Moramoon
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2016
- Messages
- 668
With churning seeming to be on its last leg I thought it might be a good idea to start a post about how others are saving/getting the funds for their trips. I know I’ve seen a few things mentioned in other posts, but I thought it might be a good idea for others to share about ways they’re saving that others may not have known about. I know there’s a few that I’ve been doing way before we even thought about taking a Disney vacation so they don’t have to apply to just Disney.
Right now I’m earning quite a bit from Swagbucks. Typically I earn between $50-$75 a month though I’ve heard of others earning more. Typically I try to do at least 1 survey a day (some days are easier than others). I also let ncraves run while I’m working. I find that I can get the first goal just from the ncraves then typically the survey will get me to my second. Meeting your first and second goal gives you bonus swagbucks awarded the next month. If you meet the first goal consistently you can get more bonus swagbucks on top of that. Lately they’ve been having some really easy offers that will get me another 20-25 swagbucks just for signing up with my email address. It comes out to be 1 SB = $.01 which doesn’t seem like much, but it adds up quickly. Your first $25.00 gc every month (not counting paypal and the Visa gc’s) are discounted to 2200 SB as well. Since the first $25 gift card of the month is discounted I’m starting to get Walmart gc to use at Sam’s Club for Disney cards since Sam’s prices them at a ~5% discount. Anything I earn over that $25.00 I get paypal in case a sale or offer comes up later someplace else.
Ibotta – I used to earn around $20.00 a month from this though lately I’ve been slacking. For those who don’t know about it it’s an app that will give you offers for certain items at different stores. When you purchase them you scan the bar code along with your receipt and can earn cash back. You can cash out at $20.00 for paypal or venmo, but they also offer a $25.00 Sam’s Club gc as well.
Checkout 51 – It’s similar to Ibotta. You can cash out at $20.00, but they will send you the funds in the form of a check in the mail.
Saving Star – Another app for grocery purchases. The nice thing about this one is there’s no minimum for cashing out. The funds can be set to go to your paypal, bank account, upromise account, or they also have gift cards currently for itunes, Starbucks, or AMC Theaters.
Mobisave – Another grocery app. You’re supposed to select your offers before you make your purchases (there’s been times I’ll forget to select and do them the same day and still receive credit). They stay selected for a week before being removed where you’ll have to reselect the offer if it’s still available. Once your purchase is approved they will automatically send the funds to your paypal.
Shrink – Another grocery app, though I can’t say that I use it that often because I don’t typically buy the things they have offers for. It’s nice though if you tend to buy green/organic products as they seem to be what most of their offers are for.
Find&Save – This one’s nice in that it’s not limited to just grocery stores (they’ll normally have offers for restaurants and retail stores), but I’ve found that recently they changed and offers aren’t open for as long as they used to be so it’s something you have to keep an eye on. You also have to watch because sometimes an eligible offer with be for you to spend a certain amount along with buying a certain item (for example Spend $10.00 including a purchase of fries). This one will pay out in the form of a check within a day or 2 of reaching $25.
Receipt Hog – This one you earn coins for scanning receipts. You can cash out at 1000 coins for $5.00 in either paypal or Amazon, but it’s better to hold onto them because the more you earn the less you spend in coins to cash out ($30.00 for 4500 coins).
Shopping portals – I tend to use Swagbucks, Ebates, Upromise most of the time. I always check out cashbackmonitor.com to see who is offering the most cash back. I know Upromise doesn’t have a direct payout, but I find that for certain stores their payout is 2-3% higher, plus I can put this towards my children’s 529.
Credit Cards – Before I started working on saving for our vacation I worked to pay off our credit card debt. I paid off and cancelled one card that had no rewards and kept 2 others. The first is my American Express. I just have the basic card with 1% back, no annual fee, but every once in a while I will receive an offer for money back on our statement for purchasing a certain amount at a store. From what I've found a lot of the time purchasing a gift card will count on the offer, I just need to be mindful of the terms and conditions. My other card is the Disney Visa card. It is also only 1% back in the form of Disney Rewards (basically a Disney gift card) with no annual fee, but I hold onto it in hopes that there might be a decent card holder offer at some point. Currently I’m looking into a card for everyday purchases with a Higher percent back. I saw an offer for the Discover It card which earns 5% back in bonus categories along with having no annual fee, but I need to look into it more.
Other ways I earn are by selling the clothes my kids have outgrown or toys they no longer play with at local consignment sales. I know craigslist/facebook are other options, but I feel better doing it this way since normally they’re big event where people come out to shop. I’ll normally do at least 1 garage sale a year as well to try to “purge” our house of the things that seemed like a good idea at the time we bought them, but ended up just sitting on a shelf or in a cabinet for months on end. J
I know there’s other ways to save out there, but these are the ones I personally use. I’d be interested in hearing what everyone else uses to help save.
Right now I’m earning quite a bit from Swagbucks. Typically I earn between $50-$75 a month though I’ve heard of others earning more. Typically I try to do at least 1 survey a day (some days are easier than others). I also let ncraves run while I’m working. I find that I can get the first goal just from the ncraves then typically the survey will get me to my second. Meeting your first and second goal gives you bonus swagbucks awarded the next month. If you meet the first goal consistently you can get more bonus swagbucks on top of that. Lately they’ve been having some really easy offers that will get me another 20-25 swagbucks just for signing up with my email address. It comes out to be 1 SB = $.01 which doesn’t seem like much, but it adds up quickly. Your first $25.00 gc every month (not counting paypal and the Visa gc’s) are discounted to 2200 SB as well. Since the first $25 gift card of the month is discounted I’m starting to get Walmart gc to use at Sam’s Club for Disney cards since Sam’s prices them at a ~5% discount. Anything I earn over that $25.00 I get paypal in case a sale or offer comes up later someplace else.
Ibotta – I used to earn around $20.00 a month from this though lately I’ve been slacking. For those who don’t know about it it’s an app that will give you offers for certain items at different stores. When you purchase them you scan the bar code along with your receipt and can earn cash back. You can cash out at $20.00 for paypal or venmo, but they also offer a $25.00 Sam’s Club gc as well.
Checkout 51 – It’s similar to Ibotta. You can cash out at $20.00, but they will send you the funds in the form of a check in the mail.
Saving Star – Another app for grocery purchases. The nice thing about this one is there’s no minimum for cashing out. The funds can be set to go to your paypal, bank account, upromise account, or they also have gift cards currently for itunes, Starbucks, or AMC Theaters.
Mobisave – Another grocery app. You’re supposed to select your offers before you make your purchases (there’s been times I’ll forget to select and do them the same day and still receive credit). They stay selected for a week before being removed where you’ll have to reselect the offer if it’s still available. Once your purchase is approved they will automatically send the funds to your paypal.
Shrink – Another grocery app, though I can’t say that I use it that often because I don’t typically buy the things they have offers for. It’s nice though if you tend to buy green/organic products as they seem to be what most of their offers are for.
Find&Save – This one’s nice in that it’s not limited to just grocery stores (they’ll normally have offers for restaurants and retail stores), but I’ve found that recently they changed and offers aren’t open for as long as they used to be so it’s something you have to keep an eye on. You also have to watch because sometimes an eligible offer with be for you to spend a certain amount along with buying a certain item (for example Spend $10.00 including a purchase of fries). This one will pay out in the form of a check within a day or 2 of reaching $25.
Receipt Hog – This one you earn coins for scanning receipts. You can cash out at 1000 coins for $5.00 in either paypal or Amazon, but it’s better to hold onto them because the more you earn the less you spend in coins to cash out ($30.00 for 4500 coins).
Shopping portals – I tend to use Swagbucks, Ebates, Upromise most of the time. I always check out cashbackmonitor.com to see who is offering the most cash back. I know Upromise doesn’t have a direct payout, but I find that for certain stores their payout is 2-3% higher, plus I can put this towards my children’s 529.
Credit Cards – Before I started working on saving for our vacation I worked to pay off our credit card debt. I paid off and cancelled one card that had no rewards and kept 2 others. The first is my American Express. I just have the basic card with 1% back, no annual fee, but every once in a while I will receive an offer for money back on our statement for purchasing a certain amount at a store. From what I've found a lot of the time purchasing a gift card will count on the offer, I just need to be mindful of the terms and conditions. My other card is the Disney Visa card. It is also only 1% back in the form of Disney Rewards (basically a Disney gift card) with no annual fee, but I hold onto it in hopes that there might be a decent card holder offer at some point. Currently I’m looking into a card for everyday purchases with a Higher percent back. I saw an offer for the Discover It card which earns 5% back in bonus categories along with having no annual fee, but I need to look into it more.
Other ways I earn are by selling the clothes my kids have outgrown or toys they no longer play with at local consignment sales. I know craigslist/facebook are other options, but I feel better doing it this way since normally they’re big event where people come out to shop. I’ll normally do at least 1 garage sale a year as well to try to “purge” our house of the things that seemed like a good idea at the time we bought them, but ended up just sitting on a shelf or in a cabinet for months on end. J
I know there’s other ways to save out there, but these are the ones I personally use. I’d be interested in hearing what everyone else uses to help save.
I would recommend a redo of your credit cards however.... they can be a lucrative path toward cheaper travel- (if you pay them in full each month that is) The disney visa is dismal in terms of rewards, even a chase freedom card paired with a sapphire preferred is so much better than the two you currently have. Either that or the SWA card for flights is incredibly useful.
