Things you do to afford a Disney trip...

[Madame]

As a family of 5 that has become Disney obsessed (well not my DH, but he tolerates our obsession & we're still trying to convert him!) we have done what some would consider 'crazy' things to go to WDW - ie driving the 23 hours to Orlando to afford our March break trip. We make a fairly good living, but are by no means rich & as a teacher we can only go during peak times.

I'm pretty budget obsessed as well & a large chunk of our salaries goes to pension & education investments for the kiddos. So, when I told my DH that we wanted to go to Disney over Christmas this year I had to find the money in our existing budget. We'd already used up our vacation dollars for 2015. I scored us FD at CBR, we're driving again (ack!), but I still needed $5600 CAD.

So I let our house cleaner go. $5200/year is pretty much a vacation for us. I felt bad doing it because she's a very nice person. However she'd also bailed on us 4 of the last 8 weeks phoning me late on Sunday night when I could have cleaned myself Sat or Sun instead of having to do it Mon after school.

So I 'earned' $100 yesterday & have added an extra $5000 to our annual vacation budget. For me totally worth it. Making memories with my family trumps not having to clean my house any day!

Am I crazy? I'm pretty sure some friends think I'm nuts!

 

[verleniahall]

i budget it in as a bill. when we get our paychecks, we start paying the bills and we put disney in that catagory, so like a first of th emonth might look like this: Rent, Car Insurance, Credit Cards, Disney, Food, Gas. Weonly eat out once a pay period ( so every two weeks) so we are not spending oney that way. We drink filtered water, so we injvested in a bottle, that we refill instead of the packs of water (we still buy a few, but they are mainly to have in the car or at our respective works so that we always have "our" water. We don't drink alot of soda, but when we have family get-togethers, everyone else does, so we collect the cans and cash them in and that goes towards the trip. I do swagbucks, reciept hot, coke rewards (they are on dasni water 24 packs and my boss gives me their coke codes) kellogs family rewards, etc... and the money is saved for the trip or to purchase something for the trip (like I just got a new lanyard with puch in a frozen theme for free from amazon - had 6 in credit + free shipping with amazon prime).

Good Luck - hop ethat you find all you need ot to go on yoru trip!

 

[lauradis]

As a family of 5 that has become Disney obsessed (well not my DH, but he tolerates our obsession & we're still trying to convert him!) we have done what some would consider 'crazy' things to go to WDW - ie driving the 23 hours to Orlando to afford our March break trip. We make a fairly good living, but are by no means rich & as a teacher we can only go during peak times.

I'm pretty budget obsessed as well & a large chunk of our salaries goes to pension & education investments for the kiddos. So, when I told my DH that we wanted to go to Disney over Christmas this year I had to find the money in our existing budget. We'd already used up our vacation dollars for 2015. I scored us FD at CBR, we're driving again (ack!), but I still needed $5600 CAD.

So I let our house cleaner go. $5200/year is pretty much a vacation for us. I felt bad doing it because she's a very nice person. However she'd also bailed on us 4 of the last 8 weeks phoning me late on Sunday night when I could have cleaned myself Sat or Sun instead of having to do it Mon after school.

So I 'earned' $100 yesterday & have added an extra $5000 to our annual vacation budget. For me totally worth it. Making memories with my family trumps not having to clean my house any day!

Am I crazy? I'm pretty sure some friends think I'm nuts!

Most of us on here are disney crazy. lol

I think personal house keeper are a personal choice. for me its all about a routine. plus you have 3 helpers lol.

As far as getting the DH to love Disney, good luck, my is tolerate over my obsession too, he does enjoy it more, because I desire his feed back on what he liked most and then do more or those things.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

We spend upwards of 10% of our income at Disneyland each year, so I don't think you're crazy at all! (or we're both crazy!) There are so many things we don't spend money on at all -- salon/barber/spa/gym, Starbucks, fast food/junk food/soda/juice, gardener/housekeeper, etc. because those things don't hold value for us and Disneyland trips do! Spending always reflects priorities.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I have always been on low wage or near minimum wage, yet I have travelled alot around Europe and USA, and become a regular visitor to Disneyland California.

I have sacrificed ALOT over the last 15 years to have money to travel. I don't drive or own a car, I don't own any property, I rent, I don't smoke or go to clubs or bars, I don't buy the latest gadgets , I have never owned games consoles etc, I economise on food, I can buy enough food for 5 days for the same price as a meal in Hard Rock Cafe, I don't buy water, I drink tap water and so much more.

To me it comes down to priorities and what's important to you. If you want something badly enough, you will find a way to get that money and sacrifice things in your day to day life to get the money for it

 

[Madame]

We spend upwards of 10% of our income at Disneyland each year, so I don't think you're crazy at all! (or we're both crazy!) There are so many things we don't spend money on at all -- salon/barber/spa/gym, Starbucks, fast food/junk food/soda/juice, gardener/housekeeper, etc. because those things don't hold value for us and Disneyland trips do! Spending always reflects priorities.

This is totally us! I cut my boys hair at home. We don't eat out without gift cards or a coupon (& even that is only like 4-5 times a year!). We've never even bought any of the furniture in our home. I just wait until my mother redecorates & she gives us all her old stuff. People often make comments about our vacations - I'm convinced it's just because it's Disney - but they often go to concerts, ball games, Mexico every year. If we had coupons in a Canada like the US I'd be an extreme couponer lol! We have looked at other vacations, but with young kids Disney just ticks all the boxes. We also can't get a vacation equal in enjoyment for the price of a moderate. A family of 4 maybe, but not a family of 5.

 

[Narnia_girl]

My motto is "Say 'no' to something good, so you can say 'yes' to something better!"

That's basically the crazy thing that I do--I say 'no' a lot.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

For us, it's more of a balancing act. I don't want to be miserable for 360 days a year in order to spend 5 days in bliss. So, we still splurge throughout the year, just not every day.

 

[disneychrista]

To me it comes down to priorities and what's important to you. If you want something badly enough, you will find a way to get that money and sacrifice things in your day to day life to get the money for it

And this is what it all boils down to. Not only for trips to Disney but it in most things in life.

 

[BadPinkTink]

ooops double post, sorry

 

[BadPinkTink]

People often make comments about our vacations - I'm convinced it's just because it's Disney - but they often go to concerts, ball games, Mexico every year. .

OMG, I get this too people say to me "but how can you afford to go to America and Disneyland every year" but then the very same people spend huge amounts of money on a night out or having the latest gaming console or buying the latest designer clothes etc etc

 

[Marionnette]

For us, it's more of a balancing act. I don't want to be miserable for 360 days a year in order to spend 5 days in bliss. So, we still splurge throughout the year, just not every day.

^^This is how we feel.

I'm not about to cut cable, color my own hair or eat Ramen Noodles all year just so that we can spend a week in Disney. I would much rather build my savings slowly and take a little longer between trips if that's what it takes.

Here are the things that I do:

• Rewards programs like Perk, Swagbucks, eBates and MyPoints so that I can redeem for GCs that can be used for my trip.
• Rewards credit cards so that I can get airfare for nearly free - we just pay the 9/11 fees.
• Stay on our DVC points or, if there's a meeting in Orlando, on a convention rate.
• Take advantage of every discount that I can find for tickets, food, souvenirs and entertainment.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I'm on a fixed income and so I budget my Disney fund into my bills-even so, I start saving approximately 8 month before I book. I try to squirrel away $200 a month, and I do that by buying only what I need, very rarely 'treating' myself in a Disney year. This is so I have plenty of spending money. I tell myself when I'm tempted, "just wait until get to WDW and spend what I want on whatever I want." When I start saving, I also start putting all of my spare change in a tin, and usually wind up with at least $100 dollars by trip time, which I use for tipping. I crochet, and make Christmas ornaments starting in October and sell them, which goes into the fund. Other than that, there's not much penny-pinching that I do.

 

[Kbee]

We are lucky enough that dh makes a good living and we are able to afford vacations like WDW on his salary without a need to scrimp and save too do so. That doesn't mean we don't watch what we spend in other areas so that we can vacation, pay our bills, save for he future and still have fun money to enjoy. Like a pp said, its all about balance, we spend here but save there.

 

[aprilgail]

I just put in a few days overtime or pick up a temp part time job, they are easy enough to come by. I have been saving for this years vacation separately from all our regular yearly vacations. This one I have been putting money away for 10 years for- we are taking a 2 month road trip around the US. Sixty nights in hotels!

 

[lauradis]

This is totally us! I cut my boys hair at home. We don't eat out without gift cards or a coupon (& even that is only like 4-5 times a year!). We've never even bought any of the furniture in our home. I just wait until my mother redecorates & she gives us all her old stuff. People often make comments about our vacations - I'm convinced it's just because it's Disney - but they often go to concerts, ball games, Mexico every year. If we had coupons in a Canada like the US I'd be an extreme couponer lol! We have looked at other vacations, but with young kids Disney just ticks all the boxes. We also can't get a vacation equal in enjoyment for the price of a moderate. A family of 4 maybe, but not a family of 5.

People often make comments about our vacations - Then I roll my eyes as they talk about their new whatever they buy. Millions of extra activities they have their kids in. and say I wish we could afford to go on vacation. We haven't been in 10 years. well yea duh you don't have a plan to go.

People make different choices with their money Im fine with it, but don't complain to me about not going anywhere or that I post vacation pics on fb, ect.

Im an experience person, not a material person. (Well expect for shoes)

The biggest out cry in our social circle was over the decision to do one adult only vacation and then a family vacation and repeat. The comments ranged from "how could you afford that", "how could you leave the kids", and the one that made me sad was "why would you want to spend 2 weeks alone with your husband".

As long as you spouse in on board and loves to travel, your kids aren't suffering, your good.

 

[Narnia_girl]

For us, it's more of a balancing act. I don't want to be miserable for 360 days a year in order to spend 5 days in bliss. So, we still splurge throughout the year, just not every day.

I agree with this, too. As I said above, I say 'no' to a lot of things, but that might not be the same things someone else says 'no' to. I also 'yes' to things that others would not. We all have to do what works for us.

 

[DalGal]

I'm a teacher but work extra contracts throughout the year: Lego Robotics Coach, tutoring, grade level lead teacher and STEM Camps in the summer. All that money goes towards vacation. There is no way we could afford vacations otherwise. We are budget conscious with all our trips because we usually travel as an extended family. Now, once the child support is over in 4 years (at the same time our house pays off), we are taking a nice, just-the-two-of-us trip as a 2nd honeymoon.

 

[jesusluvsu2005]

This trip (going December 15-22) hadn't even been planned, but the more we thought about it we felt we could pull it off. This will likely be our last trip for a few years, maybe more. I am determined to save where I can. Got the Disney Rewards Visa which will provide a $200 gift card, thinking about opening the Disney Vacation Account to earn the gift cards that way, buying gift cards to load the DVA with from Sam's Club at a discounted price. Using my Disney Visa to buy the gift cards which will earn me the 1% back on that. The only thing that concerns me there is that if something happened and we couldn't go, all of that money would be on gift cards which wouldn't be good if we needed it for something else. Grandparents are pitching in as well as our Christmas present. The money we would have spent on the kids for Christmas and ourselves is going into the pot as well since this will be our Christmas present. I will be constantly brainstorming for more creative ways to help pay for the trip.

 

[verleniahall]

..... and the one that made me sad was "why would you want to spend 2 weeks alone with your husband"...

OK - this made me sad as well. DH is in the military - you NEVER know when they might get called up, sent TDY, etc... so our motto is "Live Like He Deploys Tommorow"