ideas to save $ for our trip

[pixxi]

Looking any anyones ideas to help save money for our trip.


We usually will...
1-save pop cans (small amount back)
2-save all our change
3-put in extra hours at work
4-use target debitcard 5% and pharmacy rewards 5% to buy gift cards to pay off our trip
5-try and watch spending-hard for us!
6-coupon a little
7-do inbox, my points for money/gift cards (small amount back)
8-DH works a few hours a month at an extra job
9-sell at a couple of childrens resale weekends
10-sell a child...just kidding!

 

[JessB320]

Check out the blog couponing to Disney. She not only has coupon stuff but all kinds of ways she saves up for Disney trips. She has a Facebook page as well.

 

[Salrx95]

when I pay for groceries, at the checkout, I get 20 dollars cash back and put it in an envelope when I get home. It's called the disney fund.

 

[dagroulx]

What my husband and I do is to have a vacation savings account (similar to a Christmas savings account). Each of us puts $20/week into it. It comes direct- ly out of our checks so we don't miss it. At the end of a year we have a little over $2000 in addition to what we set aside from each paycheck, bottles, change jar etc.

 

[deakam]

round up.....when using your debit card or checking account round up. If the bill is $57.12 post it as $60.00 in the ledger. If it drives you crazy not to balance to the penny then keep an alternate set of books. My sister actually did this for 3 years. She allowed all her checks to clear and then closed the account. She had nearly $10,000.00 she did not know she had.

I also quit smoking 5 years ago...but I still spend the $4.00 a day I used to spend on cigarettes. Except now everyday I deposit it in the Disney can. That actually pays about half of our yearly trip.

If you don't smoke or you can't quit ( trust me I know how hard it is) find one thing that you do everyday and can live without and stop it....put the money away instead. Something like a Starbucks coffee or a daily snack at work....

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Budget! I have kept a budget with my husband since before we were married and now my kids help with it. We all know what we can spend and what we must save to go on vacation. Little things are ok but it's the big picture that will allow you to enjoy vacations for years to come.
But, that's not what you wanted to hear . So here are some suggestions:

Find anything you can sell- old phones (many online sites where you can do this easily) or other larger/higher price items at Craigslist or eBay.

Garage sale

Sign up for freebies - samples, restaurants, and online survey centers.

Coupon more! Use a coupon site I you need assistance like coupon mom.

Sign up for a credit card with GOOD rewards. Discover gives cash back and no fee. Get bonus points for signing up for sw visa and use points to get Disney flights.

Find a consumer survey place near you and sign up. You make money giving feedback on products.

 

[HouseMother]

My goal this year is to not pull from my dependent care reimbursement account. My husband just got a new higher paying job and we refinanced our house, so I am hoping I don't need to pull that money like I did this past year. $5000 would pay for a nice vacation for us.

 

[MAJPLO]

Similar to Salrx95, if I know we have a little extra in the checking account when I go to the grocery store (or any store that allows cash back), I get cash back and stash it. It may be any amount from $20-$100 depending on how much padding we have in the account and how close we are to the next pay date. We are not always great about watching what we spend but if it is not in the account we can't spend it. I don't pull out cash every time, just when I know there's definitely enough extra.

 

[mrsklamc]

Check w/ the treasurer in each state you've lived in and under all names used for unclaimed funds.

 

[DawnM]

The best way for me to save is to just have it directly sent to ING. I put about $100/mo into our Disney ING account. I probably should bump that up to $150.

If I don't see it in my regular bank account, I just don't see it, so I budget whatever else I need to based on what is in my actual bank account.

 

[edk35]

when I pay for groceries, at the checkout, I get 20 dollars cash back and put it in an envelope when I get home. It's called the disney fund.

Oh that is a great idea. I always get cash back on my debit card and it gets dwindled down by buying junk here and there.

 

[edk35]

I opened a Direct Ing savings acct. years ago. I think I learned about it on here.

Every two weeks I have money transferred from our checking acct. straight into that acct. This is STRICTLY a vacation acct. We only withdraw money out of it for our trips. We don't miss the money each week...it is taken out and honestly we forget about it. Out of site out of mind.

 

[cglaura]

I put away the "amount saved" on my receipts.

You know at the bottom of your receipt, there is a line...

Congratulations, you saved $xx.yy today!

It really adds up!

 

[EagertobeinWDW]

I took our weekly rituals, such as Happy Meal from McDonald's after speech therapy and dance class, lunch at Panera after science class, and calculated the price per month and the price per year. I then showed the kids and myself that by skipping that "treat" we would pay for the hotel or the tickets, etc.

I also similiarly calculated the amount we spend monthly and yearly on some of our regular processed food purchases, such as fruit bars or popsicles or cookies. The realization that by skipping popsicles we would pay 1/2 the cost of Disney got both myself and my children committed to finding homemade recipes to make the same.

I LOVE these tips! Thank you!!

 

[2manypets]

I put away the "amount saved" on my receipts.

You know at the bottom of your receipt, there is a line...

Congratulations, you saved $xx.yy today!

It really adds up!

This is a fantasic idea. Will have to do that and just transfer that amount to savings.

 

[MrsDoubtfire]

1. We save change (coins) in HUGE pretzel jars - been saving since Christmas of 2011 and now have over $1200 towards this years trip.

2. Place $25 per/week into a "vacation" fund at the credit union associated with my employer

3. Place 5-dollar bills into a "$5 jar" - we actually do this often for many reasons (for a new fence, a greenhouse window, new decking). It's when you place every 5-dollar bill that you get as change into a jar (or envelope) for a set amount of time. After several months - voila, you have some extra $$$ that you may not have saved otherwise.

 

[sweetdana]

I add 60 every pay check 26 times a yr to taxes. Then I attempt to end with a refund, cause I always owe.

I dir depo 25$ per week into another sav account, I never miss it.


I don't finance anything if I cannot pay cash when the bill comes in, I don't need it. Last loan was about 2002.( A car loan. ) Have bought 2 or 3 used cars, an rv, and a resale dcv since that new car that had hundreds of $$ due monthly. No regrets interest is a waste of $$. I'd rather have a 2010 van ( vrs 2013) with 65k miles then 350$ a month payment just got that recently after digging into new car prices).

Last I won't buy coffee out. (Like at a star bucks or TH). Too much $$.

 

[2ndStarr]

A girlfriend of mine does several different cash saving strategies at once. She has a jar each for old bills (she got a lot of these 3-5 years ago, but the supply has been drying up), any bills with writing on them, and dollar coins. I can't even imagine how much she has managed to squirrel away over the years.

I do what some previous posters have suggested; I choose a denomination to save (all 5's, 10's or what have you).

 

[hsmamato2]

What my husband and I do is to have a vacation savings account (similar to a Christmas savings account). Each of us puts $20/week into it. It comes direct- ly out of our checks so we don't miss it. At the end of a year we have a little over $2000 in addition to what we set aside from each paycheck, bottles, change jar etc.

I keep a separate area line in my acct. books for vacation,and add to it weekly. Just like any other category,it's important for me to keep doing this,so when we decide to go, we have the money set aside to use. If something terrible happens, then we have the money for an emergency.

 

[2disneyboys]

I put away the "amount saved" on my receipts.

You know at the bottom of your receipt, there is a line...

Congratulations, you saved $xx.yy today!

It really adds up!

my mom always did this, so I do the same. If I use coupons or just get it on sale, I taked the "save" money and, well, save it

I also went to using cash for certain catagories in my budget (we always just used our debit card before) so now we have a change jar that gets emptied about every 3-4 months into the vacation savings account @ our credit union. It's usually at least $250 each time we empty the jar just from saving all change.

along that same line, we budget $100 a week for "entertainment". This could be eating out (or ordering in) because our schedule is tight, or just had a bad day & don't feel like cooking, movies, any "fun" family activity. @ the end of the week, anything left gets put into savings. Its actually motiviated us to be more proactive in planning our meals so we eat @ home more and are doing more "free" activities so we can put more of this $ each week into the vacation savings account. Its become a game to save as much of this budgeted $ each week so we can make a big deal about taking it to the bank (or into the Jar if we are not going to the bank that week) On the other hand it's stopped extra spending in the category, as once we have spent the $100.00 for the week, we don't do any other "entertainment" that costs money.. so it's win -win. (this is a huge savings for us as when we first started "budgeting" I was SHOCKED at how much $ we spent eating out, movies, skating, etc etc. But capping this @ 100 a week, we are already saving $ in the budget.. I know we should have known better but now we do!)

Food Wise - I keep seperate containers in the freezer to save those "little" bits of chicken or beef that are not enough for another meal, but too much to just toss out.. when I have enough (usually every week or two), I thaw the container and cook the various meat w/ some veggies into soup or chow mein, curry or something. I get a "free" meat meal that way as I already accounted for the cost of the meat in a prior meal(s)