Creative ways to save for Disney Trips

[dizzyami]

Let's face it, I am a Disney addict!!! I recently even picked up a job a couple nights a week (retail people, don't get the wrong idea!!!) to cover my Disney expenses!!! I found out a couple weeks ago that my DS needs intensive speech therapy that will cost be about $400/month. Since this pretty much wipes out my "extra" money for my Disney trips, I was wondering what tips you might have out there to save above and beyond for that next trip. I already have a June and October trip booked for this year - and really want to keep these plans in tact (our last Disney trip DS was the happiest and most expressive that we had ever seen him!!!)

 

[KSDTink]

I'd like to hear other people's ideas as well.

Here are some things I did for our DCL cruise last December and I am now doing for our DL trip in August:

I put my pocket change in a bank at the end of each day and when there is enough I roll it and take it to the bank.

When I sell things on e-bay and half.com I put that money into my vacation account.

Put "found" money into the vacation account. This includes rebates, money back when I have overpaid a doctor, etc.

When I have to use the charge card to pay for vacations (air fare, reservations, etc) I use my Disney Visa card then use the points on my Disney trips.

 

[rosiep]

I'm not even going to respond to your new "job" (snicker, snicker), if you say it's retail, it's retail.

But as to your query:

I used to be an avid coupon clipper for my grocery shopping. Everytime I'd shop I found I'd saved at least $5 using my coupons...I always set that money aside for something fun. I was always pretty frugal everywhere else so there was nothing to cut back on....

 

[PeterPansPixie]

Great ideas!

We enrolled in our banks "Keep the Change" program which rounds all of our debit purchases up to the nearest dollar and puts that extra change directly into our savings account.

I opened an ING savings account and have money directly deposited from our checking account every payday. This account is nice because we can't get to it easily.

Everytime we go to the mall, I purchase Disney Dollars at the Disney Store. This has added up and should pay for all of our meals in the park. You can even use these to purchase parkhoppers and I think you might be able to use these to pay for hotel stays at one of the DLR hotels.

If I can think of any more, I will post them. I love this forum!

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I sign up for rewards sites like sunshinerewards.com and mypoints to get GC that I can use for gas, etc. on trips.

 

[sharoncity]

Along the lines of saving change, I pay for everything in whole dollars. So if something costs $2.25, I give them $3.00 and save the change. At the end of the day, I put all the change aside and save and roll that. I just rolled the last few months worth over the weekend and it came to $300.

For this coming trip, I used my American Express rewards points for $300 off of my Avis car rental, I have a Disney Reward card of $250, and we have 3 nights free at the SD Marina Hotel from my Starwoods Preferred Guest Points. We also recently won a Visa Gift Card worth $100 at a school raffle that we will put towards our vacation.

 

[XTinabell]

Mine aren't so creative but they work. I sell alot of my old stuff on ebay and that can add up.
We also have what we call a treasure box. Its a little box that's built into our bed and all the change we accumulate in a day, which can add up to several dollars a day goes straight to the treasure box. When we first started we had 30 dollars in there after three days. Any change we find goes in the treasure box - we have loonies and toonies in canada which is one dollar and two dollars and our treasure box is filled with them, so we don't just put quarters in the treasure box we put all our change in there.

 

[kellymom]

Each time I go to the mall I make a trip to the Disney Store and I buy Disney Dollars. I have been doing this since January and as of today, already have $425 saved in Disney Dollars.

Also, everytime we get a $5 bill, we put it away to save. Not much at the time but they add up fast. By doing the 2 I have enough saved for all 3 of our annual passes in May.

 

[squidmo]

Hello- you may also want to check into goverment resources for your son's speech therapy. My DS (now 4 1/2) started speech therapy when he was 2, and from ages 2 - 3 it was entirely paid for by California's "Early Start" program. (I noticed that you don't live in CA, but AZ might have something similar). Then from age 3 on, the local school system took over. I did have to take him over to the local school for appointments with their staff speech therapist, but the great thing is that when DS starts Kindergarten, he will already know the speech therapist and be comfortable with her. Your pediatrician might know what resources are available to you, and if not, you could always try calling your school district to see if they could help you.

Note: I just searched on-line, and apparently "Early Start" is associated with the Federal "Head Start" program, and may be called "Early Head Start" in your area. It did look like there were some resources in AZ (although the list was pretty sort so it might be pretty limited). Also, at least in CA, there were no financial stipulations- we qualified simply because our DS needed it.

 

[tracer]

The change jar can add up really quickly in our house. We also have an ING account and when there is extra money around, I transfer some and let it sit over there. Also tax returns for us are fairly big so we use that money.

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Dizzy, here are some things we do.

I never buy anything unless it's on sale. Well, oK I will buy deoderant but that's about it! I use coupons and shop the adds quite extensively each Wednesday and Sunday. We don't go out to eat much so eating at home helps.

I also do the save the change thing. I have one of those Prego spaghetti sauce jars that each day I empty out change from my purse or that dh leaves on the nightstand. I also have a rule that if he lays any money around or I find it in the wash it goes in the disney fund. I rarely pay with change so I get a lot back to put in there. This usually gives us an extra $100-$200 each time.

Our garage sale was a Disney fundraiser! I told the kids to get rid of anything they didnt play with and they could use the money for new toys at DL.

We also have one of those ING savings accounts. I'm thinking of switching this because I think the other 2 have higher interest rates. I think there is a few companies HSBC INGdirect and Emmigrant. Something like that. Those can really add up. It's a Just for Disney fund. All rebates we get like from cell phones or anything else that get sent later goes in there. I figure since we paid full price anyway then it's like "finding" money when it comes back to us.

 

[spazzyjazzy]

I send my brother ( who lives in Los Angeles) a stack of premade checks and have him cash them on each of my paydays. That way I never "see" the money. He gives me the money when we arrive in Los Angeles and sometimes it has a lil' extra that he will throw in also.