can't imagine paying $400 a night for a hotel. I could never enjoy myself. I do enjoy hearing about other's experiences though--they have a totally different mindset from mine, and that's what makes life interesting.

[VickiVM]

Well, here's my story...

I quit work last December because the stress was taking a toll on my family. At that time we were at roughly $90,000 combined (pinky promise that you won't tell DH that I divulged that. He's sooo funny about that kind of thing). OUCH!!! Now, I'm jobhunting because I got the worst kind of torture in the past few months: 2 "Wish You Were Here" postcards. I can remain a SAHM and we'll probably never go back to WDW again or get new carpeting, for that matter. We just are needing too many things right now...new van, a/c work done on the car, etc. So...I got a promising call from a headhunter today and immediately I started visualizing our WDW trip next spring. I already told my husband that if an offer is made, I will be negotiating one week off next spring even if it's unpaid.

So back to how much of income devoted to vacation. 2001: Zero. 2002: Dangit, as much as it takes!!!

[newHere]

Wow....saving money. What a concept!!!!

I'm the opposite. I get an idea in my head, do it, then when the credit card bills come rolling in, I pay them.

Like our last trip to Florida in Feb. I decided (while surfing the DIS :rolleyes: ) Sunday night that I wanted to go to Florida. I called the travel agent on Monday and we left on Tuesday!

Now before everyone things that I'm a total crackpot. Let me say that I am EXCELLENT with money.
We take a few vacations a year....but I hunt the bargains down!!!! I probably do a vacation at about 50-75% less than what my friends pay a travel agent.

I'm a single professional mom and I'm guessing that I probably spend about 10% of my income on vacations (that includes the big vacations as well as the weekend getaways)

[Poohbear123]

I have a Disney Credit Card! I use it twice a year, Feb. and Nov. and pay it down so I can use it again! Helps with paying for first night! I also go when the Fl. Residents specials are up! They had a LOT this year!:D

[Meagansmom]

I also am a SAHM! We usually go to WDW every other year. When we come back from our trip, we start to set aside so much every month for the next. Our DD is 6 years old and that is where she picks to go for right now. I am sure that will change (maybe) when she gets older. Our off years we hang around home and do one of the other things we love to do, fish. So it doesn't cost much on our off years. One thing in our family we do is find fun ways to save for vacations. 1) hold a garage sale - daughter is always growing out her clothes. 2)Our daughter sells cookies and pop during the garage sale - she makes a bundle. 3) We reward our daughter at times with Disney Dollars. 4) The money I save on coupons at stores, I put into a jar along with spare change. It all really adds up. If there is a will, there is a way. I read alot on the websites on how to save. There alot of ways to accomplish the goals.

[andkat]

We only go to Disney about once every two years. My husband and I both work and make about 60K per year. We usually save about 2K per year for vacation but don't know if that is going to happen this year. We just had a newborn and that is cutting into our extra money plus other son goes to a private school and the tuition just went up again. But what we do save goes into an extra fund for Disney.

[fervour]

What a great thread!---the whole idea of how we prioritize differently ----fascinating!

Anyway, I am SWM. I make $42K (My annual performance review is in Nov. which should bump me to $44k ---which I think is important because I spend now also based on what I project I will be making.)

I spend about $2350 on vacations (5.6%). I have never stayed on-site at Disney, but I go to Orlando about twice a year for a week each time ----always off season. I always split the vacation with a friend which saves some money.

I think Disney definitely has a more "magical" atmosphere, but usually stay at an inexpensive hotel within walking distance to Universal. From my perspective, I get the benefit of access to CityWalk and theme parks at a fraction of the cost of a Disney vacation. Being an adult, I can always go during the off-season. I end up spending 2 to 3 days at Disney and about 4 days at Universal. So my Disney days are "commando" days while Universal days are spent leisurely. Believe it or not, I can see/do most of the Disney attractions within that time period. So now that I've explained my Orlando vacation stategy, I'll give a bit of a breakdown on vacation expenses.

I spend about $600 per each Orlando trip. I have a year pass to Universal and buy 5-day tickets to disney. We usually eat breakfast in the room ---this is more to control calories and content then to save money. Then we'll eat one fastfood meal and one full-service meal each day. So that leaves about $1150 of the $2350 for weekend trips and an additional week road trip which might include some camping, as well as, sightseeing.

Thanks to everyone who included additional budget information. I think it's so interesting to see how we value things differently. I save about 33% of my income ---I want to change careers in about 5 years. One good thing I can say about Alabama is that housing is cheap. I spend about 15.5% of my salary on housing. My car is 5 years old and I am going to keep it until it is no longer dependable (hopefully at least another 3 years). Utilities run about $150/month, or 4.3% of my annual income (that is keeping my thermostat at 80F during the day and 70F at night). ----this is getting long and is probably getting boring ----so I think I'll shut up all ready! :)

[Trekker]

I think this is a wonderful thread - kind of lets you see different ways to make it all happen.

I'm in a very good position right now. My DW and I are both I/S professionals and between us make $120,000+ per year.

About 4 years ago we purchased from my parents, the family cottage in northern Wisconsin. It soon became clear that with this cottage all of our 'fun money' was being used to pay the mortgage, taxes, and to maintain that place.

We were not able to save for WDW or other trips. So the last trip was done on all credit cards. (hated that).

We decided to sell that cottage this year and started planning our Nov WDW trip.

For all our vacations (week-enders, weeks, or longer) is about 10% of our total income.

[DreadpiratK]

It's impossible to say what percentage we spend because we are self-employed, and our income varies greatly from month to month. My wife is a stay at home mom, who also homeschools, so the business is our only income BUT my wonderfuly talented wife got a job a few years ago as director of the town day camp in the summer. Our kids go free, and she makes a about $1500 over the summer wich is saved exclusively for vacations. Since we always go in the fall, this works our nicely. The other things we do to make is possible is relentlessly hunt down bargains. This year we got a timeshare week in Sept for $350 on EBAY (we bid on several, but refused to higher than this, and eventually won), and then using info from these boards, booked an additional 5 days at Courtyard by Mariott for $40/night, for 2 rooms. $530 for 13 days in orlando! We will drive down from CT, and impose on freinds and relatives along the way for placed to stay, or break out the tents and air matresses if we need a cheap night on the road. Overall we expect to spend $2500-$3000 for a two week vacation. Roughly 5% of an average years income, but only 1/2 comes out of the budget, so about 2.5% not much for memories that will last a lifetime. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of trips like this with my family.

To all you STAHM's out there--what your'e doing is soo much more important than ANY material things an income could give your children, including going to Disney World! Do not let the stories on this board entice you to abandon your kids to go back to work to pay for a vacation or anything else, it's not worth it!
Besides, with faith and hard work, there is always a way to do it without abandoning your kids.
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[meanoldmom]

I do it like Kermit. I pay for Disney stuff from my monthly budget. WE don't do a savings plan for vacations, we just pay as we go. We are FL residents and seasonal passholders, so I try to time my renewal for the end of August, after the blackout period. Then we make some general decisions about when we want to go, usually long wekks ends like labor day, memorial day, a visit during Christmas season. We also look at the value season and AP rates and usually throw a couple more weekend trips in. Once discounts become available, we book our rooms and I pay the one night deposit out of our monthly budget. At that point I have specific dates I know I need to shoot for, so I adjust our budget accordingly so that when we leave, there is enough in the checking account to cover expenses. Sometimes, we pay for the remaining hotel bill with a CC (I have two with different closing dates, so I try to charge on the one that just closed, lol, to give me a couple months to budget the balance so I can pay when teh bill comes in). Since we live close, I don't have to worry about airfare, etc. THis year, we are up for pass renewal about the time the tax rebate will come, and that will cover our passes for the year.

If I was spending thousands, however, on a single trip, I would probably open a seperate savings acct just for WDW vacations, LOL!

Sue

[Desnik]

I am a SAHM and DH makes $110,000 per year. We have been going to Disney since '97 every year and have spent between $2000 to $2500 on our vacation, this was driving there. We don't really save money, o.k. we like to spend, spend, spend!!! Dh lost his father and grand father at very young age(his dad was 42, his grandpa was in his early 60's)anyway, they were always saving for that rainy day and never got to enjoy their money. DH refuses to live that way. We just bought a house, have 2, year 2000 cars(a mercedes and a jeep cherokee) and go away 2 times ayear, once to WDW with our DD and once alone to a B&B either in Cape May or we try some place new. DH loves his "toys"(electronics and cars!!)and I love to vacation and shop so we kinda have the same out look. Don't get me wrong, we do have a mutual fund with $$ going in every month for our DD college and his company has 401k that we put $$ into, so we don't spend everthing!! But, this trip(in Sept) is costing alittle more since we will be flying and staying at the GF for 10 days!! This time we had a garage sale, used that $$ to buy toiletries, film bathing suits and such. We saved some change since our last trip in Nov. and sent that in towards the resort bill. Everyday I set $$ aside for tips for our town car driver, bell services and I already have the mousekeeper envelopes with tips already in them for the housekeepers at the resort. We used the code on mousesavers to get a great deal on the GF. We have some passes left from our previous trip, so that helps alittle on park passes. This time we've had to save more ahead of time because of the house and trip being so close together. We never charge our vacations, we just take some $$ out of DH pay check a couple of weeks before our trip and use that.

[VickiVM]

Ooops...I knew I gave out too much information. I certainly didn't mean to imply that I was "abandoning" my children just to take a vacation to WDW. I left my previous company because the level of committment was taking away from my family. We were never sure if financially we would survive. And I guess we could if we just had to...but we don't have enough now for those unexpected crisis. DH's company pays for our health ins., dental and vision. But, we had an a/c scare a few months ago. Thank goodness it was just the capacitator and not the compressor. Sooo, I am carefully looking for a company that fits my family. I have worked all my life until this past year and could never judge women who work to create a better life for their family even if they could stay home. Sorry, but I felt compelled to set the record straight. Next time I'll know not to reveal too much of myself.

[mainey-mouse]

We put about 12.5% of our take home pay into a general savings account and thats where we accumulate $$ for expensive things - home renovations, downpayments on cars, Christmas and kids birthday expenses and vacations. In a typical year we will spend 33%-50%f of that on the annual things - birthdays, Christmas and summer vacation (camping). The rest accumulates year to year to fund the occassional really expensive things - home renovations, cars and of course, big vacations. We did our first ever family big vacation this year - to Disney. Probably looking at doing a big vacation every 3 years or so - but definitely not always to Disney.

[MouseLover]

The last 3 trips we have taken we have done with some type of bonus. In '96 I taught summer school & used that money for a fall trip. We were able to fly that year, shared a condo with my parents, who had some of the nights for free, split the cost of a rental car, and had unused park hopper days from our previous trip (1986!). In 1999 we used my "raise check" (got in a lump sum for work toward my master's degree) and our tax refund. We got great airfare, an upsell at the Poly, and shared the cost of a rental van with 2 other couples. This was also a pretty short trip. This past March, we were more strapped for cash. We used DH's annual bonus, my this-year's raise which I got in a lump sum at Christmas. We DROVE this time, shared fuel expenses with my parents, shared a suite, ate entirely counter service or outside the parks, skipped the character meal and did the ice cream social instead (great!!). We had free full breakfast at BVS daily and took snacks into the parks, and sandwiches/fruit/etc. in the car. We're trying to figure out a way to go again next March! Driving wasn't as bad as we thought when shared 4-ways. Those darn park hoppers are the biggest expense. The other things can be cut down/shared/etc. Realistically, I'm shooting for March 2003. Then I can use my Christmas & end-of-school raise checks to purchase park hoppers. Although we really want to do Universal/IOA next trip as well.

[Joycemarie]

I guess for Disney we usually spend 4000 to 5000 a vacation which is about 5 % of our income. We're both teachers on top step. Our usual boost is our income tax refund which goes into the Disney Account. It's like found money since we don't see it but once a year. We also save regularly to the Disney account. This year we are staying 11 days(leaving in 3) ,purchased PAP and will go again next year before they run out. Perhaps even two more times if we can swing it. Air fare is under $1000 usually and we get good discounts with the AP's so the second trip is not as bad as the first.That will probably be our last trip for a while as the kids are getting older.

[Katie]

Well, this year we spend about 10,000 in vacations(4000 Cruise in the Southern Carbibeen, 6000 Disney Trip(10 days at Disney, 4 days at the beach).

This was an extreme year. This would be a little less than 10% of our annual income. DH is a IT professional, and I WAS CT technologist. However, 8 months ago, I quit to become a SAHM. So we went from 135,000 to 85,000 in one fateful morning( when I got mad at work and quit).

Dh says this is the last year of spending that much on vacations. Well...we will see about that..because what he doesn't know..is I have a week in Aruba planned for next March!!! LOL!!!

When I worked, I just had 200.00 taken out of every paycheck just for vacations( another 200.00 was for long-term savings). So, I had built a nice nestegg up...so, he didn't complain this year..but since I am not working..I am not sure where the money will come from..maybe HE will have to pay for the vacation this year..or I wil start charging him babysitting fees, taxi-driver fees, chef fees, cleaning fees...you get the idea!

[MommaluvsDis]

At first, I wasn't going to reply to this thread but after reading some of the replies, I felt like I wanted to share my stategy for going to WDW.

We always get a tax refund because of DH's occupation and this along with a little I take out of our budget each month funds our trip. We really don't blow a lot on Souvineers since the Dss are teens now but I give them $50.00 each before we go to spend on whatever they want. It helps to stay in a hotel that offers free breakfast. The hotels on Disney property are pretty pricey and you have to pay for breakfast.

I WOULD NOT go and charge everything on the CC because that can make it hard to enjoy the trip knowing that next month a hugh bill will be waiting.

There are plenty of ways to do WDW on a budget. I just wish I had known about these boards before I went the first time. There are a lot of helpful people here.

My hat is off to them ALL!

[becca33]

I have read all your post and I have to say I am very impressed with your dedication.
We are in a different situation all together. Dh and Myself are both Disabled and are on a fixed income, about 25K We have all the payments that any family might have...
House
Car
Insurance...yada, yada
By the time bills are payed there isn't much left. for the last 2 years we have paid for our vacations doing freebies online. Took our first WDW trip last year and had a blast. This year a Dis. cruise. The cruise took a little more budgeting, but Its paid for and we have till November to save for the extras. We are doing so well we are going to go down a week before the cruise just to have some fun.
We have 2 sons and they are incredable with thier money. 7 YO saves allowace, tooth fairy, B-day gifts and such. Almost $100 to spend as he likes on vacation. My 14 YO, whom I could not be more proud of, Mows lawns with a friend and has earned over $400 dollars so far this summer.
Allready have my budget set up for next year.......lol
My family thinks I am a nut.
:p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p
Just wait till we get ready to leave and I wake them up at 2 am........lol I am a very early riser......Since I do the driving when I say its time...ITS TIME!!!!!

[wheatenwalker]

I am a single mother of two teenage boys so half my income goes for groceries :). I cant really say the exact percentage of my income I spend for our trips to WDW. I save during the year and plan on what I am spending by what I've saved. We stay where we can afford, sometimes thats been All Stars last year BWI, this year YC BUT only with the discouts I have been lucky enough to get. I check the airfares alot as it gets closer and this year was really happy with the fares I found. I dont spend much on souvenirs while we are there, the boys bring their own money for that. Food while we are there is a big expense but we dont do an expensive dinner every night, maybe 3 out of 5 nights. This year, I have saved all my receipts for my flexible spending account at work for unreimbursed medical expenses (othodontics for two) and will send them in before we go, that will be about 1.500$. I also figure my Disney days with my kids will be ending soon so I want to enjoy them while I can.

[Biyanna]

I'm a SAHM w/a hubby, 2 kids and a dog. :D We spend 5% of our income at Disney and 2% at other parks which include Universal/IOA, Busch Gardens-VA, and Kings Dominion.

[TinkerbellTracy]

My DH and I spend approx 5% of our income for vacations. We go to Disney every year. Twice this year. I work at H and R Block during the tax season and make an extra 7000. This money is used for our trips plus paying off a few bills! This works out great for us and it gives my husband a new appreciation of me and everything I do when tax season is over!!

[MikeP]

I am a SAHD, and we own a Pet Salon/ Pet store that my wife operates. We expect to spend about 5K on our Disney vacation this year which is a little less than 5%. We typically plan one big vacation, then spend a couple long weekends in San Antonio (we buy Six Flags season passes good in San Antonio as well as Arlington). Just about every other weekend we spend at our place on Lake Fork.

[robsmom]

I would say that we spend less than 5% a year on vacations. We are fortunate to have two nice paying jobs and we have always made vacations a priority. Lately, our biggest problem has become finding time.

We hadn't been to Disney in a few years and this year ended up with two trips (and possibly a third alone for a business trip - long story!!). As a last minute decision we spent just a few days in March followed with time at a friends home in FL. We will go for 10 days in December with my in-laws. My numbers are rough as I don't do detailed budgets. The March numbers look bad but December is looking very good.

March:
600 for airfare (3-dh, ds2 and me)
450 for hotel
250 for Univeral Tickets (3 day passes) - 2 days left
500 for 5 day park hoppers - 4 days left
300 for food
200 for rental car
Total: $2300

December
0 airfare (freqent flyer tickets for 3)
0 Hotel for disney (in-laws time share)
400 Hotel for Hard Rock
0 for Passes (purchased in March)
200 for Rental Car
1000 for food, gifts, other purchases
Total: $1600

[sheilap]

We aim to do WDW every two years, and we usually wind up spending roughly $5k each time, inclusive of everything - room, airfare, food, souvies, rental car, etc...With better budgeting we could do it cheaper, but I didn't know about this great website (and mousavers!) until just before our last trip this past Nov. In Nov. 2002 we'll do much better!

DH and I both work fulltime, and that is the only way that we would be able to go on vacations. We feel very strongly like *some* of you - that memories and family vacations are important. My mom was a sahm and dad worked full time, overtime, weekends, etc...so mom could be at home. Consequently, no time for vacations. I DO NOT want that for my dd (only child). We love our time together and have simply beautiful memories of our trips.

I applaude the sahm, and I applaude the ft/pt working moms - NOBODY should judge anybody else's situation.

DreadPirateK - you should watch your words. How dare you assume that I am abandoning my child???

[nancycels]

family of 4, but the girls are 19 and 24. This makes a huge difference. Since they work now, they kick in some of the cost of their passes(thank u girls!) and buy their own souveniers except for one or two their mother(who loves to spoil them) picks up right before we leave to use as a surprise). We have a timeshare, which is almost paid for, we bought a studio up north,but can exchange it for up to a 3 bdrm in orlando so our costs are low there as well. Obviously, the timeshare payments are monthly, we get a IRS ck that we use around 1300.(use that for our planetickets and passes); do rewards for about 6mo, that's because i save by using up my reward money for xmas gifts, so i don't need to charge anything at xmas time. We rent a car, use the entertainment card to eat out, and pick up a light lunch in the parks. Save all my change and cash it in for DIS dollars, and if i'm at the mall(which i am frequently) i take any cash i have and buy dis dollars. This year i've accumulated almost 400. that way. So, 1300. plus 400. reward programs, plua 400 Dis dollars, plus exchange fee about 100.; plus about 1000. in the bank; plus we charge our rental car. Wow, never realized how much i actually spend on vacation! We usually let the girls take a friend along too.

[Vderon]

I have to reply just to tell my unbelievable story. Last year, I won two free round trip airline tickets in a local contest. So, I booked a March trip to Disneyland. I had to buy my DD her airline ticket, which was $300.

When we got to the airport, they were asking for volunteers to be bumped. It started at $250 per person. I yawned , and kept reading my book. Then they offered $500 per person, and then $750. I nearly flew out my chair. By the time I walked over to the counter, it was $1000 per person, for a 5 hour delay. Of course I went for it! Then the unthinkable happened. They basically forgot about us, and couldn't find us a flight within the 5 hour time frame. They finally came up with a connecting flight that put us in California 6 hours after we were supposed to be there. I complained, of course, because it's my nature to complain when things don't go right. They gave us another $400 each! So I ended up with $4200 in free airline travel.

Last week we went to Florida for 6 days. We will go to Vegas twice (one just me and my Mom, she has never been, and says she wants to go before she dies. Leave it to Moms to be depressing.), we have a Disney/ IOA trip planned in March, and we are using the rest to go to California next year for a coaster trip ( we are members of the American Coaster Enthusiasts. )

To answer the original question, we spend about 5% of our income on traveling. I drive a 5 year old car, and we live in a moderate house, even tho we could afford a bigger house on our income. I do every online reward program that I can find, and make about $70 a month for our trips doing them. I use our tax refund every year for travel.

I love traveling, and it is my luxury. I love watching my children have these wonderful experiences that I never had at their age. I am saving over $500 a month for their college educations, so I can do these trips without feeling like I am cheating them.

When the time comes for me to buy a new car, I will probably have to cut back. For now, its Disney every 18 months or so, more often for a couple years til the airline vouchers run out.

[PooooohBear]

I'll be honest with you. We don't budget a certain percentage of our income. We budget for the trip as we plan it. Some years we spend more than others.

[MikeP]

I didn't mean to imply that we planned on spending the 5%, it just seems to be approximatley what we spend. Planning isn't our strong suit. If we planned more effectively, we could probably do much better. Our trip to Orlando next week was very much last minute. About 5 weeks ago we had plans for DW and I to go to Boston W/O kids, but the couple we were planning on going with had some conflicts so we traded our tickets and decided to take the boys to Orlando again this year.

[Jane E.]

We used Priceline for 5 hotel nites, a timeshare deal for 2 nites, and one night at AKL. All of our rooms nights were prepaid months before we went, as were our tix. WE drove to WDW and had the use of our car the whole time there. Most days we ate breakfast in our hotel room - we packed cereal, milk, dried fruit, fruit, string cheese, and granola bars. Then we ate a big lunch at the parks. For dinner we usually ate at an offsite restaurant (Bahama Breeze, Cafe Tutu, etc.)Some nights our teens wanted hoagies or burgers and dh and I went out to a restaurant alone. Other than food dh and I took the Keys to the Kingdom Tour. We only bought drinks with our meals - we brought in a squeeze water bottle which we refilled at the fountains.

[meanoldmom]

I am also a FT working mom and I am not sacrificing my children for a vacation or abandoning them to go to work. I saw some of the posts applauding SAHMs and I applaud them too. I also applaud all the WOHMs and all the dads out there who care enough about their children to want to give them great memories that come with vacations. And that my friends, has NOTHING to do with work status. I see folks from every socio-economic level on these boards and at WDW and we all have in common our love for our families and WDW. Let's not spoil it by posting derogatory remarks about certain groups of people, OK folks?

Sue

[dznynut]

Until recently, we too spent about 5% of our gross income on a 8 day WDW trip. Approximate expenses were:
Airfare for 3 $600
Hotel for 7 nights $1,400
Food for 8 days $800
Park tickets for 3 $900
Spending money $800

for a total of $4,500.

This year we joined the DVC and will take our first "point" trip in December, so lodging for 12 days will be "free". I have $450 in SWA vouchers to redeem towards airfare. I have $200 in RFC, PH, Gihradellis and AMC gift certificates earned through rewards programs. I have sold 4 items (that were gathering dust in my closet) on e-bay for $175. My company gives out local mall gift certificates for "big" anniversaries (5, 10, 15, 20 year etc). I got a $100 one and instantly went to our mall and got $100 Disney dollars. I have accumulated about $125 in rebates on products that I would normally buy anyway. I bought each of us PAP vouchers the month that I had 3 paydays instead of 2. The best "savings plan" I have is our flex spending program at work. I have saved all reimbursements this year for our WDW trip. That in itself is about $2,500.

I have done so well saving using the above methods, we were able to add the DCL 3 night cruise to the start of our trip. With the great discount info posted on the DIS, I got our cruise (including RT transfers) for $1,037 (plus the $50 onboard credit).

My son and I leave in 15 days for a "mom and me" WDW trip. It is his (and mine!) reward for getting straight A's all year in school (pretty tough in a Catholic school). I'm the "homework drill sargent" (as my DH calls me!), so I "have" to go! I was able to get the mousesaver $65 ASMu rate and airfare for $179 each. I'm redeeming our PAP early, so admission is "free" (I'm sure we'll get our moneys worth out of the water parks alone!). We're only doing a few PS and the rest counter service meals.

I have never been more motivated to save for anything more than I have for a WDW trip. I too feel that you are creating family memeories that will last a lifetime. Good luck to everyone in their planning and budgeting!

[KimRaye]

May I say that this is the most enjoyable and helpful thread I've read in awhile! Kudos to ALL of you! This might be good in the Tips Board, as well!

As far as SAHM & WOHM's, I've done both. Applause to ALL! Sometimes I wonder how I made it to WOH job!!

We went last month with a package booked just before finding the DIS :( for $3,600, off-site, 8 days/7 nights. Air, hotel, car, passes (for WDW & USF/IOA) everything but food in the parks, souvies, etc. Hotel had kids-eat-free at the restaurant but not at the fast-food/counter service. We only used restaurant once as (free) DD hates eating anyway! Car was an addt'l. $100 or so for gas, taxes, etc., that wasn't included (watch out there!) and, we spent over $1,000 I'm sure between meals and souvies etc. Whole trip was supposed to be covered by $6,000 IRS refund but, after trip was booked and before we left, we had a $6,000 sewer repair bill! Total vacation then became an out-of-unplanned-expense-pocket! :rolleyes:

% wise, I guess it's about 6%???:confused: I'm not sure about DH's annual salary! I work with a monthly budget, Net salary-wise, not the IRS numbers!

Thanks for a great thread!:smooth:

[AnnaM]

This year I went back to work part-time. The money I make goes for vacation and school tuition. Our total household income is about $95k.

Our trip this year cost $3,500, which was scaled back because we had APs, and only stayed 6 nights at the Contemporary.

Our two previous trips ('00 and '98) were over $6,000. (we stayed at the GF).

Sometimes when I think of the money we have spent staying at the GF, I feel a little guilty. But it has been worth every penny. My husband drives a 12 yr. old truck and my car is 6 yrs. old.

Our trip in '98 we just saved for. Our trip in '00 I used money from a stock that doubled. (a little luck). For this year's trip, I saved during the year and used our tax return.

I'm planning a trip for '03. I'm saving now and also will use tax returns. Sometimes it's hard. Everytime I want to buy something for the house or clothes, I come to these boards and pull up pictures of the GF. I'm determined to go back there in '03.

[mickeyinjune]

wE USUALLY ONLY ARE ABLE TO GO EVERY OTHER YEAR AND SPEND BETWEEN 3-5k DEPENDING WHO WE TAKE WITH US. WE HAVE TWO KIDS 9 & 11 AND WE USUALLY TAKE MY HUSBANDS PARENTS BUT WE LUCKED OUT THIS THEY WENT WITH ANOTHER SIBILING SO WE DECIDED TO GO AGAIN THIS YEAR FOR UNDER $2K THANKS TO THESE BOARDS. MY BROTHER AND A NIECE ARE GOING WITH US SO WE ARE GETTING TWO ROOMS AT THE ASMU. SOME FRIENDS OF OURS DECIDED TO GO ALSO. (THEY ARE GETTING THEIR OWN ROOM).

MY HUSBAND WORKS FULLTIME AND i WORK PARTTIME(30 HRS.) WE GET OUR VACATION MONEY FROM MY HUSBAND CLEANING A HALL 2-3 TIMES A WK IN THE EVENING. :cool:

[Liltx]

SIZE=3]Attention: mommyto3, imgoingtodisney, Roll-Tide![/SIZE]

This really has nothing to do with Disney but I think you can help me with another delima. I am having budget anxiety in dealing with our family planning. My huband is an architect and I am a kinder teacher. Together we make a little over 80K a year depending on husband's bonus +or- 5k. We are now thinking about having a baby and I am worried about the finances. We live in a house that cose 14% of our income, but we do enjoy nice cars. I will continue to work. I love my job and with our varying hours a baby would only be in daycare from 9:00 to 3:00. Probably with reduced rates care of dear MIL. I just worry that we will not have enough money. I know that children take alot in both immediate and future needs. My husband says people do it all the time and they make less than us but I want to give my child the best, within reason of course! Our friends all make more than us so comparison is hard for me. Please help! Sorry to get off the disney stuff.

Thanks a bunch,
Monica

[Roll-Tide]

Hi Liltx,

I do understand your anxiety. When you sit down and crunch numbers on what it cost to have a baby, you run right to the drug store and fill up that prescription for birth control pills!
But you also have to understand that there are some things that are more important than nice houses, vacations, and fancy cars. I guess it all depends on what your priorities are at this stage in your life. When I had my first child, I wasn't working and my husband only made 30K. Then I decided to go back to school at night and wouldn't you know it........I got pregnant with my second son. So now we have two children on 35K. It was tough. We never ate out or went to movies or took vacations. We were only able to save about $80.00 a month. And that was a good month! But you know, I told my husband that they needed me more than they needed things. We gave them everything they needed. All the love and attention they could ever want. My kids knew they were loved! Then we moved to Birmingham and my husband nearly doubled his salary. I work as a teachers aide because I don't want the responsibility of a classroom even though I am certified. I enjoy leaving everything at 3:00 and not thinking about work again until the next morning at 8:00. It gives me more time with my kids.
For us, our children are everything. We make sacrifices all the time for them. I go w/o buying new clothes for myself so I can send one to boy scout camp and the other to sports camp.......and that is totally fine. I'm like you, we have lots of friends who make a lot more than we do. And that's okay. But that doesn't make them any happier than we are.
I've got a good friend right now who just had her second baby and wants to quit work and stay home soooooo bad! They make about 110K. Her husband won't let her. He says they can finally buy what they want w/o worrying how to pay for it and he doesn't want to give that up. They could do it on just his salary. Again, I say it all depends on your priorities. Right now his priorities are on material things.....the things that don't last.
You know, it really doesn't matter how much you make. The more money you make, the more you are going to spend. Sit down and take a look at your budget. Are their any area's you can cut back on? Going out to dinner less, buying a used car instead of new, packing lunch instead of buying, not buying new clothes or shoes as often? I bet you can come up with a lot.
I can tell you the joy you get out of having your own child is better than anything you could ever imagine! If you think you are madly in love with your husband, that love is nothing compared to what you will feel for your child! It is overwhelming! I wouldn't pass up a chance to feel that kind of love because of money.
I don't know if I have helped you or not. Having a baby can be a tough decision. For us, the decision was not ours......it just happened. It's just something you and your husband have to talk about. Sit down and look at your budget. When you have a baby, you will have to cut back. But usually it's an act of love. You don't care because you are taking care of what's really important in life........another life!

Good luck,
Kim

[JenniferW]

We spend about 7% of our income on travel, but most of that is non-Disney (hate to admit). We like to travel out of the country because we do not have kids yet and want to explore before we settle down. Like other people, my hubby and I both work and we are trying for a baby and plan on me staying at home, but obviously the travel and our lifestyle will change. I just turned 30 and realize we want a child more than anything else. I figure we spend whatever we can on travel as that is our pleasure for right now.

With this in mind, we never go to a full price movie or buy expensive new clothes and I often buy items at garage sales so we can pay for the travel. When we do book a trip, it's always with Priceline or with the Entertainment discount so our money gets stretched as far as possible. We live in Northern Ca and fly to DL about once a year and luckily my hubby splurged and we went to DW last Thanksgiving. There are so many ways to save money and still feel like we are going out of town a lot.

ex. going to Carson City for the weekend at 45 a night
Lake Tahoe for 12 a night camping
San Jose for 35 a night

My hubby and I both agree that right now we need to pay for everyhting as it comes or save up. We never charge anything we can't pay for immediately. We want to stay out of debt now so we will be better in the long run. Saying that, we plan on charging and owing money when we have kids. We hope to refiance our house so we can get some money out when we really need it. We pay more now so we can hopefully have more later.

My parents are thinking about going to Orlando for Thanksgiving this year and I am going to go again it looks like : ) I will pay for my flight a while ahead, usually $240 is the best fare I see, and I probably will share a hotel room with them, but will just need to pay for my own tickets which I have some days leftover already. I am spoiled rotten because I know my parents are picking up the car and most of the food. I always try to pay for things but they insist : ) Who can argue?

Jenn

[kristikae]

I am a poor (30k a year) single mom with 4 kids. I have been to Disney 3 times since my kids were born (won the trips). I have always promised them I would take them and this is the year. I took a part-time job (one week night and one weekend night) bartending so I can afford it. All my tip money goes into our fund. I have been saving 6 months and we are going in December.

Here is our budget. We are going for 8 days. We are going to all 4 Disney parks as well as IOA, Univ and SeaWorld.

Passes to parks - $1511.75
Airfare - $1000
Car rental - $100
Off-site house rental (splitting with friend) $398.72
Spending and food ($50/pp/per day $1750.00

[stacie_d]

Well, I was a SAHM, and dh was Chemical Engineer. His salarly was somewhere around 50,000 when we first went to Disney. And we spent abour 2500. Now we are both full time students (he is in medical school and I am in law school). We are living with my parents for the next few years while we are in school. Basically we are going into debt, big time. We are going back in December, and got the "Pop Century has been delayed" deal at AKL. We plan on going every year. So, if keep being very careful about what we spend, we should be able to make it on a "student" budget.

[violet13]

We are a family of 6..and going in November, I figured it out to cost less than $3000 total for 5 nights in Orlando and going once to Disney, once to Universal, once to Islands of Adventure and possibly visiting the Beach and maybe that Gatorland or somthing. We are renting a car for 8 days (total about $500 with insurances) got a Suite for $55 a night for 5 nights, figure about $700 in ticket prices for all of us for 3 days at Disney, $350 for gas getting from Pa to Florida & back, $400 on food for a week (we will mostly eat and cook at the suite, and out a few times to places with coupons), another $200 for other parks we decide to visit (gatorland, Silver springs maybe) and another $200 on suverners, etc. That's about $2625 so far for a family of 6 for 5 days. Our family income is approx $30,000 a year. This will be our first trip, hope my budget is correct. :pinkbounc

[6_Time_Momma]

My husband works full time + at a local grocery store and I am a work at home mom. We bring in about 42000. We have 5 kids. Our trip to Florida this year will be about $4500, which breaks down to about:

$800 hotel (7 nights at Holiday Inn Family Suites, plus 3 nights on the road)
$200 gas for driving from Michigan to Florida
$1000 Discovery Cove
$800 for disney, univesal, blizzard beach, etc.
$800 food(this may have to be adjusted)
$900 for whatever micelaneous(I know I spelled it wrong) might come up

DH puts away about $250 week into a general savings and our trip money comes out of that and whatever rewards programs I do throughout the year.

[LoDivaLoca]

Me & Goofybeth have the same story. I make about $32k/yr. I went earlier this year, and bought an AP for about $70/80 more than my PHP & saved $110 on the hotel. So now in November, I'm DRIVING down (unlike January) & got a good AP rate at a moderate & splitting the costs w/other friends for hotel, gas, etc.

Hope that helps!

[bigsis1970]

I am a single working mother-one full-time job and 1 part-time job-My kids by the time we get to disney in Dec 2001 will be 8 & 5.. I only make roughly $25k a year between the 2 jobs.. I have saved my income taxes, and about $150 from my check a month and i cut coupons and my kids think i am rotten for not taking them many places or buying them alot of things but when i tell them in a suprise
birthday party that "they have won a trip to disney" i will be the queen of the day. I am going for 14 nights , staying off
property to save$$ , we have free breakfast and shuttles at the hotel -- HIFS -- will bring snacks for lunch and eat dinner
at the hotel -- Kids always eat free with a paying adult -- Our air fare for the 3 of us was under $300.00, Our park tickets
will be most expensve - but i am a member of the disney club so i will save 5% -- and we have a few character meals planned and the pirates cruise .. i am budgeting $3250.00 all totaled including gifts and meals out.. I have it almost all
saved as of today.. Our last trip included my ex and we did it spur of the moment spent lots of time in the Sand Lake Emergncy Room and checked in to the Arnold Palmers Women and Childrens Hopstial with a very sick 5 month old--Our
Vacation for H*** as we refer to it I don't think he ever forgave me for making him spend all that $$ and we didn't even enjoy ourselves.. So it was a wasted trip and wasted $$ that time .. We are healthy this time and i will
keep my fingers crossed it will stay that way.. we won't go again for another 3 or so years unless i get disney fever again.
Thanks Michelle

[Disney Doll]

Well, being a DVC member helps, because I personally find it asier to come up with a smaller payment every month than to have to do that big bulk payment when it's vacation time to pay for a resort! Other than that, I try to put away $50/week for vacation. I have a separate savings account that it goes into, which is earmarked only for vacation. IMHO, vacation is very important!!!You need to get away from your daily routine every once in a while.

[bmartin1]

Between the 2 of us we make about $70,000 gross per year, save monthly for a planned trip about every other year and hunt down bargains with the help of the internet. We took advantage of airfare wars and got round trip tickets at $150.00 but the big savings this year is that wife took a part time job at the local Disney store just for the discounts. She says this is here therapy away from "work". She gets in free, we get discounted park tickets. The rooms are half price and food and other activities have various discounts. We're not upgrading with the savings but have opted to take along our 12 year old daughters friend who has never been. We got 2 rooms (=2 showers) at the All Stars since there are 5 of us going so the girls will have their own room (adjoining with us).
We are spending a little more than usual for food highlighted at Mickey's Backyard BBQ so daughters friend can experience the magic this time and will be doing Cirque de Solai. So we,re looking at approx 5.7% of our income.
I also work fulltime, partime and am trying to finish school after many years of waiting. It may sound like we're doing a lot to make it happen but we're not. One of us is always home with the kids and both part time jobs are easy and minimal. Maybe 12 hours a week between us. Essentially we get money to buy books for college and Disney discounts.

[JennyLuvsPooh]

Ok this is my strategy:

First off, I am a fulltime college student with a part-time job. I don't make a lot of money, but thats why I am going to college RIGHT?! I work as a waitress currently, amazingly I live off of $300 a month not including school (school is paid for through grants, scholarships, and my amazing father). Anyways I have been saving my change for two years now and currently I have almost $1500. Yeah! That, along with money my fiance is saving will (hopefully) fund our honeymoon!

I believe, along with a lot of people on this board, that vacation is necessary. Unfourtunatly, it really is a luxury not everyone can achieve (once again that is why I am in college right?). I consider myself lucky to have the luxury of saving for a vacation. I know there are many others that cannot save at all, due to illness, loss of job, single parent, ect.


Laters..

Jenne

[Feralpeg]

I am a single mom with one lovely daughter. My annual income is about 90K. We usually spend about two weeks each year at WDW and spend about 7K. A good portion of that comes from my tax refund. I claim zero deductions and I'm head of household. The rest I save by putting aside about $200 a month (I buy traveler's checks - I'm less likely to spend them prior to our trip).