How do you Budget? Do you (1) Save more money for trips (2) Spend less for trips

[SandraC]

Hi all! I seem to save and save and save until I can afford the best possible trip. I know I could spend less and go more frequently, but I go for the quality instead of quantity.

How about you? Do you:

(1) Save your money until you have enough for your dream vacation?

(2) Spend less while you are there?

Thanks! S

 

[tinaluis]

We usually spend less on our overall trip so we can visit at least twice a year. We use Priceline for our hotel reservations, drive down (with a Priceline hotel overnight each way), bring a cooler for snacks, drinks, etc., and have APs for Universal/IOA and 7 day hopper plusses for WDW. We usually do 2 park days and 1 water park at WDW and spend the rest of our time at Universal so we only have to buy park tickets every three trips. We eat some meals in our room, but most we eat at the parks (counter-service with Connections vouchers) or at Wendy's, McDonalds, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, etc. We also have friends who live in Orlando so we have dinner at their house 3-4 nights out of 14. Without factoring in the cost of our tickets, we usually average about $900 for two weeks including hotel, gas, food, etc. Not too bad for a family of 5.

 

[4greatboys]

I try to pay for stuff little by little so that a lot of it is taken care of by the time we get there. We are dvc so room is taken care of. We watch for bargin airfares. I do mypoints and I am in the process of getting some RFC certs with my points so one meal we wont have to pay for. I also use some Simple Escape vouchers,, we are going to do a couple of character meal and will use some Q&C vouchers. Since we will have a kitchen in our room at OKW we will be eating in some there too. Then other than that I just spend whatever I need to we dont go wild but there are certain that I'm going to do.
We also have AP's for US/IOA. We are debating now whether to get AP's for Disney--we will go next year before they expire. Or get the 30 day passes from Paramount. Just a little more $$ when buying for 2 trips.

 

[frannn]

We stay at the AS, eat at the food courts, counter service, and offsite. We bring snacks, gift certs from rewards programs, try to get airline and hotel discounts, buy AP. For me, the only way I can truly relax is to go as far from home as I can get, while having something totally taking up my physical and mental being. Otherwise, I will worry about work, do work, etc. So the longer the stay or multiple stays, the better. I don't look for deluxe (or even moderate) anything because it'll be over before I know it. I'm a simple girl at home also. I buy our stuff for the trip little by little, when there are DS sales, etc. By the time I'm done, we have new wardrobes for the trip and then some! APs help a lot also. I guess its a personal choice. Whatever brings you the most magic!

 

[mad4themouse]

I guess I'm the kind who will save and save until I have enough for that dream vacation. I grew up spending half of my vacations in the backseat of the old Ford station wagon with my 5 siblings, no air- conditioning and an 18' Norris trailer in tow. I feel as if I have paid my dues and now I want certain things.

I will scrimp and save all year (or more) for that great vacation. I'll even drop a day or two from the itinerary if it looks as if money will be tight. I'd rather have good food, a great room and plenty of $$ to spend while I'm there than to count every penny and worry if I'll have enough to make it until the end of the trip. Lord knows I do enough penny-pinching the rest of the year!

 

[ASFCurly]

I try to do a little of both, I save and save (which takes a while, as I have been in college, I am just graduating this semester) and don't mind not staying in a moderate or deluxe.

 

[nicknamy1996]

I tend to save enough for a dream vacation. Deluxe hotels, Expensive sit down meals every night and lots of character meals. Then realize I'd rather spend the money on souviners.(It is a good way to extend the vacation when you get back home)

But the character meals stay! every year that is one of the highlights of our trips!

With our APs paid for before last years trip, next years was starting to to feel like a free trip. In the excitement of only having to pay for the hotel we briefly considered upgrading to a moderate or even the Contemporary, I had more than enough for the mod. put aside but not enough for the deluxe and then I realized thats not our thing right now. Feb is usually just a little to cold for the pool and the kids realy enjoy the Toy Story theme at ASM. And to top if off we spend very very little time at the hotel anyway. So we will stay at the AS resort, and bring down and extra $700-$800 of "guilt free" souviener money along with all of our budgeted money (including other souvieners). I am a very big budget guy and I plan on going to World of Disney in DTD and suprising my wife with a $500 Travelers check and telling her "go nuts, here is the money we saved on the hotel." If she doesn't have a heart attack she will have the best time shopping filling our house with things that will remind her of our vacation for a long time.

Wow I just thought of that as I was typing I now I really have to do that. I'll bet the entire 500 she'll cry like a baby when I give it to her, and that will be an unforgetable feeling for me.

PS what is that mouse getting ready to do to that bear in that picture up there???

 

[MomE@Home]

I do both. We buy our passes and pay for our room/campsite beforehand. We bring food for breakfasts and some dinners to save money. We have a change jar for souvenir money. We went to WDW for the first time (as a family) last April and now we're hooked ! We can afford to go once every two years .

 

[MK Familystone]

1. use a credit cards that pay cash back , 1% etc.
2. bookmark or signup for current promos of each airline you use.
3. when you go to the grocery store and use a mfg. coupon put the money you save in a cookie jar up to ten dollars then put in the safe or your mattress DON'T USE IT!
4. NEVER pay Regular or Peak Saeson Rates without a discount.
5.Every morning before coffee or Late at night after 11pm do your Daily book marks. Airlines,Dis Baord, Car Rental, Mousesaver.com, Travel clubs, and any Discount Club site.
It's like a daily wokout!
6. After visiting sites make a spreadsheet or log of prices and offers this is your price basis.
7. FINALLY! DON'T HESITATE WHEN YOU SEE A DEAL, BOOK-IT!
You can always modify or cancel.
Example: I got a Bjs flyer today and went to hertz.com in the afternoon , got a quote for $176 ttl for a week Full size car, waited till an hour ago and was rejected because the promo quota by hertz was filled. Booking would have cost me ZERO!
I NOW HAVE ZERO!

Hope I have been helpful!

The Magic Happens!!!!!

 

[ASFCurly]

nicknamy1996 I didn't see that before, maybe I should switch them around

 

[madge]

I would say we choose option 2....we made the choice that we would rather take "budget" vacations every year rather than "trips of a lifetime" every few years. Here's what we do:

• since we stay at SoG or the Dolphin, we have a pretty good idea what the room cost is up front, no waiting for codes or special rates
• same with the passes--although I am always searching for the best deal on those. The price really doesn't change that much, give or take, over time
• to cover all the fun stuff, I use our "fun money" account. That determines how much eating out, mini golf, extras, etc we do. I follow all the budget tips here for stretching my $$$ so we usually have a pretty good time! The fun money comes from birthdays, ebay, setting aside a little bit each month....it really adds up over a year
• we never feel deprived on our trips, always onsite, always lots of fun! my kids don't know any other way....I'm sure they think every mom packs snacks for the hotel room

we follow this line of thinking for every trip, not just WDW.

 

[Pirate'slife4me]

I agree with you that quality is better than quanity. We like to save until we can stay onsite wherever we want, for as long as we wish, and not have to worry about how much we spend or where we eat.

After all it's a vacation!

 

[beansmom]

*IF* I get to go this year, it will definitely be the 'spend less' program.

DH has just decided he has to return to school for a better job-which means all of our disposable income has just been disposed of! DD and I will be going alone and we willstay CBM and eat much more cheaply---I guess I wll save my 'deluxe' experiences for next year when dh can go with us. Our souvenir budget will be shaved to the bone as well.

So, I figure for the two of us we can go for less than $2k. Pretty cheap to me.

 

[crisi]

We don't go often (with DVC now, every other year, less often before that), but, when we go, we don't scrimp to get there. We book what we can afford at the time we decide to go (generally a Deluxe or a Moderate for a week) - we aren't souvenier people, but we do eat out well often and do stay on-site. To me, if I'm not eating well and staying on Disney property, it isn't a Disney vacation and I'd rather just go somewhere else (YMMV - plenty of people get lots of magic staying offsite and packing peanut butter, but not me). If I am scrimping in my life, there are more important things to me to save for than Disney (once again - YMMV, annual Disney vacations are not a huge priority in my life - doesn't mean I'm judging anyone else).

 

[ZerasPride]

I guess I like to have my cake and eat it too! I want the deluxe vacation but I don't want to save and save for years to take it. That's one of the reason we bought DVC. I know my accommodations are taken care of that we will be staying at a nice resort with a kitchen, king bed and room for my son and his guest either on a sleeping sofa or a second bedroom. Since my dues and mortgage payment are taken directly out of my checking account, I don't have to worry about finding a good onsite deal and then coming up with the cash to pay for it. We can eat a few quick meals in the room (mostly breakfast stuff) which saves money on expensive character breakfasts, although I still like to have at least 2 every visit. We have driven down once but I prefer flying so I watch the fares out of Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Akron.

For my unexpected August trip, I found airfare from Cleveland on Continental for a little over $200 roundtrip, direct. Not the cheapest I've ever paid but way better than the $300+ I was seeing a few months ago. One of the biggest expenses for me tickets. I think for my needs buying a 6 or 7 day hopper and splitting it between trips works best. We went to Disney this past November and I've got one day left on 4-day hoppers from three different tickets which is enough for my 5 day trip in August. I love Disney and look forward to visiting many many times over the next 39 years - whether budget or all the way blow out spending. I can have a good time either way!