How to save for a Disney world trip, please help!

[nelson84]

We are a family of 5, 2 adults, 6 yrs old, 4 yrs old, 2 yrs old. I have a condo in orlando so nothing to worry about there. I need to save for plane tickets, food, snacks, stuff the kids want to buy. Where do I cut back to make this happen? What are your strategies in saving money on an everyday basis around the house? I burn wood instead of turn the furnace on, I fuel up at work so no gas expenses. What else is there? How do you cut down on groceries?

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

newspaper delivery; reduce cable; change temp of thermostat

 

[melancholywings]

I do day care flex plan and I didn't make my claim until shortly before our trip. Instead we lived as though that money 'wasn't there' and the claim was in one large lump sum. I also put my childs outgrown clothing in a consignment shop and also didn't claim the funds until a week before we left.

 

[comicguy]

Have a yard sale / sell on ebay / Craig'slist

Save all of your change and deposit it in a seperate account

Stop the little expenses (for me it is the bottle of Pepsi each morning)

Look at all of your expenses and see what you "need" vs. "want"

Hope that helps as a start

 

[debbiedana]

Save your change every day. Don't laugh - it adds up quick.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but try having a garage sale. I made a ton on mine in July, so much in fact that we decided to go to Disney. Better stuff can be sold on Craigslist or Ebay.

Limit the stuff the kids want to buy when you're there. They're young, but they may get the concept of a gift card and a finite amount of money contained on them. Stock up on little Disney themed items before you go, from Disney store clearance, the Dollar Store, etc. That can help some of the 'gimmes' when you're there.

 

[thruthelookinglass19]

Have a yard sale / sell on ebay / Craig'slist

Save all of your change and deposit it in a seperate account

Stop the little expenses (for me it is the bottle of Pepsi each morning)

Look at all of your expenses and see what you "need" vs. "want"

Hope that helps as a start

This post sounds like I could've written it! I've been having a "virtual garage sale", selling stuff on craigslist and auctioning other stuff on eBay.

And I always have to remind myself "do I really need ___?"

Good luck to you!

 

[curious3069]

My sister & I raised the entire amount for our trip just by selling on Ebay. (4 nights at The Contemporary, Park Hoppers + Free dining) Plus my closets have much more room now!!!! Not completely "free" when you consider the Ebay fees paid, but it worked well for us.

 

[afeld111781]

use cash for everything and save the 1$ bills and change. My husband and I NEVER spend the 1's or change. In a little over a year we saved around 1500$ (of course I pad it with 5's 10's and 20's every once and awhile but it is amazing how fast it adds up! Plus if you allot yourself so much money each week you'll think to I want Starbucks or do I want to put 5 bucks in the Disney Jar...the Disney jar almost always wins that one! It works. Between that and me taking out 200 bucks for the past couple months out of my babysitting money we have 2500 dollars saved up for our Nov. trip!!!

 

[jana616]

This answer isn't for everyone, and it's not really what you asked, but we got a Disney Rewards Visa card. We pay it off in full each month, so we've never paid a dime in fees. We've only been using it since April, but we've accrued $150 in rewards dollars. We also got a $100 gift card just for opening the account and using it once. You could use those dollars for food, snacks, and souvenirs. With all the time you have before you go, you could amass a ton of rewards points just by using it for groceries, gas, etc.
Of course this only works if you are in a position to pay it off each month! Just an idea...

 

[susieb16]

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[scanmom]

One thing I also do is put all the money found in the laundry into our Disney jar. Once I found a one hundred dollar bill in the dryer! I know it belonged to DH, but I still put it in the jar! I do have a question though... where do you work that you can gas up there to save money? I would love to know what job has that perk!!

 

[Justsyd2]

I work part-time and put all of the money I earn into a vacation account. It adds up fast!

You can also:

Use coupons
Save change
Work extra hours or get a part-time job
Babysit
Walk Dogs
Sell crafts

 

[fun4me]

I think we do a lot of what has already been mentioned.

We have a change jar. Anything found around the house goes into it. Since we are less than 2 months away I am going to start dumping change from my purse into it. When it gets full we put it into our vacation savings.

We also put any cashback from our Discover card into the vacation savings.

I have a couple of rebates coming and those will go into the fund too.

All of that is for spending money.

Dh has extra jobs that he gets from time to time and that is paying for our POR stay, tickets and we get free dining.

October has an extra paycheck for us so that money will be used for gas, hotel, food there and back. We will also use it for extra spending money.

I am kind of frugal so I try to cut back on our expenses by shopping sales and with coupons.

I am planning a huge garage sale in a couple of weeks. We have a ton of stuff that we don't need.

A little here and there adds up quick.

 

[micheleq]

I became a direct sales consultant and did 7 parties before my trip = my commission came to about $1200 It's not for everyone, but it worked out well for me and my family.

All the little things do add up over time as well; coupons, a yard sale, cutting on hidden expenses. I think that the budget board has made me a much more aware consumer (and I was frugal to begin with), and those habits help in saving for vacation and life in general!

 

[semo233]

I became a direct sales consultant and did 7 parties before my trip = my commission came to about $1200 It's not for everyone, but it worked out well for me and my family.

What do you sell?

 

[JoshChristineplus3]

use cash for everything and save the 1$ bills and change. My husband and I NEVER spend the 1's or change. In a little over a year we saved around 1500$ (of course I pad it with 5's 10's and 20's every once and awhile but it is amazing how fast it adds up! Plus if you allot yourself so much money each week you'll think to I want Starbucks or do I want to put 5 bucks in the Disney Jar...the Disney jar almost always wins that one! It works. Between that and me taking out 200 bucks for the past couple months out of my babysitting money we have 2500 dollars saved up for our Nov. trip!!!

This is us. I think wow...do I want 5 dollars to go towards our vacation or do I really want that coffee from Starbucks that will last 20 mins ... saving it wins pretty much every time, unless its been one of those mornings lol

Little spending gets your pocket book more than anything. Pull out the check register and write down every single thing you buy...when you have to write it down you think about it before you purchase and you see the balance left. Pay off debt so that when its paid off, you can put that money you were paying to debt into vacation savings ( as long as you have another savings ).

Couponing, and putting what you saved into a vacation fund each trip.

Toning down cable package, going out to eat ( just think of how many meals you can make at home for 20 dollars that the average family has to spend to eat at MCDs )

Lots of ways to cut some corners to save.

 

[lisam427]

a really good website i refer to all of the time is www.stretcher.com.

this website has ideas on how to cut costs for everything. i have found it very helpful.