If I can save the money???

[belle231]

My husband just agreed that if we save the money we can go to disney next year for christmas (probably right after), i heard christmas there is crazy. Now I am not sure where to even begin to save the money. We both agreed no summer vacations. We are a family of three and we pretty much live pay check to pay check. Anyone have any advice for me to maybe make my dream a reality Thanks!!!!

 

[angierae]

If you get paid every other week, there will be several times this year you get three checks in a month. Take whatever you need for the week out of that third check and put the rest in your "Disney Fund".

If you or your DH or both tend to eat out for lunch, stop. Take leftovers or buy stuff for sandwiches. I can cut $75 a month out of my budget just by doing this.

Do you get a tax refund or any bonuses at work? Disney fund.

Is there anything you're paying monthly for that you could get rid of? Sattelite radio, Netflix, etc? Disney Fund.

Do you eat out more than once a week? Don't. Put that money in the Disney Fund.

I'm basically saving up $2500 of our Disney vacation by doing most of the things above, and the rest is coming out of my two bonuses a year. But I find that I can easily put $75 a month (900 over a year) into the fund simply by not buying lunch at work. That's $3.75 per working day in a month (20)

Garage sale some stuff? Ebay? Craigslist?

 

[DisneyScraps]

Is this your first Disney trip? If it is I strongly discourage this. You won't be getting the real Disney experience. It's going to be too crowded to get much done and if you go a week or two earlier it's a lot cheaper and less crowded. I would never tell a first timer to go for Easter or Christmas.

To answer your question there is a lot you can do to save money.

1. plan a yard sale
2. start cleaning out closets and take stuff to consignment stores or ebay
3. some people sell their platelets and that nets about 250.00 a month that is a little too hard core for me but it's not bad money if you are in good health and not squeamish
4. use coupons at the grocery store and put the savings toward Disney
5. look at your cable and cell phone bills, see where you can reduce them a little
6. go over your bank statements and look at expenses. Are you eating out? reduce that with pizza night at home or something cheaper. Find little ways you can reduce and put that money into savings.
7.get creative, can you babysit on weekends? Any skills you can use to generate extra money?
8. do you go to movies? Make sure you do matinees and bring in snacks or refuse to buy them

If you really look at your expenses and work on them one by one you will be shocked at how much you can save.

Again...rethink that Christmas thing you will be going at the most expensive AND crowded time of year not to mention what a nightmare the airports are. A month later or earlier and it's totally different.

Lisa

 

[lisaross]

not sure if anyone mentioned saving all your loose change...everyday empty ur pocketbook and throw all ur change into a jar...bring it to TD Bank to cash it in..

also how about getting a disney visa card - if u could put some of ur bills onto the card..pay it off ontime, u can get reward points that u could use on ur trip.

yard sales are great...perhaps sell some stuff on ebay or craigs list..any extra money should definitly go into ur vaction savings account - so nice to see the money grow - try ing easy to open an account and easy to transfer money in from your checking account!

Good Luck

 

[Marionnette]

My husband just agreed that if we save the money we can go to disney next year for christmas (probably right after), i heard christmas there is crazy. Now I am not sure where to even begin to save the money. We both agreed no summer vacations. We are a family of three and we pretty much live pay check to pay check. Anyone have any advice for me to maybe make my dream a reality Thanks!!!!

Wow! You chose the most expensive tiime of the year to go to Disney. Not to mention the busiest!

If you are truly living paycheck to paycheck, then there is only one way to save up for that Disney trip - increase your income. I say this because I assume that anyone living a paycheck to paycheck existence is doing so because they have already exhausted all possible money saving possibilities.

Maybe you can start by changing your withholding so that instead of getting a big tax refund, you get more money in each paycheck. Then put that money aside in a vacation account instead of letting the government keep it.

Then check your state treasury's unclaimed property website to see if anyone out there turned over money that belongs to you. It could be a rent rebate or an insurance check that was sent to your last known address. You never know whether there is something there until you check. BTW, you shouldn't have to pay any fees in order to find out this information.

Clean out the closets, the basement and the garage. Ebay the good stuff. Put the rest out for a driveway sale this spring. Put all the money into your Disney fund.

Take on a part time job. Retail. Restaurant. Whatever fits into your schedule and lifestyle. It doesn't have to be permanent and you don't have to love it. Just endure it long enough to put the money aside for your trip.

If you have a regular credit card, look into switching it to a rewards credit card that can be used to add money to your trip fund. If it doesn't have an annual fee and if you pay it off in full every month, then you can put a few bucks back without any effort.

Ask for Disney gift cards for birthday and holiday presents instead of the usual gifts. Use them to pay for the vacation package.

That's a start. Hope it helps.

 

[NCHoo]

I agree with all of the above. In addition, we are doing Sunshine Rewards to earn some spending/souvenir money. I learned about it on this board and am so glad I did! I started in September and have already earned a $150 that we will use for our trip in June. We are planning to use this for tips and to buy souvenirs, etc. You have the option to earn Disney gift cards, amazon gift cards or have it put in a paypal account. Check it out!

 

[Carlyzmom]

All good advice! Looks like we have some Dave Ramsey fans on here!

 

[dyna]

Everytime you get ready to make a purchase on anything you really don't need stop ask yourself would this money serve me better at disney? If so go home put the savings in disney jar. Esp works for candy bars magazines books those little things we blow money on.

 

[kalliyan1]

I don't really have much savings advice but I agree with everyone about your timing....We went a couple Christmas's ago because I wanted to see the decorations and although they were nice, we will NEVER go to Disney again at Christmas....too many people to the point you could barely walk, it truly was not a good experience.

If you are flexible, a way to save money would be to go in Sept., typically the cheapest time to go, and they usually will offer free dining which will save you money right there as well as the hotel being cheaper. As others have suggested, ask for GC's for birthday's etc, that you can apply to the tix and I think you can do this pretty budget, and have a better time w/crowds too

 

[Darcy03231]

If you want to go to WDW to see it decorated for Christmas, my advice is to go during the beginning of the month. The decorations are up and the crowds will be much lower. The week between Christmas and New Year's is one of the busiest times of the year. I wouldn't go during that week, and would never recommend someone go during that time of year for their first trip.

Since you're on a budget, I would go during one of the times of the year when WDW offers either free dining or kids stay & play free (free ticket for your child). Both of these can big huge money savers.

Like others have pointed out, the only way you can save money is either by increasing your income, or cutting your expenses. While we don't live paycheck to paycheck, I cut corners in a lot of other areas so we can fund as much travel per year as possible. Some of the things we do are:

Don't eat out at work (other than once in a while. I've been in my current job for over a year and can count the number of times on one hand that I've not brought my lunch to work).

Same with coffee, bring your own to work (unless they offer free coffee where you work). I used to stop at Dunkin Donuts every day. $2/day for coffee, 5 days a week is over $500 a year.

Reduce eating out. We used to eat out a lot. Now its about once a week and most of the time its take-out (chinese, subs, pizza). It save drinks and tips.

Use up leftovers. I plan out my meals for the week and plan to use up leftovers. This has helped me shave money of my grocery budget. I also meal plan before I shop which has helped to. One night a week we do breaksfast for dinner and another night we do soup (homemade) and sandwiches, again another budget cutter.

Have a yard sale, sell on craigslist or ebay to get rid of things you aren't using.

 

[elcodfish]

I would suggest moving the trip to the first weeks of December or start your vacation January 2. Christmas time is extremely crowded and expensive!

 

[HM]

We've been at Christmas and we'll be doing it again (though we generally go for the few days right before Christmas and leave either Christmas day or the day after). However, it's VERY expensive to do the week after Christmas, they double the prices on the resort rooms and don't offer discounts, so you'll have to save a lot of money.

And you'd better stay on-site in order to be assured of being able to get in the parks, as it sometimes gets too busy for them to let people from offsite into some of the parks (and can even restrict those onsite...you'd have to go to another park than the one that was closed to new guests).

I don't mind trips in the summer at all. I know it's hot, but it's hot at home too. We can take advantage of the pools and plenty of attractions and stores are airconditioned. Plus there are always discounts available at some point in the summer months. Don't discount going then.

 

[belle231]

Thank you so much lots of great tips!!! I will def be trying them around my house hold. I don't want to go on Christmas but we would love to give it to our son as a gift like here ya go we are going to disney world in 2 weeks. Is all of january bad and busy??? My in laws keep telling us to go the week after thanksgiving but we really wanted to do disney instead of spending all the money we do at christmas. I guess if all of january is busy we might have to think again

 

[belle231]

oh and i almost forgot. This is not our first time it will be the second time taking our son. The first trip was a gift and we didnt have to pay anything for it. Truly magical

 

[hoffmann2828]

January is not too bad, except you will have to deal with lots of people from South America. From what I hear, July and January are major vacation periods for them. And they LOVE Disney.

I went in July of 09 and it was mobbed with S. Americans. HUGE tour groups. We waited 2.5 hours to see all 4 characters at Crystal Palace because one of the tour groups was there also. They took up a TON of time. And, if you see them heading for a ride, run the other way!

Jenny

 

[rnorwo1]

Thank you so much lots of great tips!!! I will def be trying them around my house hold. I don't want to go on Christmas but we would love to give it to our son as a gift like here ya go we are going to disney world in 2 weeks. Is all of january bad and busy??? My in laws keep telling us to go the week after thanksgiving but we really wanted to do disney instead of spending all the money we do at christmas. I guess if all of january is busy we might have to think again

I think that after school begins after the new year, the marathon is really the only big event in Jan? Someone please correct me if there is something else. We went one year in mid-Jan, about 5 years ago, and it was the least crowded that it has ever been for us... the weather was sporadic (shorts one day, coats the next) but I'm from Louisiana so we're used to that. It was a good time to go that year.

As for saving money, you've received great advice already. But what I would do is pick your dates and estimate your costs, then divide that by the # of months, or paychecks, you have remaining until you go.... if you're really serious about going, just go on and put that money into another account first. Living paycheck to paycheck means different things for different people, but if you are "leaking" money (lunches and dinners out, other unnecessary expenses that most of us do sometimes) then taking the vacation money out first will prevent some of that leaking, simply because it won't be there. If something comes up and you need that money for a bill, you can always transfer it back to your household account. You can also buy giftcards to use to pay for your food and souvenirs.

Hope you're able to work it all out!

 

[disneyofcourse]

Anyway you could pick up some retail work? Nights? Weekends?
Let's just say $6 hour after taxes x 8 hours a week = closer to Disney! Every little bit adds up

Just saw that you want to go during Christmas...just really think about that before going. The lines are insane and crowds are crazy AND on top of all that its super expensive.

 

[Redwitch]

Everyone has good advice ~ there is a site that has it all in one place, easily organized. http://www.couponingtodisney.com/ Most of what is available on the site is available elsewhere, she just has it all in one place. Happy savings!

 

[Snoozan]

I'm another one who suggests NOT going the week after Christmas. Your son won't be terribly disappointed if you don't head right out to Disney on Christmas! Just give him a few things for his trip - little Disney themed things for Christmas. For my kids, we had a trip planned for early March so gave the kids new dufflebags for Christmas and put a "coupon" in them for a Trip to Disney. They were not disappointed in not getting lots of gifts, but had something to look forward to later on in the winter.

 

[deezeealum]

WE went the last week of January in 2008 and 2009. We LOVED it. Crowds were low and it's value season so great prices. We have heard the weather can be iffy, but in '08 we hadon jeans and tees or capris with sweatshirts. In '09 we started the week out that way but were lucky enough to hit 80 degrees 3 days and hit the pool. We would have been going again this year the same time but now our DD is in kindergarten and has a week off in Feb (peak season) and we couldn't justify taking her out for a week a month before she has a week off. THe only better time we had was in Oct but that won;t help for your Christmas gift ideas. Have a great trip whenever you decide and best of luck saving!!!