Earning $ for Disney..... Ideas Wanted

[toystoryduo]

Hello Budget Boarders!
My family and I are looking for ways to earn money for a possible Disney trip in April. We are planning to eBay in January, have been saving spare change, and do MyPoints rewards program. My husband sells Prepaid Legal memberships which helps too. I plan on having a garage sale before we leave as well. Does anyone have any other ideas on how to earn/save money for Disney? Anything unique?? Thank you in advance! Happy Holidays!

 

[kilee]

You could try some online survey sites. I only frequent one and that is www.greenfieldonline.com I actually found out about it on this board. Somewhere in the search there should be an entire post about good sites that acutally pay up. I am taking it that the obvious of getting a second part time job is out of the question. Also, what about your tax return. If you electronically file in Feb. you could count on that (provided you get a refund). Last but not least, totally trim the extra's from your budget know. When we are getting ready to go to Disney, we trim our weekly spending money by almost 1/2. Fortunately we tend to eat out close to 5-7 meals a week. So we cut this down to 2-3 and that saves a load a week right there. Also, if you live in an area that recycles soda bottles, put that money strictly to the trip fund.

 

[toystoryduo]

Thanks for the great ideas kilee! Anyone else have any creative ideas????

 

[jgates]

The rewards board has good ideas - hop on over there.

 

[Leader of the Club]

I work at a small retail store one or two days per month. That check goes into the disney fund. All ebay money goes to the fund. All babysitting money goes to the fund. All money from rebates go into the fund. The money I save from using coupons goes into the fund (when I have it! sometimes I save $60-90 a week using coupons and I don't always have that much extra!)

 

[TheRatPack]

Check out Volition.com and sign up for some mystery shop companies. They send you to stores or restaurants to shop as a normal customer and rate things and you get paid We've had lots of meals out doing this at places we might not have ever eaten at otherwise. We do this as a family or sometimes it's for 2 people and I take my husband out to lunch while the kids are in school and we rate things (you can't let the restaurant or store know you are a mystery shopper). You don't make tons of money doing it, but it's fun and you do get paid

 

[dllmnmdth]

You could open an ing account thru a referral and get $25. It only takes $1 to start and you get $25. You cannot withdraw the $25 until after 30 days but it does work. Once you get your account set up and established you can refer others and get $10 for each one of them who sign up. It works for me. PM if you would like a referral email to set one up.

 

[disneysteve]

For most people, it is far easier to spend less than to earn more.

For the next month, record every penny you spend on absolutely everything. At the end of the month, sit down with that list and look at how much you could do without. Cut the fat and you'll be amazed how much you'll have saved by April.

Common things that may show up on your list:

Premium cable channels or pay-per-view specials. In fact, if you live somewhere where broadcast tv is available, consider cancelling cable completely (we don't have it).

Extra services on your home phone - call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, voice messaging, etc. The phone companies have come up with all kinds of unneccesary things to suck more money from customers. Just get basic phone service.

Long distance service - If you are still using a major carrier like AT&T, Sprint, or MCI you are most likely overpaying. Check out a company like kissld.com where calls are just 3 cents/minute.

ATM fees - commit yourself to use only your own bank's atm's to avoid the fees.

Snack and junk food - yes, those daily trips to Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts really add up over the months. Make coffee at home and pour it in a thermos to take to work.

Borrow books from the library instead of buying them. Go to weekend matinee movies instead of evening shows, and bring your own snacks. Drink more tap water and less soda and no bottled water (bottled water is the single biggest rip-off in the history of marketing).

I guarantee that if you do a full spending log, you'll find plenty of things to cut back. Put all the savings toward your trip.

Steve

 

[soccerchick]

We save money for vacations by payroll deductions. My husband has money taken out every paycheck and put into an account we have w/ his credit union. This method doesn't hurt since we never actually have the money in our regular checking account. We also do many of the other tips already suggested, but this, by far, is the most effective for us.

Good luck!

 

[Tiggerlover91]

This is different, but does not work for everyone. I'm not a to the penny person as far as my checkbook goes so this is why it works for me.

I charge myself $1 for EVERY transaction done on my account. If I write a check, or DH uses the debit/credit card, or I pay a bill online I charge myself a "service fee" if you will. I also don't do odd numbers in my checkbook, only zeros so not only is the fee a dollar, but a dollar and change. Example, I go to Publix and my total is $54.32, I round up to $55 to get rid of the change and then charge a dollar fee on the $55. So now the bank has $1.68 more than I do. Also for every deposit I make, I drop off the change. If I have a deposit of $124.67, I only put $124 in my checkbook.
A friend told me about this back in August and I said it would never work!! The bank now has $221 MORE dollars than I do!! So it works!!! It's amazing how fast the numbers add up and knowing the money is there if needed is great. It's not just for our Disney trip in 2006, as that trip is 2 years away. The money is more of a cushion if something comes up and we need it. Almost had to touch it with DH's motorcycle repairs, but wouldn't you know it....I made good money at work the last two days, a friend gave us $50 to help with the repairs, his boss gave him a $50 bonus for Christmas and his "lost paycheck" finally showed up today (monday)! Amazing how that all works out.

I also have a savings jar here in my home where I throw odd dollars and loose change. Been doing that since about October I believe and that stands at about $120 right now. So DH and I have $340 just lying around!! That's quite a comforting feeling too. So as it stands now, if I continue the way we're going, I can have our Disney trip probably paid for by the end of 2004 or early 2005.
Income tax time is rolling around too, so that will be nice to have some more money to make that $221 the bank has even bigger.

Just a way that I save. Doesn't work for everyone, but I'm glad it works so well for me. Having the discipline to not touch the money is a great feeling also. The old Denise would have had the money spent a loooooooong time ago, but I'm a new woman now!

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by Tiggerlover91
Income tax time is rolling around too, so that will be nice to have some more money to make that $221 the bank has even bigger.

I assume you are referring to an expected tax refund. While its nice to get that check, don't forget that in the grand scheme of things, getting a large refund is bad. Its okay to get a little bit back - better than owing when April rolls around. But if you are getting back any significant amount, it means you have been allowing the government to keep some of your weekly pay, hold it for up to a year, or more, then return it to you with no interest. Its far better to adjust your withholding so less is taken out of your check in the first place and your take-home pay increases, giving you more to save and invest somewhere where you'll actually earn some interest.

If anyone here insists on continuing to make interest-free loans, please let me know as I'd be happy to take advantage of your generosity.

Steve

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Originally posted by disneysteve
Its far better to adjust your withholding so less is taken out of your check in the first place and your take-home pay increases, giving you more to save and invest somewhere where you'll actually earn some interest.

Steve

I'm a waitress, so I don't get much of a paycheck anyway. I've already got everything you mentioned covered, but thanks anyway.

 

[crz4mm2]

If you have any books you don't need anymore, you can sell them on Amazon. It is really easy and they give you a bit of money to help with the postage. I have found it very simple and they even suggest prices to place on the book. Have sold about 100 bucks on there over the past few months.
tigger: I do this too! Reallly adds up.
GOod luck.
Cathy

 

[catwho]

One of the things that I do is budget in Disney money. Each paycheck I automatically deduct a certain amount to my Disney Fund. I have my checkbook set up on Quicken and have a separate account to "hold" my money. So my account statement says one thing, but my actual worth is different. It keeps me from spending it. I also work a part time job (which we don't "need") and every penny of this goes into our Disney account. Sometimes we pull some out for other mini-vacations, but it is there for us.

A TDS CM friend of mine puts $5 every day into her Disney fund. She says that is what she would spend on lunch and she figures if she can afford to eat out every day then she can afford to put $5 towards her vacation every day. She says at the end of every week she thinks to herself, "I just paid for another really nice meal!" or "I have enough to purchase 5 new pins!"

To boost my "change collection" I have started do a lot more purchasing with cash. I never spend any of my change and it all goes into the Disney mug on top of the fridge. This doesn't work very well if you are using your debit card or writing checks, but it can really add up if you are using cash. I did this to buy holiday presents with this year and after just one weekend of shopping I ended up with $20 in change!

Oh! Also, our family has an agreement. If we are getting the "I dont' want to cook blues" and are thinking of ordering out or going out and we change our minds and make something at home, we put $20 into the Disney fund since that is what it would cost us to order 2 pizzas and with tip. That's almost lunch for us at Pecos Bill!

 

[catwho]

Originally posted by disneysteve
I assume you are referring to an expected tax refund. While its nice to get that check, don't forget that in the grand scheme of things, getting a large refund is bad. Its okay to get a little bit back - better than owing when April rolls around. But if you are getting back any significant amount, it means you have been allowing the government to keep some of your weekly pay, hold it for up to a year, or more, then return it to you with no interest.

I think that works well for people who wouldn't spend that money or be tempted to. My xh and I call it our "forced savings account" If we were to get that extra $50 a paycheck it would just get spent. This way we let the government hold it for us and we can't touch it no matter what. $50 a paycheck isn't all that much, but getting a check for almost $1500 is a huge benefit for us.

Just another opinion. (And sorry, but I think I trust the government with my $50 a week more than "some dude" from the Disboards. P )

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Originally posted by catwho
Just another opinion. (And sorry, but I think I trust the government with my $50 a week more than "some dude" from the Disboards. P )

 

[Leader of the Club]

Originally posted by Leader of the Club
I work at a small retail store one or two days per month. That check goes into the disney fund.

Hey!
I received a $50 bonus from that small retail store today! I'll bet you can all guess where it is going!

 

[toystoryduo]

These are wonderful ideas!! Let's keep the thread going and hear about some more!! Thanks everybody!!

 

[Mom2Ben02]

There is a place near my house that does surveys. I have earned as much as $100 for an hour survey. They call periodically, and you can sign up the whole family. They are not annoying, where they call daily either. My little guy has gone, to "test" a new toy. He got to keep the toy, and mommy got $25! They will tell you how much it is before you go - I don't do anything less than $25 (I figure my time is valuable!). You might watch a commercial, and they will ask you how it makes you "feel", or taste something, nothing major!

Good luck!

 

[toystoryduo]

Mom2Ben02~
How did you find the company near your home that does those surveys? Can you give me more information? It sounds good! Thanks!