How do you save for a trip?

[abyrd86]

If you must know......I'm a single mother with two kids. When I was married and dual income my tax return wasn't much at all except for the year or two after we bought our home.

Now that I'm single, head of household, two kids (that I cover health insurance, etc) and I receive no alimony (I do get child support that doesn't get claimed) I get a tax refund back even with adjusting my withholding.

Same goes for me

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I'm also not paying rack rate for the BC. I got a magical deal. I'm paying moderate prices for a deluxe hotel and cheaper than UT for my tickets. So when I say tax refund we are nowhere near $5000++ like some might think when they see BC.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Seriously?
Are there really this many of you that naïve to financial planning 101?
If you are getting a tax refund large enough to pay for a vacation, you need to adjust your withholding immediately. Why are you giving your money to the Federal Government to hold on to all year long? Save that same amount of cash in an investment of your choosing.

Oh please.

Assuming a $5,000 tax return, please tell me how these one could adjust their withholding over the course of year from paychecks and find an investment that would really give them that much more back in interest. So say $5,000 over 24 paychecks over a year. If you know a checking account that will take that small amount of money spread out over a year and give a good return and allow you access to it when you need it, please let me know!

It's perfectly fine financial planning to use that amount of money for something like a vacation. Now if you are getting $100,000 back, you're doing it wrong.

 

[Fenway1970]

Seriously?
Are there really this many of you that naïve to financial planning 101?
If you are getting a tax refund large enough to pay for a vacation, you need to adjust your withholding immediately. Why are you giving your money to the Federal Government to hold on to all year long? Save that same amount of cash in an investment of your choosing.

I agree with this and follow it (my refund or amount owed is typically less than $100), but for some people it's a painless way of saving. Yeah, any financial planner is going to blanche at the suggestion of using your tax withholding as a pseudo-savings account, but it removes willpower from the equation. You literally have no access to that money until you get your refund so there's no chance to spend it elsewhere. Also, no one likes to send money to Uncle Sam in April, so some taxpayers intentionally over-withhold by a wide margin to avoid that scenario. It's certainly not optimal, but I do understand why people do it.

To answer OP's question, I'm with others in that I make it a budget line item. Estimate how much money you'll need to contribute from your regular take home pay (as opposed to bonuses, gifts, tax refunds, etc.), divide that amount by the number of paychecks remaining between now and your trip, and set the result aside out of every check.

I get paid bi-weekly so depending on how my paychecks fall in relation to when bills are due in a given month I may adjust the vacation line item up or down for any given pay period, but I will account for that either way with future checks.

 

[wdw&sonny]

If you must know......I'm a single mother with two kids. When I was married and dual income my tax return wasn't much at all except for the year or two after we bought our home.

Now that I'm single, head of household, two kids (that I cover health insurance, etc) and I receive no alimony (I do get child support that doesn't get claimed) I get a tax refund back even with adjusting my withholding.

Same goes for me

I am not trying to get personal. Regardless of your situation, you can adjust your withholding to get as much back as you choose. You don't have to just enter a number of exemptions. You can enter a dollar amount to pay.

Oh please.

Assuming a $5,000 tax return, please tell me how these one could adjust their withholding over the course of year from paychecks and find an investment that would really give them that much more back in interest. So say $5,000 over 24 paychecks over a year. If you know a checking account that will take that small amount of money spread out over a year and give a good return and allow you access to it when you need it, please let me know!

It's perfectly fine financial planning to use that amount of money for something like a vacation. Now if you are getting $100,000 back, you're doing it wrong.

Wow! Really? $5,000 tax return? If you had said $500 I might have let that go. Ever heard of a Mutual Fund? The DOW is up over 10% this past year. Pick a decent fund and you could gain 15-20%. That's $750-$1000 dollars in interest.

 

[DanInMN]

Wow! Really? $5,000 tax return? If you had said $500 I might have let that go. Ever heard of a Mutual Fund? The DOW is up over 10% this past year. Pick a decent fund and you could gain 15-20%. That's $750-$1000 dollars in interest.

Stocks as short term savings is gambling. A few years ago you could have lost a lot in a year.

Also in this case the $5k was built up over a year, so a 10% gain would be only around $250.

In this situation using a tax refund is not a terrible idea, IMHO.

Investment house goals are to convert your money into their money - something they do very well!

 

[jlmlyle]

So I do something a little different. This might be helpful for those who shop at target. I visit the totallytarget website every week to find out the gift card deals. There are the $5 gift cards when you buy two or three, etc. of whatever the special items for the week or month are. Using only money out of my household and grocery budget, I look for these deals and collect the cards. I only buy things I actually use, don't spend outside of my budget, it does have me stockpile on some items, but the savings add up. Once I get $50 in target gift cards, I can use them to buy a $50 disney gift card.

By visiting the totally target website, it does most of the work for me by telling me how to stack coupons, etc. and I also use the Target red card (debit) for an additional 5% savings. So like last week, I spent about $10 in green earth friendly cleaning supplies (after coupons,etc.) and got a $5 gift card while buying my needed household budgets on sale.

I also participate in mypoints for my online purchases, surveys, etc. Again I only buy what I would have bought anyway. So my next disney trip is planned for January 2016. I've been saving over 2014 and have 2015 to do so too. I think by our trip I'll be on track to have $1000 earned/saved. For my family, that covers our food for a week eating out at Disney. And that feels awesome!

Oh and lastly, I recently managed to squeak out $30 in gift cards from simply entering all those disney movie rewards codes on my disney dvds on their website, and redeeming the points for gift cards.

Happy saving and deal searching!

 

[AdamsPrincess]

We take money directly out of our paychecks and they go right into a Disney Account, so we don't see the money.

 

[-Hope-]

Our taxes are a crap shoot. We own a small business and I work part time from home as an independent contractor for a few different businesses so we plan as best we can to break even, maybe get a $1000 or less back at the end of the year which usually gets invested back into our home or our business. Which means I had to get creative with vacation savings.

I'm a homeschooling mom but my kids are teens now so they do fine on their own a couple of days a week. So, for the last couple of years I've been substitute teaching at our local school. ALL of my sub pay is saved for our trips. Full disclosure, I'm a certified teacher but you don't have to be. Every state is different but in mine (MO) you need 60 hours of college credit in any subject area, to fill out an online application for a substitute teaching certificate, and a one time fee for a background check.

I'm also an amateur photographer and occasionally do discount photo sessions for friends and family who can't afford a professional shoot. If photography isn't your thing, perhaps you have another marketable skill. (I did have to invest in a camera but it quickly paid for its self and now I have a nice camera to take to WDW.)

Finally we save all of our money from recycling aluminum all year, including the cans we clean up from the gravel roads near our house, for vacations. It's not a ton of money but it helps to buy a meal or some souvenirs.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Wow! Really? $5,000 tax return? If you had said $500 I might have let that go. Ever heard of a Mutual Fund? The DOW is up over 10% this past year. Pick a decent fund and you could gain 15-20%. That's $750-$1000 dollars in interest.

Yeah, I know what mutual funds are lol.

You didn't answer my question.

Tell me how someone could save a few thousand a year for a vacation AND get a reasonable amount of interest over deposits made over 24 paychecks within a year, in an account that doesn't require you to lock the money or pay trading fees etc.

There is nothing wrong with getting a tax return and using it for something if you choose, whether a vacation, a home improvement, whatever. Sure, once you start getting very large tax returns, then you should change something in your withholding. But for up to a few thousand dollars, it's not poor financial planning as you insinuated.

 

[Networth]

Ever heard of a Mutual Fund? The DOW is up over 10% this past year. Pick a decent fund and you could gain 15-20%. That's $750-$1000 dollars in interest.

I usually stay out of politics, finances, and religion on Internet forums. When I say this please don't take it personally, but this is TERRIBlE advice never just take money and pick a fund because the index is up and the market is a raging bull at the moment.

I will not be giving any advice, because any advice on a message board involving money is worth about what that advice cost the reader. Just hoping no one is crazy enough to change how they manage their money based on chat on a disney forum.

 

[nessz79]

Yeah, I know what mutual funds are lol.

You didn't answer my question.

Tell me how someone could save a few thousand a year for a vacation AND get a reasonable amount of interest over deposits made over 24 paychecks within a year, in an account that doesn't require you to lock the money or pay trading fees etc.

There is nothing wrong with getting a tax return and using it for something if you choose, whether a vacation, a home improvement, whatever. Sure, once you start getting very large tax returns, then you should change something in your withholding. But for up to a few thousand dollars, it's not poor financial planning as you insinuated.

It's not like you can just put money in mutual funds for a few months and withdraw it all with no fees or penalties.

 

[whitney250]

Change! You would be surprised how fast it adds up!

 

[agavegirl1]

Just caught up on this thread. Here is what I do and it mirrors what others have said.

1. Save change. Use whole bills for cash purchases and save the change.

2. DBF has an actual vacation account at his work. He puts aside a specific percentage of his pay into this savings account each week.

3. I also do tax returns during tax season. You need to be trained by a reputable company and it takes a lot of time for the training. I am an accountant however so it was easy for me. I work with others who are not but are still good with numbers and rules.

4. Use my Disney Visa for every conceivable purchase and pay it off each month.

5. Purchase Disney Gift Cards at Target at the rate of $100 per month using my Red Card (and before they closed the loophole, combining it with my Pharmacy rewards).

6. Eat at home. Every time we got a "craving" based on some TV commercial for a restaurant or whatever, I would plan to make it at home. Pizza, Mexican, Shrimp, Steak whatever. It is ALWAYS cheaper at home.

7. Don't pay interest. Try not to be in any debt. For me, interest is a waste of money. A reasonable mortgage interest rate notwithstanding. I don't have a mortgage and am grateful. Credit card debt can be expensive and overwhelming.

 

[DanInMN]

It's not like you can just put money in mutual funds for a few months and withdraw it all with no fees or penalties.

Actually you can... called "no-load funds", such as many offered by Vanguard and others.

However, a stock mutual fund that has the potential to offer significant gains will also have the possibility of large losses. Not a great plan for short term vacation savings!

 

[ROSARIOFAMILY2014]

My wife, daughter and I started the 52 week money challenge last October. My wife and I used dollars and my daughter used quarters. We opened the box last weekend for our Thanksgiving week trip to Orlando and had over $2900.

Really hoping to take our trip to the world October 2015! So my question is: how do you/or your family save up for a trip?! I'm looking for extra ways to save up in hopes for a trip.

We always save our change. Literally every penny, dime, nickel, quarter gets put into a big jug.

 

[Priory]

My disney savings plan has 3 simple steps.

1. Charge it.
2. Have a great trip.
3. Get home, receive credit card bill and suddenly realize the horror of what I've done and spend the next six months convincing myself that a package of Lipton sides is an acceptable and well-balanced dinner.

 

[jewelie121]

I put as much as I can on my Disney Visa and pay it off each month, so I pay no interest. I also do Swagbucks, which I redeem for money in my paypal account.

 

[cmpeter]

Lots of great tips. I also budget a certain amount per pay check and put that in my Disney vacation account. Also, during the year if I get any refunds, gifts, etc. those go directly into my vacation account.

 

[DLM1980]

Let's see, this year I was able to pay for two vacations, one for Las Vegas and the other for WDW.

I've always had 20% of my paycheck go into my "savings" account which is what I use for my vacations, that money goes to pay for the hotel room and car rental. My partner pays the airfare out of his account.

This year I also was introduced into the 52 week savings plan, but I as I started it I changed it. At first I thought, why have to scrounge up $50+ during the most cash strapped time of the year, so I reversed the plan saving $52 the 1st week and $51 the 2nd week all the way through....but then I had the even better idea, why not try to save $52 each week and if I can't, don't go less than whatever that week's amount should have been (i.e. $28 for week 25) This had an added benefit that I was actually saving more then the original 52 week plan.

In fact this last trip to WDW we spent a little more then we had budgeted for and this way of savings allowed me to pay that bill right away and still be on track to complete the 52-week plan with the target $1,378

I've had to adjust the amount I put away this year due to me making the $52 deposits later in the year and trying to play catchup over time but if I can make the goal this year, starting out the year at $52 a week will mean I'm saving $2704 next year, thats an entire WDW trip w/car rental paid for, and that doesn't even include the Disney Visa money.