Long-term saving for our next trip...

[BudgieMama]

Thank goodness, my lovely (but cynical) husband has decided he wants to go back to WDW (and for a longer trip!).... ideally, he wants to wait until "Disney has another big hit like Frozen" (because- despite having only seen the film once, and not thinking it was anything special- he was incredibly impressed with the Frozen Summer Fun event!) but I've told him that is a bit too wooly for me, and we're thinking of returning 2018 (once the Avatar area has opened, and hopefully whatever they are going to announce at DHS). It's too far away for my liking, but better than not going back at all, right?

Anyway, he's wanting to aim for a 2 week holiday, and to spend a couple of days at Universal and maybe visit the Space Centre as well as doing WDW. He liked the level of service we got at Disney a lot, and LOVED the resort (we stayed at Saratoga Springs), so he's reluctant to even look at a Moderate Resort... I know we can't know about Free Dining (which worked great for us) or if they'll offer the discount on SSR again at this stage, so I want us to do some serious saving to make sure we can cover the kind of trip he wants.

Has anyone any tips on saving over the long term for a trip?
And any thoughts on what we should be aiming for per person? (I know it's incredibly variable depending on offers, etc, but a rough idea would be great!)

 

[scoobydooby]

What you need to spend is about how long is a piece of string. We only go once a year generally and I tend to spend a lot, but my friend gets deals for four for 3k for a family of four off season, staying off site and sometimes less. As for how to save. I pay for flights and accommodation just from my general savings account and only book when I can pay (I don't do debt), but I save cash for spends and tips. I have a pot you can't get into without breaking it and put £2 coins in that. Holds a good £500. I put £200 away every month as soon as I am paid and give it to my mum to keep hold of. We also save coppers and 5ps. Over a year they usually total £200 - £300 and pay for the airport hotel and parking. It soon all adds up.

A few years ago I started writing weekly menus and shop to a list. That's saves me over £50 a week on the grocery shop and actually we eat better. I save that cash too.

Last thing. I hate car boot sales but I do one a year. I have averaged £250 each one. Vile day out but worth it.

Happy saving

 

[Kath2003]

I agree that a two week holiday could cost anythung from £2K to £20K depending on what you want.

My advice is set out a GENEROUS budget for EVERYTHING (prices will only go up!). We do this for everything down to food (including tips) and even costs within the UK. Consider what's important (onsite? Direct flights?) and what's not, and make savings on what's not. Then put the money away every month on payday, before you have a chance to spend it

Personally we save on flight (indirect), hotel (offsite) and transport/parking (bus). That saves a LOT.

 

[cheryl.UK]

Ditto on the £2 coins.

Here's what we do...

If one of us suggests takeaway, I cook quick curry instead and put £20 in our pot.
If something turns out to be cheaper than I expected I put the difference in the pot. (For example we saved £10 of how much I thought Infinity 2.0 would cost)
If I get one of those £12 Sainsbury's vouchers, I stock up on larder goods and then put £12 in the pot.
Every Sunday I empty my purse of change.
I cook large portions of things like cottage pie or lasagna and freeze the leftovers instead of ready meals
When mum or MIL sends us money for Birthdays or Christmas we change it straight into dollars. In fact now my MIL has taken to just giving us dollars.

In a year we can save £2000+ like this.

 

[SilentK]

Yay, you're going back!

What DH and I have done while saving to move is to set a budget for everything, so we have a shopping budget, petrol budget, take away money and even a set amount of spending money per month. On pay day everything left goes into savings. Apologies if I'm pointing out the obvious there!

If losing momentum is a concern you might like to think about making a chart, work out how close you are in terms of percent or colour sections in as you save. I like to break elements of the trip down and then when I put money away I think to myself 'oh we've got enough money for tickets to the Halloween party etc'

 

[Julia Ann]

So pleased to hear you are going to return to the magic! We have a dedicated savings account for disney holiday, this one in October has been in the planning for 8 years!!! Due to having DD and some financial difficulties but we started saving small and gained momentum once finances improved. Just trying not to waste money like buying a newspaper every day when you can read online and save that money will make a difference. We are going package with Thomas cook and found them really good value, so shopping around TAs is worth it if you dont want DIY.

Good luck

 

[NatalieMT]

We also have a designated 'Disney account' because it just separates that money away from other money and I don't take out the card for that account etc so it only gets used to pay Disney/holiday related bills.

I've also started asking myself 'do I really need this?' when it comes to spending out for stuff, like I was going for coffee every day which I don't do now and buying things that it wasn't necessary for me to purchase all the time. You can do that type of things in a lot of life aspects.

Think I'm going to start the £2 pot too, for money I can switch to dollars when the time comes.

We've spent about £1500 per person without any additional park spends for 9 nights next August at AKL, which includes tickets, Universal tickets, DDP etc but going in a big group like we are is often a little cheaper because you can split things more ways. But I've spent a lot more than that in the past, when we last did BC it was more like £2000 per person but we spent a lot on extras whilst we were there. We usually fly indirect too because it's quite a decent saving for a little bit of hassle, especially if there's only 2 of you.

 

[stephensmum]

Great news that hubbie wants to go back.

 

[disney2014plan]

Another vote for the £2 coin pot!

Something that I have done previously is if your bus fare is £20 per week, take that £20 out and then if you walk to/from work, you put what is left at the end of the week into the Disney pot.

 

[Rach78]

I also save £2 coins in a seperate tin.
I am also currently doing a 500 day saving plan. I have a poster with the numbers 1 to 500 in boxes (along with a couple of pictures of tigger and eeyore for good measure!) 1 being 1 penny and 500 being £5. You have to save a different amount each day and score off the boxes until they are all full. If I ever put say £10 in, I divide it into several separate amounts. Its sad but I great such pleasure in highlighting a new box!!
I also do carboots, ebay and sell cakes. All this goes in hoilday fund.
One last tip, which I got off here, is to have a disney box where you put things like toothbrushes, plasters etc that won't expire. You can buy the odd bit here and there, and it keeps me going even if the trip is a while away.

 

[maclondon]

We've both been putting money away each month - it will cover it by the time we go - but have to pay the balance well before that. which is an accounting challenge!

or minor cc use.

one way to keep costs down is not to be on site the WHOLE time
were doing 5 nights in disney deluxe, then 9 in a 4 bed villa.
plus one night in universal hard rock - which is while in the villa - but was easier to just book that separately and leave all our stuff in the villa. villas are way cheaper.

i let you know how that works out

 

[joolz1910]

We started saving to go back as soon as our 2012 trip was over. We are going back in 2015. I knew I would have to save around 10k as we are tied to the school holidays (August) and there are 5 of us. We also wanted to stay on-site with free DDP and stay at Universal.

We save £2 coins - neither of us can spend them now lol.
We have caravan holidays paid for with Tesco Clubcard vouchers.
We very rarely eat out. I am the picnic queen
I sell stuff online/Ebay.
I stick to budgets with everything.
All the kids have hand-me-down clothes (I have 3 girls).
I have a separate Disney account that is not touched.

We realise that we have to make some sacrifices to get to Disney but it is worth it when you get there!

 

[nemo2017]

I'm really pleased your DH wants to go back! My DH is highly sceptical of spending thousands of pounds on a holiday so I'm determined to save as much as I can to prove we can afford it. We are realistically aiming for August 2017 when DS will be 7.

Here's how I'm saving
* any £2 coin or 50p goes in one of the saving tins you have to use a tin opener to get into
* I opened a separate savings account with my bank which is my disney account
* I looked at my direct debit and standing orders and cancelled any frivolous monthly commitments like magazine subscriptions etc and instead set up a standing order for the same amount to go into my disney account
* at the supermarket if I save money on anything or buy something cheaper than I intended then the saved money goes into a coin jar which I take to the bank to go in the disney account when I've got a full bag of 20 pence coins, etc
* If I use any coupons/nectar points etc the money I saved goes straight to the disney bank account, same with quidco cashback
any birthday/christmas money DS gets is halved with half going towards presents for him and the other half going towards his Disney spending money (He's got £18 so far )

I have also planned out roughly where we would like to stay and found costs based on this year's prices so I have a rough budget to aim for. The prices of flights from Manchester terrifies me though!

Looking forward to seeing anyone else's ideas. I've managed to save £145 so far by doing the above and I've only started in July. This time next year I will start putting away a chunk of money every month but until I can do that the ideas above make me feel like I'm doing something.

 

[pickers1982]

Just say life is about experienxces. When you re on your death bed or when the kids grow up will you wish you had a slightly nicer car or had a more expensive holiday

 

[pickers1982]

Just say life is about experienxces. When you re on your death bed or when the kids grow up will you wish you had a slightly nicer car or had a more expensive holiday

Just to confirm not saying that people are choosing between a car or a holder just that life is about experiences!

 

[tinkerpea]

Just say life is about experienxces. When you re on your death bed or when the kids grow up will you wish you had a slightly nicer car or had a more expensive holiday

I understand this completely, I'm 29 with a young family of 3 boys,having had 5 major head surgeries picc line treatment's and a round of chemo,I'm all for experience over nice cars etc.


As long as I'm not in debt and we have a working car/cooker/washing machine,and a emergency amount of savings then I will make sure we holiday once a yr.
And disney happens to be the place that I can relax or do as much as I want while enjoying time with my children.
And we decided after we got the news a yr ago that surgery isn't working as well as we hoped,
An that I'm now living with a life threatening disease,that will eventually spread into my brain,we will do what we can to make the time left as a family special.
You never know when life is going to smack you in the face!!

 

[pickers1982]

I understand this completely, I'm 29 with a young family of 3 boys,having had 5 major head surgeries picc line treatment's and a round of chemo,I'm all for experience over nice cars etc. As long as I'm not in debt and we have a working car/cooker/washing machine,and a emergency amount of savings then I will make sure we holiday once a yr. And disney happens to be the place that I can relax or do as much as I want while enjoying time with my children. And we decided after we got the news a yr ago that surgery isn't working as well as we hoped, An that I'm now living with a life threatening disease,that will eventually spread into my brain,we will do what we can to make the time left as a family special. You never know when life is going to smack you in the face!!

Sorry to hear wht you ve been through. My son has had major life saving surgery and luckily it all seems to be behind him. Taking him to disney this year was something most people didnt seem to understand but it was a huge deal for us. My wife burt into tears when he first met a character. Yes he was 2 and wont remember but as you say nothing in life can be taken for granted and you never know when life will kick you. I hope you can enjoy your time