How do you pay for your trips?

[AvaLovesMickey]

I'm in the process of saving money for my trip. I plan to use all money I make personally online (not hubby's money) to pay for the trip. We are trying to knock out bills with his money, so I plan to keep it separate. Not to be nosy, but I saw some trips costing $10,000 on the thread that people are posting trip prices on. I feel so poor after reading that thread, lol! Care to share how you pay for your trip? Rewards? Tax refund? Etc?

 

[An_Island_Girl]

We have a 20K budget for travel each year. (Not just Disney)

We just figure travel into our annual household budget the way other families account for new cars each year, new gadgets, jewelery, etc.

I also use my Disney Visa card to pay for almost everything (pay it off in full each month), so the Disney points accumulate and we pay our on-site charges using those rewards points.

 

[SDSorority]

We buy gift cards throughout the year for the places we're going. For Disney, we buy a $25 gift card as we can afford it throughout the month at the grocery. That way, the trip is mostly paid for through GC's AND we get $$$ off our gasoline, and it's spread out so it doesn't ding us too much.

 

[FINFAN]

barely, that's how. Actually, we always think we have it paid for in advance ($ in savings and use a cc for payment, then pay from savings)but lately we seem to always run 3-400 over! Need to stop that. I book the resort on a cc too, but make sure I have that paid off for sure ahead of arrival, usually by a month or 2. The same for airfare if flying. We usually get our tickets thru Mousesavers so that is yet another cc purchase that we pay off ahead. However...we have learned lately since we have had to reschedule several trips etc., that now we book, have the cash in savings becasue if we have to cancell altogether, we have the cah still, without waiting for refunds, and with tickets you may not be able to cancel. Airfare is tricky, we do drive a lot.

 

[gillenkl]

First, don't believe everything you read online. Do you think all those trips are paid in full when people return? No, I'm sure some take years to pay them off - add the interest payment and think about how much that trip (just one trip) will cost in the end. We like to payoff our trip before we leave so it isn't hanging over our heads.

Second, we use christmas bonus money and also I sell things during the year that we no longer use, etc...it all adds up. I also squirrel away $25 here and there and buy gift cards.

Bottomline - I don't worry about "keeping up with the Jones'). I take the kind of vacations my family can afford and we don't go into debt doing it. Our next trip is camping at Fort Wildnerness in our camper and I will be cooking 2 meals per day. You have to do what works for you and your family. In the end it doesn't matter how much your vacation cost (just because a vacation is super expensive doesn't mean it's better) - for us it's about spending time with family and making memories - and for my family it's the super budget plan.

 

[Karenj2]

We either budget for it (if we have the money already available) or we save for it. We use our Disney Visa card for EVERY cc expense (and pay it off every month), so that helps to cut down the cost of the trip.

For this upcoming trip, however, DH was given an "award" at work where he accumulated points that were good for various gift cards, which he chose disney gift cards. 60% of our trip was paid for by DH's award cards, 20% by our accumulated Disney Dollars, 15% was our OOP, and 5% was my MIL's portion (she's going with us).

HOWEVER, we don't do $10k trips either...

 

[Purseval]

Orlando is within relatively easy driving distance (6-7 hours) so we don't have to budget much. We look for deals year round on tickets, food and rooms then go when we have the right combination of free time and good deals.

If you're paying for a WDW trip with a tax refund you need to redo your taxes because you're letting the government use far too much of your money interest free.

 

[beansmom]

i must admit that DH is a physician so he makes decent money but we, too, have to plan and budget. We put all our travel on one cc then pay it when we get home. We then use the FF miles for travel to Europe. We are going to Italy next month and air and hotels for 13 nites is costing us right at $1000 because of our FF. We'll pay the 'daily' expenses (cab/train/food) on CC then pay it when we come home from his trust fund payment.

We travel 'alot' compared to most of our friends but that's why we work...to do what we want to do.

 

[Darkfirewolfe]

I can't emphasize the importance of the Disney Visa DisneyDollars enough. Mine and my husband's first trip together was almost completely paid for by the disney-dollars. ((I'm finishing a graduate degree, so I charge tuition and that helps rack up the points))

Also, I really hunt the specials. Our trip in January was twice as long as the previous May for almost the same price (maybe even a little less), b/c of the specials they were running since it was off-peak time.

Other than that (and the other basic saving stuff) - I'm a fan of envelopes in the underwear drawer. I stuff extra cash in there and then leave it alone so it isn't spent. And gifts - my family knows I would rather a disney gift card than a sweater.

 

[blackforest]

My DH is a great money manager. Our vacations are put onto 0% interest cc, then paid off. Sometimes we may take a year or even 2 to pay things off, but we are not paying any extra and we work it into our budget.

On the other hand, we decided not to take a NYE/DD's 16th birthday cruise, because her marching band will be in WDW in April performing. So, even though we could have done it, it was stretching our vacation dollars too much!

 

[NMW]

Well, for WDW trips it's really easy to book the trip through the WDW travel co. because it only costs $200. Then you have until 45 days before you leave to pay for the trip. We book it and then just pay an extra money we have towards it until it's all paid off. We book airfare usually when we book the trip and the prices are good. They are pretty good right now. We are paying less money for our 5 tickets to Orlando in May 2011 then we paid in May 2009. That makes me happy!

We do our trips at a deluxe resort because we are a family of 5-usually Yacht Club or Beach CLub and we ALWAYS do the deluxe meal plan to pre-pay for our food. This way there are no surprises with money. We budget for tips and alcohol and bring that down in cash.

I have never charged a vacation on a credit card. With the WDW travel co. you really wouldn't have to...you can just book and pay money towards your trip every month until you reach the 45 day mark. That's how we do it anyway.

One thing that worked for us was buying Disney gift cards every week when I grocery shopped...either $25 or $50. You can then use them for merchandise in the parks, food, etc. There are so many ways to save up for a Disney trip.

 

[disneychic2]

DH and I are firm believers in pay as you go! $10,000 for a trip to Disney? Yikes! Our budget includes money set aside for vacations. Once that budget is spent, we're done for the year. Our trips are always paid for in advance and I manage to squirrel extra money away for the extras. Check out Dave Ramsey books at your local library. He can get you on a budget that makes sense for you and makes life so much simpler! Good luck!

 

[Ava]

I'm trying to pay for our trip next May with "found" money - money from doing focus groups, rewards sites, selling on eBay, change jar, Disney Visa points, etc. Basically doing what you are doing, trying not to spend any of my regular salary on the trip. So far I'm about halfway there. I have a lot of things to go up on eBay this month so hopefully that does well.

I estimate our total trip cost to be about $3,000. This is for 6 nights at Pop Century, 6-day base tickets for 2 adults (DD will be under 3), airfare for 3 people, food, souvenirs, & a little extra budgeted for misc expenses. We do have enough in savings to pay for the trip, but it's become a game for me to try to "find" enough money to pay for it without using savings.

 

[DawnM]

I have an ING account that I put about $100/mo into for Disney.

DH gets a bonus that goes towards Disney.

We do Disney on a budget......drive down, stay off site, carry in much of our own food in a soft sided cooler, get homeschool days tickets or less expensive APs and go more than once, whichever is cheaper.

We can do Disney on $1,500 if needed and that includes dog sitting and food and gas for a week. This is with the homeschool passes and may be more if you are not a homeschooler, but still would be under $2,000.

Dawn

 

[MsMulan]

My family manages one trip to WDW every other year. During our "off" years, we usually try to do something closer to home, or find a good deal on one of our other favorite destinations. Usually, I allow the gov to take more than necessary out of my check by only claiming one exemption during the year. This method guarantees me money back after I file taxes. We also use a change jar, points for Disney Visa and most importantly start planning early. By the time we arrive, I have paid for travel, park tix, and accommodations. We generally have saved enough for meals and small purchases.

I may come back with small cc bills but nothing that I can not pay off by the next cc due date.

 

[AvaLovesMickey]

thanks for the responses everyone! I agree with paying off the trip before you go or as soon you get back. My husband makes good money too; however, I can not pay $10,000 for a trip unfortunately (and probably wouldn't). I finished a master's degree in school counseling last year and can't find a job. I WISH I would have thought about the Disney Visa when paying for my tuition, lol! I stay at home currently.

 

[leadfootlevi]

I use a CC that earns 2% cash back (I believe Disney Visa is only 1% unless they are doing a special promotion).

My bonus is vacation money. Any birthday money, garage sale, ebay, craigslist, survey money is put towards the vacation fund.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

First, don't believe everything you read online. Do you think all those trips are paid in full when people return? No, I'm sure some take years to pay them off - add the interest payment and think about how much that trip (just one trip) will cost in the end. We like to payoff our trip before we leave so it isn't hanging over our heads.

Second, we use christmas bonus money and also I sell things during the year that we no longer use, etc...it all adds up. I also squirrel away $25 here and there and buy gift cards.

Bottomline - I don't worry about "keeping up with the Jones'). I take the kind of vacations my family can afford and we don't go into debt doing it. Our next trip is camping at Fort Wildnerness in our camper and I will be cooking 2 meals per day. You have to do what works for you and your family. In the end it doesn't matter how much your vacation cost (just because a vacation is super expensive doesn't mean it's better) - for us it's about spending time with family and making memories - and for my family it's the super budget plan.

Exactly this! Could not agree more and glad to see I am not alone in this kind of thinking. We are a family of 4 and can only travel during the summer. We drive 24 hours to get to WDW. We only stay value and never do Park Hoppers or the DDP. For my family it would cost about $200 per day I cannot imagine spending that on food even though we can more than afford it. Instead I make an envelope with $200 per day for each day of our vacation. We eat very well whatever we want, buy souvenirs and little extras and still never spend it all each day. We stop at Wal-Mart for snacks and drinks and sometimes go off-site for meals. We are usually there for 10 days and our vacations have never cost more than $3000 including travel. When our vacation finishes we never owe one penny on it and usually bring money back too. The only thing to remind us of our magical vacation is our photos and memories and not the credit card bills.

We save all of our gift money throughout the year and also take part of our refund for vacations. My kids are more than OK with this and they appreciate the vacation even more knowing they helped pay for it.

 

[2disneyboys]

$10,000! YIKES! I would pass out if I ever spent that much on a vacation! not judging anyone else, just know for our family in our circumstances, it would NOT be happening!

We pay cash... budgeted from the prior year in our vacation fund. I'm not much for selling stuff (WHERE am I suppose to find the time for THAT!?!?) so we just write up a very solid budget and thats that. If we want to do something, we look in the "category" and see if we can. If we can, then we do, if we can't, then we don't. we have never (and never would) put a trip on a CC as thats just not for us. even with low or even 0% interest or points, I just don't like the credit card industry too much so I avoid it.

also, I've never stayed deluxe Yes, we could afford to, but the hotel is just not that important to me. I'd rather save that money or put it towards something else(like the annual passes we are upgrading to while in WDW in a few weeks!). vacations to WDW are usually @ a value or a moderate and we have also stayed offsite on occasion.

over the years, our trips have been as low as $1400 and as much as $3100 we drive down so add another $300 for the roundtrip costs.

 

[bjscheel]

Our trips run right at $3000. In the past we have used eBay money and/or put away money in an ING account till there is enough. I put the trip on the Disney Visa and make monthly payments out of our regular money until the 6 months free interest is up, then I pay it off from the vacation fund. (The full amount is saved before we go, but by paying some of it from regular funds for 6 months, I don't use up the vacation fund).

Now DH is self employed driving truck and we got a Capital One gas card that pays 2%. He buys a LOT of fuel. Last month we earned over $100 in rewards for the month. I am going to save the rewards money for travel (undecided whether it will be Disney in 2011). By June I think we will have enough for at least the plane tickets from the rewards.