How do you save for Disney?

malya2006

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 30, 2013
We are by no means a well off family. Together my significant other make about 75g but after rent, a car payment, groceries, credit card and medical bills, we are pretty much led with very little to save. We are dying to go back to disney. Next April is a definite, but I was hoping to be able to go in nov/ dec of this year too! How do u guys save for disney? I need at least 5g and so far I have only 1g for the vacation fund. Do u put side 100 per month? Or 50 a week? What's ur best strategy? My savings keeps dwindling. I'm a horrible money saver.
 
We have a set amount withdrawn from my husbands check and deposited in a bank that we don't pass by often nor do we have debit/ATM access. This makes it inconvenient to borrow money from the acct and easy to forget its there. That is until we are wanting to spend it then we set a time to go to the bank and withdraw! Woohoo! Vacation!!
 
I don't really know what you and your significant's work hours are like, but maybe one or both of you can take on extra work....like part-time?

I'm working temp jobs to save for our Disney trip. And my DH, who works 40 hours per week, is also thinking about taking on extra jobs on the side. He doesn't really need to though......I'm bringing in more than enough money from the temp jobs I do.

So my answer is, find ways to make more money. Temp agencies seem to be the way to go in this economy....at least from my experience. I can set what days/hours I want to work, it's great.

DS
 
I sell Pampered Chef. Whatever I make from that goes straight into the Disney fund. Plus, we save all our spare change--literally. We empty our pockets into a piggy bank each night and after a few months we have a couple hundred dollars which goes into our Disney Fund. We also don't eat out anymore with the exception of special occasions. I cook every night. This really helped us cut back and we're able to put aside $50 each week into our vacation fund.
 


We are by no means a well off family. Together my significant other make about 75g but after rent, a car payment, groceries, credit card and medical bills, we are pretty much led with very little to save. We are dying to go back to disney. Next April is a definite, but I was hoping to be able to go in nov/ dec of this year too! How do u guys save for disney? I need at least 5g and so far I have only 1g for the vacation fund. Do u put side 100 per month? Or 50 a week? What's ur best strategy? My savings keeps dwindling. I'm a horrible money saver.
I'll start by saying that vacation money is a line item in our budget. We set money aside every week to pay for the trips that we take.

When I'm dreaming of a trip, I figure out what I need in order to pay for a vacation and then I divide that amount by the number of months that I have until the final payment is due. If that number is not "do-able", then I postpone the trip so that the amount that I need to save each month fits into my budget. never go on a credit card without having the money already saved. They only go on credit cards because of the protections that the credit cards provide and the rewards that they generate.

So, if you need $5K in order to go in Nov., and you already have $1K, you will need to put aside $4k in 7 months. That's $570+ per month between now and Nov. Can you do it? I guess it depends on what your fixed expenses are.
 
We make a budget and pay for everything with cash(except bills). Then it is a game for me. I see how far I can stretch that money. Sometimes, I get more for my buck and that goes into savings. sometimes not as much goes into savings. When we are saving for a big trip, we will tighten what we are spending and put the extra into a money market account.

We also roll coins but that usually is just fun money.
 
We are by no means a well off family. Together my significant other make about 75g but after rent, a car payment, groceries, credit card and medical bills, we are pretty much led with very little to save. We are dying to go back to disney. Next April is a definite, but I was hoping to be able to go in nov/ dec of this year too! How do u guys save for disney? I need at least 5g and so far I have only 1g for the vacation fund. Do u put side 100 per month? Or 50 a week? What's ur best strategy? My savings keeps dwindling. I'm a horrible money saver.

Is that 5K by November (really Sept/Oct) or is it 5K by April, plus what you need for November?

It's May, so $100/month won't get you to 5K by November. You'd need $670/month (May, June, July, August, September, October), or $800/month if you needed to pay the package off in early October. That's ~13% of your income to save, which is probably an unrealistic goal.

If we skip ahead to next April, and figure you need to pay it off the first of March, you have 10 months to save, or $400/month. That's about 7% of your income, so it's more reasonable, but still a pretty significant amount.

Maybe if you can pay off your credit cards and medical bills, you'll have more cash available to save for vacation.
 


We have a set amount withdrawn from my husbands check and deposited in a bank that we don't pass by often nor do we have debit/ATM access. This makes it inconvenient to borrow money from the acct and easy to forget its there. That is until we are wanting to spend it then we set a time to go to the bank and withdraw! Woohoo! Vacation!!

This is an awesome idea. Capital one just sent us a promo where they will give us 50 for opening a new account. I'll get on this ASAP! Thanks
 
I don't really know what you and your significant's work hours are like, but maybe one or both of you can take on extra work....like part-time?

I'm working temp jobs to save for our Disney trip. And my DH, who works 40 hours per week, is also thinking about taking on extra jobs on the side. He doesn't really need to though......I'm bringing in more than enough money from the temp jobs I do.

So my answer is, find ways to make more money. Temp agencies seem to be the way to go in this economy....at least from my experience. I can set what days/hours I want to work, it's great.

DS

I have thought about this before. We both work 40 hrs a week and just had a baby so unfortunately we can't take on any more responsibilities. I will definitely look into picking up overtime at my job though, they offer it sometimes. Thanks!
 
I sell Pampered Chef. Whatever I make from that goes straight into the Disney fund. Plus, we save all our spare change--literally. We empty our pockets into a piggy bank each night and after a few months we have a couple hundred dollars which goes into our Disney Fund. We also don't eat out anymore with the exception of special occasions. I cook every night. This really helped us cut back and we're able to put aside $50 each week into our vacation fund.

Great idea, I'll have to look up pampered chef, not sure what that is, thanks!
 
I'll start by saying that vacation money is a line item in our budget. We set money aside every week to pay for the trips that we take.

When I'm dreaming of a trip, I figure out what I need in order to pay for a vacation and then I divide that amount by the number of months that I have until the final payment is due. If that number is not "do-able", then I postpone the trip so that the amount that I need to save each month fits into my budget. never go on a credit card without having the money already saved. They only go on credit cards because of the protections that the credit cards provide and the rewards that they generate.

So, if you need $5K in order to go in Nov., and you already have $1K, you will need to put aside $4k in 7 months. That's $570+ per month between now and Nov. Can you do it? I guess it depends on what your fixed expenses are.

Thanks for the figures! 570 a month is not doable :( I guess I can forget about the nov trip, it'll have to wait till April next year.
 
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I use bonus money for most our trips (I own my own company so I am compensated through bonuses quite often :rotfl: ) I also have 4 envelopes and I follow that 52 week challenge. So, we tend to have $5,000+ saved for a Disney vacation.
 
We make a budget and pay for everything with cash(except bills). Then it is a game for me. I see how far I can stretch that money. Sometimes, I get more for my buck and that goes into savings. sometimes not as much goes into savings. When we are saving for a big trip, we will tighten what we are spending and put the extra into a money market account.

We also roll coins but that usually is just fun money.

Great idea! I swear debit cards are evil! U never know how much u r spending. I need to buy everything in cash that way when I run out, it's time to stop spending. I have a money market account but I swear more is coming out then going in. It's tough after having a baby. I can't believe how much swings and bouncers etc costs!
 
Is that 5K by November (really Sept/Oct) or is it 5K by April, plus what you need for November?

It's May, so $100/month won't get you to 5K by November. You'd need $670/month (May, June, July, August, September, October), or $800/month if you needed to pay the package off in early October. That's ~13% of your income to save, which is probably an unrealistic goal.

If we skip ahead to next April, and figure you need to pay it off the first of March, you have 10 months to save, or $400/month. That's about 7% of your income, so it's more reasonable, but still a pretty significant amount.

Maybe if you can pay off your credit cards and medical bills, you'll have more cash available to save for vacation.

Thanks dawnball I have given up on my dream of going in nov. it's going to have to wait till April. Thanks for figuring out the math for me it helps a lot. Credit cards are almost paid off, I think I only have 300 left and its at 0% interest till 2014 so I'm not worried. My medical bills however are a lot! Just had a newborn and had to do a stress test every week. Good thing about medical bills is that it's also 0% but its going to take me a while to pay off. It's amazing that we pay insurance every week and still have crazy medical bills, but that's another topic ;)
 
We have a Disney Visa card and charge absolutely everything on it, then pay it off at least twice a month. We managed to earn about 900.00 Disney Dollars this year, and dropped it all on our Panama Canal Cruise.

If you can't make more money for the vacation, see how you can cut costs at home (for every dollar you save, is more for Disney), yard sales, part time somethings, eat a home, cut the cable if you can, other bills.

Also see how you can cut the cost of vacation, get room discounts, what can you save by accommodations. Maybe that 5K could be cut down to something more manageable.
 
I use bonus money for most our trips (I own my own company so I am compensated through bonuses quite often :rotfl: ) I also have 4 envelopes and I follow that 52 week challenge. So, we tend to have $5,000+ saved for a Disney vacation.

Disneykentucky lucky you! Tell me more about this 52 week challenge?
 
We have a Disney Visa card and charge absolutely everything on it, then pay it off at least twice a month. We managed to earn about 900.00 Disney Dollars this year, and dropped it all on our Panama Canal Cruise.

This as well. Paying that card off 2 times a month and racking up cash. By the time we go again it's going to be at least $500-600 which helps.
 
We have a Disney Visa card and charge absolutely everything on it, then pay it off at least twice a month. We managed to earn about 900.00 Disney Dollars this year, and dropped it all on our Panama Canal Cruise.

If you can't make more money for the vacation, see how you can cut costs at home (for every dollar you save, is more for Disney), yard sales, part time somethings, eat a home, cut the cable if you can, other bills.

Also see how you can cut the cost of vacation, get room discounts, what can you save by accommodations. Maybe that 5K could be cut down to something more manageable.

This is a great idea Jill, I'm going to try that, love credit card rewards
 
Disneykentucky lucky you! Tell me more about this 52 week challenge?

Basically, week 1 put in $1. Week 2 $2. I cheat because weeks 40-52 get tough with 5 envelopes so, filling it as quick as possible is the key. Most people just do one envelope and realize it's easy. Most people will go out to eat for $52+ once a week. Eat at home one meal for those weeks that you would have went out.
 
I have a Capital One 360 savings account. I shovel everything I can into this account. Sometimes it is a hundred or two. Sometimes it is less than five dollars. But if it isn't in my checking account then I can't spend it.
I do MyPoints to earn gift cards for Disney.
I also do Swagbucks to earn Amazon cash. I use that Amazon cash for everything I can. That frees up cash to go in my savings account.

My guess is that you want to go in Nov/Dec to see the Christmas stuff. If that is why then I suggest you build Annual Passes into your April 2014 budget. Then look at Nov/Dec 2014. It gets a lot cheaper to go to Disney when you don't have to pay for tickets.

Figure out what bills you can cut. Does your AC need to be that low? Or can you change it by 2-5 degrees? It makes a difference. Do you really need all that cable? Are you watching all those channels? Can you replace cable with a Roku box and a subscription to Hulu Plus and Netflix?
 

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