How do you save for Disney?

[Deffenm]

Many of the things we do are already listed. We save our change, we are getting ready to have annual community garage sale, use gift cards earned through mypoints, SS rewards, and our bank (we earn points for using debit card). I also buy Disney gift cards to pay for trip at local grocery store to earn discount on gas. Once I have earned enough discount to get free tank of gas I use the discount and then the money I budgeted for gas that week goes into Disney fund since didn't have to use. We don't eat out very much (good for the waist line and our budget) or go to the movies.

This isn't a budget tip but to hold us over until our next trip we do Disney Movie Themed nights. If you go to the Family Board there is a long post of Disney movies and great ideas for food, crafts, and activities to do that go along with those movies. So once we book a trip we make a countdown calendar/chain and then every other week we have a Disney themed night. The kids love it and it helps pass the time until our next trip. We also request the planning DVD each year and the free customized map. I know it is not the same as actually being there but it helps.

 

[malya2006]

Deffenm that is too cute! My kids would love a disney themed movie night. I didn't know u can order the maps every year. I am so excited for our April trip I just want to skip summer!

 

[Leeanne]

We had to do a major change in our budget this year. In January I signed us up for mint.com. It is both a website and an app. I strongly advise using something this with your debit car. My DH and only use a credit card (as al mentioned earlier paid off monthly and it's a rewards) so we needed to keep track of what we were spending.
The way it works is enter all your online bank info. Credit, debit, savings, even mortgage and 401k. It pulls all you transactions and you set a budget. So $50 for restaurants (not fast food) for example. If we go out (bday or anniversary) then it in the budget. If we don't it goes in a savings or Disney fund. Pretty much everything is budgeted. Mortgage, electric, medical and Disney. We even took it a step further and added in those yearly bills (pest, car tags, trash pickup, etc) added all that together and divided by 12. If it was $123 then I rounded up to $130 as a cushion.
Now I will say you may be surprised how much you are paying for fast food and the like. It is just my DH and I and I was ashamed!!
We do have some money built in for fun stuff. So if the nieces/nephews come to see and want to go to the zoo we can BUT we take that money out of our "shopping" fund which is where I buy detergent, soap, tp, paper towels, etc. I also buy toys and gift ideas all year old. We have such a stash that we were buying stuff before Christmas last year for this years Christmas! Of course we have 15 nieces/nephews so you may not need that tips!! LOL
Any money left over in any line item (gas was only $150 verses estimated $300) is also transferred over to the Disney fund.
This is a whole new way of thinking about things but it has totally changed the way we manage our money. Does this make sense?

 

[goofyredraider]

These are the things I do:

• Save all of DH's weekend national guard monthly money. It gets deposited into a different account and I pretend it doesn't exist. It isn't much, a few hundred a month, but the bulk of our savings comes from it.
• Working gift card deals at Target. I stock up on laundry detergent, toliet paper, tooth paste, or whatever they have on special with the bonus $5 gcs. I ONLY buy these items when there is a GC offer. I save my bonus cards until I have enough to pay for a Disney GC. Between my Christmas shopping bonus GCs and my daily HBA/Grocery bonus GCS - I have earned about $1500 this year alone. Easy to do with a family of 5. I also do the December deal of buy $50 get a $10 gift card free @ Target. I've done it the last two years. This year I saved $250 doing it.
• Ebates. I buy as much online that I can when I need something if there is free shipping+ebates %. I've earned over $400 this year alone, as I did all of my Christmas shopping online.
• My grocery money / allowance/ for the week comes out of the account in cash. I do not spend $1 bills at all, so if I get $1s back as change, they get saved. I will either do a $25 gc when I have 25 $1s, or I will deposit it in the account. Usually I do the GC at the local store to get the gas perks, though.
• We do not spend any coin change. We collect it and take it to the coin counter at the bank and deposit it. Easily have saved $400 this way in a year.
• Selling unwanted items on craigslist/facebook groups. This week alone I've made $250 on a facebook group selling random clutter around my house. I have about $100 going out this weekend, too. I also take the kids' outgrown clothing to OUAC and sell them. I don't get much, but it's usually $100 or so 2x a year.
  

eta: working my savings deals (not cash savings, but bonuses, gas perks, ebates, etc). has almost fully paid for a six night stay with DP (military rate) for the kids and I @ AKL. I'm not joking! I'm just really committed!

 

[ellena980]

"I'm a horrible money saver"-- how can you do that.Great.

 

[lttlmc3]

Can anyone explain the Capitol One 360 savings acct to me? It sounds like such a good idea.

 

[arianrose]

Can anyone explain the Capitol One 360 savings acct to me? It sounds like such a good idea.

It's an online bank. It works (mostly) just like a bank with branches, except it doesn't have any. Generally, the interest rates will be higher than your local "brick and mortar" bank.

Setting up an account is really easy: you create an account, just like you would open a savings account. Then, you add a linked account (like your checking account at your regular bank). You can either make manual deposits and withdrawals to and from your account, or set up an automatic transfer on a certain day(s) of the month. You can even open multiple accounts, with no charge. For example, I have one labeled "Emergency Fund," for things like car repairs, unexpected medical bills, etc; an one for "disney," which is our trip savings account. I've had up to six targeted accounts at a time, but I really don't think there's a limit.

(Disclosure: I am not affiliated with Capital One in any way, but I am a customer. Recommending them doesn't get me anything.)

 

[JennB30]

I'm horrible with money and don't make much of it, to boot! One of my resolutions this year was to develop a budget and stick to it. I have been dying to go back to Disney World for two years now and I recently decided next May is it! My mom's 60th is this December and we both love Disney so I really want to surprise her with the trip. I plan on going to Orlando for ten days so I can see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in addition to all the Disney stuff we've missed since we last went 15 years ago. I'm thinking I'll need about $6,000 for the trip so I set aside my tax return from this year ($1300) and I'm starting to set aside a monthly amount ($50 right now but I'm hoping to increase it to $200 per month after I get my car taken care of). I did take out a Disney Rewards Visa to make the room and flight reservations now because those are the most important costs, but I will pay it off as soon as I can. Also, I'm on Healthy Rewards as part of my health insurance plan so I get up to $500 per year to participate. Any money I get from that is going into my trip savings account. The saving your loose change strategy is great, but if you can try to take it one step further, try to add some $1's and $5's to it when you can. I used to get paid in tips and whenever I made over a certain amount, say, $37 for example, I'd either take the $2 or a full $7 off the top and deposit my savings once a week. In about 9 months I had $1600 to pay for the braces I needed. Not to worry, if you put your mind to it you can save up enough!

 

[*NikkiBell*]

I have DVC and always get an AP, so I don't feel it as much. I also ask for Disney gift cards for holidays and presents.