How do you guys afford....

[Tiggerlover91]

to go to Disney so much? I haven't been in 2 years and I don't see another trip coming anytime soon. I'm a FL resident, so I get all kinds of wonderful discounts, but still...how do you all do it? I apologize, I'm just feeling sorry for myself.

Denise

 

[jamsmom]

Well, I know how you feel. I was fortunate to have a job and a relationship that allowed several jobs over the last 4 years (6 or 7 trips in all)

But, that job is gone as is that relationship! Once I find a job and move out, I will barely make it paycheck to paycheck. So, no trips for me for a millinium probably.

Yes, I too, am feeling sorry for myself tonight. {{{HUGS}}} to you!!!

 

[Mad4Mickey]

I often wonder that to myself. I dont know the answer really, I think it is the only thing I really "DO" for myself . Also my kids do not really want to go anymore . My husband wont go and so it is just me and a friend when I go .Wish I could take you both with me !

Wishing you a Tagged night ( and a Trip real soon )

Mishell

 

[HauntedMansionGeek]

Well, hubby and I are/were fanatical about finding ways to save so that we never had to put it on a charge card....so we had rummage sales, saved ALL our change, I mean ALL of it...it adds up if you save all year this way. Any work bonuses went toward travel and all birthday and Christmas monies recieved also went toward trips. It was nice because we used extra money for our trips...you would be surprised I think, to know how much extra comes in over a years time.

We also took advantage of sale flights and off times of the year to go...

now that hubby is without a job though, those extras we get will now go toward living expenses.
Yep. the trips do end, when the money ends, that's for sure! LOL

There are still ways to save for a trip even if the money is tight though. Don't lose the dream!

 

[AlexandNessa]

BF and I no longer exchange Christmas and birthday presents. We found that we were running out of ideas and spending more and more $ trying to out-do each other and ourselves from the previous year's gifts. Instead, we take trips using the $ we would have spent on presents. We see it as taking time together to celebrate our year's accomplishments and each other. This is all the more special since we both work shifted tours, and it's often difficult for us to get the same week off together -- it requires a lot of planning.

Fortunately, I'm a good planner, and whenever we plan a trip, I look daily for good airfare or special deals. I'm a fairly decent bargain shopper, and for what we'd have spent on each other for Christmas and 2 birthdays, I usually wind up planning us 2 excellent vacations a year -- this usually includes a cruise and either WDW or UO. I guess you can say we exchange memories instead!

 

[wdw4us]

When we got married we went to WDW- in the old days where there was only 1 park 1974. We didn't go back for 10 years. My husband had a business he started, we had 2 small children and a lot of bills to pay. (medical)

When things settled down, I managed to put my paycheck in direct deposit into a savings account that was at a bank that was difficult to go to. It made me save because we'd make do until I could go to the bank. That way we didn't spend as much.

I cut coupons and got the money back from the cashier and put that money away. The kids had envelopes for their spending money and once $$ was in the envelope, it could not be touched.

We almost never went out to eat during the year. If we did, we went to inexpensive restaurants. The only exception was for a birthday, then the kids got $50 and a meal at the restaurant of their choice. No party but they knew they were going to WDW!

We stayed off property for a few years! Gasp, can you imagine? But we didn't know better at the time.

Our children are grown now but they always say the best thing we ever did for them is to take the m to WDW every year. They still love coming with us and in November they will bring their s/o with them along with cousins, spouses etc.

Set goals, keep them and you will make it!

good luck.

denise

 

[Patrick IL.]

In addition to my full time job and my DW's full time job I work two other part time jobs. One is coaching and one is teaching. We combine that with doing alot of research and flight watching for pricing. I take a percentage of the income I earn from doing the extra positions and save it for our trip. I do hope you are able to get to the world soon, I feel like you everytime I get back and am not able to return for a long time.

 

[WDWLVR]

We're DINKS so that helps. Disney and our vacations is the one big thing we do for ourselves. Niether one of us drinks or smokes so we don't have those expenses. We hardly ever eat out (we are definate homebodies) and rarely go see more than 2 movies a year.

I use Microsoft Money to keep track of our accounts and I set up a bogus account in checking called "vacation fund". After I pay the bills each pay period I try and put some in that and it adds up. The money never really leaves the account, but is hidden away so we don't spend it on other things. Then when the cc bill for airline tickets or what not come in I just "transfer" the money back and use it to pay the bill.

We also inheritied some money when my mom died and used that to buy into DVC. It was the best thing in the world for us because it really helps in our vacation planning (since most of our yearly accomodation budget is pre-paid) and with having a villa with a kitchen that really helps because we don't eat out as much on vacation then.

I'm in a situation where I could lose my job at any time (and have done so twice in the past). If that happens the trips may be put on hold. Until then I use my trip planning to cheer me up on the bad days.

My best to all of you and hope you get back to Disney soon!

 

[dianeschlicht]

We purchased DVC back in the mid nineties, and now our vacations only "cost" us our maintanance fees plus airfare and park admissions and food. We figured out how much we were spending a trip, and decided that DVC would pay for itself in a couple of years. Now, we just save our loose change everyday. It goes in a big two foot tall plastic coke bottle bank. We don't use change for ANYTHING! We manage to save about $1000 in change each year, and that is what we purchase annual passes with. We plan our trips so we get 2-3 trips on one AP. BEcause our maintanance fees for DVC are paid in January, and we can make as many ressies as we have points for, it just takes a little planning. I always feel like the 2nd and 3rd trip a year are "freebies" because we only have travel expenses and food to worry about. We save quite a bit on breakfast and supper by eating at the DVC villa using our kitchen, and we have one nice dinner out each day at one of the nice restaurants in WDW.

 

[Mamu]

Denise this is a question thats been asked lots of times.

I was a stay at home Mom. With 4 children and one paycheck there were not a lot of Disney Trips. When my children were small airfare was sky high. We always budgeted for vacations but they weren't to Disney. Those were expensive vacations, and once ever 5-6 years we would plan a trip. Then came colleges, I was not a stay at home Mom any more. It was time to go out and work.

If these boards had been around then, I'm sure I would have been asking the same questions and feeling sorry for myself.

You do what is within your means. My children are all grown out on their own. I still work, DH works. We are at a stage in our life, our home is paid and we own are vehicles. Our monthly bills are very small.

We do go more frequently now and we take our Grandchildren with us. We also plan a few other vacations within the year. Sometimes with the Grandchildren, sometimes without.

 

[Pop Daddy]

where all stinking rich

 

[katerkat]

We're DINKs, and I'm a huge saver. DH is convinced I squirrel away anything and everything. I was actually used to living on an extremely tight income, so now with both, saving is easy! Oh, and we would stay off site on a military deal in a suite, so we save on cooking.

Our biggest problem is time off. DH hasn't had any since July 2002. We've taken a couple of small weekend trips, but he hasn't had enough days off to get to Disney. It's killing me that we can't make it to take advantage of the military deals.

 

[helenabear]

I used to ask the same question... I used to wish I could go once a year let alone more than that. However, I have found that this is what I love to do for myself. We both work full time, don't have kids and just the way I budget things, I am able to do two "big spends" a year w/o dipping into any savings. And to make life even more comfortable for us, we just recently found a way to drop about $180/month off of our car payments and $170/month off of our mortgage. Makes life even easier. I also go with friends to split the cost of the room and have the AP and seem to really get my monies worth out of it. I don't seem to spend a lot of money on food as well so that helps. My last trip was only about $400-500 for five days. Right now we are thinking about DVC as well, but not sure if that really is for us right now. More or less I find that a trip to WDW is a lot more important to me than other extras (eating out a lot, tons of new clothes, big gifts for special occasions for me) so that is where my money goes

As I said I was in your shoes not too long ago... hopefully you and all who want to go, can make it back soon!

 

[MegaDisney]

Tiggerlover91,

Thanks for posting this. I am in the same situation as you. Last time I was in WDW was Sept 2001, and the prospects of another trip any time soon aren't too good. We had a baby in January and I am currently a SAHM (which I love), but obviously this has an impact on our finances. DH and I have discussed me getting a part-time job, and if this were to happen maybe we could work a trip out of it- even a long weekend trip for us would be great. It is hard, isn't it? I think what we are going to do is just start planning a great trip for our 5 year anniversary, which isn't until May 2006! However, I find that planning for a trip, no matter how far away, really helps. Perhaps that is something you can do for yourself, for a couple of years from now? Folks have been posting some wonderful saving ideas, and hopefully some of these can help you.

Good luck- and take comfort in knowing others are in the same boat!!

Meg

 

[kdibattista]

DH and I have no children and make an average income (maybe a little higher than average) but he bartends on the side (I use to as well until I started school). All of our extra income $$$ goes towards our vacations and other fun stuff. I'm sure as the years go by and we do start to have children, our circumstances will change and we are okay with that.

 

[Minnesota!]

We save all our change and $1 bills. I put about $200 a month into a separate account that I pay for vacations and one loan out of. I put everything on our delta skymiles credit card, and then pay it off with the $$ I have saved - that way we accumulate FF miles, and keep our credit rating up Like all before said - the vacation is more important than presents or eating out.

 

[Gette88]

DH's union takes so much a week out of the members checks then in Nov. everyone gets a vacation check. We also make payments toward the resort throughout the year and we usually drive down. We never put any of our trip on credit cards. We also save by getting 4 day hopper passes instead of length of stay. We have gone with no passes too. We like to spend time at our resort and we also like to go to Universal Studios, so why pay for passes we don't need.

 

[JESW]

We have been very fortunate. DH does have a good job and has been there for over15 years so he has gone up the ranks to a high position. His department also gets bonuses based on performance and we always bank those for vacations. He also gets stock options. We are in our 40's and our house is paid off so we don't have a mortgage and that helps.

I also clip coupons, save and roll change, shop at yard sales and other things to save $$$. Our kids are young (4 & 8) so we still have a few years to save for college - we started accounts for them both when they were born. I also shop at stores like Wal-Mart and Target instead of the higher priced ones. Every little bit helps!


Jill

 

[Kitty 34]

I budget, budget budget!!! And I make sure we always stick to it!
I'm not a big spender at all so this probably helps!

Also, I used to go to Bingo every Sunday night with the girls at $40 a time. I did the Math on how much I was spending in a year there and gave that up. I never won much anyway!


But most of all I read the DIS constantly! It's amazing how inexpensive my trips have been since I found this place.

 

[mhopset]

We usually only go once a year. This year we decided we were not going to go, but some things happened, and I needed something to look forward to (dumb I know, but) my brother and SIL are DVC members and have enough points to get us a room very, very cheap (I love my brother). plus my nephew is in the military and can get admission very cheap (love my nephew too)!

Plus, there is only 3 of us. DW is a RN, we don't really have any bills, and I am so tight I squeak when I walk

Hope you can make it to the world soon. Hang in there things will get better.