I have $1000 spending $, how to divide it up?

[wrldpossibility]

Hi all,

I'm getting close to our long anticipated WDW trip! Our trip is paid for, and I've been saving extra $$ (unexpected bonuses, Ebay, Disney reward dollars, etc) for over a year. We now have $1000 spending cash. Is this enough, and how would you spend it? We are a family of 5 plus grandparents, and we're in WDW for 10 days. We're on the dining plan. Here are my thoughts:

$300 for kids' souvenirs ($100 each, their Christmas gift from us)
$100 for misc. snacks and drinks (mostly DH)
$100 for tips and taxi rides (in cash)
$100 for family souvenirs (like Christmas ornaments, etc)
$150 for stocking stuffers and little gifts for friends at home
$100 for garden grocer (breakfast foods and water for the room)
$150 for any extra meals (like breakfasts OOP or kid meals OOP)

Grandma and Grandpa are in charge of buying any and all t-shirts or hats.

What am I forgetting? Are these reasonable amounts per catagory? I know everyone has a different idea of "reasonable", so I guess I'm asking, is this DOABLE?

 

[KelNottAt]

Well, since you asked, I'd say you're a little high on the budget for your 2yo's souvenirs. You can probably still get him the same quantity of gifts as the other kids for less than $100. That will give you money to allocate to the other kids or to save for your next trip.

Also, I don't see a budget for beer, wine, and liquor. For 4 adults to have one drink per day I'd allow about $10 each (bev + tip) for a daily total of $40. That could require $400 from your budget.

Finally, see if you can sweet talk the GPs into paying for ride photos. They add up REAL quick at (about) $21 each. Otherwise, you'll have to increase your family souvenir budget.

Good luck! Sounds like a great trip is in the making.

 

[wrldpossibility]

Thanks! Yes, I anticipate having "leftover" $ from the 2 yo's spending $$. Maybe we can get a few ride photos with some of that. We're still debating getting a photopass (paying for the $99 thing, I mean). The grands may pay for that if we decide on it.

As far as drinks, DH and Grandpa do not drink at all, and while Grandma and I enjoy a drink at times at home (not big drinkers at all), due to the prices at WDW, I think we'll skip it. We don't enjoy it enough to miss it. I may have a drink or two by the pool if we have a nice afternoon, and that can come out of the misc. snack allotment. That can be Mommy's "snack".

 

[It's A Happy Day]

Hi all,
$300 for kids' souvenirs ($100 each, their Christmas gift from us)
$100 for misc. snacks and drinks (mostly DH)
$100 for tips and taxi rides (in cash)
$100 for family souvenirs (like Christmas ornaments, etc)
$150 for stocking stuffers and little gifts for friends at home
$100 for garden grocer (breakfast foods and water for the room)
$150 for any extra meals (like breakfasts OOP or kid meals OOP)

Grandma and Grandpa are in charge of buying any and all t-shirts or hats.

You shouldn't need that much extra money for food - breakfast, snacks, hotel snacks. I think when we went - OOP for extra food we spent maybe $30.00 total (12 days) - with the DDP there was so much food that we didn't want more. We had desserts at TS packed up and brought back to the hotel for a snack and alot of CS desserts are packaged so they can be eaten later too. Snack credits you can get water bottles for the hotel as well so extra food costs should be minimal.

Souveniers we spent about $400.00 and that was for everything - kids, presents to bring home, etc. Family of 4 - kids 3 & 4 - and also my inlaws. Our rule is to look at the shops for the 1st 1/2 of vacation and see what we like most - don't buy until near the end or last day in that park. This way you don't see something you want more later. There was a store in DTD that everything was under $5 or $10.00 so this was a great place to let the kids pick a couple items. Great christmas shop there too for ornaments! We did almost all our shopping in 1 store (2 days before we were leaving) and had it shipped back to our room - this way we got what we wanted and didn't have to haul it around the parks with us. DH didn't want to send 1 thing from this store 2 from that store for fear of getting lost - so we did it all at once. And we end our trip with a final trip to DTD just in case we forgot something.

 

[macfamily]

Rats, was hoping to say "see you there!" but it looks like you'll be leaving when we're getting back

I think the hardest (most $$ thing for me was going into the shops in the first place. Ouch, I couldn't leave without SOMETHING Oh, and those sugared almonds in the carts... OMG... *swoon*

 

[mom2kandj]

I have $150 set aside for a photopass CD and photomovie DVD. The photopass CD is an excellent way to make sure that all members of your family are included in your vacation photos as well as landmarks, characters, etc. As for the DVD, we don't bring our video camera with us, but this is a really cute (and not hard to put together) way of keeping the magic alive at home! HTH!

Rose

 

[patsal]

You might be able to cut some $$ off the Garden Grocer by ordering water form staples and having it delivered to the hotel. You could pack an extra suitcase with the non-perishables and just purchase milk in the gift shop (a half gallon is not up charged that much from the grocery store). you might be able to save $25-$50 that way.

I enjoy a Margarita at Epcot and call that my snack money!

 

[wrldpossibility]

I'm glad to hear I won't need that much for snacks and drinks. I agree that the DDP is tons of food, and I know we won't eat it all. I just didn't think about saving desserts for snacks, etc. And I know the garden grocer bill won't be quite that high...but I didn't mention I'm ordering diapers with them, so that's an expensive item. I also figured by the time I pay to ship water, I might as well get it from garden grocer as well. We're flying, so I want to try to minimalize.

What is the photopass DVD? I have to hijack my own thread, but I haven't heard of this. We don't take the video camera either, so I'm interested.

 

[KikiFan]

I've also found that it saves me a lot of money, if I give my daughter her own spending money. (Not sure how old yours are - but I started doing this when mine was 5) Then whenever she asks for something I can say, "Sure honey! Just use your money!" Oddly she's a lot more thrifty with her own money then mine! LOL $40 dollars for her went a long way.

I always deduct things like mugs, and tips for mousekeeping from our spending money then divide the whats left per day. Made it easier to budget, for me.