How Do YOU save for your trip?

[mommyof3princess27]

I am wondering how you save money for disney? Do you cut back? Save every last penny you can? Charge it? Use your tax refund? Put a certain amount away each week? How do YOU save for your trip?

 

[martinolichfamily]

Our last trip ( July 2009) my Hubby received a bonus from work....thats what paid for our trip luckily!

This next trip (March 2010), we are paying $200/pyck towards the cost of the trip package plus after its paid saving some more to take $$ w/us.

The kids have a 'disney jar' that they put the extra change they find laying around (usually out of daddy;'s pocket! hehe )....so far they are doing good... they seem excited about it...

Oh yeah....forgot to add....my Xmas List will have Disney Gift Card on it!! hehe MY MIL always wants a list of what the grown kids want..so that will be on there!

HTH!

 

[samshane]

Our trip is happening due to the extra money my husband has coming in from his deployment. We have a separate account we have been saving in and I have been pulling out some each month to save - if it wasn't for that, we probably would not be going (and it would take us a lot longer to save up).

I told him I won't charge anything for this trip! LOL...

 

[DVC Sadie]

What has worked for us is taking a percentage of our yearly income and putting that into our vacation fund. Any other windfall of money goes into that fund until we have enough to go on a trip (not just Disney).

 

[tinkerfan1]

This wasn't your question but I have a new idea on how to save for WDW that I think I'm going to possibly start doing. When I write a check in the check book, I'm going to round up, put the difference in a separate ledger, and use that amount to go into a Disney fund. Sort of like saving change (which we do). A friend of mine says that his bank account does that for him so I thought that would be a good idea to do for myself. Balancing may be difficult, so I'm going to have to think about that, but...

 

[ZanyToes]

I'm taking some of it out of my spending money every month and some out of grocery money. I figured out that if I cook a BUTT load of meals all at one time (triple 17 recipes) and put them all in the freezer we can eat well, at home, without me having to cook everynight.. for less than half of what we were spending on groceries. SOO.. the rest is going to Disney every month LOL.

 

[ebtbmom]

I actually have a second job to pay for my vacations. I'm a nurse, and as a lot of nurses do, I have a PRN job on weekends and nights. All of my money from this job goes into our vacation fund which right now is slated for DLR in Jan. After that it'll have to go towards my husband's nursing school graduation trip to a Beaches resort. Can you believe he picked a tropical beach resort instead of Disney, what's wrong with him?

 

[jennyleettu]

This trip there wasn't really much saving...LOL! I just put my mind to it and did it! I managed to come up with $1400 in 3 months.

For our next trip we are already planning on going back in 2 years with another family with a DD the same age as ours. The plan right now is to go bigger and better so we (the other mom and I) are putting back $100 per pay check to pay for the trip!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I'm recycling aluminum cans and using garage sale money while saving $50 out of each paycheck. We're going pretty budget on this trip, but I feel good because I'm able to pay for most of our trip without it really digging into our regular income. I also judge 4-H during the summer. I've booked 2 fairs for next summer and the balance is already $125 towards our trip just from that. I'm expecting at least 2-3 more fairs, if not more.

I am also considering plasma donation mainly because we just lost my grandma to a very unexpected illness and she used blood and plasma in her last fight. I just gave blood though, so I can't even talk plasma donation until December.

 

[KAYLI'S DAD]

I just figured up how many paychecks there are until we leave and divide how much each paycheck. Seemed a lot easier that way. Plus any extra money I would throw in our other account. Seemed pretty easy and had the money alot sooner than expected.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

I forgot to answer my own question! I have started saving for our trip next year! I already have $247 and all I am doing is putting change aside when I break a dollar

 

[princessmom29]

Second job here! I am a teacher, and I worked over the summer to pay for the trip!

 

[luv2go2disney]

My in-laws have recently upgraded the saving spare change thing. When they break a $5, $10 or $20 then they put the $1 bills aside in an envelope. Then when they get $20 in $1s they either go to bank to deposit or trade out for a $20 bill at grocery or bank. They keep the $20 bill in envelope then when they get enough for a $50 bill they trade out...then trade up to $100 bill. When you get the bigger bills you are less likely to want to break them...they saved over $500 in a matter of a couple months & didn't even notice a change in lifestyle!

 

[Thumper_Man]

DW and I use our income taxes to go. We pay a little more towards our taxes during the year. When we file our taxes, we usually get a decent refund and we don't owe Uncle Sam any money in the process. I know we could very easily put the extra money into our savings account, but we tend to spend it if we have it. This way, we don't have it readily available to us and therefore we can't spend it. We like to joke and call this our savings account.

Also; when we have extra money, we'll start buying things we'll need for our vacation. For example: We like to fly SW, so we'll take any extra money we have and buy a SW gift card. This way our flights are paid for when it comes time to book them, and we didn't spend the extra money on something else. SW's gift cards don't expire, so we know we can use them anytime. One less thing to worry about.

 

[2Tiggies]

Great ideas everyone! I don't have a savings "plan" as such, but I have my set budget for every month and EVERYTHING that is left gets shuttled at month end into a separate bank account towards Disney. We don't take any other vacations. I am a single mom so i am the only earner in the house (only one child DD&). Oh, and I NEVER go out or spend much on myself, although I do have a thing about clothes and shoes .... but then I also have a thing about great sales! It has become a way of life so I don't actually miss the extra cash left over.

 

[philadelphiadad]

I just figured up how many paychecks there are until we leave and divide how much each paycheck. Seemed a lot easier that way. Plus any extra money I would throw in our other account. Seemed pretty easy and had the money alot sooner than expected.

I do that too!!

Also, I have a disney jar (actually a plactic pretzel barrel). At the end of each night I put my coins and at least 1 dollar bill inside. Nice way to save up some walking around money

 

[Memaw2Wm]

DW and I use our income taxes to go. We pay a little more towards our taxes during the year. When we file our taxes, we usually get a decent refund and we don't owe Uncle Sam any money in the process. I know we could very easily put the extra money into our savings account, but we tend to spend it if we have it. This way, we don't have it readily available to us and therefore we can't spend it. We like to joke and call this our savings account.

I do this too ... I don't claim all my exemptions so I usually get a hefty refund.

 

[chuckieg]

I have been planning our trip since Dec. 2007. I set my bank account to put 20 dollars into an account named our Disney trip and everytime I use my debt card it put a dollar into an account also that I will be using for the trip. I also have a Disney Card that I will use. I also used some of my 401 K money in savings to pay for the trip. six days at WDW and a three day cruise aboard the Disney Wonder with little things that I have plan for here and there to happen. We are celebrating an anniv. and four birthdays along with Christmas.45 days to go

 

[bdiddy]

My husband is fortunate enough to get a really good bonus every year in March. Put that together with our tax return and we have a nice chunk of change. We usually use some for a vacation, fixing up the house and save the rest. Last year though we also paid off DH's truck and so now we don't have any car payments which is nice. That extra $500 a month we use for all sorts of things and this year we just put 4 months worth towards the Disney trip in December. We are also flying for free (long story) and getting the free dining plan so all we have to worry about is spending money and that will be taken care of. My parents gave me $150 in Disney gift cards for my birthday, my best friend gave me another $25, and we should have about $200 earned cash/points from the Disney Visa.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

Our trip is happening due to the extra money my husband has coming in from his deployment. We have a separate account we have been saving in and I have been pulling out some each month to save - if it wasn't for that, we probably would not be going (and it would take us a lot longer to save up).

...

Us too. I can save alot when he is gone. BUT we will use our tax money too.