Anybody else get annoyed?

[visionsfantastic]

Thank you for the replies .. Guess there's rude people all over then . And exactly I don't go quizzing people about how much they spent on there's nights out
We work hard for our holidays and we shouldn't have to justify to others how to why we spend it going to disney world

 

[visionsfantastic]

Yes!

As a nurse I make a decent salary but that still doesn't stop people from asking "How can you afford to take Madeline to Disney twice a year, especially since you're a single mom?" I guess they think our going so often coupled with my beong a single mom equates to I don't pay my bills or something.

We go so often because we can afford to. From the age of 5 I've had a savings account, from the age of 10 I've been obsessive with saving money, and hold the philosophy that unless we truly need an item, it doesn't get bought. I take 20% of each paycheck to put into savings account #2, happily titled "Our Walt Disney World Vacations". You'd be surprised what one can accumulate in just 6 short months if they spend money wisely!

Exactly. I do that. I put money by into my savings, even just going right we won't eat out this weekend well put that money by it all adds up. And don't spend money on things we don't really need . I get that too as I'm also a single mum people think I shouldn't be able to go on holiday I swear ..

 

[Disneylifeforme]

Today I told someone I been paying Disney everymonth for 5 years! I have always booked our vacation made the $200 deposit and divide the payments up . This year is a little different since we finally joined DVC and bought annual passes, but we are going once on our own and once with DVC

 

[visionsfantastic]

Today I told someone I been paying Disney everymonth for 5 years! I have always booked our vacation made the $200 deposit and divide the payments up . This year is a little different since we finally joined DVC and bought annual passes, but we are going once on our own and once with DVC

I usually do that pay a deposit then pay the holiday of monthly but we had a holiday booked for October this year with my ex and when we split he made me cancel it and we lost £600 out of £1200 paid so I'm scared to do that again

 

[TwinkleKS]

Yep. I mentioned looking into go to the World for Christmas and my coworker rolled his eyes and asked me why I hadn't had enough this year, if I could come up with something more original, and then went on about how I must make more money than him (when we both know he makes around $15,000 more than me).

I get tired of feeling like I have to explain our finances to everyone. We are not super rich. However, we are a two income family. DH makes a good living and so do I. He makes enough to support us, so my salary goes towards vacations. I like to work and we like to travel.

 

[Bob NC]

When people ask you how you can afford to take your children away on holiday each year ?

One guy at work has made this comment to me about a half dozen times and I usually ignore him.

Last time I mentioned that maybe one of the reasons I can afford it is because I am not paying child support to 2 ex wives.

That went over like a fart in church.

I guess it's okay for him to question my personal life, but nobody has a right to mention his.

 

[rickers353]

I hate when people question my wife and I on how we can afford it, followed by comments "Must be nice".

We plan our trip a year in advance and start our budget based on NO discounts, since they are not a guarantee. We cut back on eating out, a pizza carryout may only be $22, 2 store pizzas at $6 or less saves $10. Over a year that is at least $520 extra. We have 3 yard sales averaging $150 each one, another $450. My wife and I both put an extra $15 per week instead of eating lunch out, buying lottery ticks, or other "luxury" spending LOL, that comes to a hefty $1,560.

Just doing those 3 little things adds up to $2,540 with very little effort involved. People don't realize that or say its "too much bother", yet those very ones see nothing wrong with going out to a $50 dinner twice a week.

It doesn't bother us to budget, the extra ways we think to save money in our everyday lives is all worth it to see the looks on our sons faces when we pull into Disney's property. That makes the coupons, gas discounts, bogo specials, and the above mentioned savings all worth it.

At that point it doesn't matter how we came up with the money, we know our kids will have memories the rest of their lives.
That makes it all worth it.

 

[GusGus77]

I recently had a falling out with someone whom I thought was a close friend for this reason. (I wasn't told this by her, she just started ignoring me, but according to another friend the gossip was my ex-friend was annoyed with us going to Disney every year when they can't ever go on vacation.) We make it a priority because it is what is important to us and we do make sacrifices that make it work. And while yes, I may mention something about our planning in passing because I am excited, but I don't constantly bring it up or rub it in. It is unfortunate that others can be jealous and let this effect their relationships.

 

[ktaggie]

No matter what you do people will question it. If you never ever took a vacation they would say you work too much. If you saved every dime they would say you don't enjoy life enough. You can worry about what other people think. We are a family that loves to vacation. As such we plan that into our budget. It works for us. We had a "friend" make a comment about it and said we prioritize differently. It became an ugly back and forth and she was unfriended. I agree with the person that suggested responding by saying we are blessed. Unless they really want suggestions/help so they can take a Disney vacation it is best to just move on to the next subject.

 

[jennylyn_b]

I recently had a falling out with someone whom I thought was a close friend for this reason. (I wasn't told this by her, she just started ignoring me, but according to another friend the gossip was my ex-friend was annoyed with us going to Disney every year when they can't ever go on vacation.) We make it a priority because it is what is important to us and we do make sacrifices that make it work. And while yes, I may mention something about our planning in passing because I am excited, but I don't constantly bring it up or rub it in. It is unfortunate that others can be jealous and let this effect their relationships.

I lost a friend for this reason too. She was jealous and instead of being happy for me she turned ugly. We don't eat out or go the movies or shop the malls like they do. We save to go. We even wanted to take them with us one year. We are DVC and would book their room on our points and pay for groceries and some meals. But alas all she could do was be jealous and spiteful. Guess she wasn't as good a friend as I thought.

 

[angelmom27]

Oh man if I don't get asked that. I have 7 children and one due in nov. I get asked that question for my day to day life. How can you afford all those kids. Well we sacrifice certain things. We don't life a luxurious lifestyle. Everyone says kids are expensive no your lifestyle is. I find ways for us to be able to do things. Like movies we take advantage of free movie summer, eating out kids eat free days, and trips we save and pay a little at a time. We also live in FL and we are on the monthly payment plan for SW so we can take one day trips and have fun. I don't let them get to me I just share a few secrets and that's it. We all make choices for what we want to spend money on and for some eating out and shopping are more important.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My cousin's wife has made a few snotty posts on Facebook about my families' Disney trips. We only live 6-7 hours from Disneyland and we have lots of friends around here who tend to go at least once a year. We average a trip about every two years. Earlier this year I posted that we were planning a trip to WDW later in the summer. I got comments like, "Awesome, you're going to love it, have fun, have a Mickey bar for me, etc." My cousin's wife posted, "Some of us would love to take our kids to Disney just once in their lives. Must be nice to be able to go whenever the mood strikes." She removed the post within an hour, but I saw it nonetheless.

I think it's all about choices, and no one should begrudge the choices others make for themselves and their families. Whether you choose to have one income or two, it's your choice. How your spend your discretionary income is your choice. I don't judge the way my cousin's family lives. They shouldn't judge how we live. We have been fortunate, but we also work hard and we've always been good savers. If I want to spend my money at WDW, that's my choice!

 

[rickers353]

Oh man if I don't get asked that. I have 7 children and one due in nov. I get asked that question for my day to day life. How can you afford all those kids. Well we sacrifice certain things. We don't life a luxurious lifestyle. Everyone says kids are expensive no your lifestyle is. I find ways for us to be able to do things. Like movies we take advantage of free movie summer, eating out kids eat free days, and trips we save and pay a little at a time. We also live in FL and we are on the monthly payment plan for SW so we can take one day trips and have fun. I don't let them get to me I just share a few secrets and that's it. We all make choices for what we want to spend money on and for some eating out and shopping are more important.

I agree 100%, people can make choices on how they spend money and find ways to save if they want to. My family is by no means rich, but like others have posted, we try to make Disney a priority and work around the costs.

 

[Traveliz]

I typically take into account the person and then answer back with whatever it is I know they like to do...for example I would say.

It's my
Country Club
Cabin
Boat
Dinner and Movies
Hunting
Gambling
Vice like yours is Cigarettes
Vice like yours is the Casino
Redecorated House
Golf (or any other hobby)

etc and so forth...know the person and pick the thing you know they spend a lot of money on.

And then be done with the question.

Liz

 

[emelie]

Oh wow, I can soooo relate to this post! I've had alot of so called "friends" on Facebook make rude comments about our family vacations. I think alot of it has to do with jealousy honestly. Why else would they make nasty remarks! We take a family vacation once a month and me and my husband take little trips here and there by ourselves. If we like to travel and post about it on our own Facebook walls that's our right!

Em

 

[visionsfantastic]

If I lived in America near disney world I would be there constantly

 

[DonaldnDaisy5]

How about being asked by a 9 yr old niece how do you afford to go go Disney every year???? Tell me what her parents are discussing. When i said we save for it, she replied oh you don't have a lot of house bills. To which I had responded through clenched teeth, no we do have bills, just like your parents BUT we save for our trips and don't go to the movies every weekend or out to eat multiple times a week.

 

[visionsfantastic]

How about being asked by a 9 yr old niece how do you afford to go go Disney every year???? Tell me what her parents are discussing. When i said we save for it, she replied oh you don't have a lot of house bills. To which I had responded through clenched teeth, no we do have bills, just like your parents BUT we save for our trips and don't go to the movies every weekend or out to eat multiple times a week.

Exactly every family is different and there priorities and things they think are important differ, alot of people I know go on smaller holidays in the UK all year in the school holidays which must add up to a fair bit but have the cheek to quiz me about how I manage to afford it . I stay in at weekends alot and watch films instead of going out and spending lots , we don't have little holidays or alot of expensive day trips , my boys love the park and other free things so we save Alot of money, this year I couldn't go wdw as I had no one to go with and obviously with a 6 and 4 month old alone it wouldn't work lol so were going to Menorca and even that I've had people quiz me .. Drives me mad

 

[cobright]

Two ways to handle this:
1> Get thoughtful. Say something like, "That's an interesting questions, you're right $5000 is a lot of money (or whatever). That's about 5% of our annual income (or whatever). What would ~you~ spend it on?

There really isn't a right answer. New house: We love our house, New Car: Cars are in the budget already, Better Car: We wouldn't want a flashy car just to be a show off.

2> Verbally castrate the person asking. My favorite is to ask them politely and directly, "Why is this something that is important to you?" Show real interest in their answer, but thinly veil a sense of disdain for someone who just has to be up in your schnitzel like that.

 

[cobright]

To the nine yr old I would respond, "Well we didn't rack up huge debt going to drug rehab like your mommy or have to pay out hundreds a week in child support like your daddy, so we have money left over to take our kids to WDW." Then let that trickle back on its own time

But I'm generally anti-social.