Earning Extra $$$ for Vacation

[DawnM]

I just have a vacation fund. We put a set amount in there every month and don't see it because it comes out of our check before we see it. We also use my DH's bonus (which is not much and we never know the actual amount until happens.)

But I am not giving up eating decent food or living expenses for a one week vacation.

 

[Ava]

I've gotten into the credit card points/miles game fairly recently, and was able to pay for our flights this year with CC points. I'm working my way up to be able to pay for more of our vacations (in general, not just Disney) with points/miles.

I did gift card churning for a while too, until the Target/eBay loop was cut off. Now it's harder to see a return there & I didn't have the patience to try new methods so I stopped. I may look into it again though.

I do rewards apps/sites: m+Rewards, Shopkick, Bing Rewards, Receipt Hog, & MyPoints are the ones I actively do now. I've tried Ibotta & a few others too but they were more work than they were worth for me.

We live in a bottle return state so I save our cans/bottles and turn them in at the grocery store for 5 cents each. We also save all of our change.

eBay/Craigslist/local list serv sales occasionally bring in some extra $ that goes toward vacations.

We also use our tax return & any bonuses I get at work towards vacations. We don't plan on those things ahead of time though since they aren't guaranteed.

 

[littlbugmom]

One little thing I do is throughout the year if anyone pays me back for anything I put it in the vacation fund. For example, at work, I'm always the one from my team to buy the wedding/baby shower gifts so then the people on the team pay me their part - I tuck that money away.

I thought of this thread this past weekend when DH's niece paid us back some money she borrowed.
We didn't put the whole amount towards Disney but a portion was a nice bit to add.
Thanks for the idea!

 

[Narnia_girl]

I so agree with previous poster, don't sacrifice life for one week of vacation - sacrifice within reason. One thing I do but certainly not for everyone, is that I use coupons. I do not focus much on using coupons for food but use them primarily for personal/household items. It takes work and time but it does save you loads of money. CVS is the main store I coupon. I never pay for toothpaste, shampoo, razors, body wash and mouthwash to name a few. For example, laundry soap - my stock up price is 1.50 and that is for Tide. I purchase all my paper products as well for extremely cheap. Learn the CVS coupon process using by combining Extra Care Bucks with store coupons and manufacture coupons for some really good deals. Purchase multiple Sunday papers a week for the coupon inserts. I only purchase two Sunday papers a week. There are plenty of you tube videos to get you started in the process. You can learn the process by just watching these videos. Just follow their plans each week. Some of my favorite you tube channels is "clean cut couponing, Couponing with Toni, and Saving with Daisy. Like I said - it takes work and time but for me, it is so worth it.

Thanks for the information on CVS. I've never really gotten in to that, but I'm interested in learning. Do you think it would be beneficial to start a thread on this board with CVS info/how to start, etc.... Maybe those who are more knowledgeable could help newbies?

 

[Marionnette]

Thanks for the information on CVS. I've never really gotten in to that, but I'm interested in learning. Do you think it would be beneficial to start a thread on this board with CVS info/how to start, etc.... Maybe those who are more knowledgeable could help newbies?

There was a weekly one during the extreme couponing heydays. It kind of faded into oblivion as retailers enforced more restrictive rules for redeeming coupons. Since the process is pretty dynamic, you may want to take a look at websites and blogs that focus solely on couponing and CVS. I recommend livingrichwithcoupons .com and iheartcvs .com.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

I use the savings catcher app for Wal-Mart. All you have to do is scan your receipt after your make any purchase. They review other local ads. If any other merchant is selling an item (that you purchased) cheaper, they credit your account with that $. I then use the money in my app to buy Disney Gift Cards. I have picked up about $200 in gift cards yearly for our Disney trips.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

If any of you are California energy users (SCE, PG&E SDG&E), one way I make about $50-$200 a month is using Ohm Connect. Wish I could use a referral link because every time you refer someone you get $20 after their first ohm hour. It's a great way to save energy to prevent dirty power plants from turning on, save on your electric bill and EARN money. I've earned about a thousand dollars in about a year and a half. If you're in California let me know if you have questions and I can answer.

 

[brookmey]

Shopkick. It is so easy, very minimal work. I've earned close to $1000 over the past couple years in gift cards. There's a huge selection of gift cards to choose from, including Target, Best Buy and Walmart.

 

[littlbugmom]

I'm giving up on Earnhoney. It's so frustrating!! I get no ads anymore. None! You only earn by watching the ads so.....no ads, no point!

I didn't know about the walmart app.

 

[Narnia_girl]

I'm giving up on Earnhoney. It's so frustrating!! I get no ads anymore. None! You only earn by watching the ads so.....no ads, no point!

I didn't know about the walmart app.

I know some people do really well with the WalMart app, but I don't. It depends on how often you shop there. Since January 2015, I've made $23.58, but I don't buy many groceries there. It is an easy app to use so there's no real downside to it.

 

[Marionnette]

I'm giving up on Earnhoney. It's so frustrating!! I get no ads anymore. None! You only earn by watching the ads so.....no ads, no point!

I didn't know about the walmart app.

I'm still doing okay on it but earnings are down from what they were a couple of weeks ago. That tends to happen for all rewards programs at the end of the month. I'm not giving up yet. I expect the back-to-school ads to ramp things up in August.

 

[littlbugmom]

I decided to stick with it and it's been going well since the first week of August.

Thanks!

 

[Ava]

Does anyone here do mPLUS Places & know if it's being discontinued? I noticed a few weeks ago that the variety of rewards available was getting smaller, and now there are none left. The only thing showing up is a sweepstakes for a $300 Best Buy card. I never use points for sweepstakes entries so if that is all they are going to offer I'll just delete the app.

 

[DizMe]

Does anyone here do mPLUS Places & know if it's being discontinued? I noticed a few weeks ago that the variety of rewards available was getting smaller, and now there are none left. The only thing showing up is a sweepstakes for a $300 Best Buy card. I never use points for sweepstakes entries so if that is all they are going to offer I'll just delete the app.

I don't know, but I gave up on the app several months ago when they stopped giving decent points. I could only get 5 pts for everything and there were no more opportunities to make extra so it was no longer worth my time. Was nice while it lasted, though.

 

[kristenrice]

This is what pays for my vacations...

• Swagbucks, Shopkick, and Target FWP gift cards are all converted into Disney gift cards
• Best Buy Rewards (earned from my BB credit card, which earns 2% on dining and occasional bonus offers...3% for gas right now) are all converted to Disney gift cards
• eBates go into my "cash" account
• I have an Ally Visa card that earns 2% on gas and groceries. When I deposit the rebates into my Ally Money Market (vacation) account, I get a 10% bonus (so $25 in earnings = $27.50 in cash)
• I also attempt to donate plasma twice a week. Obviously, you have to meet certain requirements that can fluctuate from day to day (hematocrit is my big stopper), and you also have to have a plasma center nearby. This has been a great money-maker for me over the past 3 years. I can earn about $2K per year for a very minimal time commitment...about 1 hour, twice a week.
• We bought a small, 100-point DVC contract with an inheritance and I have a small amount deducted from every paycheck to cover the annual dues. I use the cash to buy Disney gift cards from Target at either 5% or, hopefully, at 10% when they offer the gift card special around the holidays.
• Finally, I have a small amount deducted from each paycheck and deposited into my money market account. It's not even enough that I would notice it missing from my paycheck which makes it a "painless" way to save.
• Small things like spare change going into a change jar and our pop can money (Michigan requires a $0.10 deposit on all carbonated beverages which you get back when you return the cans/bottles so I take the "refund" and deposit into my vacation account)
• Once a year, I get a longevity bonus from my employer which amounts to about $1K after taxes. I use this exclusively for any "solo" (i.e. not with the family) trips that I take. If I need more, it MUST come from my plasma money or my SwagBucks. Ebates, Target FWP and BB rewards all go towards trips with the family.

We have the SWA Visa card, but we have long-since used up the bonus points so right now, we are lucky if we can get (1) one-way ticket with our points each year. We use the Ally and BB card more often because the return is better, and I can use the BB rewards to get SWA gift cards too.

 

[Ava]

I don't know, but I gave up on the app several months ago when they stopped giving decent points. I could only get 5 pts for everything and there were no more opportunities to make extra so it was no longer worth my time. Was nice while it lasted, though.

Yeah, it's not nearly as lucrative as it used to be since they lowered the point amounts. But I can still get a handful of 20 point check-ins from my office, though, so I would do those every hour until I maxed out for the day and have it tweet to a junk twitter account I made just for that purpose to get an extra 10 points per check in. It was easy points since I could get the check-ins while sitting at my desk.

 

[pens4821]

Does anyone here do mPLUS Places & know if it's being discontinued? I noticed a few weeks ago that the variety of rewards available was getting smaller, and now there are none left. The only thing showing up is a sweepstakes for a $300 Best Buy card. I never use points for sweepstakes entries so if that is all they are going to offer I'll just delete the app.

I'm going to be giving up on mplus rewards soon, after I get enough for another $25 Walmart gift card. The mplus places was never that great of an earner for me, but mthoughts was and it has been discontinued. I was getting a TV survey worth 1000 coins a day, and usually another one or two worth 2 or 3 thousand. The cricket rewards is part of it too, and they have really lowered their daily coins. I could earn about 1500 coins a day through cricket a few months ago, now it's only about 300 (still decent, but not enough). Add in a couple smaller ones like facts, history, bing, and slots that don't work anymore that I'd get a hundred or so from a day.

The last year I've been getting enough coins to get a $25 Walmart gift card a month (which I'd save and redeem 4 towards a $150 Disney gift card through sams club), plus most months I'd get another $25 for either Amazon or Starbucks. All that while just getting on my phone for maybe a half hour a day (spread throughout the day) when I wasn't doing anything else.

 

[LovesTimone]

There are a lot of ways to save, earn and cut back... but putting them into play and keeping them in play is the hard part.

DH and I pay for our any trips/vacations in advance so that they are paid for when we head to the airport, or get in the car. Nice not having a stack of CC bills when we get back.

Couponing and Paying yourself with the difference - Use coupons for everything, so if you save 5.00 using coupons - then pay yourself 5.00 bucks into the Vacation fund. This is really adds up say when getting your oil changed and tires rotated... We had a coupon for 29.99 for both at our local dealership, normally just a oil change is 39.99 there, and the tire rotation is around 69.99 - with out the coupon they have a "deal" for 99.99 for both... so we saved 60.00 with our coupon, vacation fund got a nice addition. I think one weekend we put about 129.00 in the vacation fund.

Get the kids involved in saving the money to.... when the start whinning about want McDonald or some toys remind them that money is going for Mickey and the Gang.

Take your lunch to work, the amount of money that can be saved with this is huge. Breakfast items, snack and drinks for later in the day don't for get about them too, so the evil vending machine isn't getting your Mickey money.

I worked in a office with 8 other people, and we decided to see if we could save money by everyone putting something for lunch and sharing everything. So on Friday of each week we decided what we wanted for the next week, everyone brought something and we put it in our kitchen for everyone to make lunch from, We ate so good and healthy, they always wanted me to make something like pasta, or potato salad, or some dessert, we made casseroles stuff shells, chicken pot pie, One girl would make homemade soup- potato soup or broccoli and cheese, chili, someone would do the bread, and deli meat and cheese, someone else, the veggies, baby carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, salad dressing, We even made grilled cheese and tomato soup one day, French bread pizza, taco's, it was crazy fun. We had a single guy who brought the drinks, cups, paper plates, napkin's, plastic utensils, he would hit Sam's and that would be his part for the month...

Stop and say do I really need this or want it... that can save you a bunch right there...

 

[Belle1962]

Caution about part-time jobs: I worked a part-time job for two years and ended up owing the IRS at tax time each time. My accountant explained the part time income threw me into another tax bracket and part-time jobs don't hold out enough taxes so in my case, it was more feasible for me not to work the part-time job.

• I just purchased a new home and am purchasing almost all new stuff (new furniture for most rooms, kitchen items, curtains, bedroom sets, decor, lawn service, alarm service, etc.). If the purchase is for the house I use my rewards card. It doesn't give me Disney points, but it does give me Amazon and restaurants I like and I use those savings to put in the Disney pot.
• I am getting back into couponing and eating out less. My grandson said "Ohhhhh. You're turning into one of "those" grandma's now."
• I try to shop off lists and when I go shopping and see a "it's not on my list" item I want, I put it back and when I get home put that amount in our big plastic Coke bottle bank. (Wal-Mart is my downfall)
• I also shop gifts for birthdays, Christmas and other gift giving occasions I know are coming up, year round and shop sales and clearances. ( I have a huge bag of gender neutral toys for last minute kid activities. Anything left over in November becomes my Toys for tots donation). I do a lot of that toy shopping in the week after Christmas.
• I love to read so joined Kindle Unlimited after pricing out the cost of what I was spending each month on books. Now, there are only a few authors I follow that I pay for. I also joined not only my county library but also a neighboring county that has a better selection of ebooks. The other county charged me $30. but again, I save a ton of money on books.
• I carpool/vanpool for work. Our local clean air campaign gives 5 free rides a year if you have to leave unexpectedly, (your illness, child's illness, unscheduled overtime, etc.). Also-my employer reimburses me in FULL.
• Quit getting my nails done.
• Cut back on my coloring but I'm vain enough to keep doing it when my grandson (who is taller than me) looks down at my head and says "Boy grandma you have a lot of gray)
• I'm not afraid to tell people (read family and close friends) what I want when they ask 'What do you want for your birthday, Christmas, house warming, etc.)
• I travel to other places less. I've cut back on my trips to family (after all the roads do run in both directions)