Best Way to.....

[AshtonsMom99]

Hi everyone, posing questions because quite frankly I need new sets of ears to bounce ideas off of. What are some of the most effective ways you have found to help save funds for a trip? I know the typical ways, like couponing and all of that jazz, but are there any other ideas you are willing to share? We as a family are not going again until October of 2015 so it gives us plenty of time to save. We live in Arizona so we will be flying into MCO. I know it will be pricey but just trying to figure out the best way to do things.....Thanks~

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I sell stuff on ebay for the money to go on my solo trips. It took a couple of months to get going and actually make money but now I do ok.

We have so much stuff in this house that could go that I won't run out of things to sell for years and years.

I also save all of our change and redeem it for amazon gift cards at coinstar machines. Then I use those amazon gift cards to gifts, ect. so I can put more money away for trips.

 

[AshtonsMom99]

Thats an awesome idea with the coinstar machines....I seriously would have never thought of that. Thanks

 

[ellochka]

The most effective way is to set up a vacation savings account and deposit money into it straight out of your paycheck. Proven to work well.

 

[Malibustyle23]

Count up how many weeks you have until your payment would be due. Divide your total payment by that and add that amount weekly to your vacation savins account.

Yard sales, consign items, sell on fb yard sale groups, save change, any overtime worked add to the fund, every month there is a 5th paycheck instead of 4 we will add most of that to the account, skip dinners out, order water if you must dine out, use redbox free codes for rentals. In addition to every extra dollar earned remember that every dollar saved can also go towards the vacation. Sometimes it is easier to save money you are paying out rather than bring in new money.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Lay out your financial situation to the best of your ability for the next 1 year. Give yourself that 4 month cushion for "Uggh, the washing machine died and we need new tires!" and general peace of mind.

Decide where, of all of the things you will be spending money on this year - from the sublime (retirement/investments) to the ridiculous (Starbucks, 75% off Target "deals") - vacation fits in.

Fit your financial puzzle into that model (YNAB works very well for this), and work it!

Of course, there's always my way...

but we are in fact doing quite a bit of travel hacking for both our upcoming AP purchase and trip(s) to DL and a postponed trip to WDW in 2016.

 

[Happyjen27]

The most effective way is to set up a vacation savings account and deposit money into it straight out of your paycheck. Proven to work well.

This.

I created a new savings account with my Credit Union. Each month, I have $xxx.xx transferred from my checking account into this vacation savings account.

I can raid it if I need to, but, I find that simply having less in my checking account means I will spend less.

 

[bjscheel]

CC miles and cashback help a lot. But DH is able to charge $4-5k a month for business that is paid off every month. Not everyone can do that kind of volume...

Otherwise, I put 10% of my net paycheck into a separate online savings account for vacation. I charge Disney packages on my Disney Visa (and use the $20 in rewards on the vacation). Over the 6 months time that I have no interest, I pay a bit every month out of our regular funds. When the 6 months is up, I pay it off out of the vacation account.

 

[*pixie*dust*]

The most effective way is to set up a vacation savings account and deposit money into it straight out of your paycheck. Proven to work well.

ITA

When it goes directly to a separate account, it's "outa sight, outa mind" and it ads up quickly!

Also depending on your banking situation, I know several people that "round up" their purchases and/or" round down" their account balances and put the excess in their vacation fund.

Ex. ROUND DOWN- On a weekly basis, they balance their checking account and round to the nearest 100. So an end of week checking balance of $1568.15 would mean a transfer of $68.15 to their vacation savings, leaving a round $1500 in the checking.

OR

ROUND UP- for each purchase, round up to the nearest 1 or 10. So a grocery purchase that equaled $122.45 would round up to $130 and the $7.55 would be transferred to the vacation fund.

 

[pjlla]

Crazy as it sounds, I've heard of folks selling plasma to earn extra money (for Disney and other things). I've considered it, but there isn't a place near me.

Save on EVERY LITTLE THING that you can around the house and while it won't be a million dollars, it can really add up! You should easily be able to whittle $10-$20 a week from the grocery budget by shopping smarter, eating a bit differently, using coupons, and less impulse buying. And another $10-$20 a month (or even a week) can be saved by changing habits such as a daily latte fix, take-out meals/snacks, and by packing lunches from home.

Watch EVERYTHING that you are spending money on (meals out, movies out, hobbies, sporting events/concerts) and my guess is that you could save close to $100 a month by just making some changes. And provided that the $100 doesn't need to be used to pay off debt, it can find its way into your Disney savings account!

Use your Discover card or other cashback rewards card and put the money saved towards Disney (provided you pay it off in full every month). Give up an under-used or unused gym membership (nice weather for walking/running now anyway), sell/consign unused things from the home (Facebook has tons of yard sale pages around or have a real yard sale), check on your home owners insurance and/or car insurance and see if any changes can be made to save some money. We recently added a third car (for the kids) to our policy, but by making some smarter choices about the policies overall, we were able to add that third car and only increase our yearly premium by less than $100!

Take surveys online in your spare time. Babysit when you have a free weekend, get a temp job or find a work-at-home job that you can do in the evenings/weekends.

BUY LESS!! Stay out of the stores/malls! Easier said than done for those who like retail therapy.

Turn off lights, turn down the heat and a/c, hang clothes out to dry, use the oven less and save on the electric bill... the extra that you would usually spend.... straight to the Disney account!

Most of these sound small, but they can definitely add up, especially over the course of a year! Good luck................P

 

[molliewalks]

i 'sell' plasma. a lot of people put a stigma on it (like only college kids do it for beer $ etc). i do it for more personal reasons. one of the treatments my mom had was a plasma based medicine. so yeah, the extra $ is great and i get to help save a life like someone else did for my mom. i live in a college town and while there are college students there, i would say the majority are upper 20's through late 40's.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[AshtonsMom99]

As a cardiac patient who cannot donate because of my medication regimen, I thank you.

 

[DawnM]

This is how I set up all my savings accounts. Well, I do see them first in the paycheck, but then they go directly to my CapitolONE account.

$200-Vacation
$100-Boy's activities
$200-Christmas
ETC......

The most effective way is to set up a vacation savings account and deposit money into it straight out of your paycheck. Proven to work well.

 

[Aliceacc]

We put money each month into a vacation account. All the money we need for our upcoming trip (with $1000 or so to spare) is currently in that account.

Something else: every occasion between now and your trip-- Christmas, Easter, birthdays, Mother's and Father's Day-- get Disney Gift cards. You'll be amazed at how much you can accumulate, $25 or $50 at a time.

We recently cashed in 2 years worth of coins... and added over $750 to our vacation account.

 

[mrsabbott]

We have a couple of change jars that we use. You would be surprised how much you can save with a change jar!

I have done some side babysitting jobs and put the money in savings. I try to use cash for groceries and put whatever I don't spend in the vacation savings. Birthday money, gift cards, etc.. go into savings.

Once we get a little bit ahead on some of our debt (we're working on it!) we will start putting some into a vacation savings account!

 

[AshtonsMom99]

These are all great suggestions....we do have a change jar, but I swear it seems like it's always empty because my hubby likes to dip into it for the vending machines at work.... All of you married folks...Do you think its ok for me to have a secret change jar that he does not ever see? Or is that being dishonest? My husband and I are very tight and very happy, and we try not to hide things from each other....but this is something I feel like I need to do in order to make any headway.....Thoughts?

 

[MimiOfTwo]

These are all great suggestions....we do have a change jar, but I swear it seems like it's always empty because my hubby likes to dip into it for the vending machines at work.... All of you married folks...Do you think its ok for me to have a secret change jar that he does not ever see? Or is that being dishonest? My husband and I are very tight and very happy, and we try not to hide things from each other....but this is something I feel like I need to do in order to make any headway.....Thoughts?

I've been married for 33 years to the same great guy. We make a decent living, own our house and have zero debt. That said I've been known to stash some vacation funds without his knowledge, pay for a handful of trips that we both thoroughly enjoyed but he would have flipped if he knew the cost. I always surprised him with said trips and it's worked well. It's a gift for him (and me).

 

[mrsabbott]

These are all great suggestions....we do have a change jar, but I swear it seems like it's always empty because my hubby likes to dip into it for the vending machines at work.... All of you married folks...Do you think its ok for me to have a secret change jar that he does not ever see? Or is that being dishonest? My husband and I are very tight and very happy, and we try not to hide things from each other....but this is something I feel like I need to do in order to make any headway.....Thoughts?

No, I don't. My hubs is a great guy, but he has a tendency to "nickel and dime" our money away and not realize it. Don't even get me started on when he spent $120 on McDonald's coffee.. thanks to the overdraft fees.

Anyhoo, it has taken Hubs and I awhile to get on the same page with our budget, but we still have a different mindset. If I pay the bills and have $30 left over, in my mind that is money to save for the future. To hubs, that is $30 more we have left to spend. But I have had separate savings accounts where I put money aside and hubs couldn't get to it. I have a lockbox that I keep money in (part of our vacation fund) that Hubs doesn't have access to. He is okay with that, just as I am okay with him having his own savings account that he uses for his fun stuff.

As long as it isn't something that will keep the bills from getting paid (and I doubt a secret change jar would do that) then I see no harm in it.

 

[Happyjen27]

My husband and I each have our own cash "stashes". We know about them, we know where they are, so it's not a secret per se, but, there is no way either would dip into the other's. My mother always told me that a woman should have her own money. If you don't, I suggest you find a way to have your own money. It's important.

I would just change the vessel from a jar to vessel not so easily raided if you think that will keep his hands out, and it doesn't feel quite right to have a secret one. Or cut a slit in the top of the jar and tape it shut.

 

[disny_luvr]

On each $1 there is a circle with a letter in it on the left side of the bill. I keep all bills that have a letter that is the same as the first letter of either my name, DH's name or either of my boys' names. You'd be surprised at how quickly these $1 bills add up. Before each vacation I take all my $1s (I keep a few for tipping) and exchange them for larger bills. I always have at least a couple of hundred dollars. I just counted my $1s that I've been saving since our last trip in early December and I have over $160. Obviously, you have to use cash for most purchases, which is what we do, in order to get a good collection of cash.

I read about this on the DIS a few years ago and others posted that they do different variations of this; maybe they set aside all $5 bills or $10 bills.

Good luck!