How do you afford 1-2 trips per year (not just DVC)

[DeeCee735]

On a wing and a prayer just kidding.....

We're both working full time, have managed to do what we feel is priority all these years. Things can be tight sometimes (especially with two kids in college) but I'm a master at budgeting (if I do say so myself ), and we're hoping to be able to continue pulling off a couple (if not a few) vacations a year!

We mostly spend on the tickets and the to and from, we are pretty good at not overspending while there, and we keep dining to a pretty decent level as well. Kids go for ESPN or Beaches and Cream - mostly places they can "hang out" at as well as dine. We don't usually order appetizers or dessert and we don't drink much alcohol, so it's basically an entree and a soda each - keeps dining costs down.

After having breast cancer a couple of years ago, and getting slapped with how fragile life is, and how quickly it can turn on a dime, we decided that we're going to live life to the fullest while still young and, thankfully, healthy enough. I used to worry about money all the time, now we do what we enjoy, and if there's a little debt when the kids get out of college, so be it - things will work out and we'll worry about it then. No more worrying about tomorrow - which I used to do so much - now I live for today, leave tomorrow in God's hands and enjoy my husband, kids, family and friends. As a matter of fact, we bought more points since, and we are really enjoying them! Life is good, so good....

 

[DeeCee735]

This is why God made tax refunds.

Seriously: we use that, and whatever money I squirrel away throughout the year.

FWIW...I did a quick tally the other day and discovered the entire cost of our 14-day visit to The World in June (not counting annual dues) came to roughly $3500. For two people. At SSR. That's airfare, car, park tix, food and souvenirs.

Not bad, for four or five of us for a week it's between $3000 - $3500 - all inclusive - if we had to pay accommodations, I imagine that it would be closer to $5500, but I haven't really looked at rack rates in a long time

 

[moredisneyplease]

My husband and I are in our early 30s with two little kids and he works full time and I do part time. Honestly if it werent for the following things I dont think we'd be able to afford my Disney habit!!

1) DVC........contract 1 paid off, working on 2 This makes our stays/vacations "free"
2) free travel......my husband does a good bit of traveling for work so we use his miles plus AMEX points to fly for free
3) Disney Visa points......our house stuff goes through our AMEX but my purchases go through my Disney VISA. I use those points as our spending money
4) This is my BIG ticket.....my husband works for ValleyCrest Int, which is the company that designs and maintains all of DIsney's landscape (WDW, DL, their studios,e tc). He's pretty high up and gets a $1,200 a year stipen for Disney purchases.

Sooooooo, we travel on miles, we stay on points, we use Disney dollars from Visa for spending money, and we use half the stipen for DL APs (we live in SoCal) and the other half for WDW park passes.

Oh, one more thing. My husband usually has to go to conference/convetion in Orlando about once a year so we'll hook at least one trip on to his business trip and then his ticket is free plus they cover food for him

Its a sweet deal if you ask me!!

 

[Laxmom]

Similar story to others here. I don't remember family vacations. I went with my folks on a couple of trips but brother and sister were gone by then. Parents wanted to travel and had dreams of going to Hawaii. By the time they retired, they weren't physically able. DH and I vowed to not make that mistake. For the first 15 years of our marriage, our vacations were to visit family. We went no where! In 2001 we purchased our first ts and our second in 2002. We bought to force us to take vacations with our kids before it was too late. We just purchased DVC last month. All together, we will now have 2 weeks per year between the 3 resorts that we own. We still travel as a family even though the oldest is married.

As for how to afford it? We don't eat out much. Even when on vacation. We would rather use the kitchen and spend our money on doing things. We usually drive one trip and fly the other. We shop the sales flyers when we need something. DH has ff miles that we use when we can. It really is a matter of priorities and making memories with our kids while we can has been a big priority since my parents died.

 

[Darkside]

I love this post! Years ago when my two oldest girls were 4 and 5 we managed to to stay at a Days Inn while visiting WDW. During this time in my family's life I had started a small business. We were so broke that my wife had to pack sandwiches for us to eat at the parks. I remembered being so impressed with Disney that I vowed to myself that someday we would stay at the nice accomadations and actually eat at the parks. Well, needless to say, my business did grow and succeed and I feel that I can attribute our success to that first visit to Disney. We visit WDW an average two times a year, sometimes more. We make family vacations a priority in my family, I know friends of our that are financially better off than we are and they hardly ever take vacations (maybe that's why why they are better off?)

 

[dopeygirl76]

We are in the vacations are a priority category. DH has a great job and I work part time to raise our two daughters. My income goes for our extras - like vacations and fun days. After my first trip in 2006 (DH had been to the World as a child) we were both so messmarized and over joyed at our daughter's reaction that we decided that as long as our girls were in love with Disney the way we are we'd figure it out. We live in a small city in SW PA where homes are a fraction of what they would be in larger cities nearby. We (I) am a planning nut!!! So we live on a budget to avoid unnecessary spending and to be sure that we can do the things we want - send our daughters to private school and travel!!!

 

[Lisa P.]

Extraordinarily few people can have it all... or even most of it...

buy and pay off primary home
upgrade to larger and/or more elegant home
second home or vacation property
newer furnishings
quality artwork
shopping, shopping, shopping
late model cars
high fashion wardrobe
expensive jewelry
high-end splurge events (wedding, host a reunion, splashy anniversary)
costly hobbies or sports interests (boat, country club membership, etc.)
study for advanced degrees (can be $$$)
weekly table service restaurant meals
more frequent take-out meals
expensive and/or frequent travel
solid investment portfolio
realistic retirement fund
children - baby "stuff"
children - favored sports & hobbies
children - private school
children - braces
children - car
children - college (see the pattern here?)
children - wedding
children - home down payment
children - the unexpected (medical?)

The vast majority of us have to choose the few of these that matter the most to us and minimize or sacrifice the others. The alternative is building serious debt and risking losing it all - which is exactly what some do. The less income you have and the more liabilities, the harder it gets to be able to do ANY of these things.

That, btw, is why DINKs are more likely to be able to afford more... it's not just their double income but their lower financial liabilities for two or more decades. So yes, to answer the previous poster, DINKs, by definition have no children that they are currently supporting nor have supported in the past. Empty-nesters are different. They are still affected later on, by having supported others for a long time, often struggling to play catch-up for the rest of their working years.

Choosing to spend money on vacations is just like spending it anyplace else. We all prioritize - consciously or subconsciously. It's so important to give yourself the chance to choose and then be content with what's reasonably possible!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Extraordinarily few people can have it all... or even most of it...

buy and pay off primary home
upgrade to larger and/or more elegant home
second home or vacation property
newer furnishings
quality artwork
shopping, shopping, shopping
late model cars
high fashion wardrobe
expensive jewelry
high-end splurge events (wedding, host a reunion, splashy anniversary)
costly hobbies or sports interests (boat, country club membership, etc.)
study for advanced degrees (can be $$$)
weekly table service restaurant meals
more frequent take-out meals
expensive and/or frequent travel
solid investment portfolio
realistic retirement fund
children - baby "stuff"
children - favored sports & hobbies
children - private school
children - braces
children - car
children - college (see the pattern here?)
children - wedding
children - home down payment
children - the unexpected (medical?)

The vast majority of us have to choose the few of these that matter the most to us and minimize or sacrifice the others. The alternative is building serious debt and risking losing it all - which is exactly what some do. The less income you have and the more liabilities, the harder it gets to be able to do ANY of these things.

That, btw, is why DINKs are more likely to be able to afford more... it's not just their double income but their lower financial liabilities for two or more decades. So yes, to answer the previous poster, DINKs, by definition have no children that they are currently supporting nor have supported in the past. Empty-nesters are different. They are still affected later on, by having supported others for a long time, often struggling to play catch-up for the rest of their working years.

Choosing to spend money on vacations is just like spending it anyplace else. We all prioritize - consciously or subconsciously. It's so important to give yourself the chance to choose and then be content with what's reasonably possible!

Wow, very thought provoking and true I think. Parenting and Grandparenting have been the motivations for many of our purchases. The lucky think is, for the most part, DH and I have agreed

We did lots of our Non-Disney vacationing in late '90s through '03 our DVC purchase. We took cruises vacations to Europe 3 times, and Alaska. We're finally able to visit Yellowstone this summer, just the 2 of us, and there's only 1 major "must take" vacation for us now...a cruise of Europe that will include a trip to Poland, our ancestral land. Gdansk is a must see for me. It looks as if '10 will be that year.

Bobbi

 

[Darthmerideth]

1. Own DVC, just enough to spend a week to 10 days each year in either a 1 br or studio.
2. My job is a major help, I fly alot, so I save frequent flyer points for me and my family to go once a year on the airline's tab. Southwest.
3. Save for the dining plan and tickets. I plan to get a chase card to apply toward these by the time I get to the next trip. This will cut that bill in half.
4. No rental, use magical express and Disney transportation. I have used my Hertz points that I built up in my job when we drove before.
5. We keep soveniers to a minimum. Maybe 1 or 2 items per family member, makes them more special anyway.

Could not do it without the blessing of my job and living modestly.

 

[Safari Queen]

As many have said, it is setting priorities, but there's also some luck and timing.

- I get enough FF miles to get free airfare for all our trips.
- We never rent a car -- it's ME and Disney transportation.
- We pack food and eat in the villa for breakfast and often use restaurant leftovers for lunch or a light dinner.
- We rarely buy any souvenirs.
- We buy annual passes, because the DVC discount makes the unlimited visits more affordable.
- Our kids are grown and are with us only 4 days of one trip
- Our highest expense is boarding our two dogs.
- We rarely eat out or go to movies and concerts; we drive small, economy cars with great gas mileage; and we buy clothes and household items on sale or deep discount.

When I retire, we'll probably take fewer, longer trips, since airfare is so high and I won't have free miles. The dogs are elderly and I'm afraid they won't be with us many more years. The Basenji is fear aggressive (an abused baby we got through rescue) and we can't get anyone to care for her in our home or in theirs. We'll try to make sure our next fur babies will be easy dogs that friends and family will enjoy watching while we're away. We'll have to reprioritize when we're on a limited income (maybe no more APs) but I could never give up WDW.

 

[Sheribo]

We travel to Disney twice each year for 6 nights each. Spring break in a 1br and November in a studio. Our home is comfortable but not perfect. We don't put a lot of money into home furnishings, expensive electronics or brass fittings for the bathroom etc. We love our home but we'd rather spend our money on making memories with our kids. We almost always drive which is much cheaper than flying for a family of 5. Putting on a new roof is a necessity but I'll cry just the same.

 

[Greg K.]

Not bad, for four or five of us for a week it's between $3000 - $3500 - all inclusive - if we had to pay accommodations, I imagine that it would be closer to $5500, but I haven't really looked at rack rates in a long time

Amen. Before buying into DVC, we would go to Disney every other year, for 10-14 days, staying at either the GF or BWI.

My best guestimate is that we have cut our vacation costs roughly in half by buying into DVC.

 

[Disney-Kim]

I agree with others that for us vacations are a priority.
We are also DINK's and this makes a HUGE difference I think. We traveled this year with family and 2 kids along....I saw firsthand how much more it is to travel with kids.

We financed our DVC purchase and still have a few yrs left to pay it off. but it just seems easier to make the monthly pymt than coming up with a HUGE chunk of cash at one time to pay for the room.

We buy annual passes...and get 2 trips out of every pass. We go 1 time a year...with the 2nd year falling in the last week before our AP's expire.
this means only having to buy passes every 3rd trip. We have done this for 10-11 years now.

DDE card...the discount dining card for AP holders...saves us 20% on all our sit down meals at the world...we do eat a lot of nice meals and this really helps.

We still buy some souveniers, but not much anymore. We save all our disney clothes and wear those each trip and we have been so many times we don't have to buy so many things any more.

We contribute weekly to our "vacation savings" acct. It is deducted automatically from our paychecks. We do a small amount, $25 per week. but that is $1300 a year for vacation spending money. It helps. We budget about $100 a day for food at WDW...so a 6 day trip is usually 600-700 for food. the extra balance in our acct can go to souveniers or our other vacations.

We sell our older fancier clothes at a consigment boutiques for extra cash...just let it build up for 6 months and cash out before our trip. and sometimes we do ebay for some extra cash.

Airfare has always been pretty decent but we have seen costs there go up a lot and this will be an issue on our May 09 trip...we could be looking at $900+ for air....we will see how the next year plays out with the economy.

 

[joeybugs]

My husband and I both have really good jobs - we are very blessed. We also don't have kids right now. We managed to buy a large house, but we often forgo buying furniture in favor of taking a vacation. I also put off buying a new car until I had to have one because I would rather use the money towards vacation. It's just a matter of priorities I guess. We just figure we should travel while we can and enjoy that and we give up on other things to enjoy seeing other parts of the world. We used our DVC to go visit Disney World in January and we will be visiting again in December. I try to use our frequent flyer miles as often as possible and we also use our Alaska Airlines "buddy" tickets too - that helps out.

 

[Eventer98]

I suppose some could look at our finances and say we can't "afford" our DVC points and 1-2 trips a year. We do use credit cards to pay for parts of it but also have DVC and AP's. We get the DDP b/c we love Disney food and look fwd to certain TS. But overall I have the philosophy that life is short. My mom died prematurely, with hardly any notice, and never really got to experience life once us kids were out of the house. So we go to Disney when we can and somehow it all works out. Money is tight but we don't have fancy stuff and we choose to live in a small house. I also just sold my horse to save over $400/month. Disney is our "thing" and I guess we live for the moment. Make sense kinda?

 

[DeeCee735]

I suppose some could look at our finances and say we can't "afford" our DVC points and 1-2 trips a year. We do use credit cards to pay for parts of it but also have DVC and AP's. We get the DDP b/c we love Disney food and look fwd to certain TS. But overall I have the philosophy that life is short. My mom died prematurely, with hardly any notice, and never really got to experience life once us kids were out of the house. So we go to Disney when we can and somehow it all works out. Money is tight but we don't have fancy stuff and we choose to live in a small house. I also just sold my horse to save over $400/month. Disney is our "thing" and I guess we live for the moment. Make sense kinda?

You have no idea how much sense this makes to me! I've had my own brush with life threatening disease, and I don't worry anymore. Used to worry about every penny and ya know what? It isn't worth it. Yes, we want to retire without having to eat dog food when we're older - who says we'll make it? After we were married, we put almost everything off....didn't buy new furniture, didn't take more than short, inexpensive weekend trips with the kids, didn't dine out or spend anything on holidays, etc. The only thing we did do was join a beach club every summer after the kids were born and while they were growing up. After a while, and after seeing my mom get so sick in her mid fifties years ago(she's okay now - thank God), we decided to start living alittle, and let tomorrow worry about itself. Then I had major health issues a couple of years ago - in 06. We bought DVC in 2000 and went once a year, maybe a second weekend trip, but we pinched and pinched and pinched. After I was diagnosed, and even through treatments, I up'ed my trips and we bought more points. I've got twins in college - $$$ ouch! - and we still vacation to DVC - just bought more points t AKL as a matter of fact. My take on all this, I'll grow old with debt anyway (not much, but it'll be there), hanging on to this "debt" free idea FOR US, means waiting til the golden years to live life - we decided to TOSS that idea and live while we are young and healthy (which I thankfully am once again) - for pete's sake who cares if we drive a fancy car or live in a big house (we don't and we don't and we don't ) - it's just MONEY, and when they bury us, we can't take our life savings with us - so we're spending it . Our kids will still be taken care of with our home as inheritance and our life insurance, and we are both working full time - so as long as I can pay my bills on time (and mostly in full), we're going, going, gone baby!!!

 

[Alexander]

In the last two weeks DH has had two cousins lose their husbands unexpectedly. One was killed in a car accident (54 y/o) and the other dropped dead of a massive heart attack yesterday (50 y/o). We cannot afford to miss one opportunity to live life to its fullest! I think this has been a real wake-up call to his brother who works over 80 hours a week, has a gorgeous new home, drives very expensive new cars, and spends very little time with his daughter and wife. We have been trying to convince him to come to WDW with us in Nov/Dec and he as finally agreed. SIL said, "at least if anything happens to him, we'll have one family vacation memory."

 

[WolfpackFan]

This is an interesting question. In our case, DVC is allowing us to take multiple trips every year. We're both retired and so our income is reduced of course from when we were working. We joined DVC specifically to pay for trips ahead of time, knowing we'd have less money once retired. With our points we can do at least 1 week at WDW, 1 week at HHI and an extra week doing something else (either upgrade room or go a second week). DW and I were talking yesterday and looking back on our trips since we retired and both agree, if it had not been for our DVC membership, we would not have been able to take the trips we have. Now, I know it does cost money for those trips - but nothing like if we had to pay for our accommodations also. We try to eat cheaper meals and we share a lot of meals (older folks do that a lot ). Also, AP have helped out a lot. We make sure we get multiple trips out of our AP's. Plus when we stay at HHI, we do eat in our unit quite a bit.

Now what I'm looking forward to is when I turn 62 in four years and start drawing SS. Then we will have the money to really do some major traveling (Hawaii here we come).

 

[thruthelookinglass19]

.

Now what I'm looking forward to is when I turn 62 in four years and start drawing SS. Then we will have the money to really do some major traveling (Hawaii here we come).

Mom??? Is that you?! J/K! My mom and dad were looking forward to this year for the same reason -- My dad retired about 8 years ago....but, couldn't start drawing on SS until his bday (June 18). Mom's bday is in November. They'll be traveling like crazy now as well (esp. to Hawaii!)

 

[Alexander]

Now what I'm looking forward to is when I turn 62 in four years and start drawing SS. Then we will have the money to really do some major traveling (Hawaii here we come).

I just want to say please enjoy all of your great vacations for us! We are in the generation that probably won't see our SS! It won't keep us from vacationing however! It just won't be to Hawaii or Europe!