How does everyone pay for their trips??

[TnTWalter]

Also a SAHM.

We don't get big tax returns. Our goal is to get as little as possible back without owing much. We also live on a budget, spend less than we make, automatically deposit into retirement, tithe, college and budgeted savings. Not a whole lot left after all that...LOL.

We drive older vehicles. They're nice and kept up well but they're not the latest and greated. But they're OURS. And that's more money per month to US.


I shop sales, clip coupons, go to this site and others. Don't shop much besides groceries. Buy LOTS of groceries. Cook a lot. We go out to eat 2-3 times A MONTH whereas many friends go out that often WEEKLY. DH eats most lunches at home too.

It's also the little things that add up....

We just don't spend a lot. I rent lots of books and movies at the library, try to get clothes at GoodWill. We have family game nights [Apples to Apples, Monopoly, etc.].

We have a DISH with the base package but while getting out of debt, didn't. I have cheapest cell phone service possible. I do have a gym membership. Don't touch my gym membership! LOL. I don't subscribe to magazines. We get Thursday & Sunday papers only for $9 per month [coupons! and reading].

I have kids' birthday parties here at our house for <$100 TOTAL instead of dropping $200 + at an outside source, of course make my own cakes for the parties and invitations and thank you cards. I stock up for kids' parties when I see toys on sale. I clean my own house. I don't go to Starbucks but do get an $.84 20 oz yummo coffee on occasion at AM/PM.

Sadly money is finite.

I would love not to have a Mortgage someday...that's the next goal. Everytime I think about moving, I think...I'd rather own this house and hire a MAID. LOL.

I would guess many people just charge the trip...Carpe Diem and all that.

 

[chefgirl96]

I've loved reading what everyone has had to say! In my situation, I am looking more toward the DISTANT future. DH has been out of work for several months & we have had to do some drastic things just to keep living. We have quite a lot of debt, but SOMEDAY I would like to take a nice family vacation & just thought it prudent to start thinking NOW about how to make that happen.

The only advice I can offer is to respect money, but don't worship it. It's a tool that can help us live as we want.

Yes! I totally agree with that.

It's the little things that add up.

Sounds like a common theme here!

Also, several people mentioned using the Disney Rewards Visa. Is that $1 earned per $100? Can you pay your mortgage using that CC? That would be sweet!

 

[TnTWalter]

It doesn't matter how much you make. If you life below your means you will have extra money to do with as you wish.

It's the same when you get a raise...people often don't feel the raise because they just adjust their lifestyle to adjust to the raise. If you decide to continue living below x and you now make y, you're saving that much more not spending that much more!

We spent our 20s living above our means, charging annual SKI vacations, adjusting our incomes to our raises, etc. We've spent our 30s figuring it all out and getting smart...hopefully we'll start our 40s [sadly not far off] enjoying the benefits of this decade!

Brillant!

 

[Kristinluvsdisney]

We have savings and thankfully we dont prespend out income tax refund. I try real hard not to put anything on the credit card. Im still able to get away with not paying for my youngest to. But next year that will be a different story.

 

[blum74]

We have a mileage Visa so last year and this year we are flying free.

 

[PrincessMama605]

I try to go when we can get the deal that works best for us. Up until now it's been free dining but on our next trip we are using a 40% off code. I save as much as I can just by doing little things, like saving all my change and putting it in the Disney fund. When I am shopping I always ask myself if I would rather buy this item or put them money towards Disney? Usually the answer is Disney! On our last trip I earned a Disney gc for spending money on Sunshine Rewards. For our upcoming trip, my goal is to earn $250 on SR to help pay off our trip.

 

[TnTWalter]

Those of you with kids that can go during school when the deals are out...GO FOR IT. DH will NOT take kids out for more than a day. I so wish we had taken advantage of a deal in October when my oldest was still 9.

So if you have young kids, go during VALUE season or free dining...

October was such a great time to go. with the Food & Wine Festival, you don't even need the dining plan. Just get hoppers!

 

[momof4kid]

We use our tax return, although I'm at work and just heard some states are not giving refunds this year, just giving an IOU!! I better get my money quick !!

 

[3boymthr]

I just started back to work mother's hours. We decided to go shortly after I started back to work and realized we're finally making enough extra money that we could afford to go. We're taking a large portion of my check each week and saving it for our trip. Two more checks and it will be paid off - with 60 days to go before our trip . We'd have been paid off sooner but we also used some of the money to pay for Christmas.

Then I'll be saving for summer camp .

 

[saratogadreamin09]

Hi all! Grandma will be paying for my girls' first trip early next year & I will be going along as well. Girls only! I'm sure I will want to take the family back though & am scratching my head as to how everyone pays for their trips. It feels as if many people on these boards are frequent WDWers, some going more than once a year. We are a SAHM, homeschooling family with very modest means and have never taken a vacation where we have flown anywhere.

Does you just save a little bit {like a few hundred!} every month? Do you charge all your trips & worry about it later? Are you a dual-income family? If you're a SAHM, do you have a part-time job or sell things {ebay/creative items} on the side? Do you use your tax return?

I know this might be too personal for some, but I'd really like some insight as to how to make MAGIC for my family too! TIA!

Disney Vacation Club!!!!!!!! My parents haven't had to pay on the spot for a hotel room since we joined in '03. Thanks to this we can spend more on food, and the other fun costly thigns disney has to offer.

We also drive down from NY and this saves us a lot of money. This year furl in a diesel truck and a one night hotel room cost us $400. Thats less then one round trip airline ticket!!!!!!!!!! Then you throw in foo, but its still A LOT less then flying and you avoid the hussle of being at an airport.

 

[KSG'sDisneyMem]

To becca1125. You mentioned in a previous post you booked a Best Western on Disney Property. I do not think it can actually be on Disney property unless it is maybe in Downtown Disney resort area? Have not heard of that one but they must provide bus service. Anyway, I am wondering why you did not take advantage of the 40% off room rates at Disney? The value resorts would run around $50-$60 per night depending on what time of year you go. You would also be able to utilize the Disney transportation system as well. I think this 40% off room rates for military is a great deal and costs 1/2 as much as it would have for me to stay at Shades of Green; which I'm sure you know is the military hotel at Disney World. When I called to book our May trip, I discovered the 40% off deal was even better than the 4/3 deal Disney is offering. Thought you might want to be aware of this if you are not already. Since you already know about the free 5 day base ticket for your husband and the $99 5 day base tickets for you and the children then I thought I would mention this to you in case you are not aware. I tried to PM you but you do not have that set up so I hope you are following this thread. Good luck and have a fantastic trip.

 

[KSG'sDisneyMem]

I have a monthly budget for trip planning. Once I have enough in the account, I pay off the trip with Disney Visa and then pay the credit card. I plan trips 6 months to 1 year out and can plan accordingly. We also have a change jug for incidentals. And this year, it will my b-day as well as DGS while we are there in May. So we will use the fun cards (I am an AP holder and we will be using $99 5 day military tickets for the others) for souvies and incidentals. We are using the 40% off military discount for the room and the savings allowed us to add the dining plan. Good luck with all the planning!

 

[kristenrice]

Here's our savings plan:

1) $50 each paycheck is direct deposited into an online savings account. We never even see it.

2) EVERY bill that can be paid with a CC is set up to be charged automatically to our Disney Visa. Then, it gets paid off every month.

3) All of our other purchases go on the American Express BlueSky card. If they don't take AMEX, then it's the Disney Visa. We opened the AMEX card last August when they had an offer I couldn't refuse: $400 worth of credit towards travel (30,000 points) after you spend $500. Now, every $7500 we spend earns another $100 in travel credit. We currently have almost $600 in credit that we can use for airfare, hotels or cars. I can even apply it towards our park tickets purchased from UnderCoverTourist.com! This bill gets paid off every month too.

4) All of the spare change goes in a jar. When it hits between $10-$20, I take it to the bank and deposit it into the vacation savings account.

5) In Michigan, we pay a $0.10 deposit on all of our carbonated beverages sold in bottles or cans. When you return the empties, you get your deposit back. All of our pop can money goes into the Disney account. We drink a LOT of soda so I am returning about 30 bottles and cans per week. I just returned 170 of them tonight! (I fell a little behind )

6) I shop from Sunshine Rewards and MyPoints to earn gift cards. I usually acquire about $100 worth of Rainforest Cafe cards from MyPoints for each trip. That covers either 2 breakfasts or one really nice dinner!

7) My daughters' school sells Disney gift cards through their TRIP (Tuition Reduction Incentive Program) and I buy a $25 card to "round-up" my order. If my order is $x25 or $x75, then I add a Disney gift card. If not, I wait until the next week.

Now that we own DVC, the above plan should allow us to take a trip at least once every 2 years. We have a separate direct deposit set up for our annual dues. (Unfortunately, DH lost both of his parents within a year and it was part of the inheritance that allowed us to buy DVC in the first place. ) We are of the belief that we will not finance any part of a vacation. Once we have the money available, then we can travel. I am pretty good at figuring out how much we will need and how much we will have by the time we want to go.

 

[hoosiergirl7]

We save for it but DH also makes enough money that we can budget a certain amount every month so if we book it, we just pay on it every month until it's paid.

I'm also a SAHM and DH is military. We are going in December, taking my parents for their 1st ever WDW trip, staying Deluxe CL. We could still afford to do this either way but it helped out A LOT when they came out with the 40% code and ticket deal for military. It cut our costs by about $2K. Big difference in my book. I'm excited, I wish it were December already. I can't wait to watch my parents with our son at Disney.

 

[mrstxcop]

another SAHM here --- this will be our first disney trip as a family...dh and i went on our honeymoon 14yrs ago...

from out of the clear blue sky my mom called me and asked how much it would be to take a trip to disneyworld --- i told her i didn't know, prices change all the time...

she said "well, whatever it is, book a trip and i'll pay half"... --- talk about shocked...

so we hung up and i immediately started looking at flights, hotels, etc...

then my mom calls back ... so i figured she was going to backtrack her way out of paying for half ... but no, she said "by the way, i'll also take care of adam for the whole time your gone so you don't have to worry about naps, etc..." ... ...

adam is our son who at the time of our trip will be just shy of 3yrs old --- honestly, he is not going to remember the trip at all and with him not going it will just give us a reason to go again when he is 6 or so...

so my mom paid half and we used about 1/3 of our tax refund to pay for the other half...

THANKS MOM!!!

 

[james'mommy]

I'm a sahm and DH makes a good living in finance for a bank. We own DVC so all we really have to pay for is gas. We have AP's that we always get at least 3 trips out of. We get the dining plan to save money on food costs. And our son has been so many times that he require very few souviners.

 

[waltskids]

We have DVC and we will fly if there is a good sale, otherwise we drive. In additon, we buy annual passes when we know we will visit often. We keep a vacation envelope which we put money into everytime we get paid. This money is used for dining, etc. Since we visit often, buying gifts at the parks is minimal.

 

[badblackpug]

We book through Dreams Unlimited Travel. We put down the $200 deposit, then each paycheck we pay a little bit more. Dreams Unlimited is great, because if there is a special they will automatically credit the difference into the price of your trip! They watch for the specials and they will book your ADR's for you!

 

[arielmomma]

We use our tax refund and make sure that we take advantage of any good deals that are out. We also only travel during the value season.

 

[leighe]

We're a two-income family but we use mine to play - I'm a teacher. The only problem with that is that we always have to go at the most expensive and hottest times of the year!