Let's Talk About Saving for Disney!

[McKinneyMouse]

I have been planning since mid 2010. I have saved 300.00 per month by autodraft into a savings account. We are a one income household too with my DH as a stay at home Dad. It's been painful for us because we are instant gratification people and we have never in 8 years had a family vacation. So I cut back on cable charges, new clothes, gifts between DH & I and other extra things for birthdays parties and told myself my reward when it's all said and done is a Disney trip is my reward. I sold several things I never used that were still new on e-bay. Any extra money by way of a bonus or parental gift goes into the account. For holidays and special occasions my DH and I decide to either do gifts or put $100.00 in the account. Mostly we both seem to pick savings--oddly enough.

We are a family of 5 and space was a requirement of DH (& only way to get him to go) so I did points rental through a broker for BCV 2 bedroom villa to save me the tax of a room and allow me to buy the dining plan. The room for 7 nights was 3549.00 which I paid for with my Disney CC right after I upgraded & during the 5% cash back initial period. I paid the card right off with savings I had already. Staying onsite too so we have freedom from one another if we want it and we will not rent a car & will use magical express/disney transportation to save a little more. The room charged on my cc gave me 177.00 in Disney dollars. I paid 138.00 in travel insurance since this is no cancellation. The disney card I was using for everyday expenses I would normally use my debit card for & pay it promptly off. Otherwise it's not a savings. I have saved since I got the card in Jan 2011 574.00. I bought the disney deluxe dining plan on there too which was 2129.00 since my stepdaughter is counted as an adult. I'm using several double TS meals for the special things like Fantasmic dinner, processional which I couldn't afford otherwise.

I got 7 day hopper ticket through tickets at work which cost me 1577.33. This week I used 310.00 of the CC rewards dollars for the MVMCP tickets.

Meanwhile on DIS I read about the SW airlines card. I paid 100.00 for the annual fee, but I got 50,000 points. I have done E-rewards surveys and have earned several thousand more points this way and through the CC. Also, if I am going to buy something and I can get free shipping, I order through the SW airlines shopping site. I also try and pick restaurants on their dining plan. So now I have 59,500ish points which will cover 9 one way flights for us. I hope to have enough points to get to the last one way ticket free before I book.

I bought some light sticks on sale that the kids love at night to try and cut down on them asking for something that glows everynight for a few dollars at walmart. I bought several shirts online at disney store when they were very cheap and at walmart too. I'll iron on labels to the inside with our cell numbers for the little ones. I got the labels for about 8.00 online. So again less for the kids to want & pick out once we are there. They will have new exciting shirts for almost each day (think 2 for $12.00 type deals or less)

Once I book my SW tickets I'll start using the disney cc again. I still have $264.00 in rewards and anything I can add to that will help me pay dining gratuities and incidentals.

I use coupons when I can and I have been doing restaurants.com for family dinners out. I only buy the certificates when they are like 2 $25.00 certificates for $5.00-7.00. This saves me a lot. And I'm eating out a LOT less too.

My boss is letting me work from home more time these days after I talked to her about the gas prices. So that has been like a pay raise all by itself!

Mostly I got all these ideas from the DIS forum pros! So I constantly watch for and take all of your ideas! Ha ha!

 

[kristenrice]

Are the reward sites something anyone could do? I'm looking to earn some money for our trip and this could really help, but I'm so skeptical about some of the sites that offer this. I'd love to join a good one.

Try these... 100% legit

E-Bates (ebates.com) earns you cash rebates for shopping online. You simply select the store you want to shop at and then click thru the E-Bates site to get there. Then shop as you normally would. You can still use any coupons or discounts and you would earn store rewards if they're offered. For example, drugstore.com customers earn 5% back in "Drugstore Dollars" so you would earn those IN ADDITION TO the rebate from E-Bates.

Sunshine Rewards (Sunshine Rewards.com...the link gets ***'d out) operates in a similar manner, but they also offer the opportunity to take surveys every day without spending any money at all. I made over $700 last year alone just by taking surveys and all of that went into my vacation account. There are 10 different surveys you can try every day. *IF* you are able to complete them all, you will earn up to $7.25 per day.

Both of these sites offer cashout to PayPal. I have a PayPal debit card so whenever I cash out, it goes into that account. I can use it anywhere and I can even access cash via ATM. It is so convenient!

Here's how my FREE spring break trip panned out last April. We drove from Michigan to HHI for a total of 8 nights on the road and did not pay ONE PENNY out of pocket!

2 nights in Gatlinburg ($150 at Fairfield Inn) paid for with $150 in gift cards earned through MyPoints.

5 nights at Disney's HHI Resort (DVC Members)...
...dolphin tour, kayak tour, Kids Nite Out, (2) bike rentals, one resort activity, numerous frozen cocktails, refillable mugs and two meals at the snack bar ($150 was covered in Disney Visa Rewards, $500 was covered in AMEX rewards)

1 night in West Virginia on the way home ($100 at Residence Inn) paid for with another $100 in AMEX rewards

The remaining $750 that we spent (gas, groceries, souvenirs) came from a $50 in Discover cashback bonus and $700 that I'd earned from Sunshine Rewards.

We had a fabulous vacation and it was so wonderful knowing that ALL of it was paid for with money that I'd earned for free.

 

[McKinneyMouse]

Try these... 100% legit

E-Bates (ebates.com) earns you cash rebates for shopping online. You simply select the store you want to shop at and then click thru the E-Bates site to get there. Then shop as you normally would. You can still use any coupons or discounts and you would earn store rewards if they're offered. For example, drugstore.com customers earn 5% back in "Drugstore Dollars" so you would earn those IN ADDITION TO the rebate from E-Bates.

Sunshine Rewards (Sunshine Rewards.com...the link gets ***'d out) operates in a similar manner, but they also offer the opportunity to take surveys every day without spending any money at all. I made over $700 last year alone just by taking surveys and all of that went into my vacation account. There are 10 different surveys you can try every day. *IF* you are able to complete them all, you will earn up to $7.25 per day.

Both of these sites offer cashout to PayPal. I have a PayPal debit card so whenever I cash out, it goes into that account. I can use it anywhere and I can even access cash via ATM. It is so convenient!

Here's how my FREE spring break trip panned out last April. We drove from Michigan to HHI for a total of 8 nights on the road and did not pay ONE PENNY out of pocket!

2 nights in Gatlinburg ($150 at Fairfield Inn) paid for with $150 in gift cards earned through MyPoints.

5 nights at Disney's HHI Resort (DVC Members)...
...dolphin tour, kayak tour, Kids Nite Out, (2) bike rentals, one resort activity, numerous frozen cocktails, refillable mugs and two meals at the snack bar ($150 was covered in Disney Visa Rewards, $500 was covered in AMEX rewards)

1 night in West Virginia on the way home ($100 at Residence Inn) paid for with another $100 in AMEX rewards

The remaining $750 that we spent (gas, groceries, souvenirs) came from a $50 in Discover cashback bonus and $700 that I'd earned from Sunshine Rewards.

We had a fabulous vacation and it was so wonderful knowing that ALL of it was paid for with money that I'd earned for free.

Awesome!!! Thanks for this!

 

[beansmom]

i, too, am a planner...it's what i do.

we don't generally 'save' specifically for vacations but we do what we can to make the trip as cheap as possible. I use Mypoints to buy everything i can online that qualifies...lately MP has been offering great points for purchasing gift cards. I won't buy a card if it's not a place we wouldn't normally shop but we have received nearly 5000 points in the last month for purchasing Staples cards that we use for our small business. That's free money to me, even tho it is paying it forward a bit. Same for Darden restaurants, Panera bread and Regal movie theaters, even LL Bean for camping equipment that we had already planned to buy. Things we'd buy anyway but we got points for it now. We get Walmart or Landry's cards from redeeming the MP earned--we use both at Disney for food. T-Rex is one of our favorites and I love Yak and Yeti, too. You can even earn Mypoints by booking travel thru them--so I can get Priceline prices and mypoints at the same time.

We use our citicard for everything we can also. We get great American Airlines miles...over the last 3 years we have gone to London, Italy and Hawaii for free with the miles. And we also spent 50k miles on a gift trip for a child. We think it's worth it.

I use my CapitalOne card for gas and groceries as I get double miles there. DH uses his CapOne off and one and in the last few months we've earned nearly $300 in Best Western cards that we plan to use when we go to Dublin next spring. We also keep the CapOne because it's one the only card we have that does not charge an international transaction fee...which add up when you're overseas.

We don't do free dining because we think we actually spend less eating than we'd spend on rack room rates. We eat breakfast in the room and go back for some meals. We do grocery runs for water, food and soda.

We just limit the $$ the kids have for souvenirs. Period.

 

[DawnM]

You are definitely new here.....

I'm a stay at home mom that lives in Florida. I love me some Disney, so I usually go at least once or twice a year. Our family is one income and we budget our money carefully and don't use credit for vacations.

Soooo, I am planning a trip for early November for myself and my two daughters. We all have the FL weekday APs. We are driving down and staying three days and two nights at a value resort. I know it's not a long trip, but it's our second this year, and how we usually travel to Disney.

The trip will cost about $500 including hotel, gas, food and my souveniers. My girls must save souvenier $ from their allowances if they want to buy souveniers. I am saving $19 every week from my personal spending money, which goes directly into my Disney piggy bank. This will get me to the $500 by November.

Am I the last old-school Disney vaca budgeter? How do you plan and save for your trips?

MaryPat

 

[thelionqueen]

By nature, we are not last-minute people, so we tend to plan our vacation quite far out. We usually start thinking about our summer getaway on Christmas vacation but as odd as it seems, it usually means we end up travelling much cheaper than if we threw together a trip within 30 days or less.

In particular, by booking our accomodations quite far out, we tend to get really, really good room rates as occupancy levels are generally quite low when our reservations are made.

From there, we try to map out our "bare minimum" (hotel, flight, attraction must-do's and food) and make a plan to have it all paid off before we leave. My husband's job allows for overtime on a pretty regular basis, so once we decide to take the plunge, he will pick up extra shifts here and there which we allocate almost entirely to paying down our getaway. Both DH and I also have a second job (in addition to our "regular" jobs) from which we try to allocate all revenue to family fun endeavours. These second jobs only take up a small amount of time each month (probably only 10 hours max for me and maybe 15 for DH .... both able to be done from our home office) but add hundreds to the budget. Once the initial expenditures are fully paid, then we add on any extras from our family "wish list" as the budget allows. By starting early, we almost ALWAYS add on some really amazing extra stuff before our travel date arrives, making a great trip even better .

We have $25 per pay deposited to a separate savings account which we use for spending cash, gas, and other incidentals on the trip (plus our park and fly hotel charges) and if it really mounts up, we can use it to purchase extra attraction tickets not budgeted for in the original plans.

We watch Groupon, Living Social, and other sites likes hawks to secure great deals on things to do or places to eat. We've picked up deeply discounted tickets to mini golf, bowling, dinner shows, etc. which enhance our plans quite nicely. We use reputable discount ticket sites like Undercover Tourist to save a few dollars here and there, and sign up for each attractions mailing list (and even "like" them on Facebook) to be sure we are notified of ticket deals.

We faithfully watch car rental prices and rebook reservations when rates fall.

We try to purchase all our attraction tickets in advance of the trip, as generally prices are always higher at the gate/door than they are when pre-purchased in advance.

We always inquire about discounts available through CAA membership, etc. and have found some great savings this way from time to time.

We scour the web for coupons (the International Drive website has some great ones) and use the many discounts available in the display at the hotel. Buy-one-get-one-free coupons for places like Cici's Pizza are readily available, for example, as are percent or dollar off offers for mini golf and many attractions.

We usually add something to the upcoming vacation in lieu of special occasion gifts (for example, we recently celebrated our anniversary, and instead of buying each other something, we purchased dinner show tickets to a venue we had been wanting to visit which will be used on our trip).

When all is said and done, it results in a fully-paid for vacation in advance of our departure date with ample cash in hand for souvenirs, shopping, and some impromptu extra fun along the way and meaning we have the flexibility to spoil ourselves a little while we are away. We pay cash for all meals (which we always budget for on the high side, meaning we can eat like kings and usually come home with money we didn't spend). And any excess that is left over from the current getaway gets carried over to the next vacation. We brought enough money home from our January vacation to fully purchase our airline tickets for our August trip.

The family joke is that I rarely pay full price for anything, and with enough leg work, it can easily carry over to vacation planning!

WOW..I thought I had written this post as I was reading it..sounds EXACTLY what I do!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

WOW..I thought I had written this post as I was reading it..sounds EXACTLY what I do!

LOL, you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that . Most of the time, my son thinks I'm crazy, and I think hubby used to.....but we have saved sooooo much along the way (and had some absolutely fantastic vacations as a result) that he can't bring himself to laugh at me anymore .

 

[jenny105]

Are the reward sites something anyone could do? I'm looking to earn some money for our trip and this could really help, but I'm so skeptical about some of the sites that offer this. I'd love to join a good one.

Yes, anyone can sign up. I'm a member of E-Bates, MyPoints, Sunshine Rewards, MySurvey, and I-Say. All of them are legit and pay out, I've never had a problem! If you want more information, you can PM me

 

[thelionqueen]

LOL, you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that . Most of the time, my son thinks I'm crazy, and I think hubby used to.....but we have saved sooooo much along the way (and had some absolutely fantastic vacations as a result) that he can't bring himself to laugh at me anymore .

By the way, I'm also "trying" to pay everything with cash, and never using change to pay so I can put the change in our change jar. That REALLY adds up, so I'm hoping that will net us at least $100. Sadly, my bank does not do the change saving program..so this I think will help in 2 ways. One..help to save change (and $1 bills) and 2 forcing me to pay cash for everything...we'll see how it goes

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

Thanks everyone! It's interesting hearing all the different way y'all budget and save for your trip. I'm pretty surprised to hear how many people use rewards credit cards toward their vacations. I guess the Budget board is full of "exceptions to the rule" people who know how to use a credit card only when they have the money to pay it off immediately.

I'm going to get a Target debit card so I can get the 5% discount on Disney gift cards to pay for my resort, food and my souvineirs. I will also buy $50 gas cards when they are $10 off at Publix. These are my only non-Disney discounts I use.

Keep your budget planning tips coming, and thanks.

MaryPat

I think I am also going to buy all our Disney gift cards from Target with the Target debit card for that discount. We also did a change jar/loose change piggy bank. This was a great way for our kids to contribute to our "Disney fund" and we ended up paying for two character meals and all of our souvenirs just with loose change we saved in an old oversized pretzel jar.

 

[DCLbrideSept2009]

We have a change jar that all change and any "found" money goes into. If we sell something on Craigslist, that money goes in the jar. Anything like that. I also do reward sites for gift cards. My favorites are Swagbucks, MyPoints and Inbox Dollars. Last trip I did a lot better earning gift cards. This trip I kinda dragged my feet so I don't have as much. We are DVC members so we always have a kitchen. So we will do a lot of meals in the villa to save money. Our kids are doing a Y.E.S. class, so we got heavily discounted park tickets. Our trip is already paid for except for gas getting there and back and food. By the time we leave (in a month!), we will have the cash for everything else. We never use credit for vacations.

 

[Fantasmic23]

I know not every state has this, but in Connecticut we're able to redeem aluminum soda cans, plastic bottles and some glass bottles for cash. This is one of the ways we're able to add to our Change Jar.

About once a month, I haul all of the cans and bottles that we have accumulated to the Recycling Redmption Center inside our local grocery store. It's not a particularly big chunk of cash - anywhere from $5.00 - $7.00 -but it does add up over time. The best redemption trips are after a holiday, a party, or a big event like Super Bowl Sunday.

I have loved reading about the different ways of saving up for Disney. Keep 'em coming!

 

[Andrea]

No credit cards here either !!! I do put money away ever week in my Disney jar and I also do the gpt sites and surveys for even extra money !!

 

[jimmytammy]

We are a one income family. We homeschool and have been very blessed to do so. I own my own business, and am fortunate to be able to work side jobs like cleaning and cabinet building that allows us extra $$ to save for those WDW trips. We usually make 2 trips on APs. We are currently paying for 2 remaining contracts on DVC(got 2 paid for and real close to eliminating one more soon) off of the extra we bring in with side jobs. We refuse to use CCs to pay for trips. We budget our meals, very seldom buy souvenirs, so that helps.

 

[crazelion]

I know not every state has this, but in Connecticut we're able to redeem aluminum soda cans, plastic bottles and some glass bottles for cash. This is one of the ways we're able to add to our Change Jar.

About once a month, I haul all of the cans and bottles that we have accumulated to the Recycling Redmption Center inside our local grocery store. It's not a particularly big chunk of cash - anywhere from $5.00 - $7.00 -but it does add up over time. The best redemption trips are after a holiday, a party, or a big event like Super Bowl Sunday.

I have loved reading about the different ways of saving up for Disney. Keep 'em coming!

My kids is funny they see a can in the parking lot they pick up and say this for the trip too WDW. LOL I have them train. LOL Only if get them do there homework without hassle LOL

 

[cleverclovers]

Planning on going in 2013. I started saving back in early 2010. Started using payroll deduction into a special vacation club account. Every time I got to $500, I purchased a CD. They don't pay much interest, but I can't touch them until they mature. Now that I've purchased my last CD, all money that is in my vacation club will stay there until I book the trip. If it works out properly, I'll have over $9,000 set aside.
P.S. I use my Disney Visa all the time, but pay it off monthly. The points add up!

 

[DisMomme]

I have money from my paycheck automatically moved to a savings account every pay-period. I also have a change jar - just cashed it in for $84 We return cans and bottles for the kids spending money and hubby just got rid of a bunch of junk at the metal recycling center and made $88. I also do survey and rewards programs. For our next trip I will have $200 in Disney cards. This trip - hotels, gas, food and tickets will be paid for before we go.

 

[cceandme]

I don't like relying on credit cards either! I belong to a couple of reward sites. I take surveys to earn extra money. So far I've earned $245 worth of Disney gift cards and $150 in Paypal deposits from those sites. I also have an automatic bi-weekly amount of $40 that gets put into my fund every time I get a paycheck. The only thing I have left to pay off is my dining plan ($214 to go!) and get my spending money up to $1000 ($483 to go!).

would love to know more about these reward sites

 

[Stinkerbell1973]

There is something floating around Facebook these days that shows a chart of savings by week of the year.
Example:
Week 1 - save $1
Week 2 - save $2
Week 3 - save $3
Literally, by the end of the year, you've saved about $1380. And the most you are stocking away a week is at the "end" of the year, week 52 - and you're putting away $52. Now granted, for that month, it's a little more than $200 that you're putting away for the entire month....but by putting it away each week, it should feel less painful.
I too have $ deducted from my paycheck each week into a different savings account. This is our vacation fund - just used the balance to pay off our April 6 Fantasy cruise (88 days - woot woot!) and now it's collecting $ for our hopeful trip to Hawaii in 2014. When I don't see it, I don't miss it. That's my philosphy!

 

[indimom]

There is something floating around Facebook these days that shows a chart of savings by week of the year.
Example:
Week 1 - save $1
Week 2 - save $2
Week 3 - save $3
Literally, by the end of the year, you've saved about $1380. And the most you are stocking away a week is at the "end" of the year, week 52 - and you're putting away $52. Now granted, for that month, it's a little more than $200 that you're putting away for the entire month....but by putting it away each week, it should feel less painful.
I too have $ deducted from my paycheck each week into a different savings account. This is our vacation fund - just used the balance to pay off our April 6 Fantasy cruise (88 days - woot woot!) and now it's collecting $ for our hopeful trip to Hawaii in 2014. When I don't see it, I don't miss it. That's my philosphy!

I've seen that savings plan floating around, and a very smart Dis-er recently noted that it might be preferrable to flip the plan. So, you take out the $200 or so in January and are down to $10 in December (when holiday expenses can get a little painful). I thought that was a great idea!

In addition to all the other ideas, many of which we use, I keep my "coin jar" in the laundry room. First, no one in the family knows its there so no one is snagging quarters to pick up a pop after school or whatever. Second, I put any loose change and BILLS I find in the laundry into the jar. I've actually got a couple $20 bills in there that no one seemed to notice disappeared from their pants pocket!! I figure if they are not watching their money better than that, I can take it and put it in the family vacation fund.

ETA: I just counted the bills only from the change jar: $86!! Really. Money that my kids or husband just left in their pockets! Sheesh.