1 income families - how do you budget for WDW?

[ducklite]

Not trying to be rude, but what difference does it make if you have one income or two? A one income family could be making $250K a year, and a two income family could be making $45K a year. I don't see what the number of incomes has anything to do with how you budget for vacation. Like I said, I'm not trying to be rude, just really not understanding the question...????

If I'm missing something, please enlighten me...

Anne

 

[disneyjunkie]

I'm a single mom. My income is much less than the OPs husband's.

I use my tax refund to pay for our trips.

I have $75.00 deposited into a vacation account each payday.

I do surveys for Pinecone research. (This has been a big hit )

I use joined mypoint. Right now I have 2 or 3 $25.00 GC for Rainforest Cafe. I hope to have $50.00 in web certificates by the end of June.

I joined sunshine rewards, but that's going slow. I'm going to take Alice28's advice and see if I that will work for me.

I have a change jar that I toss extra change into each day.

I buy lotto instant win game cards every two weeks. All winning cards go into my change jar. The day before out trip I cash them all in and they are added to my son's spending money.

 

[disneyjunkie]

Not trying to be rude, but what difference does it make if you have one income or two? A one income family could be making $250K a year, and a two income family could be making $45K a year. I don't see what the number of incomes has anything to do with how you budget for vacation. Like I said, I'm not trying to be rude, just really not understanding the question...????

If I'm missing something, please enlighten me...

Anne

Maybe the OP figured most one income families would be making less than two income families.

 

[Feralpeg]

I always claimed zero deductions so that I would make sure I got a money back on my income tax. Yes, I've know the argument about letting the government use my money. This worked for us. If I'd tried putting it in savings, something would have come up and the money would have been spent.

I also bought Disney Dollars. I'd buy a certain amount every payday and put them away. Again, putting cash away wouldn't work. I admit that I have very little self-control. Disney Dollars were easy to spend. I also bought a certain amount in travelers checks each payday. It wasn't a lot, but over time it built up and gave us all of our spending money.

 

[azgal81]

I save a certain amount each month into a high interest earning savings account.

I do online surveys for cash/gift cards for the trip and I do reward sites for disney dollars and gift cards for the trip.

Get a credit card that pays either cash to use or gift cards. I think there are better ones out there then the disney visa. Chase and citibank both have 5% cash back on certain purchases. Citibank also has a reward card that you can get gift cards instead of cash. Also there are promotions out for these cards offering basically a free 100 dollars with first purchase for signing up.

Save your change when you use cash. Ebay/garage sales.

Maybe ask for dinsey dollars as birthday/christmas presents.

I also don't think that having one or two income matters. Everyone here is looking for tips to save for disney no matter what the income is.

As if you can't afford it don't buy it. For example, don't stay in the fancy hotels if you can only afford value!

 

[Brooknwdw]

Not trying to be rude, but what difference does it make if you have one income or two? A one income family could be making $250K a year, and a two income family could be making $45K a year. I don't see what the number of incomes has anything to do with how you budget for vacation. Like I said, I'm not trying to be rude, just really not understanding the question...????

If I'm missing something, please enlighten me...

Anne

Considering what the OP's one income is, I am sure she wasn't referring to $250k earners out there. She is wanting ideas on how to budget for DW on one modest income.

 

[tinkerbell of winter]

I work a second job in the summer while my daughter is away at her fathers to save up our vacation money. As a single parent, being the sole earner, as well as a full time student, budgeting for vacations is quite a task. I have a vacation account and put a set amount of money into that each month. I have told myself after europe this summer, no more vacations until I graduate! Of course then it will be a nice long 2 weeker at Disney and finally some time at Universal.

 

[tinkerbell of winter]

Let's not be too technical.... From the OP, I would gauge her meaning of one income to be one similar to what was posted, not what you are misinterperting it to mean. This is the budget board and people are on it to save money and the OP was looking for tips, not technicalities.

 

[tolookaa5]

I want to thank you all for your posts on saving $$$. They are all great ideas. I am going to try ebay, I am nervous because it is my first time and everytime we go my children(3) put birthday money, chore money, and any change that they can find in a jar. We have been saving since March and so far saved about $600. Just with change and birthday funds. They really get into it!! They love Disney and love to be involved in the planning process.
Good luck to all you savers out there

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

I am a single parent, and we go every year. Sometimes offsite. We never use credit cards, I bring one for emergencies. I think this trip we have coming up in August is our best planned trip so far. We have used alot of tips on this board. I have sent away for all kinds of sample products for the trip. I do mypoints, and have 3-$25 dollar gift cards for RainForest. We drive down usually so we pack the cooler and only buy gas and pay tolls for the trip. We are doing the free dining this trip. I use part of my tax refund, save change in jars. WE ARE CAREFUL WITH MONEY ALL YEAR LONG. It has become a game to see how much money we can save. And, we actually buy souveniers in the parks.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

I also do surveys for Pinecone Research.

 

[disneychrista]

The only way I get any "big purchases" is with tax refunds. I claim about half of what I could so I know I am getting something. For me and many others, money in the hand is money spent. My car will also be paid off in July and I will be taking that money and putting part in a vacation fund and part in other savings. If you have any bills that will either be paid off or can be reduced, take that money and put it aside. If you get any "extra" money (rebates, rewards, garage sales etc) but that in the fund. No matter how "tight" there is always something that can be cut/reduced.

I too was wondering what the "one income" had to do with anything, too. But anyway, in the end whether it is one income or 3, in the end it is not only the amount of income, but where you live and what expenses you have. And also no matter then income there will be someone who "can't make ends meet" with it. Whether is be $20k or $120k.

 

[Andrea]

wow we are a two family income which makes good money but these are some great tips and i just wanted to join in lol

 

[blue_river]

I was just wondering if we need the disney insurance with the vacation package - especially since we are going during hurricane season? I didn't take it but now I am second guessing my decision.

 

[Hockeymommy]

We do things a little differently around my house. We are also a 1 income family. In 2005 my husband made about 60k, so it's not easy to buy everything we need much less go to WDW every year. However, having said that we are very aware how important making memories with our kids is and vacations are a part of that.

First, I almost never buy second hand items (nothing wrong with doing so). Instead I watch for sales, I love to shop. I will even go so far as to buy coupons on ebay for Gap and Old Navy. Same with groceries. In the last year I ave taken $150/month off my food budget.

We also live on a strict budget. Some of you may have heard about using the envelopes and our system works very much the same. My husband gets paid every other friday so our bills are cut in half. One paycheck we pay house, gas, ins. so on and so on. The next check the other half of the bills gets taken care of. We have EVERYTHING built into the budget, everything from housing, food, dining out, car repair(or detailing). Ten months out of the year he gets paid twice, exactly what we need for the household bills and such. However, 2 months out of the year he gets 3 checks. The bills are already paid with the first 2 checks so the third is a freebie. This is so nice because it helps with big ticket items like vacations. Every year we already have at least 3k to do whatever we want with. Hope this helps.

 

[westjones]

We are also a one income family. I have nothing new to add to the great suggestions you have already gotten, but I want to give another thumbs up to starting a vacation account. We pay into ours each month at day day just like we do a bill. The money adds up over time and that is how we save.

As a stay at home mom, I try to take the time to find bargains, clip coupons, and in general save money. When I use to work, I was too tired and would just go to the store and buy whatever I wanted and we ate out a lot.

I also try making a 'game' out of it sometimes. Like the week before vacation, we do this thing where we just eat whatever we already have in our cupboards. I only go to the store that week for milk and bread. Then by not buying groceries that we we use that money for a special meal or two at WDW.

The main thing is get an idea of how much you want to save, how many months you have to save for it, and start putting that away monthly just like a bill.

Good Luck!
DJ

 

[Tinkerbelle32]

We've usually always lucked out with getting military discounts for the tickets, room etc. In Jan. we had a friend sign us in each day, so we didn't have to buy park tickets. That was a very cheap trip!

 

[blessedby3]

We are also a one income family. My DH used to get paid every other Friday and received the two extra checks per year also. One we used towards vacation and the other towards Christmas. He has since switched jobs and so now I take out $150 each time he gets paid (twice a month) to put in the vacation fund. I just look at is as another bill and transfer it to the vacation account when paying the bills. I keep envelopes in my drawer as it gets closer to trip time and put in every extra bit of money I can. I have one for souvineers, one for gas (if driving), one for food, etc. This way I dont have to take as much out of the vacation account. I also take $50 each pay period to put in the Christmas account. We bought 10 day non expiring tickets last November for our trip so we will use the 5 days that are left per ticket for this Decembers trip. I watched the SW web site and got plane tickets for $28 each way per person with their ding fare. While at Disney to save money- We share meals at Disney and eat breakfast in the room. We dont buy snacks at the park, but take our own in. We only get ice cream from vendor carts once or twice per visit and take in our own water bottles. A couple of nights at Disney we ordered pizza from Papa Johns ($20 for 2 large) and we had our own drinks. We never order drinks in the parks unless they come with a meal or kids meal. We drink water and this cuts down $10-$12 per meal. There are many things to do to conserve the money, these are just a few of mine.

 

[1stluvispooh]

We save for our vacation like a lot of other people. We have $100 put into a money market account (It's making 4percent!) I never us exact change. I always break a dollar the spare change goes into a jar and then when it full time to go to coinstar and get the dollars and then straight into the money market.

 

[tribus121]

While we a technally we are a 2 Income family I make less than $ 25.000 cdn and my MIL receves disibilty . My DW is a stay at home mom . I travel a lot for work ( Im a Bus Driver ) When I can i Take my DW with me . Last year i won airfare and took my DW to DL we traded in 12 years worth of airmiles for $ 400 bestwestern $ that coverd most of our hotel costs . we traveled on the metro to and from LAX $ 3.00 each way . and spent less than $25.00 a day on meals ( we left the parks to eat ) We are now planing a trip to WDW in feb . MIL is geting 3,500.00 $ we have allready started getting stuff we nead for our trip and are buying $50.00usd a month . ( We are in Canada ) we will probualy borrow my fathers car and drive the 1800 miles (my car is 14 years old)we will only stay 3 nights on site prob at pop and then the remander off site . while we would like to eat at disney we will eat most of our meals off site . ( you learn to do what you have to )