Cheapscate 101!!!

[whitala]

I don't know why ANYone would 'bash' these stories. I mean, gimme a break! We spend thousands of dollars to even GO on these trips, so I'd like to know what in the world is wrong with trying to save as much $ as we can here and there!! For some of us, it's all we can do to have enough to just GO, much less to have to spend another [unecessary] $100 a day on meals or other costs-that we could save on by being 'cheapskate'!! For some people, money isn't an obstacle, and that's great for them- but I don't think they should "look down" on those of us who either NEED to save it, or just LIKE to try to save it- if and when we can. Of course, that's JMHO....
We are going August 1-13, and I will DEFINATELY be doing all I can to save WHATEVER I can during our stay. But, I bet we will have NO LESS fun than the other guy who spends a fortune!! (ok, well, maybe a little bit less fun....)

 

[whitala]

I don't know why ANYone would 'bash' these stories. I mean, gimme a break! We spend thousands of dollars to even GO on these trips, so I'd like to know what in the world is wrong with trying to save as much $ as we can here and there!! For some of us, it's all we can do to have enough to just GO, much less to have to spend another [unecessary] $100 a day on meals or other costs-that we could save on by being 'cheapskate'!! For some people, money isn't an obstacle, and that's great for them- but I don't think they should "look down" on those of us who either NEED to save it, or just LIKE to try to save it- if and when we can. Of course, that's JMHO....
We are going August 1-13, and I will DEFINATELY be doing all I can to save WHATEVER I can during our stay. But, I bet we will have NO LESS fun than the other guy who spends a fortune!! (ok, well, maybe a little bit less fun....)

 

[funcinderella]

Not Disney related but since my brother and his fiance are such big Disney fans....

We live in NJ, about 2 hrs. from Atlantic City. If you join the free clubs at the casinos, sometimes you get special promotions in the mail. One year, my brother and fiance had received some postcards from a casino for free money to play with. I'm not sure if it was $5 or $10, but not a lot. Each person could get the free money once per day during the promotion. They drove down at night to get the money, slept in the car, and went again after midnight to get the next days' money, for a grand total of $20 (or $40, if it was $10, can't remember.) Then they drove home (didn't gamble at all.). (They were both unemployed at the time, but still...)

They also managed to go to WDW for one week, including hotel, airfare, car and tickets for a total of $600 for both of them. (This was a while ago and I don't even want to imagine they hotel they stayed at; I think it's gone now.)

 

[westjones]

I made my family eat 100 boxes of Kellogg's cereal last year to collect the Disney Bucks on the back for 1 free night at an All Stars Resort.

FINALLY after we were all SICK of Kellogg's cereal, I had enough and we stayed at the All Stars Movie resort the night we flew in to Orlando this past December.

I don't think I will ever eat Raisin Bran again!
DJ

 

[Forevryoung]

I made my family eat 100 boxes of Kellogg's cereal last year to collect the Disney Bucks on the back for 1 free night at an All Stars Resort.

FINALLY after we were all SICK of Kellogg's cereal, I had enough and we stayed at the All Stars Movie resort the night we flew in to Orlando this past December.

I don't think I will ever eat Raisin Bran again!
DJ

I cant imagine 100 boxes of cereal- thats almost $300 in cereal AND finishing a box every 3 days.

 

[westjones]

I cant imagine 100 boxes of cereal- thats almost $300 in cereal AND finishing a box every 3 days.

Actually, Meijers put them on sale for $.99 a box on week, and I live 5 minutes from them, so I made two trips a day (DH came in the evenings) and we bought the max number allowed for the sale day after day, stacking them up all over the house! I was SO glad when we finished them. I didn't buy cereal for months! I wouldn't have done it for $3 a box.

DJ

 

[mommagoof]

I made my family eat 100 boxes of Kellogg's cereal last year to collect the Disney Bucks on the back for 1 free night at an All Stars Resort.

FINALLY after we were all SICK of Kellogg's cereal, I had enough and we stayed at the All Stars Movie resort the night we flew in to Orlando this past December.

I don't think I will ever eat Raisin Bran again!
DJ

I did that with eggo waffles for the aa miles that were on them, they were on sale for .99 and I used coupons on them to get them free. I got enough for dd,dh and I to fly to Anaheim for free. She was 2 at the time and I didn't want to drive the 2 days with her so we met the rest of the family there.

 

[mtrice]

I don't have a Disney related story since we haven't been there yet....

but.....everytime we take a road trip I cash in all of mine and my husband's BonusPoints and get gas cards, plus we save all of our "You're a winner" coke lids and use them for our snack breaks. We have been known to eat at the "all you can eat" buffets and take ziplock bags and get some snack items for later. MIL even takes a ziplock and stores their bones and leftovers (food trash, bones, etc) in it and takes it home for their doggies.

We once went to Dallas for free! The whole weekend ended up being free. We traded points for gas cards, won 6 Flags tickets, had meal vouchers from Outback and some other places.

 

[jlw29]

I cant imagine 100 boxes of cereal- thats almost $300 in cereal AND finishing a box every 3 days.

We go through a box a DAY in our family. And I don't buy cereal unless it's under $2 a box. The one grocery store frequently has $6 off your grocery order if you buy 4 boxes of (usually General Mills or Kelloggs) cereal. There's often coupons for $1 off 2 boxes in the dispenser thingies on the shelf. I get good name brand cereal for $2 off the usual price, so I stock up. We could have had a WEEK at All-Stars with that promotion had I known and saved. My girls always have the top collection for boxtops for education drives!

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

Back in the good old days of Coupon Queens and lots of refunding I was able to get free groceries for about 12 years. We ate a few odd meals but mostly it was fairly normal stuff. I did the legal way too. Was a lot of fun and I met so many wonderful people (a few creeps too but that is life)

I had one whole room, floor to ceiling, packed with boxes of labels for my refunding and one time there was an offer at Opryland where you got a huge discount if you had a certain brand of cereal boxtop. I do not remember the details after all these years but I saw it on TV the day before we headed down. I ran upstairs and grabbed a couple of bags of boxtops and happily handed them down the line when we went. There were people who thought I was up to something and refused to take any but those who did sure were happy. I loved it. Not sure the park did but hey, they offered!!!

Don't let a few people on the boards who seem to think that only people who can or want to afford the GF should be allowed to enjoy DW. Walt would understand. Wonder how many of us Cheapskates did it on a low budget when we were younger and loved it enough to be grateful and enjoy it even more when we could afford the extras. For us, we are now retired and while we are not quite back to your poor youthful days we are not in the GF category either. I am extremely grateful that I do not really want to be a GF person. I bet they would make me keep my shoes on and that would spoil all my fun. I am willing to suffer for a couple of hours to eat at 1900 PF and go down to the beach to see EWP but no longer than that. LOL

Slightly Goofy/Linda

 

[ktink]

I also make the lemonade in restaurants, my dh calls it redneck lemonade. And we also share the refillable mugs.

 

[rileyroosmom]

My dh and I went to WDW shortly after we were married (1991) along with my best friend and BIL. Being newlyweds we were very poor. Somehow we managed the airfare but we stayed at the scumiest off site hotel, split the $30/night bill three ways (changed rooms 2X in search of a clean one). We only ate counter service meals and would order 2 kids meals. I was so embarrased I stuffed that food down my throat quickly hoping to not get "caught". We also ate breakfast at a place called LL Cool (I think) where you could eggs and toast for .99! It was the WORST! runny, cold eggs. That was one of our best vacations, we laughed so much!!

Last year we were able to do the deal through Disney Visa 7 for 4. When I called to book, the WL was all that was available. When the CM told me it was a standard room that accomodates 4, I quickly lied and said my newly 3 year old (by 3 months) was 2 and celebrating her 3rd birthday at the World. We all (5 of us) fit very nicely in that room BTW!

Next month we are staying at the Poly. My have times have changed. We are very fortunate to be able to stay deluxe and not have to worry too much about what we spend. However, I'm not sure if our memories will be as entertaining as our first trip all those years ago!

 

[rileyroosmom]

My dh and I went to WDW shortly after we were married (1991) along with my best friend and BIL. Being newlyweds we were very poor. Somehow we managed the airfare but we stayed at the scumiest off site hotel, split the $30/night bill three ways (changed rooms 2X in search of a clean one). We rented the smallest cheapest car (again, split 3 ways) I remember holding suitcases on our laps. We only ate counter service meals and would order 2 kids meals. I was so embarrased I stuffed that food down my throat quickly hoping to not get "caught". We also ate breakfast at a place called LL Cool (I think) where you could get eggs and toast for .99! It was the WORST! runny, cold eggs. There were no sourviniers bought, my dh and I would share a soda or an ice cream, just couldn't afford 2 of things. When it rained, we couldn't afford the $10 for ponchos - just got wet. It was one of the best vacations! We laughed so much and still talk about it years later.

Last year we were able to do the deal through Disney Visa 7 for 4. When I called to book, the WL was all that was available. When the CM told me it was a standard room that accomodates 4, I quickly lied and said my newly 3 year old (by 3 months) was 2 and celebrating her 3rd birthday at the World. We all (5 of us) fit very nicely in that room BTW!

Next month we are staying at the Poly. My have times have changed. We are very fortunate to be able to stay deluxe and not have to worry too much about what we spend. However, I'm not sure if our memories will be as entertaining as our first trip all those years ago!

 

[damiel]

I don't have any great stories to tell, but I have read a few off of this board over the years:

I read about a family that would go to the Wal Mart in Orlando and buy a nice stroller and ice chest to use during thier trip and then return them on the way back to the air port. (As a retail Manager I can tell you how much we hate this.)

I read about a family that buys slices of bread at the food court and uses the free peanut butter and jelly on the condiment bar to make sandwiches. Lunch for .60 cents.

The stories I just read are great

 

[sewallmom]

I really wish you hadn't told me about the buying and returning of the stroller.

I am gonna have to think about that one !!!

I have a 4 yr old that weighs 49lbs. I dont want the hassle of renting at the parks every time we go. I thought about buying a stroller, but the ones that hold her weight are about $150 and she wont be using it again at home and I haven't anyone to pass it on to.

Sewallmom

I can just imagine your faces when you read this

3 Days until Disney.

 

[pamlet]

I really wish you hadn't told me about the buying and returning of the stroller.

I am gonna have to think about that one !!!

I have a 4 yr old that weighs 49lbs. I dont want the hassle of renting at the parks every time we go. I thought about buying a stroller, but the ones that hold her weight are about $150 and she wont be using it again at home and I haven't anyone to pass it on to.

Sewallmom

I can just imagine your faces when you read this

3 Days until Disney.

Calling Papa Deuce ...

Have you seen his thread about this very thing!?!?

Now my boys are 16 and 21 - but I've been thinking about seeing if I can get a stroller off Freecycle to take with us just to put junk in....

 

[dreamingdisney]

My DD4 can't understand why I'm sitting here laughing at the computer

Okay, I'm also guilty of taking photos of myself and family after we get off Splash Mountain and Tower of Terror at Disneyland - you know, with a good digital camera, the photo looks great!

I didn't always do this, but some of our looks were just too funny to pass up!

 

[lovemygoofy]

When I was in college, my friends and I save and scrounged and yes used our credit cards to go to wdw for spring break our senior year. Well yes it is cramped with girly stuff but you can fit 6 girls in one room. We rotated who would sleep on the floor and bed and before we left for disney we made ourselves limit how much stuff we could pack. We did the sharing meals or ate kids meals and enjoyed a nice salad off the condiment bar. Of course back then we were so poor that a night out was to go to the mexican resteraunt and eat the chips and salsa and leave. We knew the waiters and would come back when we had money to pay extra. It tooks us almost a full 24 hours to fly down and it took a day and half to fly back but we came back with 3 trips per girl for being so nice and letting everyone take our seats.

I laugh about searching for the cheap coupons because here on campus where I work the students constantly get coupons for really cheap or free food from local places. When the chick-fila opened, they gave away tons of coupons for free sandwhiches and chicken biscuits. The students just threw them away!!! I dug through the recycling bin and came up with just about 100 coupons which we enjoyed very much.
Slightly Goofy, I had to laugh about the star tour because that is exactly what my dh and I did one time. We had been at Ft. Campbell not very long and was broke from saving for our wedding but needed something cheap to do and we followed a tour bus around and made up who lived in the house and what scandal they brought to Nashville. We had made a picnic lunch and ate lunch in this big open area probably someone's house is on it now. But it was a great day.

I love thrifty people and will have to remember about holding my baby into until after midnight or whatever the policy is when that time comes. lol

 

[funnygarcia]

We go to Disneyland once a year.. in California gift certificates do NOT expire... so I asked friends, family, local coupon yahoo group and on mycoupons board for their expired McDonald treat booklets (booklet of coupons that are for free fries, free drink, free pie- they are meant to be used by children.. they state on back "do not expire in CA" ).
From the walk to the park/back to hotel is a Mcdonald's. We stopped each way and used a coupon each (there are 4 of us) for free drinks and get our free refill as we leave the restuarant.
For dinner we used two free fry coupons, and two free drink coupons and bought four cheeseburgers.. dinner for four about $5.

I still have a sizable stack of coupons that expired over two years ago.. they are coming with us to be used yet again!

In the parks we make sure to go to buffeteria style places and get refills on pop (buy one for DH and me and one for the boys). We also do this at local restaurants /fast food ( I can never drink a whole glasss of pop so I "share" DH's).

 

[Mom2Em]

Slightly Goofy's story reminds me of a similar thing Mom, DD and I did... We wanted to take a Haunted Tour in Decatur but it was more than we wanted to spend so, with guidebook (from library ) in hand, we followed the bus all around the town... reading about the sites as they went... The only thing we missed was the bus tour in the cemetery... We caught that the next night by getting to the cemetery before the bus...