DISers who can easily afford a cruise need not post...

[geffric]

We eliminated anything to drink other that water... Starbucks - 1 per day at $2= $10 per week = $520 per year.

Bring lunch saves another $1000 per year.

We buy clothes at the end of the season at big discounts.
Besides working full time, all of us do market research surveys they pay about $60 - $100 per time. We put that money toward vacations. I do a hot room study every month for lever bros and get $125 in cash for sweating in a hot room, from 6-9 for 5 days.

Videos and DVD - free from the library.

We book 18 months out and a CAT 10... saves money.

Eating in, mow your own lawn, etc..
We don't have cable, walk rather that drive a lot of places.. every gift giving occasion, where the kids get $$, we put those $$ aside for the cruise instead. As well as our b'days and anniversary.

Baby sit, my boys sell cub scout popcorn and get gc from Wal Mart from the BSA. they use that $ for the trip.


Hope this helps... It can be done. We just measure everything that we spend and decide to save the $ instead.

 

[celiabot]

i'm working on trying to save too! heres what i've done so far:

i save all my change everyday, all the time

i only go out with my coworkers twice a month, set a budget, and any leftover gets changed in for dollar coins and goes in the "disney pig". it makes me think twice about having another drinkl.

i've started selling avon. i don't make much, and i usually end up spending profits on christmas gifts, but then i have all that leftovver from my christmas budget to put away!

im due for a raise, and a promotion at work in the next week or 2. whatever my rasie is will be automatically transfered to savings every week.

i'm taking my brother and sister with us, and they have been socking away allowance money, and the money they both get from babysitting into their own "disney pigs".

tax return and quarterly bonuses.. right into savings..

mind you, im only 24, and my boyfriend is stil a student, so im footing almost the entire bill. i've managed to figure a sound budget so that im not really noticing the missing money. its going to be a 2 week trip, cruise, disney, AND universal, but if i can do it, i think anyone can, just need to find where you can squeeze out money...


good luck

 

[lbgraves]

I am also a SAHM. My job aside from the kids & the house is to save us money. I coupon & stockpile. I saved over $8000 last year in coupons & store savings with all grocery purchases & diapers. (I had 1 in diapers for 6 months & 1 in diapers all year.) I haven't had to buy diapers at all this year from the stockpile I built last year with deals. I also do my gift shopping in January & February at the 75-90% sales. The kids are young enough that they are pretty much happy with anything they receive. When I find a great deal I buy one for us & one to Ebay the next fall. I only buys clothes at the end of season for 75% off. I buy ahead...DD is 3 and has a wardrobe up thru 6x. DS is 5 and has clothes thru 7/8. I also sell their outgrown clothes on Ebay. By doing this I end up not actually spending any household money on clothes or gifts.

We keep the heat on 68 all day during the winter and the AC on 78 in the summer. I use to hang up our clothes instead of drying them & that made a difference of 15-20 a month on the electric bill. I simply can't keep up with that now with both kids.

I started mystery shopping and that is how we eat out. The cost of the meals are reimbursed. That way we get a treat and it doesn't come out of our budget.

 

[Tluvs2talk]

We book our cruises in the off season. We just booked a 7 day Disney cruise in October for 799 per person, we just have 2 adults.

Clean out your closets and garage and have a yard sale, we normally make around $300.00

save all of your change!!!


Teri

 

[Belle&TheBeasts]

I agree with all of you, it seems everyone is trying to cut corners basically the same ways... I have money pulled over to a seperate bank acct on payday so that I dont miss that money for Disney trips. Its convenient .
The phone cards, conserving energy and not eating out are all big things for alot of familes these days.

Keep up the good work people!

 

[patches-4]

One thing that I didn't see here, or maybe overlooked it is to save you pop cans and take them to the recycle station where they pay you so much a pound for the cans. We do this everyear and it does add up. The kids split this money between them and use it for their spending money besides what they have saved. The last time we went on the cruise we used the money for spending money on the cruise. The best I can remember we made around $350 or $400 in a year. There are four of us but we also got the neighbors to pitch in too.

 

[Mjasp]

Ok What is mystery shopping...and how do I get those surveys to take?

Thanks

 

[jwann]

I love you people!
Thank you very much for all the suggestions!
Boy do I feel motivated now!!

 

[smchan]

Lots of good suggestions. Some of mine are duplicates, but I'll throw them out:
- Cut back from premium cable to "standard", +$50/month
- Stopped drinking Coke (and lost 50 lbs afterwards!)
- No more paid magazine subscriptions (check out freebizmag.com)
- Accumulate gift certificates by test driving cars (see fatwallet.com for details)
- Write and publish technical articles (can pay for a cruise for every 2-3 of these I write!)
- Carpool or telecommute
- Work harder, get raise
- eBay!

Sam

 

[dianthus]

WoW! You guys are very creative!

I have found eBay to be a great source of income for extras like the cruise. You can get rid of your good, unwanted stuff & find bargains on new items there too- at a fraction of retail price. My eBay money has paid for a trip to Disney this yr. & our spending money for our cruise this coming week- yahoo!

We use the coin saving trick too & usually end up with $200 or so every couple of months.

Ann~ another 68 degree household here too- New England is way too expensive to leave at 75 inside. That sounds tropical! We also try to adhere to the heat on Nov. 1st, off April 1st rule, unless it's really cold! We wear sweaters, slippers...Saves us alot of money! Down comforters really help keep you warm too. Now you know why us New Englanders are so rugged...

I'd like hear more about the mystery shopping too! Sounds like fun!

 

[lbgraves]

You can go here for a forum on MSing. http://aawsm.com/forums/
You can also go to this site for available jobs. http://www.mysteryshop.org/shoppers.php

One of the rules of MSing is you can't directly say what company shops what business. Sorry. I started out by signing up for a bunch of companies & discovered a few that I liked. We live in a very small town so I don't have many opportunities. You can also go to Yahoo groups & do a search on MS groups in your state. They should be able to help you know what to look for in your area.

 

[Grumpy's Mom]

Lisa, can you explain what the mystery shopping is? I went to the link you posted, but not having a lot of time, I can't really go through the threads this a.m. --

(you know me better as Motherofgrumpy!)

Thanks.

Bonnie

 

[Belle&TheBeasts]

is when a company hires a person to work for them to basically see how they're 'own' company is doing.
Ex: If per say, Starbucks hired you, you go in Starbucks and buy what they tell you to buy, with money given to you by them, and see how the service is they are provided. Quality of service and products are all recorded on a survey they would provide to you and you would send back into the company. Cleaniness of certain areas, how the counter person treats you, parking lots, garbage cans (are they full or empty) are all areas of concern for the companys interest. They will tell you what time of the day to go, what store location, what line to get in, what to purchase... They check this out secretly and then they know how they're store is being run and what it needs. The people in the store your mystery shopping at never know who you are. Your just another customer...

Hope that makes sense, the way I explained it....

 

[Grumpy's Mom]

Thanks, Belle --

they aren't really beasts, are they?

Mine is not really grumpy - just some of the time -- lol!

 

[lbgraves]

Yes, I know who you are MOG. I'll PM you since I know where you live.

 

[rae519]

jwann - there may be people who can "easily afford a cruise" but have money saving ideas....

I am a very thrifty person. The money I save from the things I don't do or buy, I use to cruise. I certainly wouldn't take a loan out for a vacation or spend money I don't have as disposable income, but I make my own "disposable" income by saying "no" to many things that others don't even think about....

McDonalds - how many fat and calories are in those "Happy Meals"?

Birthday and Christmas gifts - why be excessive? One or two well-thought out gifts are enough!

School and work lunches - brown bag it!

Clothing - Goodwill/Salvation Army - often new or gentle used clothes with "name brands" for those who need that.

Hey, the list goes on, and so goes my savings!

Rae

 

[Grumpy's Mom]

RAE!! Been waiting for you to surface -- how was the cruise? How was your room? Did you find out what happened with your original room? Di you have a fabulous time??

Bonnie

 

[rae519]

Hi!!!

Yes, I am home! Got in after two days of nearly 12 hours of driving back to Peru - that great metropolis of north central Indiana!

First thing I did Monday was see my chiropractor - then went to the stables for the day. I have unpacked (finally) and gotten things washed and put up, but went back to the stables yesterday and if it wasn't for my homeschooling program for Michael (I'd be back there today!)

Missed my horses so much!!!

Yes, trip was great and I think that this topic just fits the feeling that if you can save up and have the money ready, you enjoy your vacation more. It is a great feeling to know that your saving has given you the ability to enjoy your money the way you want.

I mean, just how many "dining outs" can compare to one meal at a DCL restaurant! I know there aren't any servers who can compare to our DCL staff! So why put up with substandard service and food, just save for the cruises!!!!

Mom, Michael and I did have a wonderful time - thank you again for asking - I think we may change the next one due to airline costs (too much in April!) - so I will weigh the $75.00 DVC fee against the airline costs for 3 and see what happens.
SEE HOW CHEAP I AM!!!!

Rae

My edit - I did find out that there was some major carpeting changes on Deck 5 (5622 was open and having some major work done on the floor). Maybe something happened to it since August but it looked okay back then! Anyway, I still want 5622 - and don't care much for Deck 7 - too much motion up there!!!!!

 

[geffric]

Mjasp
Check out the market research companies in your area. The ones here have list of people that they use for surveys. Once you get on the list, they call you when a survey comes up and if you qualify then you can participate and get paid. My kids have done cereal and toy survey's. Dh and i have done all sorts too.

The Hot Room is different - that is product testing for the manufacturer. But it is good money..for testing deoderant.
Other manufacturers do testing too.. Even did a survey for DCL after our first cruise. They paid $125 to talk about the cruise and what I liked etc...

welcome back Rae... tell us about the cruise and the new and different things on the ship this time

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Welcome back, Rae!


I am definitely going to check out mystery shopping and product testing! I can do that!

I love this thread! Saving money is like a game for me -- it's a challenge. I actually have fun strategizing different things. You should see how I track our spending at home. I use Excel, MSMoney and SPSS to track everything. DH thinks I'm funny -- but I tell him it's like a hobby! Darnit, I'm GOOD at it!!!