We went for a month in Jan/Feb 2008, and we'll be back for another month in Nov/Dec 2008.
We're a one-income family......saving for these two trips was done by:
We don't have cable TV....if you can give that up you'll save what $50 a month, that's $600 a year. We don't have Netflix or anything like that either. We don't GO to movies either, because after paying for 2 adults and 2 kids we could just wait two months or so and buy the DVD....and that doesn't include the cost of popcorn or sodas either! And we do buy many DVDs....but we also borrow many that we'll only want to watch once from the library. If we then decide we really liked it, we'll wait until it's not "new" any more and is discounted at places like discountdvds.com I figure that by not rushing out to buy every movie the minute it comes out we save hundreds each year. There are a few that we "have" to have immediately so we get to
Walmart the day it comes out so that we get the best price possible on it "new".
We don't go out to eat very often.....I cook a lot from scratch instead of buying frozen foods or ready made type things so our grocery bills are much lower. Yes, I do stay home, but I also homeschool the girls and we are out and about a lot on field trips, co-ops, etc. So I really don't start cooking until late in the day, sometimes not until after my DH gets home before us. What I'm saying is that you don't have to be home all day to cook from scratch. Check your library for cookbooks on 30 minute meals......and then do a bit of planning ahead of time (weekends) to be sure that you have the necessary ingredients. Many of the ideas do literally take less than 30 minutes of prep time. So come home from work, get things started, go change clothes while they cook, and then sit down to eat. It's really not that much longer than you'd be stopping for take out. Healthier, cheaper. Put the difference from your budget into a Disney fund. Our food budget for 2 adults and 2 tweens is $300-400 a month (doesn't include beauty supplies, paper products, etc...just food)
I pack a lunch for my husband to take to work.....since he'd spend about $8-10 a day for lunch eating out, and I can make him lunch for a dollar or two (sandwiches, leftovers to heat up, fruit, homemade cookies (mixed up huge batch on weekend, freeze in balls and take out to bake while we eat dinner for dessert or next day use), store brand cans of soda, etc)....that means we save at least $120 a month on lunches for him. The kids and I pack a lunch when we'll be out all day as well....we invested in one of those plug in coolers so ours stays cool in the car (important when it is over 100 degrees every day of summer). DH works in an office now, but when he worked in the field, he used a plug in cooler as well. About $50 pays for itself quickly.
Look over your other expenses and decide if they are more important then a vacation. Some people spend a lot of money on clothing and shoes and things like that....if your closet is already bulging, consider whether you REALLY need new clothes, or if maybe a Saturday afternoon of going through your closet and putting together new outfits from what you have and just buying a few well chosen accessories will make them feel new to you. Or maybe hit a thrift store in the better part of town (the people in the better part of town tend to give better quality clothes to thrift stores). There can be some awesome bargains there if you're willing to look through the not so great stuff too.
What other expenses do you have......a daily Starbucks stop can be $5 a day, $25 a week, $1200 a year!!!
How about Saturday nights out on the town.....how much do you spend at the local restaurant, bar, nightclub, whatever. If it's your chance to hang with your friends, why not invite them over to your house instead.....fix a few snacky foods, tell them to bring a bottle of rum/tequila, whatever, crank up the music, and have just as much fun. Ok...so it's not quite the same if your hanging out is to meet friends/potential spouses, lol....but you get the idea. Maybe nurse that drink a while so you only spend half as much. I remember my single party days, it wasn't uncommon to drop $50 a night....that's $200 a month (or $400 if you party Friday and Saturdays) or $2,400 to $4,800 a year! Between the parties and Starbucks, you could have a great Disney trip!
What else could you cut out or cut down on that you wouldn't even notice after a little while. Yes, you'll miss it in the short term, but find something else that will be fun to replace it, and watch how quickly those expensive habits go away. If need be, print out something that reminds you of Disney and put it on the refrig/bathroom mirror/bedroom wall...somewhere that you can see it and remember what your financial goals are.
A few dollars each week don't seem like much ("it's only a buck, I can afford that"), but added up over the year it can be a huge amount! Grab yourself a container of some kind, put it on your dresser and dump your pocket change into each and every night. You'll be amazed at the hundreds of dollars you'll have in a very short time. I give my kids all my pocket change (I hate carry it) and when we decided last April that we were going to Disney in January, they started saving everything they could. They each had over $400 between pocket change, allowances ($2 a week), birthday and Christmas money, finding odd jobs to get paid for from the neighbors, etc. Any money you come across that isn't from your paycheck (i.e. therefore isn't a part of your budget)...put it in an account or container specifically for Disney fund. Don't mix that money in with your main checking account, or you'll spend it because it's so visible. Put it in a separate account, or a bucket under the bed, whatever works....so you rarely see it and therefore don't think to spend it.
Ok...off this soap box....but if you really want to save for an annual DIsney trip, you really just have to make an effort.
EDITED: Well, as if all that wasn't long enough......when it comes time to plan the vacation there are ways of going on the cheap too. Stay offsite...much cheaper, even when factoring in rental cars......eat a few meals each week outside Disney......do more CS than TS......plan your annual vacations so that you can use an AP more than one trip (that is, we went in Jan and are going again in Nov.....when the AP expires in Jan we won't renew....we'll wait until next fall and buy a new AP and go late fall, then probably the following spring, so always at least two uses of AP. If you have to go approximately same time each year, plan it so that your second trip ends a day or two before your AP expires). If you're going every year then you really don't have to do everything every time...pick one expensive event for each trip, rather than having to do them all....that Signature resturant, the hard ticket event, Cirque, whatever it is for you. There are lots more ways of saving on a trip but still having a grand time.....read the DIS board with an open mind and see which you can do. Sometimes we get our mind set to "if I'm going to Disney then I MUST stay at a deluxe, must go to TS every night, must do party and circque and hoop de doo and........" and then you find that you can only go every two or three years. If you can lower your MUST you'll find that you can go more often and you'll also probably be amazed to find that it's really not necessary to do all that stuff every time. Just being there is enough, no matter where your pillow lies or what you eat...you're in Disney, not at home in the back yard moaning about this crappy stay at home vacation.
EDITED AGAIN: Ok, if anyone is still reading this ridiculously long thing......something else I wanted to say. Get it into your head too that saving money doesn't mean no fun......you'll find it a little tough at first, changing any habit is....but you'll also find that as time goes on you get better at saving (plus your salary hopefully goes up, and a wise saver will take the raise and put it away rather up your life style by the whole amount)....and once you're better at saving, then you'll find that you have a larger vacation fund, and then you CAN do some of those things that you thought were MUST....maybe...or maybe you'll have come to realize that it's about BEING at Disney as much as it is eating that $40 steak, or sleeping on a nearly identical pillow but in a much fancier room that you don't see much off because your eyes are closed or your at the parks. We can afford many vacations and short trips because I've learned to save anywhere I can....and yet we have wayyyyy too much stuff in the house still, my kids have a closet that overflows (and they're twins who prefer to dress alike, so no thrift clothes for them), but we've finally gotten a handle on the wants vs the needs....and travelling has become a need for us, so we give up a lot of wants that later we realize we don't even miss. If you put off buying something you think you MUST have, chances are that you'll find you've forgotten the need in a week. When the girls go to Disney they take a notepad to make a list of all the souvies they think they HAVE to have....write down where, what, cost. At the end of our trip they go through and decide what they want to buy. And guess what....most of that stuff gets crossed off. But if they'd bought them right there and there, they'd run out of money half way through...instead they come home with a couple well chosen souvies, and some cash for our next trip.